21 Ingredients That Will Help You Cook Successfully Without A Recipe

No one was born with a Chef’s hat on, and even so we find our way around the kitchen, some better than others. Some cooks would not touch a pan or an ingredient without a cookbook before them, some can recite grandma’s recipes from decades before producing culinary works of art. For others the word ‘cook’ is literally and figuratively a four-letter-word. They view the very act with pure terror.

But really, does cooking have to be that complicated? Can’t it be a sweet, almost effortless dance of fresh ingredients, wonderful herbs and spices, and delightful creations? Well I say YES to all of the above. But what’s the key? It is Simple Ingredients which are easily accessible and always in the pantry. The following is a list of such ingredients. The first seven comes from the Seven-Ingredient-Box from Jesse Ziff Cool, author of ‘Simply Organic: A Cookbook for Sustainable, Seasonable, and Local Ingredients’. The other ingredients are just staples I think should be in every pantry:


1. Olive Oil

2. Acid (vinegar or lemon juice)

3. Salt (I prefer Kosher Salt)

4. Pepper

5. Sugar or Natural Sugar Alternative like Stevia

6. Herbs, either fresh or dried

7. Spices, either fresh or dried

8. Beans-Dried and Canned

9. Tuna

10. Whole Grain (eg. Whole grain pasta, brown rice, oats etc)

11. Cheese

12. Onion/Garlic

13. Some type of bottled meat and fish sauce

14. Tomato Paste (to thicken and add flavor to stews, soups and sauces)

15. Mustard (Great to add to a herb rub for baking meats or adding to a sauce)

16. Flour

17. Canned or Dried Fruits- To add to salads, marinades, smoothies etc.

18. Nuts-Almonds, Walnuts etc.

19. Mayonnaise-For a Quick Tuna or Potato salad or Cole Slaw. Also, with a little lemon juice and fresh herbs it makes a great sauce to accompany grilled or fried fish. If you are concerned about calories, a Creamy Reduced-Fat Dressing is a better pick, for taste purposes, over the plain Low-fat Mayonnaise in my opinion. You could also do half regular mayo and half of the reduced-fat dressing.

20. Chicken Broth

21. Bread Crumbs

The Healthy Side of a Few Common Spices That May Already Be in Your Kitchen Pantry

Herbs and Spices are not only flavor enhancers for culinary creations; many of them are quickly becoming the new superfoods. Disease preventing phytonutrients can be found in many spices.

Garlic contains allicin, the potent compound responsible for its very strong odor, which is released when fresh garlic is crushed or minced in some way. Allicin may reduce blood clots and protect from oxidative damage to coronary vessels, but is easily destroyed and most concentrated in the uncooked form of garlic. Therefore use in perhaps a vinaigrette or a homemade sandwich spread and the like would be most beneficial.

Sage is an interesting herb for cooking. Traditionally it has been found to have a beneficial effect on brain function and memory. Sage tea is also great for oral health including inflammation and soreness in the mouth and to relieve upset stomach. The aroma of sage is more prominent in the fresh vs. dried form.

Turmeric is a relative to the ginger plant and is usually the main ingredient in currys, but on its own it has very beneficial properties. It is known for its strong anti-inflammatory properties. It is also known to help reduce cholesterol, and also serves as a digestive aid. A natural 'stomach' soother recipe that many swear by is turmeric with some warm milk. About 1/2 cup of warm milk is mixed with 1/2 a teaspoon turmeric and taken once a day for several days. I haven't tried it yet but several family members claim good results from using it.

Ginger, the close cousin to turmeric is mainly known for its high effectiveness as a digestive aid. The pungent root relieves many digestive ailments such as stomach cramps, indigestion, nausea and the like.

Oregano is a common herb packed with nutritive value. It is known to be a powerful anti-bacterial agent due to its volatile oils including thymol and carvacrol. Perhaps a little known fact about oregano is that it has a considerable amount of anti-oxidant activity and has a high number of phytonutrients compared even to some fruits and vegetables like oranges and potatoes. However these benefits are most intense with use of the pure oregano oil which is taken orally or topically, is very concentrated, and is often mixed with a carrier oil when administered.

From these examples, it is easy to see that the regular every day herb you use for cooking most likely serves a much greater purpose than just flavor.

Stretching The Mighty Dollar-A Trend Towards Smart Home Cooking

For the year 2008 home grocery prices were expected to rise from 5.5% to almost 7% (according to the USDA Consumer Price Index). This prediction has be unarguably validated as we've seen everything from milk to eggs to vegetables oils increase significantly in cost. Today it is not uncommon to have a gallon of oil priced over $12 On Sale! For some foods like ice cream and peanut butter there has been a slight but noticeable reduction in the size of the containers, so that you get less for the same price.

Despite all of this, home cooking appears to be making a serious comeback as the food dollar is forced to do more. Eating at home is often seen as a more economical choice over dining out, and people are finding inventive and creative ways to make dining in work for their lifestyle and budget. In preparing meals they are looking for taste, convenience, health, and cost. Some practices towards meeting these four criteria include:

1. All-in-One/Batch cooking like chillis, soups, and stews which are easy to put together, wholesome, and act as great leftovers to use for another meal.

