Remixing to the Max

**A brief prelude: I will be in sunny California later this week (woo!), so I am posting early this week. I’m pressed for time and so this may be uncharacteristically brief, but I’m determined to stick to my one post a week resolution. Enjoy!**

I consider myself a woman of many talents. Cooking is not one of them.

The circumstances in which I found this out were rather extenuating. The first time in my life I had to regularly cook for myself was while I was studying abroad in Sweden, and therefore my first serious shopping trips were to stores where I could not read the labels on the food. This led to trouble from the beginning; on my first try, I accidentally bought some horsemeat.

Things did improve from there a bit – I learned to stick to what I know and mastered most of the Swedish food vocabulary. I remember distinctly the first time I tried to make a real meal. It consisted of chopped potatoes that I cooked in the microwave, covered in browned hamburger meat, and topped off with some cheese, chopped tomatoes, and salt and pepper. It was rather bland, but edible, and I dubbed the dish “Katie Doesn’t Know How to Cook.” It made many appearances during my time abroad, but it never got any fancier. For over five months, I survived on this dish, pasta, ham sandwiches, and frozen meatballs.

My return to the states was a relief in the food department, and over the past few years, I have honed my cooking skills a bit. I started out following recipes to the letter. My first roommate in Chicago used to make fun of my extensive use of measuring cups. I left nothing to chance. I eventually loosened up a bit, writing notes in my cookbooks about how I thought the recipe could be tweaked or improved. I graduated from a four-ingredient cookbook to a full-fledged “What’s For Dinner?” book, and even dabbled in grilling and slow-cooking. (In fact, I ADORED my crock pot.)

Everything usually turned out ok, but nothing was gourmet by any means. There was nothing I did particularly well, nothing I would repeatedly make for company. Many people have at least one signature dish that they always fall back on; my mother has her chicken and stuffing casserole, and my former roommate has her chili or lasagna. But I had no signature and didn’t expect to ever have one. I’d be better off taking company out to dinner.

So, I just stuck to my recipes. For a very, very long time, I was completely dependent on them. I didn’t know any by memory, and never really tried putting things together unless some book told me to do so. But now that I live on my own, there are occasions when I find myself with a bunch of random ingredients in my cupboard that need using. I’ve been trying lately to just put them together in ways that sound good and see what happens.

For instance, a few weeks ago I had half a box of rice, a pound of hamburger, and some ranch seasoning mix. When I went to the grocery store, I bought a can of diced tomatoes and peppers. I browned the hamburger with the ranch mix, let it simmer with the tomatoes, and served it over the rice with some snow peas on the side. It didn’t have the most appetizing look, but it tasted fine, and even had a little more kick than most of the things I make. I was quite satisfied and maybe a little proud as I ate it.

As I reheated a portion of the dish a few days later, something occurred to me. I stared down at the plate and thought to myself, oh good Lord, you know what this is? I began to laugh. It’s Katie Doesn’t Know How to Cook: The Remix. It is! Swap out the microwaved potatoes for some brown rice, and the salt and pepper for some ranch seasoning mix, and it’s the exact same dish, just classed up a bit.

Truthfully, I would never serve Katie Doesn’t Know How to Cook to company, not even in it’s remix form. But who knows. Maybe someday I will have a signature dish after all.