CREATIVITY - AND WHY YOU NEED IT IN YOUR KITCHEN

Creativity - without it I think we'd all be dead. Or at least close too. Whether it's painting, dancing, blogging, designing, creating, visualising, or dreaming up far away places... we all do it daily I'm sure.

But have you ever given thought to getting creative with your food? I'm sure some of you have. This is where I see the most distance between someone who eats well, shops for local produce with excitement, flips through recipe books for inspiration, and conjures up new dishes with love and enthusiasm... versus someone who doesn't. The latter person may eat much more take away, or simply PB on toast most nights, if they can be bothered with that.

 

C R E A T I V I T Y ---> This is the missing link. Or at least one.

Getting creative with our food means we're also more likely to be getting creative in our life, and thus enjoying everything a helluvalot more. I know for me, if I'm having a shitty week, I'm so disinterested in making delicious, nutritious, colourful, fresh meals. I either want nothing, or I want crap. But the same goes the other way as well - if I can't be bothered making great food, I usually can't be bothered writing great blog posts, or creating great mandalas (current love), or even get dressed up to feel great!

So how do we keep the creativity up so we don't fall to far either side of the scale?

"Preparation is the key to spontaneity" - don't know who said it but I love it!

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So how's about you try a few of these to get your creativity juices flowing again, and keep them there:

•  Go grocery shopping the same day each week and stock up on all the goodies you know you love - I've always gotta have sweet potatoes, onion, garlic, and leafy greens. The rest are bonuses. And if you're not a mad fan of shopping for food, buddy up with a mate and have lunch or a juice at the end of it. Buy a bunch of flowers just for you.

• Plan a few meals and work around that - grab some minced beef with taco-less tacos in mind. Or extra eggs to make a frittata with whatever veggies you get (this doubles as lunches the following day). Perhaps try a new yoghurt brand so brekkie smoothies are more exciting.

• Pick a night for a pot-luck and get your friends over each bringing a dish to share.

• Pick a theme - Mexican night (burritos and chilli), Italian (rich tomato dishes with some vino rosso), or Greek (fresh salad and seafood) and dress up for the occasion with some music on to boot!

• Pick one sweet treat recipe that makes enough for the week (or two) and that will freeze really well. And make this with your fav tunes on, a tea on the bench, and wiggle that beach booty as you go. Promise me, you'll love it and have a ball! Things like blueberry coconut muffins, any raw cakes, slices or bliss balls all keep well... even individual tartlets or a cashew ice cream. This again, is prep for the spontaneous guests that rock on over to your wicked pad.

• Get your bestie over for a few hours every Sunday morning and have a cook up and split it all between you. Make a batch of muffins, a big slow cooked lamb dish, some bliss balls, par cooked veggies, raw choccies, frittata or mini brekkie quiches... that way you're having fun and catching up whilst planning and cooking meals for the week; you're doing half as much work for twice as many different meals or snacks; and if you have a pot of tea or coffee on, team that up with one of those bliss balls... I'm wondering why I haven't started this one myself yet!!

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Creativity is not something that is "hard to come by" we've just gotta know where to look for it when we feel ours has disappeared momentarily. Look in your kitchen, your drawer full of random bits n pieces, or your local art shop. There is creativity everywhere, we've only got to tap into it to join in on the fun!