How to be creative in the kitchen with limited ingredients

I don’t know about you, but the stores near me still out of tons of stuff. We’ve also tightened our food budget, and so sometimes I just don’t have all the ingredients I need for a particular recipe. Sometimes when I look in the cupboard it doesn’t look like there’s anything that actually goes together (peanut butter and black beans…yummmmmy). But I still love cooking, so the pandemic has actually done wonders for my creativity in the kitchen. I had some moms mention they were facing similar challenges, so I thought I’d share a few things that have worked for me!

Here’s how I get creative with limited ingredients.

Start with one ingredient

Sometimes it doesn’t even look like I have anything that would go together. When this happens, I pick one ingredient I do have, and go from there. The other day I had completely forgotten to order groceries, but we had a gazillion sweet potatoes leftover. Sweet potato fries – my go to – don’t really count as a full meal but I had just seen a sweet potato pancake recipe somewhere on Instagram. Even though I couldn’t find the recipe, it’s pancakes – it couldn’t be that hard? So, I checked what else I had in the fridge - cheese, eggs, parsley, some leftover rice… No breadcrumbs but I did have some polenta, and that’s kind of like the corn meal people use to fry or bake stuff in? It took about four tries of adding a little of this, a little of that, but the end result was actually incredible. When I got stuck, I googled recipes until I found something either with enough ingredients that I had on hand, or enough things that I had substitutions for. Speaking of…

Substitutions are queen

I used to have to follow a recipe exactly. No parmesan cheese, and that’s what the recipe calls for?! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Now I see shortages as opportunities to create something new. Does it always come out perfectly? Nope. But sometimes I stumble on something even better, and what I learn by trying is super helpful for the future. So, when I was making a roasted cauliflower dish that called for hazelnuts and all I had was cashews, that’s what I used. No Worcestershire? Try soy sauce, a little lemon or cider vinegar, and a dash of hot sauce.  No sour cream? We use greek yogurt. Not sure what to use? Google is my BFF for substitutions. You can even substitute entire sections of a recipe if you need to. About a month ago, every store was out of ricotta cheese, and I had a dozen lasagnas to make and deliver to families. Ricotta is a staple in my lasagna recipe! Instead, I asked another lasagna mama for her bechamel recipe to use. Molto buono!

Spices, spices, and more spices

Spices can make even the most boring dish exciting. You can use whatever you have in your cupboard - my husband will put garlic salt and Cholula on anything - or check out these 3 spice blends to make ahead and always have on hand. Have some broccoli? Toss it with olive oil and a spice blend and bake it, fry it, or chop it and put it in a quesadilla. Chicken? Let it sit in a Ziploc with a spice blend and marinate for 30 minutes. Add a spice blend to sour cream or Greek yogurt and boom: a dip or topping. The right spice mix can turn just about anything into a gourmet meal.

The ultimate tip? Patience and self-forgiveness

I’ve had some complete duds during quarantine as well. Sweet potato hash? Not a winner. Even Slava wouldn’t eat it, and he eats everything. But I’ve also discovered some incredible new recipes and some wonderful new chefs to follow. More importantly, perhaps, is that I’ve learned to just go with the flow, be forgiving, and not beat myself up when something doesn’t go well. As my family can tell you, that’s probably been the pandemic cooking lesson that’s had the biggest impact on me.