Good recipes are where you find them. :) Most of my mentions below (which I won't edit out in case they're of interest to anyone) are for baking and the cooking ones are for a specific method or flavor. I realized in thinking about this, that most of my cooking is what I learned at home. Another great learning experience, however, was cooking through a bunch of recipes that I was editing, and needed to photograph, for a newsletter. Many were things I wouldn't have otherwise made, most were decent to good, if not great, and inviting people to lunch, regularly, to eat the results made for great socializing. Think Julie and Julia, without the drama. :) So I'd suggest you go through the books you have and make every recipe that has ingredients you like and see what you get. :) I don't make a lot of recipes from cookbooks, but I will use them as guides. I have dozens, and like to read through them for inspiration. When I was trying to raise my game with braises, which I love because they're inexpensive and you just throw everything in a pot, I made a few from All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking by Molly Stevens. The duck legs with sour cherries is worth the price of the book. :) But it's a lot of doing stuff for a braise, and I haven't made it again. Recently, I was given Plenty by Yoram Ottolenghi and it's fabulous, but I haven't made anything from it yet. I also use recipes from the 'net. I like finding ones that have a lot of comments. That's better than lab testing! I have many baking specific cookbooks and couldn't find a good recipe for plain chocolate cake. I wanted it to make cake with an 8-year-old, so I wanted a plain old cake, and not a mix. I could have invented a chocolate pound cake, but I finally found this on Add A Pinch blog. It really is that good, and we made it (twice) without the secret ingredient (espresso powder), and it was still that good (I used Valrhona cocoa). The best bundt cake recipe I ever made was also from a blog, which is gone now. It had a perfect crumb and was truly delicious. My most popular cake is a pumpkin chocolate marble bundt from Sunset magazine. The linked fig pie is also a big hit. The Black Family Reunion Cookbook from the NCNW (which is a from the store, bound volume) is another favorite, with all kinds of different recipes for cornpone and corn muffins, my favorite Passover green vegetable kugel is from a local congregation cookbook, and the "family" matzah ball recipe originated with one put out by the local Hadassah. When I make bread pudding, I refer to the recipe in It's All American Food by David Rosengarten, but I don't make precisely that. I do make the arroz con pollo as directed (more or less--it's my mother's recipe (her book, that is) and I think there are some changes she's made over the years) from The Spice Cookbook by Stuckey, Day and Spier from the 1960's. What I'm trying to say is having a favorite recipe from whatever source, is normal. Don't think of it as underutilizing your cookbooks. Think of it as cherishing the best they have to offer. :)

Sharon/Fl. posted this here, gosh, 8 years ago. I've been using her recipe every since! Sharon's Homemade Sweet & Sour Bacon Dressing ********************************** Fry 1lb. bacon in heavy pot till crisp. Drain & break into tiny pieces-not crumbled! Pour out half the grease-leave rest in pot. ADD: **** 5 eggs (beaten with a spoon) 5 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/4 tsp. salt MIX WELL. ADD: *** 1 cup flour 5 tsps dry mustard MIX WELL-use slotted spoon or whisk ADD: **** 2 1/2 cups CIDER vinegar 5 cups water-Mix till well blended. * Heat on medium-stirring often, but not constantly, as this lowers the cooking temperature. In about 15-20 minutes, mixture will begin to thicken. Make sure you scrape sides of pot & the bottom-often-don't let burn! * Once it is as thick as a medium gravy-remove from heat, and add bacon and 2 TBS margarine or butter. DRESSING WILL THICKEN AS IT COOLS. Sharon says: You may think this makes an awful lot-but it keeps in the fridge for 4 weeks--share with a neighbor! Excellent on Spinach Salads, Baked Potatoes, or just lettuce. Really good if you microwave a serving for 30 seconds or till just warm. ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY. Makes great Xmas gifts- just buy jelly jars, and add a bow around the neck of the jar. When my mom had her brain surgery-I took jars to the ICU for the Drs & nurses. At noon-I'd go to the cafeteria to eat & here I'd see all of them walking in with their 'dressing jars" LOL! Note from Ang: I use it as a dip for egg rolls and fried won tons too.

