Dinner Time Helps
Friday, March 28, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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“Feeding the people we love”
One of my favorite restaurants is PF Changs and of course my favorite thing on the menu is their famous Lettuce Wraps.
I love playing around with Copycat Recipes and months ago I found one for PF Chang’s Lettuce Wraps. I finally got around to trying it. Although the flavor was o.k. - the texture was strange and it didn’t taste like the real thing - what a disappointment. To top it off the recipe had about 20 different ingredients in it, several of which required major chopping - way too much work, especially when I have a PF Changs within about 5 miles of my house!
A few weeks ago I found another recipe for lettuce wraps at www.pickypalate.blogspot.com and decided to give it another try. I was not disappointed this time. Although it doesn’t taste just like the ones at Changs they are really good. This recipe is a keeper and the other went in the garbage! We loved it.
My girls are not generally crazy about leftovers but they ate these leftovers up the next day!
This version only has a handful of ingredients and there is no chopping involved - fast and easy.
LA Notes: The original recipe called for ground turkey but I prefer ground chicken so I used that. This recipe uses a bag of broccoli slaw which can be found in the produce section with all the bagged salad. It is yummy and there is no chopping! I also used iceberg lettuce leaves instead of butter lettuce but think next time I would use butter lettuce, it is a softer lettuce and doesn’t “crack” as easily as the iceberg and would be less messy. The recipe also called for Yoshida’s Teriyaki Sauce - I had their Gourmet Sauce so used it.
When you need a quick, easy and healthy dinner give this one a try.
Quick Weeknight Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 lb. ground chicken or turkey
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1 12 oz. bag of Broccoli Slaw
1 small can drained water chestnuts
1/2 cup Yoshida’s Teriyaki or Gourmet Sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
15 butter lettuce leaves
Place oil into large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Add ground meat, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Cook until browned, crumbled and cooked through.
When meat is cooked, stir in broccoli slaw, water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and sesame oil. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Reduce heat to low until ready to serve. Serve spoonfuls inside lettuce leaves. Enjoy!
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Nourish, Recipes
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008, by Leigh Anne
”Feeding the people we love”
At least once a week, sometimes more, I will be sharing a Nourish post. A recipe for you to try as you work daily to Nourish your family.
As mothers, one of our biggest jobs is to Nourish our family - physically and emotionally. I hope the recipes I share with you will help make the job of physically Nourishing your family a little easier and a little more enjoyable!
The last two “Lovely Lemon” recipes I have shared have been for sweet lemon treats - Lemon Cheesecake Bars and Snow Pudding.
Today we have a savory lemon recipe. This pork chop dish is simple and quick to prepare and one of our families favorite ways to serve pork chops. The recipe comes from my favorite cookbook - the Portland Junior League’s “Portland’s Palate”.
LA Notes - the recipe calls for hazelnuts, which I love, but this week I didn’t have any so I just used chopped pecans and they were just as yummy. I also like to use the thin cut pork chops. Don’t skip the lemon pepper - it is an important flavor for this dish. I served it with a wild rice mix and a salad with toasted almonds, craisinets and a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
4 boneless pork loin chops (1/2 inch thick and trimmed)
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. finely chopped hazelnuts
4 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp. freshly grated lemon peel
Fresh lemon slices for garnish
In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt butter. Season chops on both sides with garlic salt and lemon pepper. Place chops in saute pan and brown until pork is tender. 5-7 minutes per side. Remove chops to serving plate. Sprinkle with hazelnuts and set aside.
Stir lemon juice into drippings in saute pan and heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Spoon over cooked chops and sprinkle with lemon peel. To serve, garnish each chop with a fresh lemon slice.
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Nourish, Recipes
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Wednesday, February 6, 2008, by Leigh Anne
This is one super easy soup! It is perfect for those days when you have a busy day and not much time to cook You just put it all in a pot and let it cook away. There are only 4 ingredients (other than olive oil and salt)!
