Do You Always Follow Recipes?

Do you always follow recipes? This might seem like a strange question coming from someone who loves cooking. But this has been a topic that’s been on my mind a lot lately, especially after sharing my steps for putting impromptu meals together the last few weeks. This is something I have never really put much thought into until recently.

While I was trying to come up with words to describe my process for how to put impromptu meals together, I realized that most of what I do isn’t really something I put much thought into. Not to say I don’t put thought into the food I’m creating, but that I don’t put much thought into the process itself. I’d say making meals is automatic. I usually run on intuition.

Which brings me back to my question: do you always follow recipes?

When I was first starting to cook, I followed every recipe to the T. Every half teaspoon counted, because if I didn’t follow the recipe precisely, it might not turn out – and then, well, dinner would be ruined! And we couldn’t have that. When I think back to that time, I realize that following recipes was pivotal in my learning to cook process, because it gave me the opportunity to learn how much of certain ingredients is enough or too much, about how flavors combine, and ultimately provided me a great understanding of basic cooking techniques.

Pulling Together An Impromptu Meal with Fresh Market Finds

Creating meals from fresh farmer’s market finds can seem daunting when you don’t have much of a plan. You head out to the market, pick up a few random ingredients, then get home scratching your head, unsure what to do with it all. Over the last few weeks since my market has picked back up, I realized that I have a loose system in place to make sure that whatever it is that I bring home can be easily incorporated into my weekly meals. It’s not really rocket science, but it’s worth sharing how to get random fruits and vegetables to “play nice” with each other and come together to create a delicious meal.

Last week, I shared what my pantry staples were that I like to have on hand for an impromptu farmer’s market meal. Having these few items on hand at all times assures that whatever I bring home, I can create into one of many options for a meal. This week, I want to show you just how I bring together my pantry staples and whatever ingredients I happen to find at my market that week.

At the end of my shopping trip, these are the ingredients that came home with me:

• 1 bunch asparagus
• 2 bunches radishes, with leaves
• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 head salad greens

To bring it all together, here are the three meals I was able to create from my five farmer’s market finds:

Chicken with Spring Roasted Vegetables: When I was making this meal, I was trying to come up with the simplest way to treat the ingredients, getting maximum flavor, and minimal time in the kitchen. Frankly, that’s how I create most of my meals, but this turned out far better than I could have even anticipated. By roasting a full bunch of asparagus, halved radishes, and sugar snap peas, I was able to bring out the sweet flavors in each of the ingredients. I dressed them with a simple dressing of tahini and soy sauce to give the dish another dimension. After creating this meal, I realized that to create an entirely separate meal with completely different textures and flavors, I could easily just not roast the vegetables and serve this dish cold for warmer day.

7 Tips To Extend The Freshness Of Produce

Do ever get the idea in your head that if you know something, essentially everyone else probably knows what you know, too?

I recently had this ‘aha!’ moment while catching myself doing something that wasn’t really rocket science to me, but my husband thought it was a fancy trick. When I later told my mom and grandma about it, they hadn’t heard of it either. Which got me thinking, perhaps I should start sharing those things that might seem so obvious to me that maybe others haven’t heard of before.

Here are 7 tips to extend the freshness of your produce:

1. Keep onions and potatoes both in cool, dry places – but in different areas of your kitchen.

Both of these vegetables need to be stored in cool, dry places, but the gases that release from onions start the spoiling and decaying process to occur rather rapidly in potatoes. After making this own change in my kitchen, both the onions and potatoes have started lasting much longer than when they were stored in the same area.

2. Plant scallions (green onions) in water or in your container garden.

Did you know that this very minimal investment at the grocery store can keep on giving for months to come? I know, it’s seems a little nuts, and this has been a bit of a fad in a lot of the food and cooking magazines and websites as of late, but if you put a bundle of scallions in a cup of water, they will continue to regenerate for you. I just recently planted my own and can tell you – this works! I have full faith that I will get more than my $2 investment back from this one little plant!

Mastering The Impromptu Meal: Pantry Essentials

My farmer’s market started back up last month and I couldn’t be more thrilled to find fresh local produce available again! If you visit your local farmer’s market, you know how worthwhile these markets can be to the meals that come out of your kitchen. You can find all sorts of inexpensive, organic, and local produce (and sometimes other goods) at farmer’s markets.

Over the last few weeks while getting reacquainted with my own market, I realized I have developed a bit of a system for working my market finds into my weekly meals. In all honesty, this isn’t all that surprising, as on one hand I tend to be wildly creative in the kitchen, yet on the other, a very analytical super-optimizer for all other areas of my life. This sort of system can be incredibly useful for both maintaining your sanity (having essentials on hand), while also embracing your creativity in the kitchen.

Ultimately, this is a two-step way to menu plan. First, you round out your essential pantry ingredients, so that you’re fully stocked for whatever it is that you bring home. Second, you get creative by coming up with ways to incorporate your market finds into meals that you already know like the back of your hand.

Clearing Up The Organic Food Labeling Confusion

Earlier this week, I shared a few Q & A’s on eating organic foods. Today, I wanted to dive in to a topic that leave so many of us scratching our heads on a regular basis, it’s almost impossible to know what the right choice is: organic food labeling.

So how do we know what’s organic? And what exactly does organic labeling mean when it comes to different types of food? I’ll share with you what the different labels are so you know what to watch out for and what to pick up next time you’re feeling overwhelmed while making your way through the health food or grocery store.

Produce

What To Look For: The PLU on produce that is organic will be a 5-digit number beginning with a 9. Or a USDA Organic seal in container items, like these strawberries.

What Organic Means For Produce: These fruits and vegetables weren’t grown with exposure to any pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or GMOs.