Life’s Questions: What’s For Dinner?

Studio 5 Contributor Laura Wolford says that a little creativity is the most important ingredient you need to be able to tackle the daily grind of fixing dinner.

When you meet up with your fridge or cupboard each afternoon and try to come up with some new and creative idea about what to make for dinner, it doesn’t have to be a battle of wills. Using a little creativity and a couple key steps will help anyone create a great dinner with just about any ingredients they have.

1. Get Your Inspirations Ingredient(s)
Identify a key ingredient that you are trying to use. It could be a can of olives or a jar of peanut butter or some capers or fresh oranges. Think of all the possibilities that could come from that one ingredient.

2. Pick your main course or meat. It might be a leftover you’re trying to use up, or some fresh hamburger or chicken. But pick what will likely be the center of the meal.

3. Determine your plan of attack. What kind of meal do you want to do? Will it be Italian, or Indian or Asian? What are the spices you have? What other supplemental ingredients can you draw from?
These steps don’t have to always be done in this order. You could reverse them if you wanted. But once you have determined these three steps, the hard part is over.

Laura has created a recipe card resource. It lists different spices and supplemental ingredients that will go well with various types of foods.

Pick your plan of attack from the card, and then add some of the ingredients from that list.