I'm working on reducing food waste. We do above average on that, but I'm really trying to get it close to zero.

Oh, and the powerball thing too!

1. Try out a new (to me) recipe each week or so.

2. Use my cookbooks more often (instead of looking it up on the internet.) Donate the ones I no longer think work for me.

3. Try something new at my favorite restaurants instead of ordering the same dishes I always have.

4. Be more adventurous when my DH wants to eat someplace that's out of my comfort zone. (With the exception of sushi. NO!)
   

1. Master decorating sugar cookies... currently I am AWFUL!

2. Master GF crusty bread

3. Make a turkey for Thanksgiving

Dcarch, don't send me any truffles! Because I might like them. A lot. Just send me a check; I can probably feed the family all year for what a # of white truffles cost. :-) (Or, more likely I'd spend the money on a new tablesaw and a Festool Domino and buy more beans...)

Hmmm....cooking resolutions. Cook less because I have other stuff to do. So, I've been cooking things like pots of beans, soups, stews that last several meals. Also, resolved to do a turnover of the pantry, using things that have been sitting there too long. And to get most of the cooking done early in day so I'm free to work on the house projects that have been put off for too long (another resolution) and don't have to cook something in the evenings when I'm dog tired.

Sandy, I have been trying different dishes outside my regulars at favorite restaurants--last years' resolution. Need to do the cookbook purge--eh, next year. Running recipes down on the internet is just toooo easy. What I need to do is get control of the recipes that I've printed, tried and liked a lot. Spend way too much time trying to find my copy when I want to make the recipe again. Yeh, I know I need to really get with the digital age but that's going to require a lot of time & effort and I have higher priority stuff to do for now.

Index the printed recipes that I have printed out and put into plastic sheet protectors. I probably also need to get another binder and start on volume two, although I have tried to keep only the most important ones in one volume. When I want to use a recipe, I take it out of the binder, and it stays protected in the sheet protectors that I use. I think I need more sheet protectors also.

Main resolution is to reorganize the freezer and garage refrigerator. I also want to start using more items from the large freezer so that they do not languish there. I thought I would use frozen food more than I do when I bought the large freezer.

I stuck to my resolution and tried a new dish on Saturday. It was chicken and mushrooms in a sauce. Ehh, I could've made something just like it at home so it wasn't as impressive as it sounded on the menu. But I'll keep trying new things.

ci_lantro, If you know what you want to make it's so much easier to find a quick recipe on the net, that's true, but I'm going to try browsing my cookbooks to get ideas. I'm not ready to let go of them yet.

Years ago I got an expandable recipe folder with the dividers labeled for food categories. At the time it was for recipes I tore out of magazines, but it's now become for all the things I print from the internet. That keeps them organized.

No resolutions here, though you all are reminding me that I could print out some of my self-developed bread recipes for convenient reference. I have them typed into the computer, but currently have to consult scribbled notes in a folder.

I just amble along, occasionally trying something new, usually when I get tired of what I've been eating. I did finally make a coleslaw I liked: victory!

Sandy, I started out with putting the recipes in a three ring binder and that worked great for a while. Then the binder started getting full and everything just got ahead of me. The idea of the expanding file is a good one; I can use that for the overflow recipes until I have time to dedicate to really getting a handle on things.

Lars, I have a binder for different KINDS of recipes. One for Baking, one for main dishes, one for salads/appetizers, etc. Each has a index divider pages, the common kind you can buy in every store with an office aisle. Baking, for example: divided into Scones, Muffins, cakes, pies, desserts, candy, etc. Makes it very easy to find what I want. It took very little time to do. I'm not an organized person, but this was easy.

I hole - punch them as soon as I print them out. Once we try them, if it's not good enough to keep, it never goes into the binder.