Okay, so I’ve been trying to get better at cooking, you know, actually making stuff instead of just throwing random things in a pan. And I found this whole thing about recipes with only 10 ingredients. Sounds easy, right? Less stuff to buy, less stuff to mess up. I figured, let’s give it a shot.
My 10-Ingredient Adventure Begins
First, I needed to find some recipes. I’m not gonna lie, I just Googled “recipes with 10 ingredients or less.” A bunch of stuff popped up, some looked alright, some looked… questionable. I decided to start with something simple: pasta. Everyone loves pasta, right?
I found this recipe for a creamy tomato and spinach pasta. Sounded good, looked easy enough. Here’s the rundown of what I grabbed:
- Pasta (duh)
- Canned diced tomatoes
- Fresh spinach
- Garlic
- Heavy cream
- Parmesan cheese
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Red pepper flakes (for a little kick)
The Cooking (and Minor Chaos)
So, I started by boiling the water for the pasta. That part was easy. While that was going, I chopped up the garlic. I always use more garlic than the recipe calls for, because, well, garlic is amazing.
Then, I heated some olive oil in a pan and tossed in the garlic. Let that sizzle for a bit, then added the diced tomatoes. I let that simmer for a while, stirring occasionally. I also threw in the red pepper flakes here. Because my tolerance for spicy levels is so high.
Once the sauce had thickened up a bit, I dumped in the spinach. It looked like a TON of spinach at first, but it wilted down pretty quickly. Then, I stirred in the heavy cream. It became this nice, pinkish color. Finally I grated in some Parmesan cheese, and added some salt and pepper. It’s very crucial to make it just right.
By this time, the pasta was done, so I drained it and mixed it into the sauce. Gave it a good stir to make sure everything was coated. And… that was it!
The Verdict
Honestly, it turned out pretty good! It was super easy to make, and it tasted way better than my usual thrown-together meals. The 10-ingredient thing really worked! It kept things simple, and I didn’t feel overwhelmed by a million steps and ingredients. I even made some notes and added the following into my own notebook.
I definitely gonna try more 10-ingredient recipes. It’s a good way to build up some cooking confidence without getting too crazy. Maybe next time I’ll try something with chicken… or maybe some cookies. It’s a fun experience and will continue on!
