What's For Dinner?

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What’s For Dinner?
By: Karen A. Spencer- Food Information Consultant

Deciding what to cook for a meal can be challenging at times. Face it; it’s a weekly occurring event that you can only push off for so long before the hunger pangs set in.

Growing up, my meals were pretty methodical; seafood night on Wednesday, bean soup at least once a week, chicken in every form on Sunday. I often said “when I grow up, I am not going to cook the same thing twice.” I soon learned as an adult, that it wasn’t as easy as I thought to come up with 365 new meal options each year.

I can appreciate consistency in meal choices, especially if you work out of the home or have limited time for meal preparations. Knowing that a recipe works and your family enjoys it, takes the ‘guess work’ out of customer satisfaction. I do aim to have an extra special meal at least once a week. What makes it extra special varies; sometimes it’s a new dish or a variation of a dish, other times it’s the extra thought I put into setting the table.

I have a few tips for you to try, that aren’t likely to disrupt your schedule too much.
Why not:

Give your meal a make over. Change the look of your good ole faithful works every time meal. If it’s chicken with a blob of mash potatoes, try stacking it, garnish and serving with a sauce. Appearance goes a long way.

Garnishes- To save time, have a couple of garnish items (herbs, vegetables, etc.) already prepped in the fridge that you can grab. Make sure the garnish is visually appealing and compliments the dish’s flavor.

Sparkling Water- Take a sprig of mint and rub along the rim of the glass to release
the essential oil. Fill the glass with cold sparkling water; it’s very refreshing especially on a hot day.

Use menus to find new meal ideas- most restaurants have a fairly detailed description of a dish. Use the menus to get ideas for preparation methods and flavor combinations (I will hopefully write more about this at a later date).

Presentation- You don’t have to go out to buy any books or magazines just yet, find stock photos on the internet to get ideas for building a dish or table settings.