LA Notes: I buy my red peppers by the bag full at Costco (there are 6 in the bag). Also I use a whole can of tomato juice but if you like your soup thicker use less. I use an immersion blender to blend up the peppers and onions. If you don’t have one and need to use a regular blender let the mixture cool first before putting it in the blender or you’ll have a mess!
Roasted Red Pepper Soup
5-6 red peppers, quartered and seeded
2 large sweet onions, sliced
several garlic cloves, minced
1 large can of tomato juice
olive oil/kosher salt
Put the peppers, onions and enough olive oil to coat along with some kosher salt into a heavy pan. Bake until peppers are soft and skins just peel off (at least one hour)
Blend peppers and onions together. Add tomato juice to desired consistency and blend until smooth.
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Recipes
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Saturday, February 2, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Yesterday, my friend Karen Morgan and I were the food chairs for a dinner and program at church. We planned and prepared dinner for 300 women! This is not the first time I have done this - you are probably wondering why I didn’t learn my lesson the first time and say no this time?! Well - to tell you the truth I actually enjoy it! It gives me the opportunity to get to know women at church that I wouldn’t otherwise. Each time I do it I make so many new friends! I also learn a few new tips and techniques along the way. So - just in case you ever need to cook dinner for 300 I thought I’d share some things I’ve learned as well as the recipes for what we served last night.
Now the original recipes I have are actually for 200 servings so I divided the quantities down for you but if any of you think you may need to feed 200 or more email me and I’ll send you the original recipe. (leighannew31@comcast.net)
Tips for Feeding a Crowd:
1. Get yourself some GOOD help! One of the reasons I said yes to this assignment was I knew that there would be a wonderful group of women who would be willing to help me - ‘many hands make light work’. About 8 women joined me Friday afternoon and in 2 hours we assembled enough Apricot Chicken wrapped in Puff Pastry to feed 300. Three friends helped by preparing and cooking 30 pounds of vegetables each and another group of women made 3 batches each of a delicious Swedish Creme. I think I had another 10 women who helped bake all the chicken in their ovens at home. We couldn’t have done it without all the help!
2. Use dishes that taste good at room temperature. Because we don’t have cooking facilities at our church (a kitchen but no operating ovens) everything needed to be baked at individual homes and transported to the church. There is just no way you can feed 300 people hot food when you have to do that. Even if we could have baked it at the church it would have been difficult. Our main dish, Apricot Chicken in Puff Pastry actually tastes better at room temperature, the individual flavors of the chicken, onions and roasted red peppers are more flavorful.
3. Experiment - try out recipes first. Karen had fun experimenting with different dessert recipes before we decided on the final choice. We nicknamed her the Dessert Fairy because she would show up at our door with samples of the different desserts she was trying out! We will miss those visits:( It is not a good idea to use a new recipe you have never tried before when cooking for 300!
4. Have Friends with Good Recipes. Three of the recipes we used came from my friend Patrice, who is an amazing cook and does catering on the side. Thanks Patrice for answering my many questions via email and phone! Karen got the dessert recipe from her friend Elaine. Friends are wonderful!
4. Get MORE good help. Thanks to a group of wonderful helpers in the kitchen we were able to set up an assembly line for serving and get the food out to everyone in a decent amount of time.
LA Note - I used 4 oz. chicken breasts from Cash & Carry. They are the perfect size. The Costco chicken breasts are a little too thick. I also bought 5 inch square sheets of puff pastry from Cash & Carry but you have to buy it in quantities of 100 so you can also just buy full sheets from the grocery store and cut it.
Apricot Chicken in Puff Pastry
Puff Pastry - 5 inch square per serving
12 chicken breasts, 4 oz.
1 onion
1-2 red peppers
olive oil/butter
1 pkg. of cream cheese, set out first thing in the morning so it is really soft
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 oz. apricot jam
1 egg
water
Trim and slice onions. Caramelize in mixture of 4 parts olive oil to 1 part butter. Set aside to cool. Do the same with the peppers.
Mix cream cheese, soy sauce and jam. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth. You want it creamy but not airy like whipped cream. It is better for it to have a few lumps than to be whipped creamy.
