Discoveries by accident, or by extending one experience to another, with a little common "cooking" sense.

A few years ago I made oriential ground beef meat balls from directions. I then asked, why does it have to be meat balls. My next try was with the ingrenients cooked loosely. Just as good, and saved a bit of time. Same with Cabbage rolls? The ingredients doe not have to be in the form of rolls, there are other options.