Recipe Book is Coming Along

My recipe book is coming along. I'm going to take some pictures pretty soon. I've printed out quite a few recipes recently and have put them in a 1 1/2" pretty green binder. With sheet protectors. It looks awesome. Pictures to come.

I'm really looking forward to having all of my "regular" recipes in there, plus a few empty spots for the new "winners." I'll make one or two new main recipes a month (to stretch the budget) and decide whether or not it makes the book. I'll probably do new sides more frequently because 1) I have fewer side recipes, and 2) they are less expensive.

My last post on my recipe book, I said I wanted to write the cost of each meal (to feed about 4 people). I'm just going to write that in on every page (not type it) because I think the prices will change over time.

Why write the costs of the meals down? To make sure I don't make too many expensive meals in a week. Of course that's going to take a lot of time because I have to actually know how much the materials cost...

This is going to be awesome, too, because it will contain all our family favorites that my children will be used to. In 2006, my mother-in-law made all of the daughters a recipe book of her favorites. Some of those recipes made it in my book already, and I just love that they can be passed down generation to generation. I hope my future daughters-in-law appreciate that! *Fingers crossed*

Upcoming Goals

I thought of something cool in the shower the other night. I'm going to work hard to compile cheap, quick recipes that Mark and I like in a recipe book (with sheet protectors). I'll probably use a 3 ring binder so when I print out recipes I can stick them right in the binder. If they are in cookbooks, I usually type them out and print them out.

My goals for my meals:

Prep in 30 minutes
Bake for however long I need to that evening.
Cheap (Under $10 for my family)

My goals for my recipes will tell:
how many servings it makes,
what season it would be best in,
how much prep and also cooking/baking time it takes.

I might print out a couple of copies of each recipe because sometimes one meal may fall under other categories. For instance, I want to know which of my recipes are good for Sunday meals - those I can either stick in the crock pot in the morning, bake while I'm at church, or get it on the table in 30 minutes from getting back home. Most of those meals will be fine for using at other times, too.

My "tabs" will include at least these:
Basketball game nights (or evenings when we have to get out the door quick)
Sunday Dinner
Large get-togethers
A log of my own recipes (what I tried, what I liked/didn't like, mistakes I made, etc)
Crock Pot Meals
Quick Sides

Also, I want to experiment with recipes more. I think I've been cooking long enough that I don't have to stick to recipes like I've been doing. Maybe I'll do one recipe every month where I don't use one at all. (Of course I'll have some spaghetti on standby if something terrible happens!). It's time to leave my comfort zone, lay down my pride, and get to making some good creations.

Something that's annoying me is that I have a tendency to let food go bad because I don't have the creativity to use it in something. Celery, Carrots, Green Peppers, Lettuce, Green Onions are a few of the vegetables I often let go bad. I want to figure out ways to use them up so I don't waste money.

Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

~Rebecca