Running out of Ideas in the Kitchen? June 27, 2009

Cooking: you either love it or leave it. You either depend on recipes to get you through the next meal, or you improvise. Sometimes we run out of ideas- and that is when the kitchen seems like a waste land, and take-out is usually our next available option. Instead, try to load up on the following foods, so that no matter how empty your fridge/pantry looks, you can make a delicious meal!

Here are the TastyLife Top Ten Cooking Staples

1. Plain 1-2% yogourt or Kefir; this is great for dressings, dips and add on for soups. Its also delicious in wraps like Corn tortillas which are good to have on hand. They last long refrigerated and you can whip up a quick meal with avocado, leftover veggies, brown rice, cheese  and beans.

2. You need, need, need garlic cloves and onions on hand all the time, along with olive oil. Garlic and olive oil infuse flavor into anything. Every dish I cook, pretty much starts with these two essentials. Olive oil in a pan, add chopped garlic until golden, then add onions until carmalized – then add all rest of your ingredients whether it be an omelet, stir fry, greens like bok choy etc…this is your starter!

3. Frozen veggies. Nothing wrong with them, if you have nothing at all in your fridge, its always good to know there is something to work with in your freezer. Edamame freezes well and makes a great snack. Frozen peas are actually great to throw into a guacamole, but you have to process them frozen with a bit of yogourt and add to avocado puree. Frozen broccoli and spinach are always good to throw into a stirfry or casserole…

4. Canned goods. Yes it would be better to cook beans yourself, but not everyone has the pleasure of free time, so for convenience- don’t worry too much about it. Use canned lentils with some chopped up red peppers and green onions for quick salad, or chickpeas and kidney beans dill salad, like this bean salad recipe. Canned fish can bre great in sandwhiches, and the smaller the fish the better! Try anchovies in your salad dressings. Chopped tomatoes are great for homeade salsa, or to throw into a curry with some canned lite coconut milk and red curry paste.

5. Which brings me to next topic of flavour enhancers: you can add these into marinades, dressings, sandwhiches or dips; pastes and condiments like red curry paste,(heres recipe for thai tofu salad using red curry paste), olive tapenade, mango chutney, dijon mustard (exlore other mustards too!)

6. Oils and vinegars: These are essential for homeade dressings! rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar (very healthy for you!), olive oil of course, hemp seed oil and flaxseed oil have amazing health benefits, other oils that are flavourful are nut oils (hazelnut) or lemon oil (which is potent, so you just need a drop!) delicious over bulgur or quinoa salad with some fresh green herbs like mint, parsley and a little red onion.

7.Fresh green herbs which include: Dill, parsley, coriander, mint, basil. These I add into everything from soups and sandwhiches to salads! They add color, flavour and health to all your dishes! Parsley and coriander will stay fresh if kept in a jar of water in the frige (root side down). Because its summer, you can also make your own herb garden, I started mine a couple of weeks ago in the very little space that I have in my apt, if I could make it happen- so can you! Here’s how.

8.Eggs if you eat em, organic free range are best (if you could afford em’) are very quick filling meals, and you can add them into casseroles, quiches and pancakes.

9. Have dried grains and pastas on hand- I like brown rice pasta of various shapes, I always have barley, quinoa, rolled oats, brown rice, kasha, and millet in the cupboard so I can whip up a meal around these grains. The quickest grains to cook if you are really low on time are bulgur (contains gluten) and quinoa. You can make really easy grain salads with them like this spouted quinoa salad.

10. Veggies that last! If you know you won’t get to them for a while, have longlasting red and white cabbage, squash, and sweet/red potatoes on hand- you can add them into your stir frys or create a fresh cole slaw salad.

Sweet potatoes are delicious and are an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron.

An easy meal I often make is a baked sweet potato filled with items from this list (canned black beans, plain yogourt, homeade salsa, avocados, and cilantro…delish!). They are also delicious as sweet potato fries and you can make an easy dip out of 1/4 cup of plain yogourt and one teaspoon of the flavor enhancers: like mango chutney, red curry paste or olive tapenade!

Please share with me, what are your food staples?