I grew up eating almost the same thing every week. SERIOUSLY, I am not joking. My Mother is just not much of a cook and she just may think that spices are the work of everything evil on this earth. Plus, she’s just not that into cooking. Baking is another story!

She did an incredible job of teaching me the basics and don’t the basics give you a start to any recipe? I consider recipes to just be a starting point. This is someone else’s version of what I want to eat. I rarely make the recipe the exact same twice if it’s printed. Because I had to tweak something and make it my own.

Those few recipes my Mom made? The funny thing is, I make many of those same recipes now. I just have really expanded on them. There are many ways to expand on your usual recipes. You don’t have to stay in a favorite recipe rut. Even the hamburger gravy I grew up LOVING is served at my house with changes. I’ve added garlic, usually some mushrooms, and other spices depending on my mood.

The internet is obviously your friend or you wouldn’t have found us here at Mom Chats. So use it! Search online for your normal recipe and see what the different variations are. Sometimes just looking at a couple of other recipes for the same thing will get your mind flowing with other ideas.

Smell a spice. Literally. Do you have a recipe that just needs a little something different? Open your spice cabinet. Then go a step further and open your spice jars. I’ve literally started cooking and then grabbed jars, if it smells like it would work, I add a little dash of it. Experimenting is that simple. Add a little and taste a little. That is how all gourmet cooks figure out their recipes.

Take your same old recipes and give them a little kick. No one wants to eat the same thing everyday.