Recipe cooking ideas for the adventurous but infrequent cook

With little extra time available, frozen dinners and the take-outs are tempting and sometimes necessary choices. Many of us make such convenience foods the norm. Even though we may long for a home-cooked meal, busy lives have wreaked havoc with the long-cherished tradition called home cooking.

As a result, many modern women have not a clue about the art of cooking and regard recipe cooking as a difficult and antiquated activity. Other women just plain dislike cooking on a regular basis, but would still like to have the wherewithal to whip up a cheesecake or a roast with gravy every now and again. If this describes your take on cookery, let's see how you can revive the art of cooking, armed only with curiosity and adaptable recipe cooking ideas.

It's certain that you've tasted a dish or two in your restaurant adventures that you wish you could recreate at home. Let's say you ordered Sauerbraten at a fine German restaurant. It was fabulous - and fabulously expensive, but you loved every last bite. Can you recreate this heavenly dish at home? Of course you can. Just find an authentic German cooking site, go to the library or used bookstore. You'll find the list of ingredients is lengthy, but this seemingly impossible cooking recipe only asks that you mix up a marinade, put it in a bag with the meat, turn it several times over a few days and then roast. So go wow your friends!

If you enjoy cooking, but aren't an expert, don't let that deter you from some great cooking experiences. Most cooking recipes are inherently flexible. Approach cooking with confidence. For example, substitutions of vegetables in casserole dishes are perfectly OK. Is veal scallopini a bit pricey for your budget? Try revising your recipe, using boneless pork chops or chicken breasts, pounded paper thin with a tenderizing mallet. Clam chowder can just as easily be shrimp chowder.

When it comes to baking, recipes require more caution, particularly with flour, leavenings and sugar. You can sometimes substitute brown sugar or honey for white sugar, but the resulting texture will be different.

A little experimentation, replicating a restaurant dish or adding water chestnuts to your fried rice recipe adds to the fun and increases your repertoire. You'll find that some of your experimental recipe cooking produces new family favorites. Bon Appetit!