That’s me, alright! A Fling It Together Foodie. While some people are paralyzed by the thought of not following a recipe, I am liberated by the ability to fling together, with wanton abandon, whatever I find in my pantry. If you are a dedicated recipe follower, that is just fine. The world needs free spirits and engineers. We’re all made with different abilities and desires, and that’s what makes the world so interesting. We also need recipes that are technical, otherwise we wouldn’t have wonderful things like cheesecakes and souffles. But, I could not imagine not being able to cook the way I do. I don’t think I’d like to cook if that were the case. And, I do follow recipes sometimes…I just see them more as guidelines…or suggestions.
I can thank my grandmother for my favorite foodie attribute – the ability to just throw something together and it turns out deliciously. She would babysit me when I was young and would always include me in whatever she was doing. I fondly remember “helping” her wash dishes (playing with her percolator coffee pot in the rinse water), quilt (playing under the quilt frame), and am eternally thankful to her for teaching me how to make bread. Even though I now am gluten free…and working on going grain free…I can still remember how amazing freshly baked bread smells, and tastes with some fresh, raw butter slathered on top. Sigh…
My parents were my guinea pigs as my foodie skills developed. I remember one year when I was around 10…for Mother’s day I think it was…I enlisted the help of my little brother. The night before, we got all the ingredients ready for the amazing omelette I was going to make for breakfast to surprise my mom. I can’t remember now all the things I put in that omelette, but I do remember shredded carrots and crushed saltines.Now that I think about it, that sounds pretty gross. My mom always encouraged my foodie efforts though, and I really appreciate that. I think that helped me develop the ability to throw things together.
When my daughter was very young and my stepsons lived with us, I learned how to Make Something Out of Nothing. Money was often very tight, and there were times I’d look in the cabinets and think “there is nothing here.” Yet, I had five hungry people expecting something to be there. On the table. At dinner time. I had to dig deep within an connect with my inner foodie. And you know what? Those dishes were some of the most delicious and most memorable. And, sadly, I could not repeat them exactly because I just started flinging stuff together, tasting, flinging, and tasting until it tasted right. And, even more sadly, that was back in the days before I discovered the truth about our food industry. Back when I stocked up on a certain burger helper when it was on sale, bought bouillon cubes, and dry milk to make my own cream soup mixes, and didn’t read any labels besides the price per ounce. But I learned to embrace adversity and come out on top. No empty cupboard was going to conquer me!
I love being a foodie, and I’m so glad that I am able to fling foods together Fllinging fresh, real foods together results in even better tasting dishes. I really love the whole experience when it comes to food – taste, texture, aroma, presentation…when they all come together right, it creates an amazing sensory experience. It creates an Oh Sweet Mercy moment, a moment to savor something that dances on my tongue because it is alive with flavor and nourishment. And in a time when it seems like we rush from activity to activity and day to day, we need those Oh Sweet Mercy moments to slow us down so we can appreciate what we are blessed to have around us.
Starlene @ GAPS Diet Journey says
LOL, is that what it’s called? Being a food flinger? I have a very hard time following a recipe exactly due to this condition. ๐ I have learned to carefully note as I’m flinging, however, so that I can reproduce the successes. ๐
dawnyoder says
LOL ๐ I am working on learning to “carefully note as I’m flinging”, but I just get in The Zone where the only things that exist are foods and cooking utensils lol. Pencils and recipe cards are extraneous in The Zone. They don’t taste good, either, so that’s probably why they don’t count at the time (;