A Haven for Vee

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Recipes and Dishes


This is my recipe file. Does it look anything like yours? As I find recipes I want to try, I print them off and set them on top of the printer where they stack up for a few days or weeks, whatever, until I file them properly.


Let's see what's in the file...I have four this week.

1. Cheddar, Gruyère and Chive Bread~Savoring Time in the Kitchen

2. Grilled Chicken Salad with Feta, Fresh Corn, and Blueberries~Pioneer Woman

3. Chocolate Biscuit Cake for Prince William~Mennonite Girls Can Cook

4. Sopapillas~Sweet Nothings

One has made it to my refrigerator  so far — Sopapillas! (BJ's recipe)



As I was exclaiming to BJ last night, I haven't had those in years...not since my Oklahoma days. It was a lovely trip back in time. I'm sure that I can do better with more practice. For one thing, you can tell that I didn't fret much over shapes. ;>

*******

Just tossing in a little progress report on dishes and finding homes for them. One thing always leads to another and if I make room here, then something must go there. Lots of somethings have been packed and are now labeled "Yard Sale or Goodwill." It depends on my energy levels.

Now this is temporary because very soon I'm going to be painting the kitchen wall. I've had quite enough with the "wood look" and this way it'll get us prepared for painting the rest. I'm coming in for a landing on a linen color, I think...about the shade of the putty John used in the cracks before I went, "Accccckkkkk!" (That was before I married him when he was just the carpenter. I might not feel so free to say that these days. ☺)


I used Nan's cracked dishes in my plate and platter arrangement. I have yet to find the entire two sets and am not sure that I wish to go looking after a week of boxes all over the place.

Now do tell me, how do you store your recipes? And where, pray tell, do you put extra dishes?

29 comments:

  1. I am the same way...I print off recipes and they stack up 2 inches tall before I move them! Well, the other day, I finally moved them! Now, they're sitting on top of my microwave. :-)

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  2. I have to say that your recipes are actually much tidier than mine, at least you leave them all flat and stacked. I fold mine and shove, I mean PUT them into my big 'ol recipe box. I don't even necessarily fold them the same way! Do you feel better yet?

    As for the many dishes, I'll be checking back to see what the wise, organized homemakers have to say about that one...

    Blessings, Debbie

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  3. Yep my recipes stack up right here beside my computer. Now extra dishes. I have lots of nieces and even nephews that wanted my mom and gm's china. I was glad to find out they wanted them. I am always tempted to come home with something new but I have learned. No extras.
    Your arrangement looks great.
    QMM

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  4. I have a whole bookcase of cookbooks! Plus a book holder in the kitchen that holders my day planner and 'extra' recipes or thnigs from the mail I need to keep up with. I usually put the ones I have printed out AFTER I have used them in a clear plastic envelope/folder. That goes in ANOTHER cupboard with paperback recipe books and other folders stuffed full! I have coellected some pretty terrific vintage cookbooks in my time. However, these days most people simply go on the internet and print out what they are looking for!

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  5. I can so identify with the recipes that stack up near the computer! Eventually they make it to a recipe folder...and sometimes they are actually tested. It's all good! Your sopapillas turned out great. My sister lives in South Texas...and has introduced us to a lot of 'south of the border' foods. It's always fun to try cooking something new.!

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  6. We have current recipes on the refrigerator door and "keepers" inside our plate cupboard...just leaning against the wall with our church directory and other must keep handy items. Such recipes as Sweet Onion Sauce, Dad's sweet refrigerator pickles and just like Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits have to stand by. You just never know.....

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  7. Right now the recipes are in a large ziplock bag. I rummaged through them from time to time...funny how my interest in a recipe fades after a snit. I toss better later.

    My mom has seven sets of dishes and keeps them in an old freezer out in the garage. My guestroom closet has dishes in nice dish padded storage containers.

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  8. I still have my old-fashioned recipe boxes with 3 x 5 cards, handwritten. But more and more I find recipes on line which brings up a whole new storage problem. I have a three-ring binder divided into sections and ideally, that's where the online and printed recipes should go. I say ideally, because they are usually stacked, first by the printer, then in a pile on top of the binder.

    I've started saving everything to a word file before printing, so I can go back and find it on my computer easier. I'm thinking a small computer in the kitchen is going to be the way to go - saves printing, and it's neat.

    But then, what if the power is off? Oh, well, can't cook then anyway.

    Extra dishes - ooh, that's a tough one. I love dishes, but I'm trying to be disciplined. If I can't fit it into my kitchen or china cabinet, something has to go.

    I've never tried sopapillas but they look good - what could be better than deep fried dough! My mouth is watering already.

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  9. After I print recipes, they either get put on the fridge (if I am going to try them right away), or put into a 3-ring binder. After we try them, I then decide if we keep or toss them. If we use the recipe often, it moves to our special family recipe book! :)

    Blessings!
    ~Nadine

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  10. -chuckle- Of course I have "free-flying" printed recipes, on top of where they should be "living." Isn't this a Kitchen Rule somewhere? I thought it was!!! ,-)

    I do have a loose leaf binder, with plastic things in it, to slip my printed out recipes into them. But, I never seem to get them all, in it.

