Cooking Crutch Confession

So I was making a sort of cobbled-together lunch this weekend and opened the cabinet to look for seasonings. My hand went to the herbes de Provence without even a thought. That reminded me of a conversation I had not too long ago with my friend Leuwam where I said something about putting herbes de Provence in some dish or another. She laughed and called that my “signature spice.”

It was nice of her to say that and not say, “Dude of course you used herbes de Provence you put that stuff in ever.y.thing!” But just now in the kitchen I realized that it’s so true. Not just that, I have a few other things that I rely on heavily when I’m cooking. If I run out of too many of these ingredients, pulling dinner together goes from a snap to a thought experiment. So here are the ten things in my pantry that I can hardly cook without:

1. Herbes de Provence – Right, of course. Enough said.
2. Nutritional Yeast – It doesn’t really matter if I’ve made a shepherd’s pie or a veggie roast, my instinct is to top everything with these amazing, cheesy flakes!
3. Sriracha Chili Sauce – See #2.
4. Olive Oil – I’ve even been known to use this in cupcakes. They say you shouldn’t, but no one has complained yet!
5. Tahini – Man, fry up some veggies or bake a potato and top them with tahini, nutritional yeast, and some Siracha, and dinner is ready! See what I mean? I have a problem.
6. Potatoes – Oh, mighty potato! I love you as an oven fry or in a veggie roast or curry. Or baked. Or mashed. You get the idea.
7. Dried, minced garlic – So here’s a confession within a confession. Half the time, I don’t chop up a fresh clove but instead reach for my container of the dried stuff. Don’t confuse this with garlic powder. Garlic powder is an inferior product. It’s got to be minced.
8. Greens – They could be of the salad or the dark, leafy variety. It doesn’t feel like a meal without something green happening. Which really brings me to my next crutch.
9. Kraft Cucumber Ranch – Salads in my house have not been the same since discovering Cucumber Ranch. It’s also awesome for dipping…pretty much everything. Especially tofu wings, which I have just noticed I never posted a recipe for. We’ll get that rectified in the next week or so, I promise!
10. Veganaise – Not Nayonaise. Not some other fake mayo. It’s got to be Veganaise. My Fegg Salad Sammiches would not be the same without it.

OK, so there you have it. It’s a little embarrassing now that I read it over, but that’s never stopped me from posting things to the internet before! So….do you guys have cooking crutches? I showed you mine, is all I’m trying to say here.

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