10 Delicious Recipes Where (Almost) Anything Goes

We’ve all been there; you bookmark a recipe that looks amazing but, when you get home and take a peek in your pantry, you realize that you’re missing an ingredient or two. Bummer. And, while that might be a deal breaker for some recipes, you’ll find that there are plenty of others where it’s completely OK to take creative control and use whatever you’ve got on hand. These recipes represent the latter; they’re really adaptable and practically made to handle whatever substitutions you throw at them. If you stick to swaps that are similar in texture and moisture content (say using different nuts and seeds interchangeably or replacing one leafy green veggie with another) we’re confident you’ll get great results every time. One of our all-time-favorite recipes to play around with? Baked eggs. This satisfying strata makes a hearty meal out of leftover bits of bread and cheese (although you could just as easily apply the same anything-goes mentality to a quiche or frittata, too). Grandma gave us the go-ahead to riff on this recipe — so feel free to use any type of cheese, leafy greens, meat or bread that you happen to have on hand.

Stuffed peppers are a classic and so simple to make. Best of all, you can fill them up with just about anything you like. We’ve got recipes that feature lentils, beans, pasta and even salad if you want to get super creative — but these beef-and-rice-stuffed peppers are perfect for modifying. You can use any ground meat, any cooked grain and any cheese for a quick variation.

We know, we know. Nothing beats an uncomplicated macaroni and cheese — but hear us out! There are so many great add-ins that can elevate this classic dish from a simple side to a full-on meal. We love Katie’s recipe because it’s meant to use up leftover bits of cheese (hooray for flexibility!) — and the ratio of sauce to noodles makes it just right for tossing in any other ingredients you've got handy.

Is there anything you can’t layer between two slices of bread and some melty cheese? We think not. From grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with tart apples or crispy bacon to ones like this that features colorful veggies, this classic sandwich is one of our go-tos whenever we need a customizable meal. Depending on what we’re filling it with we do choose our bread and cheese accordingly — but we definitely don’t overthink it. It’s meant to be an easy-peasy meal, after all. This recipe is a good one to play around with; we use a mix of smoked gouda and oh-so-melty muenster so, whatever add-ins you choose, you’re still guaranteed great flavor and a perfectly stretchy cheese pull!