Most anyone can follow a recipe. But what if you don't like certain aspects of the recipe? What if you want to make the recipe a little healthier? Altering a recipe can be daunting. It can be difficult to know which parts of the recipe can be changed without causing disastrous results. At least, it was for me when I first started cooking. Can I use a different meat, cheese, vegetable, amount or add in a different spice? Will those changes work with the other components of the recipe? Will changing one ingredient necessitate a change in or addition of other ingredients? Why even bother thinking about this? Screw creativity, I'm just going to cook the recipe as is! Maybe you don't have these thoughts when you want to change a recipe, but if you do...here is my advice: ).
My example recipe is from Campbell's kitchen. Here is the original. . .
Beef Taco Skillet
1 pound ground beef
1 can (Campbell's) Condensed Tomato Soup
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup water
6 flour tortillas (6 inch, cut into 1 inch pieces)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Brown beef over medium-high heat, pour off any fat. Stir in soup, salsa, water and tortillas, heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes. Stir in cheese and serve.
I made this recipe, as is, several times before I tried to change it. I think this is a good idea. Why? Making a recipe allows you to get to know the recipe and its flavor profile. I feel this makes it easier to alter, even if you just make it once. Anyway...back to the original recipe. It was great! Easy, quick and tasted pretty darn good too. Why did I want to change it? I felt it could be made healthier without losing flavor. Luckily, I was correct: )
First Alteration Attempt
I decided the first change that needed to be made was the meat. Ground beef has great flavor, but even extra lean ground beef isn't as healthy as ground turkey. At first, I tried just changing that and nothing else. Straight substitution. The result was fine, but the flavor was seriously lacking. I made a mental note of the lack of flavor for the next alteration attempt.
Second Alteration Attempt
I decided to use a taco seasoning packet to flavor the turkey. I made the taco meat as per the directions and then followed the rest of the original recipe. This version of the recipe was over-seasoned. The flavor of the salsa was completely overpowered by the taco turkey. Also, I realized that the flour tortillas could probably be substituted for whole grain tortillas.
Third Alteration Attempt
For the third alteration attempt I decided that I liked the idea of using taco seasoning for the turkey, but didn't want to use a whole packet of taco seasoning. Instead, I just used spices from my spice rack to make my own version of taco seasoning. I happened to know what spices are normally in taco seasoning because I make taco seasoning at work a lot. Had I not known, Google is an excellent resource for figuring out what is in different seasoning groups: ). Also, for this attempt at the recipe I used the whole grain tortillas instead of flour and I used half the amount of cheddar cheese. This version was a definite success. The meat was seasoned but the salsa and tomato soup flavor not overpowered. The whole grain tortillas were actually better than the flour ones because they didn't end up at all mushy. The missing cheddar cheese was not noticeable.
Directions for the Turkey Taco Skillet
1 pound ground turkey
about 2ish tablespoons homemade taco seasoning (proportions below)
1 can (Campbell's) Condensed Tomato Soup
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup water
6 whole wheat tortillas (6 inch, cut into 1 inch pieces)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Brown turkey over medium-high heat with taco seasoning, pour off any fat. Stir in soup, salsa, water and tortillas, heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes. Stir in cheese and serve.
Taco Seasoning
4 parts chili powder
4 part cumin
2 parts dehydrated onion (or .25 parts onion powder)
2 parts garlic powder
1 part oregano
1 part cayenne pepper
1 part salt
a little bit of black pepper
Note: You can use this taco seasoning recipe (which is similar to my work one) or you can do what I do, which is just shake different seasonings over the meat until it smells right: )
Another general note: If you want to just play around with spices in the kitchen and are a little intimidated, there is an easy way to figure out if a spice will work in a dish. It may seem (and look) a little ridiculous but I like to hold an open spice jar over the dish that I am making and smell them together. If they smell good, I add the new spice in (in small amounts, tasting as I go). If they smell bad, I skip that spice and try another one.
Questions? Let me know! I'll try to check the comments everyday: )
This is very helpful!
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