Recipes often give helpful options for ingredient substitutions or extensive variations. Savvy cooks can save time by looking for other changes that can be implemented.

Use your cooking knowledge to determine what steps can be altered without affecting a good final result. A vegetarian recipe I recently made inspired me. I had all of the ingredients on hand, which included a potato, apple, eggs, cheese and olive oil. I had lent out my spiralizer and couldn't spiralize (make into thin noodle form) the potato and apple.

Since I read the entire recipe first, I knew I could make do. I wanted the fiber of the potato (the only part of the recipe that is cooked ahead in a skillet before mixing with the other ingredients and lightly frying as patties), so I saved time by not peeling it as called for. I cut the potato and apple into thin, small pieces I could tell would work in the recipe. I also don't relish shredding cheese, so I instead quickly cut it very thin with a cheese slicer and knew it would still melt as needed in the patties I was making.

The recipe's writer, Ali Maffucci, author of "Inspiralized: Turn Vegetables into Healthy, Creative, Satisfying Meals," called hers buns that imitated a grilled cheese sandwich. Mine, which like hers were cooked in olive oil in a pan on each side, emerged more like potato pancakes, hash browns or mini quiches. They were delicious.

Following are some additional ideas for tasks that might be ripe for changing in a recipe if you decide the final result would not be jeopardized.

—Anytime you are interested in keeping more fiber within your dish (and saving time), don't peel your washed fruits or vegetables, even when called for in a recipe.

—Try to always purchase the type of sausages that have no casings that later have to be removed.

—Unless you think it will make a difference, before cooking, break dry pasta, like spaghetti, into smaller, easier to work with (and eat!) pieces.

—If recipes call for more than one bowl or pan (as many have for me recently) consider if you really need duplicates or could make it work with one each.

—Think back decades ago to how your relatives who were good cooks would have made the same recipe without the availability of today's modern ingredients, cooking utensils and appliances and, if some of those steps save time or replace items you don't have, utilize them instead.

AFTER-WORK GOURMET COOKBOOK SHELF

If you want to explore the aforementioned subject further and don't only want to rely on a given recipe to hopefully cover exactly the change you would like to make, "The Food Substitutions Bible: More Than 6,500 Substitutions for Ingredients, Equipment, and Techniques" by David Joachim continues to be an excellent resource. The IACP winner is easy to use since it is organized alphabetically. A good gift for new cooks, the book is so comprehensive it will most likely also be used often by seasoned chefs.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.