When it comes to cooking and eating, I’ll try just about anything once. But before trying it again, I ask myself one question,
Is it worth it?
Take today for instance; we were out for lunch with friends and happened upon the coolest old-school diner. The menu boasted about their world-famous cheeseburgers and hand-cut fries. I really, really wanted that cheeseburger and fries. Now, had this had been any other ‘McRestaurant, it wouldn’t have been worth it. But something about this place told me it would be, so I went for it. It was worth it.
I apply this same philosophy when cooking. While there is no doubt that almost everything made-from-scratch tastes better, I have come to discover that for some things, it just isn’t worth it-in terms of time, taste, and/or cost. Things like (don’t start throwing tomatoes)
Chicken stock, pie crust, pizza dough, basic cake mix and icing, barbecue sauce, coleslaw mix (not the dressing, just the veggies), rotisserie chicken, ravioli, pierogis, and hummus…just to name a few.
But don’t think for a minute that I just dump those pret-a-manger items onto a serving platter and call it a day. I always doctor them up a bit and make them unique enough to call them my own. Such as shredding the rotisserie chicken into a sauce pan along with the barbecue sauce for sloppy pulled-chicken sandwiches.
Or adding a mashed avocado and a tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt into a cup of my favorite brand of salsa for a delicious and healthy appetizer that my guests always rave about.
Or pressing an entire tube of pre-made cookie dough into a pie plate and creating a super-fast, super-delicious, and super-impressive warm dessert to serve at a dinner party along with vanilla ice cream. And because it came out of your oven, and is in your pie plate, who can deny that it’s home made. And totally worth it.
So now that I’ve shared my dark and dirty culinary secrets with you, share yours with me: what time-saving tricks do you turn to in the kitchen using pre-made foods?