I LOVE trying new recipes. When one of your main jobs is putting food on the table for your family, it can become a monotonous chore if you’re not careful.  The one way I’ve found to combat this feeling, is to try new recipes.  I have collected many, many cookbooks and magazines over the years. I really would like to try all the recipes these wonderful books and magazines have between their covers. I’ve been blessed with a son who is not a finicky eater and enjoys trying new things. My husband is a bit more finicky but usually is a good sport when I put something new on the table.

A lot of the magazines I collect have very helpful tips for the kitchen and other household chores. I will happily share some of these tips on this blog. If you have any tips of your own, please share with the rest of us!

Thanks for reading this blog. Please come back. I will do my best to post on a regular basis.

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

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.

• 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.”

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

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 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 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!