{"id":4669,"date":"2021-12-27T11:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=4669"},"modified":"2021-12-27T11:17:02","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T17:17:02","slug":"culinary-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/culinary-adventures\/","title":{"rendered":"Culinary Adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As we prepare for a new year, it\u2019s a great time to formulate\na plan for culinary adventures. Flight cancellations, staff shortages, and\neverchanging risk assessments may keep many of us home off-and-on in 2022.\nCulinary adventures are a great way to counter the monotony that comes with\nisolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For me, exploring new tastes seems like a natural\nprogression of adapting to the past two years. I\u2019m already experiencing changes\nin what appeals. The clothes I bought just prior to the pandemic suddenly feel\nwrong. They haven\u2019t changed. Styles haven\u2019t changed that much. But I have\nchanged. That sometimes means changes in meal choices too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only have my preferences shifted, much has changed: the\nflow of my workday, the price of takeout, and the availability of food\nfavorites. Together these create the perfect environment for exploring\nsomething new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"675\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-675x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4674\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-675x450.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-338x225.jpg 338w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/c2tblog-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/muffin-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What does a culinary adventure look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It will be different for everyone. And that\u2019s the great\npart! It can be whatever you want it to be. Here are a few possibilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>A Trip Around the World \u2013 Prepare favorite dishes from many countries. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>This can be a great family activity. Decide how often you\u2019ll prepare one of these meals (once a week, once a month\u2026) and put it on everyone\u2019s calendar. <\/li><li>Get a laminated world map and a dry erase marker. Draw a path across the continents, choosing specific countries along the way. Pick enough for 6 months or a year at your chosen interval.<\/li><li>Have the kids research the chosen locations. Use this research to determine what dish or dishes you\u2019d like to prepare. <\/li><li>Locate recipes and gather the ingredients.<\/li><li>Prepare and serve the dish(es).<\/li><li>Include the history you\u2019ve learned about your chosen meal in dinnertime conversation.<\/li><li>Have a scoring system so you can compare favorites later.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>One Pot or Pan Meals \u2013 Challenge yourself, or your household, to use leftovers to create a one pot meal each week.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are already in the habit of doing this, change things\nup by buying new spice blends and trying unusual combinations. The Flavor Bible\ncan be a great tool to guide your choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can make this a more specific challenge by creating only\nsoups, only salads, or only sandwiches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Pasta Pairing \u2013 Prepare pasta with many different sauces and toppings.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Change up the pasta itself by making it yourself or choose some made from unusual ingredients or in interesting <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"shapes (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.delish.com\/uk\/food-news\/g31017969\/pasta-shapes\/\" target=\"_blank\">shapes<\/a>. <\/li><li>Explore no sauce, red sauce, cream sauce, cheese sauce, mushroom sauce, etc.<\/li><li>Use a variety of meat and\/or vegetables in combination with each of the sauces. Try combos you\u2019ve never tried before. A search of restaurant menus or online recipes can help spark ideas.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Featured Ingredient \u2013 Choose a specific ingredient and build a dish or menu around it.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This can be something simple that you always eat made or\nserved in new, creative ways. We get in such a habit of cooking things in the\nsame manner, a few simple changes can brighten up the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Consider turning peanuts into Pad Thai or peanut butter into Satay Sauce.<\/li><li>Stuff red bell peppers with spaghetti and meatballs.<\/li><li>Serve cheese all day in ways you don\u2019t normally serve it \u2013 baked into a pastry for breakfast, as <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"soup (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.landolakes.com\/recipe\/20685\/wisconsin-cheese-soup\/\" target=\"_blank\">soup<\/a> for lunch, in cheesy baked rice for dinner, and in a blintz for dessert.<\/li><li>Use chocolate for something other than dessert. Make it part of your appetizers by dipping strawberries in it or adding it to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"bacon wrapped dates (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ambitiouskitchen.com\/bacon-wrapped-dark-chocolate-goat-cheese-stuffed-dates\/\" target=\"_blank\">bacon wrapped dates<\/a>.  Make it part of your entr\u00e9e by making a mole sauce or dusting your steak with cocoa. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Change Your Environment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps you don\u2019t even need to change the food to change its\nimpact. Experiment with the environment instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Serve the very same dish but change the background music. Next time, change the tablecloth or the china. Serve it again outside on paper plates. Add fresh flowers. Change the lighting. Make the room hotter or colder. Then try different combinations of all of these. <\/li><li>Make notes after each meal to determine the environmental factors that create the best experience for each person in the family. Ambiance will affect some more than others.  This can be a fun experiment for learning about each other. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Any culinary adventure can be tailored to fit your family and the choices are limitless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating culinary adventures can be fun. It can be a great\nfocus for family time. And it can help break the monotony when staying at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As we prepare for a new year, it\u2019s a great time to formulate a plan for culinary adventures. Flight cancellations, staff shortages, and everchanging risk assessments may keep many of us home off-and-on in 2022. Culinary adventures are a great way to counter the monotony that comes with isolation. For me, exploring new tastes seems &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/culinary-adventures\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Culinary Adventures&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[792,9],"tags":[208,3052,3135,3137,3136,3138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4669"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4675,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4669\/revisions\/4675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}