Making Any Recipe Your Own

Did you know you could write your own recipe book? It’s true. You’re an author in the making….if you’d just stop following those recipes step-by-step. I come across recipes all the time that sound delicious, but I just don’t have the ingredients…..or the ingredients are expensive. I’ll just tell you right now that I’m not going to be buying cardamom any time soon…..unless I feel like selling my birthright. It’s made from gold or something…..must be related to gasoline. So, I use recipes that I find as springboards and I go from there. Sometimes I follow a recipe 100%…..I used to always follow them, but then I got a little more confident and I started taking risks. Life without risk is like baked oatmeal without syrup…..like food without salt……like Stacy without her laptop. So, be bold and try something new (yes, even you, Rebecca Cobb).

If you’re like the typical mom in America, your kids don’t like certain things……but you come across a recipe that sounds just great! Problem is, Joey won’t eat mushrooms or rice. Soooooo, leave out the mushrooms or substitute another vegetable (green peppers). As far as rice goes, you could just use orzo, which is pasta shaped like rice. Just because a recipe calls for something that you don’t like doesn’t mean that you have to skip over it and move on to something else. It’s like a house….it might look like total crap, but if the framing and layout is good you can work with it. I switch up ingredients all the time, based on what I have at home. I do NOT run out to the store to get one thing just because it’s called for in a recipe I’m trying. If it’s essential to the recipe (i.e. yeast), I just skip over that particular recipe and come back later when I DO have the ingredients. Stop making those one item trips to the store…..they’re causing you to spend more than you really need to. How many times do you really come out of the store with that ONE thing? Be honest…..you eye twitches when you lie.

Now let’s talk meat just a minute……just because a recipe calls for ground veal doesn’t mean YOU have to use ground veal. Seriously – that stuff is expensive. Stacy and her money are not soon parted, so I don’t buy it. I just use ground beef or venison in place of that. Did you know if certain recipes call for 1 pound of chicken that you could substitute turkey? Or you could even substitute a pound of ground chicken, depending on what type of recipe it is – for example, you could use ground chicken in a white chili recipe instead of the actual chicken breast. I find ground chicken and turkey marked down all the time. Yes, I realize it’s scary to some of you. You’re shaking your head right now. “Nuh uh….I am NOT trying ground turkey – it’s white and the consistency is funny….and it’s WHITE.” Don’t be such a sissy. It’s good for you, and it is pretty tasty too. We love it here. If you tried ground turkey back in 1985 and you hated it, please try it again. It’s really come a long way – my mama says so, and she doesn’t lie.

Think outside of the box with me……..vegetables are good. Yes, repeat, vegetables are good. Your kids need to eat them. If you’re having a hard time with that, try these recipes from Deceptively Delicious. Sometimes a recipe calls for something that Annie won’t eat, or I don’t want her to eat (that child should NOT eat broccoli…….I’ll let you figure that one out). If that’s the case, I will substitute another vegetable. Don’t leave it out. If your kids will eat carrots, but they won’t eat peas, then just double up on the carrots in your chicken pot pie. When you do that, the recipe has turned into YOURS. You can tell people, “This is my recipe for chicken pot pie.” If your husband won’t touch Brussells sprouts with a ten foot pole, substitute green beans instead. Just don’t leave out the vegetables.

I’ll end with this….spices. Did you know you could change an entire recipe by just switching out the spices? If you hate cinnamon, try something else like nutmeg or chili powder. If you hate chili powder, try cumin instead. It’s really easy to change the entire basis of a recipe just by changing the spices. I will warn you – don’t get too creative here. Too many spices can be bad – very bad. You don’t want your family coughing when they eat. When in doubt, just forget all the spices and use salt and pepper instead. They’re a beautiful thing.