An Arsenal of Recipes

I feel like women need an arsenal of recipes.  Seriously, we get married, some of us have little idea as to what we are doing (I was a pro at sweet stuff, just mediocre at real stuff, and can you believe my husband hates sweets.... world of hurt, I'm in, I tell you.) or how to please everyone (when kids come along of course.)

And I'll tell you - if you were like me (which many of you reading are not like me in this accord - ya'll are home-makey and good at this sort of thing... this girl just took practice) you came upon every good recipe you had after a great deal of hard work and trial and error.

Now don't get me wrong, I'd have a bagillion great recipes from my mom (whose cooking, even after 6 years of marriage, I miss) if only the woman had recipes!  (Can I get an amen? Amen.)  Seriously - what is it with women and having this complex system to how they do their cooking but their system includes throw in some of this and if you don't have that you can add this totally unrelated ingredient and I'm not really sure how much of anything and somehow it turns out exactly. the. same. each. time.  

Really?  I think they are just lying to us because they don't want their secret out.  I'm on to you.

So - as I'm menu planning, etc, I usually find myself racking my brain as to what I can prepare with the ingredients I have on hand (or mostly on hand), and a year or so ago I started a binder of recipes, for myself, by myself, that I've prepared and have been deemed successful in our household (this is an important step.)

Time got in the way and the project fell on the back burner, until I got a crazy hair and decided today to fill it in.  The result?  14 pages worth of recipes = 40+ recipes of things I fix that my family actually eats.

Well, praise Jesus!  I think I'm going to like how this little project pays off.

The other reason for this project?  If you're like me (and in this way you might be) you know what it's like to love your momma's cooking, and my prayer is that my kids will love mine (someone's got to), and in praying that they do, I'll have all of my recipes in one central location, with notes and what not written in, so my kids, if they desire, can photocopy and own for themselves.

I don't know about you - but I like the idea of my recipes being passed to my kids and grandkids.

Now, if I can just figure out my mom's Italian beef recipe...

-A