Guest Blogger: Mara Part 2

I’m so excited to be doing another guest post for Love Of Oats! I asked around on my blog, What’s For Dinner, about what I should write this post about, and most people said something to the extent of “How do you come up with such great recipes all the time?”  I thought this would be a great place to answer that question!

Growing up, my mom always cooked, my grandma always cooked…and neither of them ever measured. I knew that part of it was that they knew their recipes like the back of their hands, but part of it was that they both knew combos of spices that will always work well together.  For example: a combination of garlic, onion, olive oil, and oregano will make for a great seasoning on most meat for an Italian flavor.

As I’ve learned about cooking more and more over the years, I’ve learned that there are more combos than just the garlic/olive oil combo to make the “What’s for dinner?” question into an answer. Many times, my “recipes” start out as a combination of random ingredients that should taste good together and then I’ll go back later to write an actual recipe for my readers. My go-to combinations tend to be:

· Chili powder, cumin, onion, garlic, green peppers, and tomatoes to create a Mexican-inspired dish.

· Garlic, olive oil, onion, oregano, and sometimes rosemary to create an Italian-inspired dish.

· Sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce, heat (like sriracha) and sweet (honey or Splenda®) to create an Asian-inspired sauce. More soy makes for a more Chinese flavor, more heat and sesame oil for Thai.

· Curry powder, garam masala, paprika, cumin, and high cooking temps to create an Indian-inspired or Tandoori-style dish

I’ll start with these combos on my protein of choice for the meal (whether it’s tofu, chicken, beef, or even beans) and add whatever vegetables I have on hand to create a (usually delicious) meal. My fiancé said that 95% of my meals are fantastic, and the other 5% are just edible. I consider the 5% of “just edible” meals a failure because I know I can do better…and those meals, the next time I make them, I’ll edit my spice combo to start with, and go from there.

I hope this was a somewhat helpful post for you to get your noses out of recipe books and into your spice cabinets and creating new recipes!