Substitutions are okay!

I am planning on making beef pot pie for tonight's dinner. I had the menu card in my organizer box, so that must mean I have a recipe card for it, right? 


Wrong.


So, I headed over to one of my favorite websites, http://allrecipes.com, and searched for "beef pot pie". It returned some promising selections, one of which was this one: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Beef-Pot-Pie-II/Detail.aspx. However, I am missing onions, Beau Monde seasoning and buttermilk baking mix. But, I have all the other basic ingredients, so I will just make a few substitutions. 


My hubby doesn't really like onions in his food anyway, so he'll be happy that it didn't turn out quite the same. I have onion powder, so I'll just add that to the meat as I cook it. I actually had to "bing" Beau Monde seasoning, because I had no clue what it was. I have a steak seasoning packet that has been in my spice cupboard for a while now and needs to be used up anyway. It will make a fine substitute. And buttermilk baking mix? I don't know if that's a specific mix, or if the original chef meant the equivalent of Bisquick ... neither of which I have on hand. However, I have some cornbread mix that really needs to get used up (and which I am tired of taking up space in my pantry). Hubby loves cornbread, so again, he won't mind the substitution.


Substitutions really are pretty easy. I used to be scared of using an ingredient other than what the recipe called for. I have learned, though, that it really is not that scary. Do it one ingredient at a time. As a whole, if I looked at a recipe and saw I was missing half the ingredients, it's a little daunting. But, if I break it down, one ingredient at a time, it's not as difficult as it seemed at first glance. It gets those creative juices flowing, it gets rid of random things in your pantry that you weren't using anyway ... and sometimes, you end up with the best recipes you've ever tried!