Okay, so I wanted to see if I could actually cook some decent meals using only 10 ingredients or less. I’m no chef, believe me, but I figured it couldn’t be that hard, right? So, I embarked on this little culinary adventure.
The Hunt for Recipes
First things first, I needed some recipes. I started by hitting up some of those recipe websites. I put “10-ingredient recipes” into the search bar. I wanted meals, not just, like, a side dish of steamed broccoli.
I bookmarked a bunch that looked promising and relatively easy.
Grocery Shopping Time
Next up, the grocery store. I made a list, sticking strictly to the ingredients in my chosen recipes. I didn’t want any impulse buys messing up my 10-ingredient rule. It was a surprisingly short list, which was kind of nice for a change.
Let’s Get Cooking (or Trying To)
I decided to start with a simple pasta dish. The recipe called for pasta (duh), garlic, olive oil, tomatoes, spinach, some herbs, salt, pepper, and… that was pretty much it! I already had some of those pantry staples, so it’s even easy to prepare.
- Boiling the Pasta: I got a big pot of water boiling and tossed in the pasta. Easy enough.
- Sautéing the Good Stuff: While the pasta was cooking, I chopped up the garlic and tomatoes. Heated up some olive oil in a pan and threw those in.
- Adding the Greens: Once the tomatoes softened a bit, I added the spinach and let it wilt down. It looked pretty sad and small at first, but it cooked down nicely.
- Seasoning Time: I sprinkled in the herbs, salt, and pepper. Gave it a good stir.
- Combining Everything: When the pasta was done (al dente, of course, because I’m fancy like that), I drained it and mixed it with the sauce.
The Taste Test
Honestly, it was pretty darn good! Simple, flavorful, and I didn’t even mess it up. It felt good to make something tasty without a million ingredients and a complicated recipe.
More Experiments
I tried a few other recipes throughout the week. some chicken with roasted vegetables, simple salad with a homemade vinaigrette. They weren’t all perfect, but I learned a lot, and I was surprised at how much you can do with just a few ingredients.
Final Thoughts
This whole 10-ingredient thing was a cool experiment. It made me realize that cooking doesn’t have to be super complicated to be delicious. It’s all about finding good, simple recipes and using fresh ingredients. I’ll definitely be keeping some of these recipes in my regular rotation. Maybe next, I should try 5 ingredients challenge?
