Your Own Spin

It's always fun to come up with a new recipe. Yet to create a dish from scratch can be time consuming It.can  be done,   just by   takin g a  boxed or canned food and putting your own personal touches on them. It's a way of jazzing up plain food as well as adding spark to a meal or dessert.

This is a not a new concept. Chefs Sandra Lee and Jamie Oliver have recommended using boxed, canned or bottled foods for easy cooking for the past fifteen years. Chef Lee has had much success with this, as she creates cakes using Duncan Hines or Pilsbury mixes. She even frosts the finished products with canned icing. It's nothing to be ashamed of; home chefs have been doing this for over a century with earlier generations embracing tomato soup, flaked coconut and tinned pineapple .Desserts are the most generous. A plain chocolate cake mix can be turned into a Rocky Road treat just by adding any kind of nuts  chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. That same cake can also be turned into a coolly elegant dessert simply by adding a few drops of mint flavoring . Ice cream can get personalized by adding a cup of peanut butter or  pureed berries  Just make sure that the ice cream is soft when mixing. It can be returned to the freezer afterwards. Those no bake pie kits are blank canvasses. A cheese cake can be turned into something special with a tinned fruit topping like raspberry or strawberry.

Savory  foods can also be zinged up with some additions. One of my favorites, Stovetop Stuffing can be customized any way.Sage  can be added for more flavor, orr sweetness toss in a scant tablespoon of  dried cranberries. A favorite quick meal. is store bought fresh sliced  turkey with jarred gravy. I then make the stuffing and later assemble as a kind of open faced hot sandwich.It beats a wimpy slice of bread and is more substantial. Another easy dish is beans and rice. Try the Uncle Ben's rice cups. Use any of Goya's beans and mix You can add cilantro sliced onion and garlic. Bean salad is also a fun and easy side even now during the cold weather.The plain hot dog is another versatile food that can jazzed up.Before grilling split them down the middle . After    they are  done add anything from sharp cheddar to chili . Even better  a a sriracha sauce to liven them up.

It's OK to used mixes and prepared foods. All it takes is one personal spin to make it your own. Add a dash of that or a pinch of this and you;ve got a dish with your signature on it.