create a TasteBook

I’ve actually been adding a lot of recipes lately – husband & I are trying to make this more of an “our favorites, but our healthy favorites” cookbook.

We’re hoping to order in the New Year.

It stays.

I found this recipe at www.gather.com.

This recipe is a bit of a two-fer. It is 1) done in 30 minutes & 2) a cheap and filling dinner. With sales at my grocer, this meal would cost as follows:

Sausage – $1.25 (Will use 1/2 of a package)
Frozen Noodles – $1.50 (Will use 1/2 of a package)
Cabbage – 25 Cents (Will use 1/4 of a head)
Onion – 50 cents

For $3.50, this is a pretty filling dinner for two people – add a bit extra and you can throw in a side of green beans.

One warning – eat this around those you are really, really comfortable sharing your bodily functions with – cabbage is one of those foods that tends to make you rather gassy. Or you can always throw some Beano in beforehand. =)

I found one I got a few years ago…

Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole

This is straight from the horse’s mouth. Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is a decent restaurant chain that serves great steaks. Husband is a tremendous fan of the Sweet Potato casserole and orders it without fail. Two years ago, I called them to see if I could get a batch for carryout for Thanksgiving. They weren’t really doing the side-dishes as a carry-out thing per se, but then the manager offered me something very nice – she asked if I’d like the official recipe. She had their corporate offices e-mail it to me in less than an hour.

Nice thing, isn’t it? It is a tremendous amount of sugar, though…

Sweet Potato Mixture

3 cups Mashed (cooked) Sweet Potatoes
1 cup Sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, well beaten
1 stick (½ cup) butter

Crust Mixture

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
⅓ stick butter, melted
⅓ cup flour

Fist, combine the Crust Mixture in a mixing bowl and combine on the side.

Combine Sweet Potato Mixture ingredients into a mixture bowl in the order listed. Combine thoroughly.

Pour mixture into buttered baking dish.

Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving.

I added a recipe for Thai Braised Pork Belly today – it’s from a blog that was called “Cheat Eat” – I say was mostly because it hasn’t been updated since 2007. I hope that they come back because this Braised Pork Belly is fantastic!

http://cheateat.typepad.com/blog/ (good stuff!)

I want to pay more attention to this account. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to aim for just yet, but I’m toying with a “best of 2008” cookbook.

I’ve done a lot on the sausage front and I’ve found a couple of really good recipes here and there from various sources – I also believe that I’ve perfected my hummus recipe. I’d like to throw all of this together and aim for publishing it as one volume.

I want to avoid “filler” as much as possible. So I am going to challenge myself to include only those recipes which I photograph and will truly enjoy making over and over again.

From there, I’ll decide if this is for me, if I want to aim for family or if I want to gather from family and friends to create a master cookbook or if I want to do something entirely different.

One of my 4 sisters likes to cook so she was the first recipient of my TasteBook.

I called it “From The Kitchen Of…” and included footnotes about where the recipe originated as well as anecdotes about the first time I made something.

Everyone oohed and aahed over it (including aunts and uncles and even my mom – who is the source of many of the recipes).

Well – in between parties and shopping and a major Nor’easter I managed to add 82 of my favorite recipes onto the Tastebook site. I ordered one to see what it looks like.

If it arrives in time and passes inspection, it will be a gift for one of my four sisters or my mom or my godmother.

I will happily share with anyone who is interested.

Like many home cooks I have books lining my kitchen counters and a dog-eared, tattered coolection of hand written and photocopied favorites. Yes – I have folders of recipes in 3 different e-mail accounts, on 2 laptops (work and home) and floating around on an experimental, totally neglected Freewebs page I made oh-so-many years ago.

More than once I have handwritten recipes as gifts and people request upgrades. It is a labor of love.

And today I stumbled upon TasteBook

WOW – could I really have a professional looking, printed collection of my favorites recipes that is easy to update?? I’m working feverishly to add recipes. It looks like the deadline for ordering in time for Christmas has passed but one can only hope.