The thing about being creative is that sometimes new inventions hit the mark and other times they miss by a mile. This is particularly obvious when it comes to cooking. I rarely use recipes and even when I do I tend to use them as guides or for inspiration rather than following them step by step. I adore leafing through cookbooks don't get me wrong, it's just that I tend to make my own concoctions from the ideas I come across, maybe because I am too lazy to be all that detail oriented or because I don't seem to ever have all the ingredients.
Last week I bought a cheap bag of avocados and then forgot about them until they were all on the verge of being past edible. What to do with a whole bag of avocados? BLT w/avo is a standard choice in our house, but there are just so many sandwiches you can eat. Guacomole is another hit with my boys, as of course is eating avocados sliced with a squeeze of lemon. But when I was making cannelloni stuffed with ricotta, parmesan, garlic and spinach, I found myself a bit short of filling. With 6 empty canneloni shells I thought I'd try to fill them with something rather than waste them. I searched the cabinets and fridge for something I could easily prepare with which I could stuff them but found nothing. My usual pumpkin, tofu and feta would take too long, and I didn't have any white beans or chicken or eggplant or any other veggies I could roast, so I tried avocados. Yes, avocados. Guacamole Cannelloni I called the experiment. It sounded possible, but no. Gong! A big miss! Yuck. Perhaps if I had used blackbeans w/pumpkin or sweet potato with the avos it would have been nice but then again if I were going to mix those ingredients together I'd be better off stuffing them into a tortilla than a cannelloni shell. Maybe if I used sauce other than your standard Napoli/pasta sauce it would have been better? Not sure, but I don't think I will continue the experimentation on that one. Once was enough.
Tonight I tried something totally different. I poached white fish with just a little salt, then placed it on a mound of rice and covered it with a homemade pico de gallo (made from chopped fresh cilantro/coriander, red onions, lemon juice, and diced cherry tomatoes), then added a side of black beans stirfried with red and green peppers/capsicum, white onions, jalepenos, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, a touch of olive oil and salt, and last but not least spooned on a large dollop of mashed avocados (mixed with a pinch of salt and dash of lemon juice) before sprinkling the lot with a big squeeze of lemon juice. This was light and yummy. Paul thought it was a bit summery for winter but with the warm sunshine this afternoon it seemed appropriate. The best part is that there are leftovers of everything but the rice so tomorrow's lunch will be white fish and pico de gallo with black beans on a bed of lettuce. Yum.
Since I wasn't feeling so well this week cooking was about all the creating I got to, but I have made more time and space for essential "me" time. The mind must be focused and the well of inspiration full in order to be creative so still weeks like this are good. I'll write more about that in my next post. Until then, happy creating!
Love and Peace XX
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