Creating Tasty Dishes

sidenote-love the expression on this dude-I'm thinking he is hungry, wants to eat TASTY food, but the ad clearly states he really wants pizza.

There's nothing more disappointing than making a new recipe or dish and tasting it only for it to be blah, tasteless, and boring.  Then you are finding yourself setting your fork down to go look for a condiment in your fridge to help it...have you been there?  This usually applies to "homemade" food vs. the box.  "The box" has so much sodium as a preservative that most of it taste okay (if you like those kind of things).  I am not knocking "the box" at all if they work for you, but I am zeroing in on tasteless bland food when you have prepared a homemade meal. 

I have blogged several times in my Menu Plan Mondays' about how to flavor foods for different meals using a basic formula (protein + vegetable + grain/pasta) + theme/spice.  Recently I have stumbled up this article and found it to be helpful for those that may be challenged in the creating area in their kitchen.  I hope it inspires you as it does me to try new flavors in your kitchen.