Mix egg with 1 Tbsp. water until well mixed (used for an egg wash)
Roll out the puff pastry squares to half again their size. Drop a generous tablespoon of cream cheese mixture on the first one third of the puff pastry. Top the mixture with caramelized onion and a couple strips of pepper. Top that with the chicken. Pull the short end of the puff pastry back over the chicken, pull each side in and then brush all the edges with the egg mixture. Continue the wrap and seal with fingers - a little pinch will do, but they need to be sealed. If you are storing in the fridge cover in wax paper and then plastic wrap and return to the fridge/freezer. When ready to cook, brush the surface with egg mixture and cook at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
Peach Chutney - Serve over Apricot Chicken in Puff Pastry
2.5 lbs. frozen or fresh peaches sliced or chunked
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp. mace
10-12 cloves tied in cheese cloth
1-2 cinnamon sticks
Dump it all in the pan at the same time. Bring to a low boil and reduce the heat and simmer on low for an hour or so. Pull out the cinnamon sticks and cloves. Cool and serve. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks if covered tightly. Better the 2nd day.
Roasted Winter Vegetables
This was a bit of an adventure as we had to cook large amounts so we did it in roaster ovens. It is really meant to be cooked in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the oven. There were a few prayers said over these potatoes!
This recipe is for 5 lbs. of vegetables (we used red potatoes, gold yukon potatoes, carrots and onions). You can also add cauliflower, broccoli, snap peas, green beans but these veggies will need to be added half way through the cooking process as they cook faster.
Mix together:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbps. paprika
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
Kosher salt
Fresh chopped chives for garnish
Put potatoes, onion and carrot on the baking sheet, toss with marinade ( I use my hands) and stick them in the oven at 425 for about 40 minutes. Ovens may vary so keep checking them. When they are 1/2 to 2/3 done add in the other quicker cooking vegetables if you are using them. Toss the whole thing to make sure all veges are coated. Cook for another 20-30 minutes or until all are tender. Garnish with fresh chopped chives
Lemon Vinaigrette
We used mixed greens from Costco and added toasted almonds, craisinets and Gorgonzola cheese. I was hoping for blueberries too but they were out of them at Costco:( Fresh figs are also a nice addition to this salad.
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice - yes I did use fresh lemons, fortunately my neighbor has an electric juicer!
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/8 cup fresh chives finely chopped
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
Mix together and shake
Now - the dessert - it was amazing!
Swedish Creme
Combine in heavy pan;
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 package knox gelatin
Add;
2 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp. vanilla.
Heat the above 4 ingredients until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Do not boil. Remove form heat.
Add and mix until smooth:
3 cups sour cream
Pour into 10 small cups and refrigerate overnight. Top with your choice of fruit.
Raspberry Topping;
Boil:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Add:
2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
Remove from heat when mixture achieves a full boil. Cool. Use as topping for Swedish Creme. Add topping right before serving.
Happy Cooking!
What’s the largest number of people you have ever cooked for at one time? Leave a comment in the box below and let me know!
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Friends, Recipes
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Wednesday, January 23, 2008, by Leigh Anne
I am not a breakfast fan - I never have been. I know, I know - breakfast is the most important meal of the day but I just don’t get it. Growing up, my breakfast repertoire consisted of one thing - Chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast - every morning - that was it. My sister ate Pop-tarts every morning. O.K., so we weren’t much into nutrition in the 60’s and 70’s! (my entire senior year of high school all I ate for lunch every day was a package of Cheetos and a carton of chocolate milk- please don’t tell my mom!)
Then I married a man whose mother would get up every morning (no matter what the time) and fix him a nice, hot breakfast before he would go to school or off to move pipe in the potato fields of Idaho. Well, he learned really quickly that I didn’t do that. As a result, my husband has become a great breakfast cook. Most of the time, if there is a hot breakfast to be found at our house, dad has fixed it.
