Ways of jazzing up boring food

Now I am not saying that food is boring, far from it I live for food, but there are times that a dollop of mashed potato or a scoop of ice cream doesn't really get the taste buds going.

So here are some of my easy ways to take your food from hum drum to yum yum.

Fruit sauces for ice cream, pancakes, meringues or even a slice of cake. I always keep a box of frozen berries in the freezer. It is very easy to turn into a sauce, just add 1 cup of berries to 1/4 cup water & 1 tbsp caster sugar. Bring to the boil, and boil until the sauce starts to thicken. If you want to pour it over ice cream leave it more runny. Check for sweetness. Now you can then add some alcohol, like creme de cassis, or blackberry liquor, something sweet and nice.

I have used this sauce to make a black forest gataeu, just slice 1 high cake into 3 or 2 small cakes both in half. Place the first slice on a plate cover with a portion of sauce then whipped cream, then grated dark chocolate, repeat the layers. Now on the top your can cover it with whipped cream then grated chocolate, or even dust it with icing sugar. It makes for a very impressive, but quick dessert.

Mashed potato - now nothing really beats a good dollop of creamy well mashed potato, but it can be jazzed up with the addition of finely sliced spring onions, or grated tasty cheese, or even crumbled blue cheese. Even the addition of some finely chopped fresh herbs.

Beef casserole/stew - now the addition of a few chopped semi-dried tomatoes, gives it a lovely rounded flavour. You can't really tell that the flavour is tomatoes, but it gives it a lovely taste.

Quick onion gravy - finely slice some onion place in a bowl and cover with boiling water, leave at least 1/2 hour. Now this semi cooks the onion and removes a lot of the bitterness. Just add it to the gravy near the end of cooking.

Fresh herbs - It goes without saying that they add lots of flavour, I throw chopped herbs in just about anything. I even sprinkle my salads with chopped parsley.

Now these are just a few ideas, put on your thinking cap, and stretch the food envelope with what can be added to your recipes.