If you have a recipe box that you keep your recipes in you may be interested in these free printable recipe cards that I recently found. It’s on HP’s (Hewlett-Packard) website and you just add the name of your recipe, your name and your recipe ingredients and directions and print it out. They have several styles to choose from. It makes a 4 x 6 recipe card, but you may be able to cut it down to fit your recipe box if necessary.

Here’s the link: http://www.hp.com/hho/hp_create/cards-recipe_cards.html

Notice that a “Medium” is a size 14 – 16

I don’t think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for  removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.  Her granddaughters now set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron – but love.

I received a Low Pressure Cooker from my mom for Christmas.  The cooker did not come with specific instructions.  The recipes they included are really not to my family’s taste.  Does anyone have information and recipes that may be useful?  My mother-in-law has a high pressure cooker that she uses all the time. But from what I read there is a bit of difference between the high and low pressure cookers.  Thanks for the help.

I came across this in Readers Digest and thought I’d pass it along since Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner! These tips come from a food scientist named Harold McGee, so it’s got to be good… right?

• Don’t stuff the bird. The stuffing needs to reach 160 to 170 degress Fahrenheit to kill bacteria, and a temperature that high guarantees overcooked breast meat.
• Don’t truss the legs. A trussed bird takes longer to cook and means drier breast meat.
• Don’t use a pop-up thermometer. When it pops up, the meat is already overcooked.
• Start cooking the turkey with the breast side down. That slows its cooking until you turn it and cook it breast up, “Just long enough to brown the breast skin.”

1. Make your marinade tangy
Adding vinegar or lemon juice to your marinade could make your meat safer, according to a new study. “Acidic marinades tend to slow the growth of bacteria on meat.” says Melvin Hunt, PhD, a professor of food science at Kansas State University. Just soak properly: Marinade in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Poultry and cubed meats shouldn’t be marinated for more than two days, but it’s okay to leave beef, pork, and lamb in the mixture for five days.

2. Think temperature, not color for burgers
You can’t rely on color or texture to indicate doneness. In recent studies, factors like how ground beef was packaged affected the meat’s color as it cooked — some patties turned brown before they reached a safe temperature, while others were pink in the middle after thorough cooking. Heat your burger to an internal temperature of 160 degrees (F); use a food thermometer. You can be more relaxed about whole cuts of beef (if they haven’t been “blade-tenderized” or had flavoring injected) because surface bacteria are destroyed through cooking. These cuts are safe if cooked to 145 degrees (F).

3. Don’t count on prewashed
Leafy greens (like lettuce, spinach, and cabbage) constitute the riskiest food regulated by the FDA, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. What’s more, bagged salad greens are more likely to cause digestive problems than whole heads. The reason: Cut leaves are more vulnerable to bacteria, and the large volume of greens handled together means a higher risk for cross-contamination. There’s no need to swear off salads, but do wash even prewashed lettuce and other cut greens. Thoroughly rinse leaves in cold water, use a salad spinner to remove most of the water, then blot dry with a clean cloth or paper towel. And don’t let the bag of lettuce sit around: Refrigerate it within two hours of buying, and use within a week.

Source:  Readers Digest

This is just a quick tip for all you Walmart shoppers. When buying hamburger at Walmart be sure to look closely at the packaging to see where the meat came from. I’ve noticed that much of it comes from Mexico. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the meat, only that I doubt that they have the same safety or compliance standards as the meat produced in the U.S.

Hi! I just wanted to make a quick comment about this website and my domain name “Stacey’s Recipe Box”. It is extremely difficult to come up with a domain name (www.yourwebsitename.com) with the word “recipe” in it, that isn’t already taken. We went through dozens and dozens of potential names for this website but they were already taken.

Come to find out, there are companies that collect domain names to resell. They have hundreds and thousands of domain names that they register for $10 and then try to resell them for hundred’s or thousands of dollars. It was companies like these that had already registered many of the domain names that I wanted, but I wasn’t going to pay them for it!

So finally we came up with the name “Stacey’s Recipe Box”. It wasn’t my first (hundred) choice, but it was available and we were tired, so we went with it. I know the name could cause people to think that all the recipes on this site belong to me, but they don’t. Near the top of every recipe will be the name of the person who submitted it.

I’ve also been asked if I’m going to try and make money from the recipes. And the answer is… no. But I will sell advertising space on this website to help offset the cost of maintaining it.

OK, I just wanted to clear that up in case anyone was concerned about it.

I have a couple of suggestions about avoiding the issues of wondering “What are we going to have for dinner tonight?” and constant trips to the grocery store.  Set aside one day a week and plan your meals for the week.  I will usually sit down with some recipe books so I can peruse and choose one new recipe to make each week.  It doesn’t have to be an entree; it could be a side dish, dessert, breakfast dish, or even a beverage.  Cooking can be a real chore if you make the same things over and over.

I also have made a list of dishes that my family enjoys in a small notebook.  I refer to this list when I am planning my weekly meals.  This is a great way to not  repeat the same meals.  Don’t you hate hearing your spouse or children say, “We’re having that again?”

I also divide my week into categories.  For us, every Thursday is “Chicken Finger” night because that is my husband’s favorite dish and he wants to have it once a week.  (He feels cheated on the weeks we don’t have this dish.)  Friday nights I make a dish that is good with a soda.  (We only allow our son one soda a week.)  These dishes would be hamburgers, sloppy joes, pizza, bubble pizza, tacos, etc.  I always make enough for two meals.  This way we have enough to have leftovers for lunch on Sundays after church.  Sunday night we eat light, usually just soup and a sandwich.  Saturday night is our “Big Meal”.  I make a main entree, side dishes, and sometimes a homemade bread.  Again, I make enough for two nights so we can have leftovers Monday evening.  Tuesday is “Casserole Night” with enough to have leftovers on Wednesday.  I always keep Hamburger Helper and chili mix on hand in case I make a meal in which there is not enough for leftovers.  Dividing my week like this helps when I sit down to plan my meals.

Don’t forget desserts.  I make a homemade dessert every Friday.  This is a great reward for my family for getting through the week.

After I plan what I’m going to make for the week, I make my grocery list accordingly.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions that have helped you when planning meals for your family.

I’ve already told you about this new blog feature, but there’s also a new feature that concerns the recipes and comments. Now whenever someone makes a comment on a recipe that you submitted you’ll receive an email letting you know.

I think that this will be helpful because a comment can actually be someone asking a question about your recipe.  And if it isn’t someone asking a question, it’s still nice to hear that someone tried it and liked it!