My kids have learned how to pour a bowl of cold cereal in the morning or grab a bagel and cream cheese. Now, lest you think I am a terrible mother, I will cook a nice breakfast on Sunday mornings, birthdays, holidays or for the occasional dinner. I do like breakfast for dinner and I love brunch, I’m just not a big morning breakfast person.
The one time I will eat breakfast though is when we are in Utah visiting our sweet college boys. They love to have breakfast at a local restaurant called Maglebys. I go for the syrup - it is amazing!! Whether you order the french toast or the pancakes - the syrup is the best part. I have pancakes just so I can have syrup.
I was excited when a friend gave me the recipe for Magleby’s Buttermilk Syrup so this past week I made french toast (from the Barefoot Contessa, I did not use challah bread but just some nice thick sliced bread) and smothered it in syrup!
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Bring first five ingredients to a boil. Add baking soda. Boil 10 seconds and remove from heat immediately to avoid boil over. I use a fairly deep, heavy pan.
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Categories: Copycat Recipes, Dinner Time Helps, Recipes
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Thursday, January 17, 2008, by Leigh Anne
On each of our children’s birthdays we always celebrate by going out to dinner (Yeah! - no cooking for mom). The birthday child gets to select the restaurant. For years, it never failed, all four children would select Applebee’s for their birthday - I think it was because they got a balloon, a free dessert and they would sing to them.
Now that the children are older and their palettes are a bit more sophisticated, Applebees is usually not the restaurant of choice. But there is one thing on their menu that I love and every time I have eaten at Applebee’s I have ordered it. My family calls me boring but I figure, why mess with a good thing. Don’t you hate it when you go to a restaurant and instead of ordering the thing you know you love, you try something new and are disappointed!?
Well, I love their Oriental Chicken Salad and I ALWAYS order it. I was so excited when I discovered the recipe for the salad.
LA Notes: The salad is served with a sliced, breaded chicken breast on top and the recipe I found gives you instructions on how to do it, but I cheat. I use the frozen, breaded chicken tenderloins from Costco. They taste just as good and it makes the salad super easy and fast to put together. You can also use regular white vinegar in place of the rice wine vinegar if you don’t have it. I buy my toasted almonds at Trader Joe’s or you can toast them yourself in the microwave or oven. Also, if you want a lower calorie version just used a grilled chicken breast.
Please note the new “Print This” feature at the bottom of each post for your convenient recipe printing!
Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad
Dressing: (serves 4)
6 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup mayo
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
Salad:
1 frozen, breaded chicken tenderloin per person
2 cups green cabbage, chopped
2 cups red cabbage, chopped
6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1 carrot, shredded
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds or just throw a handful in like I do.
2/3 cup chow mein noodles
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Categories: Copycat Recipes, Dinner Time Helps
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Thursday, January 10, 2008, by Leigh Anne
For my birthday this year my four sweet children (and Logan’s girlfriend, Shayla) all chipped in and bought me a panini grill. Now you may think - wow - how did your kids come up with that idea?? Well - to be honest - about two months ago I hung the page featuring the Breville Panini Grill from the Williams Sonoma catalog on our refrigerator - I guess they took the hint! I learned many years ago to be VERY specific in my gift requests.
We have had so much fun playing and experimenting with it. We have made lots of yummy, toasty sandwiches. It makes a great quick fix for dinner. We have tried all different kinds of combinations and flavors. One night I just opened up the refrigerator and pulled out what was there - roasted red peppers, onions, bacon, turkey, chicken, pepperjack cheese, provolone cheese, pesto, apples (yes, apples), and everyone made up their own combination and put in their order.
I have decided that my favorite combination is pepper bacon, pepperjack cheese and thin slices of a tart green apple with pesto mayo - yummy! We have used all different types of bread - everything from a crusty, artesian bread to plain old white bread, even ciabatta rolls work great too.
You don’t even really need a panini grill to make toasty sandwiches. If you have a George Foreman grill it will work or just pop them in a frying pan and cook one side at a time. Just brush each side of the bread with a light coat of olive oil and they grill up just great (you just won’t have the fun grill marks if you use a frying pan).
