Kitchen Staples I, The beginning...

What follows are many of the ingredients that I like to keep in my pantry and refrigerator. My kitchen staples, if you will. The list is wide and varied, but, if I have these items on hand, I know that I can make all kinds of other things. Keep in mind that most of these ingredients are in there because of their flexibility.  Your list will vary based on personal preference, taste, country of origin, availability, and dietary restrictions. The main idea with this post is to get you thinking about your kitchen staples and cooking in general. Personally, I believe there are some great premade sauces, marinades, and dressings out there, that I have no problem purchasing. Don't get me wrong, I almost always prefer scratch made things over store bought, but let's face it, we live busy lives and any short cut that doesn't sacrifice quality [Or has minimal effect on quality...] will do. So, here is my list of kitchen staples and why I keep them: [These are not in any particular order][Note: me and the Mizzrus don't eat much bread, pasta, or rice.]

Canned Diced Tomatoes. [Preferably low salt or sodium] I love these! They are so flexible. I've used them in soups, omelets, salads, tuna salad, and Italian red sauces. They can also be used in a variety of Mexican dishes ranging from sauces to salsas. I've even added them to frozen pizzas. The list is endless...

Canned Tuna. [In water] Personally, I love tuna. I can eat it straight out of the can. If you don't do seafood, like my Ex ["I don't want to eat anything that swims in its' own pee"] pass over this.  Canned tuna is great for sandwiches, lettuce wraps, stuffed and baked in a ripe tomato, topped with cheese. The list is endless. Bottom line: canned tuna is relatively low in calories and high in protein. [Depending what you add...]

Canned Mushrooms. [Small can, low salt preferable] These are great for sautéing to put on top of steaks or hamburgers. They are also great in omelets or scrambled eggs. They can substitute for fresh in a spinach salad, and even be added to store bought spaghetti sauce. 

Canned Black Beans. These can be added to salsas, served as a side, made into refried black beans, and added to chili.

Angel Hair pasta. Even though I said we don't eat many carbs, Angel Hair pasta is an exception, but we only have it maybe 3 times a month. This is great for "Sunday Gravy" [future post] or even a light pasta salad.

Premade Spaghetti Sauce. Once again, scratch made is always better, but, whether you like Prego, Great Value, Newman's, et al... Having a jar of premade sauce can make a satisfying dinner in a very short time.  Sure, it may need some "Doctoring" [Especially since we all know you need at least 3 days to make a great homemade sauce]

Canned Vegetables/Blends. Though fresh vegetables are best, and frozen Veggies are better than canned [less sodium] ,there is a place for canned. Whole Potatoes. These are so great to have because you can slice or dice for breakfast hash browns. You can cut into quarters and coat with olive oil, rosemary, seasoned salt, bake at 350 for 30- 45 minutes and have a great side, for just about any meal. There are certain brands [Glory Foods, Margaret Holmes], that have blends of things like red beans and rice, Hoppin' John, etc... If you get two cans of Red Beans and Rice and add a pre-cooked Kielbasa, sliced at a bias, you can have a nice, really quick meal. Sure, you could take an entire day of your weekend and make your own. But, if can do it quicker, and more simply, why not??? There's a difference between getting your family fed in a timely matter and engaging in your cooking endeavors....

Italian seasoning, and Basil. Though basil is in Italian seasoning, I like to have both. [Actually I have a problem with spices too.] Italian seasoning is good to add to store bought sauce, garlic bread, scrambled eggs, all kinds of things. Basil is good to add to all of the above [along with Italian seasoning] and frozen pizza. [Personally, I like Palermo thin crust pizza.] You can also take diced tomatoes[see above] basil, olive oil, diced tomato, balsamic vinegar and parmesean, to make a bruchetta topping.

Dijon Mustard/Mustard. Dijon is awesome for so many things. Deviled eggs, sandwiches, dressings, whatever.. I also like to have a stone ground mustard around.       

Hot Sauce. Being from the South, Texas Pete is supposed to be the "go to" sauce to "kick up" the heat in stuff, but  I , disagree. I like some of the sauces from Mexico, like Valentina, Cholula, and, Tapatio. They typically  have good heat, and a less vinegary taste than a lot of the domestic brands. I once tried to make my own sauce using the powder from some whole habeneros that I dried. Needless to say, after it melted the glass bowl I was mixing in, I decided to have the hazmat team remove the remainder. It was then that I decided that that idea might be revisited in future... [sometime after my eyebrows grow back]

To be continued in the next Post: Kitchen Staples II, Revenge of the Red Curry

Recipe-aholic. Some of my views on cooking

    In a previous post' [Cookbook-aholic. Damn you Betty Crocker] I shared my "problem" [Fetish really] with cookbooks. What I failed to disclose is that my "problem" is even worse than I originally led you to believe. For that, I must make amends. [I believe that is 1 of the 12 steps to recovery, though I suspect I am too far gone to ever change] I should have included recipes. You know the ones I mean. The little recipe cards at the grocery store, either in produce, or by the meat counter. [Bonus points if they have them both places] There are also the cards that they hand out when they are doing a sampling of some new product. The State Fair is also a great place to get recipe cards. You don't have to look very far to find a recipe. Newspapers, on boxes, in boxes, magazines.... They are everywhere, and I grab 'em, bring them home and put them on top of the microwave. Now you would think that the kitchen would be overflowing with recipe cards, but it isn't. It just occurred to me that the Mizzrus probably throws them out after a couple of days. The ironic [Sad and demented] thing about it is, I don't follow recipes. I collect all these cookbooks, and recipes, then don't follow them.[Does that seem like a problem to you???]

    Which leads me to share some of my thoughts on food with you today:

 We all have to eat to live. Food connects us to everyone else on the planet.

Historically, what we eat is based on where we live, socio-economic status [Google "High on the hog"], and  religion. [The Outback will not do very well in India]

Some of our best memories are based on something we ate, or the feelings we had with friends or family around the kitchen table.

Eating is one of the only things that we do on a daily basis that engages all of our senses. [Sex can do that too, but I don't have that on a daily basis. Your mileage may vary...]

Recipes are only a GUIDELINE. If you feel that whatever you are cooking will not be good unless you follow the recipe to the letter, then,  you my friend, are a Baker.

I believe that anyone who wants to, can be an accomplished cook.

Expect to fail. Mistakes will be made. Something will be over cooked, under cooked, over spiced, under spiced. Analyze what went wrong, remember what went right, and don't be too hard on yourself. Worst case scenario [other than a fire] you have to order take out.

Because we eat with our eyes too: Garnish your plates. I guarantee that even if you are having peas out of a can, fish sticks from the freezer, and instant mashed potatoes,  a garnish and artful arranging will make it taste better. Think fish sticks arranged like # and some dried parsley flakes on the potatoes.

    So folks, those are some of my thoughts on cooking. It is my hope that I can get you as excited about cooking as I am. In future posts I will share some of the things I'm "geeking out" on at the time. In the words of Bill Cosby on the Fat Albert show, "If you're not careful... You might just learn something...". Next post will probably be about my must have pantry items and possibly an introduction to Miso.

Questions, comments, or just to say "Hi"  rj.will3@hotmail.com