So, it’s time for dinner and I had no idea what to make. Found a polish sausage and sliced it, dropped it in a pan with some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and some red wine vinegar and let that fry on a low heat. Sliced and chopped some onion, grape tomatoes and mushrooms and added it to the pan. Ok… what next, what’s in the pantry that can go with this… hmm… egg noodles… drop those in some water and cook away… now what? Looks okay so far, but… hey, what’s this… a can of cream of mushroom soup… opened that baby and added it to the heating mixture of meats and veggies. Spiced it up with some salt and pepper, drained the noodles and served hot with bread and butter.

Somehow there was nothing left by the time dinner was over so I’m guessing it wasn’t too bad. I believe the term used here was Fabu. This means I watch WAY too much Rachel Ray. ?

But how often does this happen to people? How often do you walk into your kitchen to feed yourself or your family and look at what could be massive amounts of food, a full pantry and fridge and still have no idea what to cook? Too many options? Too few? Want a simple meal or complex? The above took about twenty minutes by the way.

How often have you gone into the kitchen to make dinner and wondered what the heck to do with that you have to cook? How often do you try and experiment with flavors? For some people, cooking is a pleasure better than anything deep fried and covered in chocolate. For some, it’s a stressful situation where everything must be laid out and the recipe at hand. Me, I can go both ways, which is why I hate cooking for the holidays.

But there’s hope for the recipe impaired: All Recipes is a website that allows a user to tell it what is in the cupboard and it will come up with a recipe from its databases that uses those ingredients. Even better, you can get the recipes adjusted for how many servings are needed. Sounds like making that thanksgiving stuffing for 40 just got easier.

How do you handle your pantry pondering? Have you discovered anything incredible or have you suffered a cooking disaster? Come share your recipes, successes and failures with us. And next time I’ll share a flavor nightmare.