I am a big fan of meal improvisation. Coming up with something at the last minute and rummaging the pantry happens about four times a week in my household.
I have never really considered myself a creative person; I can’t draw and have no painting skills whatsoever. But when it comes to food, I’d like to think I’m capable of whipping something up that’s not only quick and easy but tasty, too.
When it comes to feeding one (myself), it’s easy to come up with something to cook for dinner. It becomes a bit more challenging when cooking for others.
Not only do I have my boyfriend to feed, I now have my brother to feed. He recently moved to Jackson, and into the second bedroom of my house. He has the metabolism of a teenage athlete and can’t ever seem to get full.
Taking on the task of feeding two grown men, in which a salad won’t do the trick like it will when feeding myself, I have to really go the extra mile when considering budget and sufficient portions when cooking.
The other night, I wanted to cook a really good meal that didn’t stray too far from the health spectrum but wasn’t strictly rabbit food either. I was inspired by meals my mom used to cook, a meat, a green and a starch- and wanted to cook a hearty dinner based off that simple theme. 
Thankfully, my boyfriend got his first elk right around Christmas, so we already had some ground elk thawed out. I checked the refrigerator and pantry and found the following: Brussels sprouts and potatoes. A meat, a green and a starch. Check.
We also had King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls, which made my brain go straight to sliders. I searched for a few key flavors to enhance the entire meal and came up with this: elk sliders with a homemade curry aioli, Brussels sprouts with a honey, spicy mustard, brown sugar glaze, and roasted rosemary steak fries.
The meal was simply delicious, and we had more than enough to satiate the three of us. One and a half pounds of elk made 15 sliders, a pound of Brussels sprouts proved to be the perfect amount because we ate them all, and four potatoes yielded leftovers of rosemary steak fries. I would say the entire meal costs less than $30 for all of us, and it was more than enough food.
It was an easy and fun meal to make, especially with the sliders, those are always fun to eat. I would say the best part of the whole meal was the sauce that went on the sliders. I made it out of a sweet and tangy curry sauce I had in the fridge, a little mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and Sriracha. It tasted like an alternative version of Zaxby’s sauce (one of the South’s best kept secrets). 
The rules in the kitchen are simple: there are none. It’s your kitchen so create and cook whatever you like. That’s the best part about cooking for me; I get to be creative and have endless ingredient options to customize a meal any way I choose to. Some people are apprehensive about not fully relying on recipes when making a meal. Don’t worry about that. Let your refrigerator and pantry help you when trying to decide on a meal.
And if it’s not the best, then try again. Cooking takes practice, therefore trial and error is the way you get better in the kitchen.
