I rarely ever use measuring cups or spoons unless I am following someone else's recipe. So please bare with me in this blog because I'm going to estimate...a lot. The fun thing about cooking is you can take any recipe and adapt it to your families likes/dislikes. My husband doesn't like tomatoes, but he likes tomato sauce and ketchup. He also doesn't like mushrooms, brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, eggplant, collard greens, spinach, ok we could be here all day.
I love pepper, I use it in everything. If you're not a big pepper fan, or if you use it sparingly, use caution with my recipes. There are a few ingredients I love; pepper, cheese and butter. I really try to keep the butter to a minimum.
You can make a lot of substitutions to fit your needs
Salt: I always use Sea Salt instead of table salt. It's lower in sodium, but also in that salt flavor. So keep that in mind, you might need to add salt if you like it.
Pasta: I use an organic pasta. You can substitute whole wheat pasta or if you are gluten intolerant I like the Corn Pasta (it tends to hold up a little better); but you can also use Rice Pasta.
Milk: I use 2% milk and fat free milk. I don't mind using fat free milk to make a cheese sauce as long as I use the regular cheese. It's a compromise.
Butter: I like to use I can't believe it's not butter, or light or fat free promise. There are certain things that require real butter. For those things I will specify no substitutions. For everything else find a butter substitute or margarine that you like. They all taste a little different so go with something you like.
Flour: I use white all purpose flour in most things; but if you are gluten intolerant you can use corn flour, rice flour or tapioca flour. I have used all three before in dishes, and you can't taste the difference. Baking is another story. I haven't baked with them so do your research first.
Wine: Ok, there really is no substitute for wine. I live in PA where you can't buy wine in the stores. One day I was making a dish that called for wine. I had my little one with me so I didn't want to make a second stop at the wine store. I saw "non alcoholic wine" in the aisle so I tried it. The best tip I can give you on using alcohol to cook with....if you won't drink it DON'T cook with it.
I like to abbreviate my recipes:
C = Cup
T = Tablespoon
t = teaspoon
lb = Pound
oz = Ounce
So, this is the start. I'm going to try to keep this updated. If you try anything, please leave comments and let me know what you thought; or what you personally have added. Like I said, the fun part about cooking is making everything your own. Happy Cooking!
