Cooking should be an adventure, not a chore of pure duty. Again, it comes down a matter of attitude versus necessity. If I am doing this because I must eat for food for survival or because this is something I am
required to do–I think I am going make it more interesting, even fun!

If you seek regulated food formulas, exact replicas of the picture in the book, or Martha Stewart perfection, I am probably not your best kitchen guide. However, if you are not afraid to stray from the Cooking Channel
fold and learn the true art of improvising then you and I are ready for MOON RIVER excursions in the kitchen.

After working in dozens of private home and being highly dependent on having brought all the right ingredients with me to complete my meals, improvising was second nature. When the store is miles away and you have to finish by five you get to figure something out.

For example, take the case of missing corn flakes. I convinced my clients that I would create the best Kentucky Fried Chicken substitute. For a long time, it was matter of crushing corn flakes in the food processor with some paprika, onion salt, and black pepper. But in one kitchen, the staple, Corn Flakes, was no where to be found. What was in her cupboard was Corn Tortilla Chips. Well they certainly didn’t need the added salt but they needed some super good crushing. Since I carried my own Cusinart with me, I dropped them into the processor with some paprika and pepper. I couldn’t find how much fat these chip contained, but coating one skinned drumstick was less than 3 chips. Only a little paprika was required. I never used crushed corn flakes on chicken again only because the tortilla chips were a lot more crunchy and certainly convinced my client this was indeed a KFC replacement.

There is only 1 member in my household residency but there is always a group of friends who allow me to employ their taste buds and who are ready to try anything.

You have to be bold and willing to mix anything that’s not tried before. You can be downright amazed. For instance, I make jam out of any form of fruit, be it dried , fresh, frozen, or out of jar or canned. I am addicted to homemade low sugar jam.

Like that morning coffee, something to satisfy that yearn for something sweet without resorting to a commercial cinnamon roll or a greasy donut. Homemade jam on whole grain toast is a nice thing to have with coffee. But there are calories to consider–always made in very small batches. Sure Jell goes in the pot when the fruit is cold, after one minutes of cooking, you stir in the sugar, in another minute, you basically have low sugar jam.

One day I thought about how sugar is the primary deterrent to allowing jam on your regular diet. So I stirred in about 4 tablespoons of Splenda. It was sweet and it did not effect the jelling effect. A word of caution: do this in a double boiler – jam burns in seconds.

This was a few examples of just trying something without a book in front of you or reading about it somewhere. Who know if you empty your crisper, you can probably make some incredible vegetable soup. Very cheap and easy to make broth comes from a turkey wing. Stripped steak bones can be roasted in the
oven and then used to make broth. Beef neck bones from your butcher also make good broth, but they are a bit pricey. However, if a can of broth costs $1 for 10 1/2 oz maybe its not so expensive after all. The best reason for these homemade broths is the lack of excess salt and MSG which are quite common in such products.

Running out of ingredients could force you into being creative. Getting indigestion from overeating of greasy foods needing to drop 10 lbs could also get you to take inventory and to see what in your cupboards or freezer. There just might be some great new food discoveries to be made. Need help? Need ideas? I am just a mouse click away. Go ahead and take the challenge to try something new!