To make the pesto mayo for the sandwiches I just use about 1/4 - 1/3 cup mayo to 1 Tbsp. of pesto. Spread a thin layer on the inside of the bread and then layer on whatever you want.
Another fun combination that we love makes a great dessert panini. Use plain old white bread, spread a layer of nutella, slice up some banana (or leave them off - I don’t like bananas!) and a layer of mini-marshmallows (don’t leave these off!). Toast until the marshmallows are melted. Yummy!!!
The possibilities are endless and it’s a great way to use up what’s in the refrigerator. I had lunch at Paradise Bakery the other day and they had a great chicken and artichoke panini. I also had lunch at the Daily Cafe this week and had a black forest ham, Jarlsberg cheese, apricot aioli on rye bread panini. O.K. so it was my birthday this week and I’ve been going out to lunch a lot! Use your imagination and see what fun combinations you can come up with. Leave a comment below and let us know what your favorites are!
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Recipes
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Sunday, December 30, 2007, by Leigh Anne
I hope you are all enjoying lots of fun “family and friend” time during the holidays. One of the perks of a direct sales business is the built in vacation you get during the holidays. No one is interested in doing a home event, your customer wish lists have been filled and your team members are busy enjoying the holidays too - so take advantage of the down time! I know I am.
With the two sweet college boys home I have been making a lot of trips to the grocery store and doing lots of cooking! We have had a lot of sports watching at our house (including a “boys” night out to the Blazer Game), lots of movie watching (a Bourne Ultimatum marathon), game playing (Qwerkle and Blokus are the two favorites), an overnight trip to our beach house in Manzanita, and a walk down Peacock Lane. I even enjoyed 4 hours laying on my bed watching the BBC mini-series “Wives and Daughters”. If you love Pride and Prejudice like I do, you’ll love this one too. We are now gearing up for New Year’s Eve.
Each New Year’s Eve we host a “Soup’s On” party. We invite couples from church, I put on 3 big pots of homemade soup, cook up a few appetizers and dessert (I’ll share this recipe later), everyone brings an appetizer or dessert to share and we enjoy visiting, playing games and ringing in the new year! And we always have way too much food!
Each year I make the same 3 soups because they are so popular. I have shared two of the recipes in previous posts - Elephant’s Delicatessan Soup and Sausage and Tortellini Soup. The third soup I always make is clam chowder. Now, I don’t even like clam chowder so I have to rely on other’s opinions on this one but I have had numerous people tell me this is the BEST clam chowder they have ever tasted and when you live in the Northwest you tend to know clam chowder! This recipe comes from my favorite cookbook - Portland Junior League Portland’s Palate. I think the thing that makes this chowder so good is the secret ingredient - pepper bacon - it has to be pepper bacon !
River City (that’s Portland) Clam Chowder or better known around here as The BEST Clam Chowder
I always double the recipe for our party.
8 slices pepper bacon, diced (I use a whole pound)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 cup celery (2 large stalks), chopped
1/2 cup flour
4 (6 oz.) cans chopped clams or 2 cups fresh clams, shucked. (I use the canned clams from Costco)
3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups milk (I use whole milk - don’t cut calories here!)
1/2 cup half and half
salt and white pepper (I have used black pepper also, just effects the color of the soup)
In a large pot over medium high heat, cook bacon until browned. Drain grease. Add butter, onions and celery to pot and cook over medium heat until softened and onions are translucent. Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stir constantly.
Drain clams and reserve liquid in a 1 pint measuring cup. Add enough water to clam liquid to equal 2 cups.
Add this liquid slowly to mixture in pot, stirring constantly. Add potatoes and bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add clams, milk and half and half. Heat until thickened, being careful not to boil or burn. Add salt and pepper and serve. (I usually make the day ahead and refrigerate, it gets a little thicker this way)
Happy New Years!
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Direct Sales, Recipes
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007, by Leigh Anne
I thought since it is just a week before Christmas that I would share with you some of the Wilkes Family’s holiday recipes. My children are VERY tradition oriented. We have some pretty strong traditions when it comes to food at our house and you better not try to veer away from them or the ranks revolt! One strong holiday food tradition is Christmas morning breakfast.
