New Recipes

 As you all know, I love to read cookbooks.  I have accumulated a decent collection of vintage cookbooks.  It started with the cookbooks that I inherited from Mom and Grandmother.  Not to mention the recipe boxes I got as well.  So, whenever I am at the used bookstore or at an estate sale, chances are I am going to pick up a "new to me" cookbook.  I just love it!

So, this year I have been trying to find new recipes to make.  It's not like I don't have plenty to choose from!!  So far, I have made 3 or 4 new to me recipes and most of them I have really liked.  There's a tuna spread appetizer that I will be sharing on here soon that I got from one of Mom's cookbooks:  Salmagundi II.  It's been really fun to try new things and see what works and what doesn't.

This year, I'm doing some different things with my new recipe adventures.  One is that I am basing which new recipe I choose to make based on what I already have.  For example, the tuna recipe.  I had the tuna I needed in the cabinet and the cream cheese I needed in the fridge, along with a few other of the ingredients.  I only had to buy one thing to make that recipe, so I was able to try something new at a relatively low cost.

The other thing that I am doing is writing feedback in the cookbooks themselves.  When I read a cookbook, I will tag the recipes that interest me with those little Post-It tabs you can get.  That way, when I am looking for a new recipe, I can just go to the ones that I have tagged to see if it fits my current list of available ingredients.  Now, after I make the recipe and decide if I want to make it again or not, I will mark the recipe permanently in the book.  If the recipe is not exactly as good as I liked, I will make notes on the page as to why I think it didn't work.  The one thing I have found is that several of the new recipes I have made have been too salty.  I liked them ok, but definitely too salty.  So, I will make that note alongside the recipe in case I try it again at a later time.  Since most of my cookbooks are from decades ago, I wonder about the salt content of certain products then versus now.  Hmmmmm.

I haven't made anything new in a few weeks.  School and work have kept me busy but am hoping to find something new to do next week.  So, it's time to peruse the freezer and the cabinets and see what I've got.  This is also a good way to help myself clean out the freezer LOL  We'll see what I come up with.

That is all.