Liberation!

I have been collecting recipes from various sources for as long as I have been married so that's approximately 12 years. Did I just say 12 years? I clip from magazines, make a copy from friends and family onto various items that are sure to never get lost such as napkins, sticky notes, newspaper edges, etc. I tear off the back of boxes and rip labels just to get at a recipe that "sounds" good. I get suckered into books and magazines because the picture on the front looks de-lish and if you know me at all it doesn't take much to convince me I need another book. (As a side note, what you see on the table is not even half of the recipe books mags I own, anyone need a loner? I'm all about sharing.) Besides can't we all use that ten dollar magazine that promises culinary masterpieces thrown into a crock pot for under 5 bucks? Well maybe you don't but me on the other hand is another matter. I want mouth watering loveliness smelling up my house with the "what smells so flippin fantastic in here" wafting up my nose as soon as I walk in the door. What I typically get would be described as "what smells so flippin awful that Garth (the dog) won't even come inside". I then proceed to walk around like a blood hound sniffing out the headache inducing culprit, to find that the garbage had been taken out but the broccoli juice in the bottom of the steamer (that I was too lazy to clean the night before) is now disgustingly leaching it's nastiness all over the entire house.

So, back to the story at hand, I have once and for all decided it is time to liberate myself from recipe hell. It looks kind of like this:



The aha moment came when I could not find my Zuppa Toscana soup recipe. It just happens to be the one soup I make that Jason absolutely loves. I like soup. I could eat it all the time, but according to my dear hubby the Pepsi Man "soup" does not equal a meal and not to mention is too much work to eat because it requires numerous bowls of "sipping" to get full. Really? Since when is eating food work? Can I get paid for this kind of work? I'm pretty sure I would be excellent at it. I wouldn't even mind working overtime if a baked good was involved.

Pepsi Man is difficult to feed sometimes, especially with someone like me who is open to all foods. I have never met a veggie I didn't like, until New York that is and Chris's mom said broccoli rab was good. I must beg to differ, but in my defense I gave the green a good try. I was convinced she was right and it just needed a second even third try. Dustin wasn't sure how I even made it past the first. It was one of those moments you wanted to wipe your tongue with a napkin, bar the fact we were in a great restaurant in the big city and some would have deigned it bad table manners. For those of you who happen to like broccoli rab, well that's fantastic for your sophisticated pallet, as for mine I'll steer clear.

I have tried in the past to write down my recipes on those cutesy little cards and place it all in a neat box that I can bring out at a moments notice and find to my delighted fingertips all those amazing recipes to feed my family's body and soul. After about three cards I decide my hand is too tired to continue this sort of tedious work and hence proceed to the pantry to stuff some chocolate in my mouth as I scowl at all those little scraps of torn paper and what nots that have now become a rather bothersome chore instead of the "I'll be cooking like a pro in no time" I had hoped for.

I have once and for all decided to give it a true effort. Do you see that cute polka dot binder in the back? Well it's empty....for now. The goal is to fill it up with the recipes that I use frequently and categorize them into sections that make more sense than an "I'm sure it's in this stack of odds and end papers....maybe....I hope". My great grandmother who I hold dear to my heart wrote her potato salad recipe on a card for me and I cannot see myself ever giving that up. It is in her beloved handwriting but more importantly in her own words. Such as she uses the phrases "I like red potatoes best","maybe 4-5 eggs", and "to taste". Everything she cooked was to taste. She was an excellent cook and learned from her mother growing up on a farm in the early 1900's where people ate good homemade food all the time. When I read her recipe I can hear her voice just as if she were standing there peeling the potatoes with me. So for those particularly cherished hand written recipes I will retype them to suit my binder but I have decided to include the handwritten one at the bottom to be able to revel in those memories as I cook.

Now just as I would purge my closet of unused and unwanted clothing I have determined the same must be done with my recipe mess. I am not a keeper. I am a thrower, tosser, giver. I have no problems relinquishing items I don't need or use. How I got myself into this situation is beyond me. Is there a recipe clipper AA? I know it happened one tsp at a time. I guess it's the same old story we all have, you know the one where you tell yourself you might use it sometime. It then gets mixed up back in the stack and sent off to the island of misfit recipes. I'm putting a garbage can next to my work space and trashing every recipe that I haven't used. I'm not worried I'll miss something because quite frankly, I don't know what I'm missing. I can imagine it probably tastes good, but not enough for me to actually make it. Besides, I'm pretty sure I could also find it or something like it later. Just because I ditched mine doesn't mean it's gone from the world of culinary creationism for good. If I simply can't bear to give one up because I have tasted it or can realistically see myself make it, then I am going to set those aside and give myself a timeline to put them on my menu planning for the month. If they don't get made by then, it's ahsta la vista baby! Besides, I have three other mouths to feed that have to give a nod of approval as well. Maybe I can make a "test kitchen" section in my binder? Hmmm...gotta think on that one.

I know not everyone has my recipe problem. I guess it's a problem, not compared to the Middle East, Health care or rising fuel costs kind of problem, but it feels like it at least when it comes to wanting to make Zuppa Toscana and I can't find the dang recipe. Sure I could look it up on the Internet. I'm positive it's out there resting in cyberspace, but it's not MY recipe. My tried and true recipe. One change could throw off the whole balance of the universe, well my family's universe which feels like the whole universe when everyone is starving and complaining that they just might die of hunger. Not to mention, I finally found a soup Pepsi Man will eat and I'm not throwing that to chance on an experimental recipe replacement.

I am open to all ideas. I am no respecter of recipe organization. If you have any great but non-intensive suggestions, by all means suggest away. I know this is going to involve at least some work on my part. Liberation does not come without its price, but freedom from recipe bondage will definitely taste sweet!