Frequently enough, when you are trying to get dinner on the table, you’ll find you have forgotten to buy something. Or you discover you’ve run out of an ingredient. What to do?
Wing it! Most recipes can be modified in many ways and still produce a winning dish. Your changes may even make the dish more to your liking! And you’ll find yourself purposely repeating the new recipe the next time you prepare the same meal.
Here’s a few of our common replacers for those uh-oh moments:
Honey for Corn Syrup: We have an aversion to HFCS in products we buy, but many cookbooks call for it in their baking recipes. Honey can be used one-for-one for corn syrup!
Corn Meal and Wheat Germ for Bread Crumbs: Of course, it is pretty easy to make bread crumbs by toasting your favorite bread and running it through a box grater. But if you are out of bread, or pressed for time, a mixture of corn meal and Wheat Germ will give you an approximation of the taste and texture of breadcrumbs for most purposes. You can also use ground up boxed cereal flakes as all or part of your substitution.
Wheat Berries/ Barley/ Rice: For many purposes you can switch these items up and still have a delicious meal. In soups, pilaf, and in home-made veggie burgers—you’ll notice the difference, for sure. But these substitutions can produce tasty changes to your typical final dish.
Walnuts for Other More Expensive Nuts: Many nuts have a similar texture. Feel free to make pesto with walnuts, if you can’t afford pine nuts. Or use walnuts instead of pecans to make cookies or muffins.
Don’t panic the next time you turn to your cabinet and find that you are missing an ingredient! You can still have a delicious dinner, on time.