Recipe Project

This photo has nothing to do with my recipe project, but I'm throwing it in with the kitchen theme.  My sister gave me a darling bowl set for my birthday, and I'm loving it.

Okay, recipe project.  For years I have not quite known what to do with recipes.  I have a small recipe box I've had since we were married, but there are so many recipes to clip and try and sadly, they just seem to pile up in a drawer.  After being married 25 years, I've figured out what I do and don't do in the kitchen.  I'm a baker, and my recipes are found in my favorite baking books or on the two or three cards I've kept and used again and again in my recipe box.  Cooking is not something I feel creative about which is probably why main dishes, side dishes and appetizers only happen in an elegant fashion during the holidays.  We do, however, have some staples that have been provided by both our families, and it was time to find a place for it all.  

I found a binder at Costco which felt like something I could use.  It was big and had sleeves and dividers, and I was able to use recipe cards of any size, or sheets of paper, and corral it all in one place. This was important with my 3x5" recipe cards, my mom's 4x6" cards, the half or full sheets of paper my mother-in-law wrote on occasionally, and the new recipes Kelly and Heather find and print out on the internet.  It all has a home now!  What a relief.  I can't wait to have someone ask me for the recipe to such-and-such so that I can calmly walk over to my binder and whip it out with ease.

We have 7 different pickle recipes from Kelly's family. Helps to understand why we consider ourselves "pickle" people.  Other favorite recipes include Carmen's cinnamon rolls and Raymond's root beer.

Laaaah.  The binder.  The dessert section is biggest.  Hee, hee.

Recipes we won't use.  These made me the most sad.  There is history in these recipes--ingredients we don't use anymore or call something different (sour milk), things we don't have time to make that involve multiple steps and cooking times, and tons of spiced fruit and pie ingredients that many of us purchase pre-made.  I knew that I wouldn't use all of these and didn't have room to store them in the binder, but I don't know if I'll get rid of them.  I have a feeling that the older they get, the more precious they'll become.  Check out the stellar cursive on that front card.  Who writes that neatly anymore?  We did get about four different handwritings which tells me it's important to put your name on your recipes so your grandkids can figure out what came from where.  The only writing I can identify is my mother-in-laws.  I have a feeling the others may be from her sister or even her mom.