Creativity in the Kitchen
I get bored really easy. I might as well be honest about that. I'll get very excited about something, go all gung-ho with it for a few weeks or if I'm on a roll, even months and then fizzle. I'm working on it because I know it's not a good trait.
However, one area where I'm glad that I get bored easily is the kitchen. It means that I'm constantly looking for new recipes and new ways to jazz up my cooking.
Dan told me when growing up that they always had the same dish on particular days of the week. The same held true for breakfast in his house. For example, Monday may have been cereal day and Tuesday, eggs and so on. YAWN! I would get so bored of cooking that way. It's my own weird, "have-to-do-something-new-and-exciting" personality that makes our meals interesting around here.
When I'm planning a meal I try to follow a few basics.
1. I start with a protein. It may be meat or beans or cheese. Then I use that as a jumping point to plan the rest of the meal.
2. Vegetables are a must. So I decide what veggie will go with the main dish. At times the main dish may have veggies if it's a one pot deal. However, I usually have a side dish to go with it.
3. Bread. It's a staple here. I have 3 hungry teenagers and 1 hungry husband. I don't want to have a $1,000 per month food budget. So I make homemade bread for every meal. It makes a good filler.
4. Sides & condiments. I usually have some sort of side dish. If they go with the meal, we'll have pickles or olives or something along those lines that fill in the holes of the meal. Or I'll make a fruit salad.
5. Dessert. This is one area where I give in to my husband's cravings. He had dessert growing up after every. single. meal. Okay, not really. But after lunch and after dinner and for some sort of snack. So to him, a meal is not complete without something sweet at the end of it. And no ladies, a piece of fruit doesn't count in his book! :-)
An example of the past few night's meals...
Tuesday
Flounder with lemon-garlic butter
Rice
Cornbread
Steamed green beans
Fruit salad
Ice cream
Wednesday
Chicken-coconut soup
Italian bread
Fruit salad
Brownies with ice cream
Tonight
Chicken & veggie stir fry
Rice
Homemade sun dried tomato breadsticks
Tossed salad
Ice cream (yes, we are on an ice cream kick this week) :-)
At least twice a month, I'll try a brand new and usually, ethnic dish to test out. I'll experiment with different spices or herbs. I'll try a new fruit or veggie we've never had.
My experiments have come up with some new favorites - baba ghanouj, kluskies, kima, and albondigas. Plus, I love that I'm expanding my children's palettes so they don't grow up and be the adults who will only eat plain meat, plain potatoes and plain vegetables.
I love that when asking for their favorite meals for their birthday dinners they ask for things such as Mexican, Middle Eastern or Chinese food.
So there you go - creativity in the kitchen. It keeps me happy. It keeps my husband and children happy. That is the goal!
Sounds very good Terri. My husband loves puddings too, but I have to watch the amount of sugar he eats, so fruit figures a lot on our menu.
ReplyDeleteOh yum - i'd like to live in your house, pudding after every meal, my kind of thing. I grew up having pudding after the main meal of the day, and probably after lunch too but I'm a bit hazy on that. So yes, we have to have something to 'round the meal off', and fruit doesn't count for us either. Invariably, during the week, as opposed to the weekend, it is rather predictable and boring - I know it is because Bob looks at me when we have finished the main course and says "Yoghurt again is it?".
ReplyDeleteI take it by pudding you both mean ice cream? Frozen dairy treat? I think it's so interesting the different words we have for things!
ReplyDeleteI can see why eating is such a joy in your house and all this trying something new keeps you new and exciting to your family as well. Happy cooking.
ReplyDeleteMe...I just an old plain Jane and like my cooking at my age to be rather easy and easy means less fattening. Some of us have to be booorrrring as you would say.
But I must say in my defense that when you were young, I cooked a lot of different things and I too tried different recipes but you may not have noticed so much then being a teenager and all.
Love Mom
Terri, I just told my husband last night that chicken was my favorite food and then I asked him if he knew my second favorite. He tried to guess but he didn't know. When I told him "ice cream"....he said that is not a staple. BUT in my book it is. We have it almost every night at our house but we shouldn't. YUMMY!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your menu ideas.
Love, Debbi
My understanding of the word pudding is something eaten after the main course that is sweet, and unfortunately invariably fattening. We do not have these every day, or even every week, sadly, but puddings to me are things like apple pie and custard, trifle, a piece of cake, ice-cream yes but on top of something. I'm just off to make a chocolate and pecan tart for when my son and his wife visit tomorrow for dinner. I blame my figure on my mother!!
ReplyDelete