The joy of experimentation!

The thing about using up the contents of your fridge is that sometimes you leave things a little longer than you should have and they end up looking really unappetising.
It's not nice to just choke down something that really doesn't look nice purely for the sake of not wasting it. In fact, it's enough to put you off using up old food altogether.
Now, before you think I'm suggesting you should just shut your eyes and throw it in the bin, stop! Sometimes we just need to be a little inventive with our food. Once you learn about what works together, experimenting can be a lot of fun and very satisfying.

Today, for example, I had the rest of those old cherry tomatoes to use. They were about a week past their sell by date, pretty mushy and wrinkled, generally not very appealing.
I minced a clove of garlic and fried it in a little olive oil, then added the cherry tomatoes, quartered. I fried these off until they were pretty mushed up and added a splosh of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of dried mixed herbs, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Let it all bubble awy for a few minutes and it was done!
Meanwhile, I made some macaroni cheese, the lazy way. I didn't bother with a roux, just cooked the pasta, then added a handful each of mild cheddar and smoked mature cheddar. Stirred in, then added a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of mascarpone. These were purely what I had in the fridge, but they made a pretty damn fine cheese sauce!
Anyhoo, I added the tomato sauce to the mac and cheese and BAM! A total taste sensation!
We loved it, and I will absolutely make this again. It's amazing the surprises your fridge can hold if you just dare to experiment.

Spurred on by this success, I decided to make some rock cakes this evening. I have run out of sultanas, so I used some sad looking fresh raspberries instead. This was lovely, it tasted kind of like a rock cake with little explosions of jam inside - vereh nice!

I used to follow recipes to the letter when I first started cooking. I would often nip out to the shops halfway through a recipe because I was missing an ingredient. Now, I like to experiment. If something can be substituted, do it! so you don't have dried fruit - use fresh. If you don't have caster sugar, try brown sugar. Things don't always work out they way they were supposed to, but it isn't the end of the world, sometimes it even turns out better!
Nothing builds your confidence in the kitchen like trusting your instincts and trying new things. Also, you might find yourself saving a fortune because you don't have to have the exact ingredients, just use what you have to hand.

Honestly, give it a try. Using up fridge contents + experimenting = win!