Are You In A Cooking Rut?

Due to several jumbled-up reasons, I have been in a terrible cooking rut lately. What does that mean? I have been relying on the same handful of recipes over and over again. No creativity. No surprises. No new ingredients. No culinary adventure.

Well, I say enough!

If you're having the same problem, or just want to spice things up (literally or figuratively), join me in getting back into the swing of kitchen fun! Start today by using this guide to plan the next week of meals.

Sunday: Put together a slow-cooker meal that will be ready when you get home from church.

Monday: Plan an entire meal using just your grocery store's sale paper. You'll save a bucket of money and use some ingredients you might not normally choose.

Tuesday: Make putting dinner together a family affair. Choose the menu together, assign tasks and spend the entire time in the kitchen as a family.

Wednesday: Dig out an old cookbook (you know you've got tons) and make something you've never ever tried before. Experiment and get out of your comfort zone.

Thursday: Pull out an old standby recipe and drastically change something about it. Change the types of cheese, or meat, or pasta that you use. If you normally bake it, grill it. If you serve it over something, serve it over something else. Make it so that no one would ever guess it was the same recipe.

Friday: Make it "Just The Opposite Day." If you normally go out on Friday night for dinner, stay in. If you normally stay in on Friday night, go out.

Saturday: Pantry and refrigerator raid. After everything you've made this week, you'll have some great leftovers. Set up a buffet on the kitchen counter and let everyone dig in.

Now that you have ideas rolling around in your head, put together a shopping list and pull out those great cookbooks. Spend the next week remembering what it is that you love about cooking.

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