Category Archives: Cooking
New Book for Storing Your Recipes
There’s a new book for storing your recipes called, “The Blank Recipe Book.”
It’s useful for storing recipes and keeping cooking/baking instructions so that you can easily find them later instead of digging through recipe cards or going online and hoping you find the exact recipe that you liked.
I really like the cover design and layout of the book. It also has a family memory section that is very thoughtful and something I’m so glad I can utilize going forward. It’s a really clever idea and I think it’s something that makes a great gift to a newlywed or anyone who cooks for a family. It’s also great for putting a lot of family recipes in and then giving that as a gift. For example, a mother putting dozens of her recipes in and then giving it to her daughter. Or for a grandmother to do the same with a granddaughter (obviously it can be a son as well).
So it’s The Blank Recipe book and you can get it at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/149483331X/
Major Weigh Down #6
I know my followers thought I surely had fallen off the weigh down wagon and let it run over me. Shame on you !!! LOL
Actually, I have been involved in several projects and have not really had an opportunity to post an update in quite some time. My weigh down journey at times has been a roller coaster ride and not an easy task. I seem to be on the down part of the roller coaster ride and am beginning to see a weight loss again. Since I began my major weigh down journey I have lost 43 lbs. It has been slow and not easy. Slow and easy will carry me to my goal and hopefully make my long term success greater and permanent . I have begun to see more energy and mobility return to my life. Thank you for your encouragement and I will continue to work toward my goal and hope not to disappoint my family, my followers, my friends nor myself.
As I mentioned I have been working on some projects. I am sharing links below with you to my projects.
Quick and Easy Fall Recipe
Fall is here!!!! Fall is my favorite time of year. I really enjoy the beautiful painted leaves of nature and the cooler temperatures. It seems fall is the season of festivals and football. With football comes food and friends. The thoughts of hot soups and Chili comes to mind. I want to share a quick and delicious chili dish recipe just right for fall. This recipe is great when having friends over to watch the big game or just right for a quick and easy dinner after a busy day.
Tip for stretching food and dollars with leftover Roast
Since my husband and I are empty nesters we tend to have leftovers whenever I cook a roast. We do enjoy the leftovers but after two or three days either we get tired of the same thing for dinner, or we run too low of the beef roast for a complete meal. Roast is a easy dish to stretch. A roast beef sandwich and beef hash are the two ways I usually stretch out our enjoyment of a roast. Since I am working on my weigh down, I did not want the extra carbs that a sandwich or beef hash would provide me. So I put my thinking cap on and came up with another idea which I have to say turned out to be great. By adding vegetables and a few other ingredients to the beef I made a delicious left over roast stew.
With money not growing on trees, allowing food to spoil or just saying I am tired of this and trashing it would be a waste of money and food. Below you will find a delicious food and dollar stretching recipe.
Vegetable Soup Recipe from Veronica
First real cold weekend of the season has settled on us in North Alabama. The thoughts of Thanksgiving and Christmas are in the air. In the air as well is the smell and thoughts of seasonal foods. Yesterday my thoughts were on hot soup. In cold weather hot soup is a comfort food for many folks including myself. I wanted to cook a healthy and tasty soup so I decided on vegetable soup. I have made vegetable soup only a of couple times and was not pleased with it at all. I decided to give it one more try.
The Blank Cookbook
I really enjoy trying new recipes. I have got quite a collection of cookbooks. I have recipes clipped from magazines and papers. I have jotted down recipes from friends and from magazines. They are stuffed into boxes, slipped between pages of cookbooks.
Recently I found a solution to my mess of recipes. I found on Amazon The Blank Cookbook by James Laymond Publishing. This book has titled sections for ingredients, preparation directions, cooking directions, serving notes and a section titled “family memories of this recipe.”
I am enjoying getting my recipes organized in this neat book. It has been fun thinking of memories of the recipes.
I also thought of what a great gift it would make for a new cook! Just wanted to pass this find onto everyone. You can buy it at http://www.amazon.com/The-Blank-Cookbook-Your-Recipes/dp/1490537953 for around $8.
Other reviews and places to buy “The Blank Cookbook”:
–http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-blank-cookbook-james-laymond/1115884022?ean=9781490537955
–http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18178846-the-blank-cookbook
A New Recipe From Veronica – Pork Tenderloin Stew
I have enjoyed cooking since I was a young girl. I remember being in the kitchen with my mom when she would be cooking. I enjoyed watching the way she put her meals together. My mom was very quick in the kitchen. She would have dinner on the stove cooking before most people could get the ingredients out of fridge. My mom was a great cook. She was a very basic cook never anything complicated or “fancy”. I remember my mom getting up and cooking a big meal for breakfast. Many mornings our breakfast would consist of fried chicken, fried potatoes, tomato gravy and biscuits. Other mornings maybe it would only be chocolate gravy and biscuits or bacon, eggs and biscuits. As I grew older I do remember we would have cereal some mornings. Yes my mom was a great cook and teacher. I however enjoy the “fancy, complicated and experimental recipes. I enjoy going into the kitchen, getting out a cookbook, finding a new recipe, and trying it. One of my favorite ways of cooking is to just get ingredients and see what I can create. Thus coming up with a new recipe. This is what happened this week. For a couple of weeks I had been planing on making chicken stew and potato soup for a gathering of friends. Well, on Wednesday I went to lunch with some friends and we all had Pork tenderloin stew. It was great stew. I could not stop thinking about how to make my version of this stew. On Thursday I decided to try it. I bought the pork tenderloin and came up with “Veronica’s spicy Pork tenderloin stew”. Served it to our friends. They all loved it. Thought I would share my recipe with you. Serve with cornbread and ice tea. A great meal for these cold winter days.
Foods for New Years and their Meanings. BBQ Ribs recipe to Enjoy
I guess everyone has their own New Years Eve and New Years Day traditions. Probably the most common is the food we prepare and eat on New Years Day. In the South you will find people consuming black eyed peas, greens, pork and cornbread. Of course I have to mention the tradition of watching ball games. Bowl games are on all day. Most stores have begun having New Years Day sales. So the more recent tradition that was added is shopping.
Eating black eyed peas has been tradition for over 1500 years. This tradition was started to celebrate the Jewish Holiday known as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Black eyed peas was thought to bring good luck during the new year. Folklore says the tradition of eating black eyed peas begun after the civil war. Black eyed peas were and still are so inexpensive they were considered to be a poor mans food. It was thought eating them would bring humility and lack of vanity into ones life. An old saying that stemmed from eating black eyed peas was “Eat poor on New Year’s, and eat fat the rest of the year.” Also the loose peas seem to resemble coins. Once dried peas are placed in water they expand thus symbolizing expanding wealth.
A couple of My holiday Party Recipes
Wanted to share a couple of my favorite party recipes. These are a couple of my tried and true treats for holiday parties. Both are quick and can be fixed at the last minute. These are both great for pop in guest. Keep these ingredients on hand during the holidays and you will be covered for last minute snacks.
Cooking without an exact Recipe
I have been cooking in a kitchen since I was probably 10 years old. When I reached Jr High School level I really got interested in cookbooks. I enjoyed finding a recipe and trying it. I remember the first recipe I tried from a book was Eggs Benedict. This was breakfast for my parents, brothers and sisters. Since we did not have English Muffins I improvised and used plain toast. Some of the surprisingly best meals are made with substitutions. I have always enjoyed cooking especially when everything is neat and in order. I have to admit most of my meals are made without recipes. Most of them are made from memories of being in the kitchen with my mom, my mother-in-law, with aunts and friends. Of course I do have some favorite recipes passed to me from friends and family and sometimes from a cookbook.