2. Brown-bagging lunches which are more cost effective than buying lunch and give more control in the healthiness of the meal.

3. Seeking out recipes to add spice and variety to the dining in experience.

4. Purchasing food items which have longer shelf lives like pasta, canned goods etc. vs. perishable items which have to be thrown out if not used within a certain period of time.

5. Adding a wider range of spices to put 'a new face' to the everyday meal, especially if the same dish may be prepared more than once for the week.

Other ways to cut cost would be to buy bulk items as long as the unit price is significantly less than the retail price at the regular supermarket. Frozen fruits and vegetables also serve as a healthy and economical way to avoid wastage. These are usually processed very soon after the crops have been harvested.

There are many ways to make dining in fun and something that is likely to be a lasting practice. Today more than ever, it appears to be a renewed trend in many home kitchens and dining rooms.

20 Exotic Seasonings & Ingredients Which Should Make it on Your Next Grocery List

Adding exotic and ethnic seasonings and ingredients to your cooking can turn even the most ‘blah blah’ meal into something to talk about. Adding bold flavors to food is also a way to bring interest and greater enjoyment to meal time. Today there are greater and greater diverse food choices in general to be found on supermarket shelves, and ‘exotic’ has become more and more accessible. So it’s likely that you may have already heard, used or have been thinking of using some of the items from the following list. As Thanksgiving and the Christmas season approaches, it would be great to incorporate some of these ingredients and seasonings into the traditional meal to spice things up a bit.

1. Coriander

2. Whole cloves

3. Whole or ground allspice

4. Curry powder

5. Freshly grated nutmeg

6. Grated coconut and coconut milk

7. Trader Joe's masala simmer sauce (I know, it's a brand, but I just had to put it on the list, its just that good and versatile.) :)

8. Thai red curry sauce and red curry powder

9. Fruit especially pineapple and anything 'citrusy'-canned, pre-cut, and dried fruit works well

10. Jerk seasoning

11. Yogurt for wonderful ethnic sauces and marinades with an added flare

12. Honey

13. Soy sauce

14. Fish sauce

15. Ginger

16. Couscous

17. Hummus

18. Cumin

19. Chipotle peppers

20. Turmeric

When introducing a new ingredient to your cooking or putting a different spin to a more familiar one, slow and steady is the rule. Take a meal you usually prepare and make a subtle change. For example, in the case of beef stew, a simple upgrade could be adding a piece of ginger in the pot. And why not try lamb the next time?

Finding the exotic in a dish is as simple as going to your pantry, that is if it is stocked up with the right ingredients.

Kitchen Pizzazz, Creating A Kitchen Oasis

A kitchen and eating space make or break a meal experience, whether that meal is being prepared from scratch or simply being warmed in the microwave or stove and placed on a plate. Great kitchen features include beautiful and plentiful counter space, high quality cutlery and appliances, beautiful plates and cookware, and a stylish, functional fridge and stove unit.

My own personal kitchen is a reasonable size for NYC standards at least. I live in an apartment unit, so the amount of upgrades I can actually do to the kitchen is limited. However, I’ve tried a number of small cosmetic changes including adding ‘food theme’ pictures to the walls’, adding the word ‘Cucina’ above the doorway to the kitchen.




There is also color everywhere, including decorative eating ware; and off course a message board.






These very subtle changes really have made a difference in the way I feel when I’m in that space. Next up is to put colors on the walls.

But I’ve looked at enough kitchen makeover shows to know that having a truly beautiful ‘dream kitchen” space costs a pretty penny. I guess that’s why they call it a ‘dream’ kitchen.

HGTV Kitchen Inspiration ( On a Budget)





But whether you’re an apartment dweller or house owner, subtle changes similar to the ones I’ve mentioned and some of those you've seen, can still make a noticeable difference.

Here are some more suggestions:

• Use bistro-like, colorful pictures to decorate the walls

• Use accents of color throughout the kitchen-a decorative plate as the backdrop against neutral surfaces or colorful appliances for eg.

• Adopt some type of theme for the look of the kitchen, for example, a country theme, ‘shabby-chic’ theme, ‘French Bistro’ theme, ‘Tuscan kitchen’ theme etc.

• If you have a few food personalities you admire, put a couple pictures of them on the walls as well.

• Have a small shelf or area with a cookbook display whether or not you use them.

• Get some color on the walls. White is so blah..blah.

• Focus on convenience. Having a well stocked kitchen makes actually using and enjoying your kitchen an easier task. Even if you are someone who barely cooks a meal, on the few occasions that you do decide to whip up something quick, lack of or poor quality kitchen tools may stop you dead in your tracks. If you’re lucky enough to have that special someone cook dinner, the quality of the meal you can expect is probably proportional to the quality of cooking aids you have to offer them. For the cook, you already know how attractive a well stocked kitchen is.

So go ahead and make your kitchen a great place to be, by adding a little pizzazz.