After the opening of presents, the Wilkes Family enjoys a breakfast of cinnamon rolls (the Rhodes frozen ones that rise and bake in 30 minutes!), hot chocolate and breakfast pizza. I am not sure where this recipe came from but my mom started making it years ago and it has stuck! It is a good one. My kids will also request it for their birthday breakfast. The best part of it is you can prepare most of it the night before so you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen in the morning.
Breakfast Pizza
1 lb. pork sausage (I use Jimmy Dean regular or maple)
1 pkg. (8) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 cup frozen loose pack hash brown potatoes, thawed (I put in the refrigerator and let thaw overnight)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese (I use Kraft)
Cook sausage until well browned, drain fat. Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles. Place in an ungreased 12 inch pizza pan with points toward the center. Press over bottom and up sides to form a crust; seal perforations (important) Spoon sausage over the crust. Sprinkle with potatoes and top with cheddar cheese. (You can make it to this point the night ahead of time, cover with plastic and refrigerate)
In a bowl beat together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over crust in the middle - it will seep out to the edges on its own. If you pour it near the edges it may overflow. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese over all. Bake at 375 oven for 25-30 minutes.
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Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Recipes
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Monday, December 17, 2007, by Leigh Anne
I will be the first to admit it - I am a recipe addict. I love collecting and trying new recipes. The only problem with this is that you end of with piles of recipes! Keeping control over those piles can be a bit of a challenge as well as trying to relocate that great recipe you tried and want to make again! If you are a regular reader of my blog you have hopefully been adding to your collection of recipes.
One of my blog readers, Rachel, asked me how I keep track of all my recipes and organize them, so today I am going to show you how. On my shelf full of cookbooks there is one special cookbook - it is called “The Best of the Best Family Recipes.” My maiden name is “Best”. I use to kid people when I was young that my middle name was “the” - Leigh Anne the Best - I think a few even believed me! Well, a couple of years ago, my daughter, Cali, took on the project of gathering and putting into one place all the “Best” family favorite recipes. This was no small task but with the help of Grandma Best (and about 50 hours later) she created a wonderful cookbook. The beginning of each section of the cookbook highlights one of the “Best” women - with one of their famous recipes, a current picture, a childhood picture, as well as a paragraph about them. I love this cookbook because I only have one place to look for all those family favorites! I must admit this cookbook has become quite a popular and coveted cookbook among my family and friends!
But during the last couple of years I have collected a few more family favorites - these are printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, slipped in a page protectors ( I am a very messy cook) and added to the appropriate categories in the 3 ring binder which houses the cookbook.
I also have quite a pile of “To Try” recipes - ones I have ripped out of magazines (yes, I am one of those people who tears recipes out of magazines in the doctor’s office - shame on me!!), newspapers, received from friends, off the internet etc. As you can imagine my pile is quite large. These ‘To Try” recipes go into manila folders which I have labeled with the same categories that are in our cookbook - they are Appetizers, Beverages, Breads, Breakfast, Cakes, Candy, Cookies, Desserts (things other than pies and cakes), Main Dishes, Pie, Salad, Side Dishes (vegetables, rice, potates), and Soup. I try new recipes frequently - a couple of times a week - and after they receive approval from the family they are added to “the” cookbook. There are just as many that don’t make it as do.
Perioidically I do a clean out of the manila folders - throwing out those that have been there for a while, that looked good at the time but no longer do.
You may be wondering about all the recipes in my shelf full of cookbooks. Well, if one of them becomes a “family favorite”, it will be copied onto 8 1/2 x 11 paper and added to the cookbook too.
So happy cooking and recipe organizing! If there is something else in your life you haven’t quite figured out how to organize - let me know and I’ll share how I organize it and/or share tips from others! Just click on comments below and let me know where you need help.
Popularity: 37% [?]
Categories: Dinner Time Helps, Family, Recipes
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