Food: Experimenting in the Kitchen

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Experimenting in the Kitchen
Saturday, November 19, 2005

By Christina VanGinkel

How often have you browsed through a magazine, saw a recipe that you thought your family would enjoy, only to never make it? On the other hand, maybe you started to make it, but when you discovered you were missing one of the ingredients, just stopped there and never went any further? That would pretty much sum up how I have approached recipes I have discovered through the years. Just the other day I saw what I thought would be a very quick meal, with nothing strange in the ingredients, and I told myself that for once, I was going to actually cook and serve the meal I had found. It was a basic ground beef dish, mixed with shredded cheese and some seasonings, and served over rice.

My first mistake was in telling my husband that I was going to make and serve this for dinner. His quick reply was that he does not like rice. Huh? He has eaten rice throughout our marriage, which at last count has spanned nearly a quarter of a century. He has eaten both seasoned rice and plain rice served as a side dish. He has even eaten rice at restaurants and other people's homes. So why would he tell me he does not like rice...simple really, because he does not like change. While the rice would not be anything new, nor would the ground beef or the cheese, the combination of the three things mixed together in the way the recipe I had found, was essentially, new to him.

In retrospect, I realized that this was the reason behind me always browsing new menu items, but never actually going through with the making of them. I knew that either my husband or youngest son would indelibly balk at one or all of the ingredients. Alternatively, they would balk at the combination of the ingredients, as was the case with this very simple main dish. At a loss to come up with why he did not want me to make the dish when pressed for more of a real reason, he immediately said the first thing that came to him, that he did not like rice. When I pointed out to him, just how often in reality, he does eat rice; he rescinded his comment and replied that he would try it if I made it.

Well, I made it, and guess what...not only did my husband like it, he asked for seconds. I never gave my son the option to question it. He also ate it and seemed to like it. When I asked during dinner if it was good, his only objection was that I should have made the individual servings bigger. I will take that as a compliment. If you find yourself shying away from trying new recipes, examine why that is. If you end up with the same conclusion I did, give the next recipe you come across a go. You and your family may be surprised that trying something new really is not bad. Actually, it can be delicious!

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