APPLE COUNTRY CHICKEN Yield: 5 Servings 1 tsp Curry powder 1 lg Golden Delicious apple, Cored and chopped 1 lg Yellow onion, finely chopped 1 tbs Lemon juice 4 oz Mushrooms, sliced 1 tsp Chicken stock 2 c Apple juice or cider 3 1/2 lb Chicken thigh, skinned 1 tbs Flour Place curry powder in a wide frying pan and stir over medium heat until slightly darker in color (3-4 minutes). Add apple, yellow onion, lemon juice, mushrooms, stock, and 1 1/2 C. of the apple juice; bring to a boil. Rinse chicken and pat dry; add to pan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until meat near bone is no longer pink; cut to test (about 30 minutes). Lift chicken from pan; arrange on a warm platter. Keep warm. Blend flour and remaining 1/2 C. apple juice. Gradually add to sauce in pan, stirring; increase heat to high and cook, stirring until sauce is thickened. Pour over chicken. The sauce also tastes good poured over baked potato or rice. **************** HEALTHY CHICKEN STOCK Yield: 16 Servings 2 lb Chicken bones, back and Neck Water -- to cover 1 Celery stalk 1 Onion -- quartered 1 Bay leaf 1 Carrot In a large stockpot combine chicken bones, back, and neck and the water. Add celery, onion, bay leaf, and carrot. Simmer over low heat 1-1/2 hours. Strain. Makes 4 to 6 cups. Note: To remove fat, allow stock to chill for 2 hours. Fat will separate and rise to the top. Scoop fat off with spoon and discard. Remaining stock may be used in recipes calling for defatted chicken stock. Recipe By : the California Culinary Academy ************** this is excellent..been making it for over 20 years.... Parmesan Rice and Pasta Pilaf After the pasta and onion are sautéed, the oil is drained to minimize the fat content of this interesting pilaf. 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 C finely broken vermicelli, uncooked 2 Tbsp diced onion 1 C long-grain white rice, uncooked 1-1/4 C hot chicken stock 1-1/4 C hot water 1/4 tsp ground white pepper One bay leaf 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese In a large skillet, heat oil. Sauté vermicelli and onion until golden brown, about 2 to 4 minutes over medium-high heat. Drain off oil. Add rice, stock, water, pepper, and bay leaf. Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Fluff with fork. Cover and let stand 5 to 20 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Sprinkle with cheese and serve immediately. YIELD: 6 servings - SERVING SIZE: 2/3 cup each

* Posted by coconut-nj (My Page) on Sat, May 30, 09 at 11:27 Sally, anywhere that has alot of British imports would probably have it. I was checking out who had it online the other day and while you might not want 6 bottles of it.. smiles... Amazon has 6 bottles for $27.05. It's free shipping too. Most places sell it for between five and six or up to eight dollars, so that's a great price. They say they're 15 oz bottles. Maybe somebody else would want to go in on it with you?? I've always heard of it described as a mayo with more vinegar and also with a mustard taste. Sounds good. Smiles. My DW used it when she used to travel to the UK all the time for buisness. Surprised she didn't bring any back. I have a head of savoy cabbage so I'm going to make my easy 'stuffed' cabbage casserole that I described above. It makes it so easy and quick which is just what we want on a Saturday night. Steam the cabbage briefly, layer it with dirty rice, pour some tomato juice mixed with onion and garlic powder between layers and on top and bake for about 40 minutes. I'll see if I can manage to take a picture. I seem to be terrible at that. The camera is always in the other room and it's a kind of big house and by the time I'm done cooking I'm not walking very well. LOL.. We will see. Oh btw, I always make two dishes of this because Christy gets burnt out on "red" since I always have something made with red sauce around I make her a version with just some broth on it. I do stuffed peppers for her the same way. No red. I do love the red on it but prefer tomato juice since it's nice and light although I'll just water down tomato sauce or puree with chicken stock/broth, if I don't have any handy.