    Easiest way for me to deal with this is........ Stop printing recipes. LOL.

    But then, I'm not the Chef around here. The Baker yes, but not the Chef. Who is making soup, as I type. :-)

    I just don't store dishes, or place them around. So that problem is solved. ,-) I really never was one to accumulate *things.* And yet, we still have too much *stuff.* -sigh- -moan- -sob-

    OK, you mean that you are tired of the "natural wood look," in so much of your house? And you are going to paint over the "wood look"? I await your reply. [I'm finally learning to look-before-I-leap, at times, at least] ,-)

    Gentle hugs,
    ~♥~

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  11. Unknown Topic has surfaced!!!

    Your Oklahoma days???????

    Quickly, quickly...

    Fill in the blanks.

    Please...

    :-)

    Gentle hugs,
    ~♥~

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  12. I print them, they sit in my printer tray for a month...then I take them, down to the kitchen and put them in a red file folder that is kept in my red hutch drawer. The are placed in no particular order, so I always have to flip through the folder to find a recipe.
    Hugs,
    Penny

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  13. You have a lot neater with new recipes than I am. I just throw them all in a drawer and when I feel like making something new and different I look there. If I like the recipe I'll put it in my recipe book which is loose leaf binder. If not I just throw the recipe away.

    I don't have extra dishes - I use all that I have.

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  14. This sounds like a great blog entry for me, too! You will feel very organized when you see what I've done. My problem is that I save and don't make/bake them. Oh, but I have notebooks, file folders, a Lang recipe keeper... Maybe I should get busy and try some of those recipes! After downsizing, I haven't seen my extra dishes for 3 years. The movers packed everything and either dropped it off here or at our storage unit so they're all in storage and I hope they remain safely there until we move again someday.

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  15. You are so funny (in a good way)! My recipes get stuffed where ever. There are boxes of them - literally.

    Extra dishes? We just hung a huge upper cupboard to hold the extras. So far, there isn't much in it, but it is there for use as I get things unpacked.

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  16. I have the same stack but mine is about 2 inches thick! I have got to stop printing them and start cooking them. Oh, I'm so happy your are going to try the cheddar-chive bread - it's delicious. Those sopapillas sure look good!

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  17. what a great idea to attach the soon to be cooked recipe on the fridge. I have a book with all my favorites written out by hand and then a beautiful wooden recipe box made by my brother and sister in law where all the recipe cards that my sister and others have sent me in letters. There's the box of magazine favorites and 3 whole shelves of cookbooks....but I always come back to my old favorites in my blank recipe book. I like your plate rack to display those lovely plates. Good luck with your boxes!

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  18. Hi Vee!

    I'm so glad to know that other people have stacks of printed recipes on their counter-top too! I'm getting smarter with time - if I don't love the recipe, I don't keep it, it goes in the scrape paper pile by my computer. The recipes I love, I put in a binder (not that I ever look at them again... ;0)

    I have an old cabinet that used to be my fathers. He stored tools, and other such things in it - it's very old and I love it. That's where I put what dishes I save - I'm not really much of a collector, so there aren't too many. But, I love how you have your dishes displayed so everyone can see them, they are so pretty!

    I love wood, but I can see how you would get tired of it. I think that the linen paint would be a good choice, you could even do a pretty "wash" with it, so just a little of the wood peeked through!

    Hugs,
    Barb

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  19. We store recipes electronically and also hard copy in notebooks. It's a constant challenge! And those extra dishes of ours, of the antique variety? They are still boxed up and in the storage room. I never got them unpacked since we moved because I have been working almost non-stop since then!

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  20. My recipe drawer is usually a mess because I'm tearing out recipes and printing recipes and tossing them in the drawer. The drawer also has a neat recipe file folder that I love and 2 recipe boxes....I wish I were more organized and had everything in one folder....maybe someday.

    When we downsized...I downsized in dishes too... I have 3 sets and that's 1 too many for us.

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  21. A few years ago, when scanners came out and we bought a combination scanner/printer/fax, I scanned all my recipes and created a folder on my computer, RECIPES. I can sort the files by date or by name, I can also "search" too. I back up my computer online (I don't have anything confidential on my computer), so the recipes are safe if the computer crashes. Alternative way to back up is with disks (CDs)...you asked, I answered. I only save one of antiques. I have one depression cup. I don't have mismatch anymore, just one. I don't have a house large enough to be a packrat. I had to go into pitch/sell/giveaway mode.

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  22. Two good questions, Vee.

    I store my recipes in various and assorted recipe boxes, in notebooks with vinyl sheet covers, and in a box. Mostly I know where everything I need is --- pie crust recipe in green notebook; mom's baked beans in the red one; depression cake recipe in Martha Stewart recipe box, etc. But, mostly I use online storage of my recipes for when I want to cook. My laptop sits on the countertop and I follow along with the measuring from there.

    And the extra dishes --- storing them is a huge difficulty. China closets and cabinets --- and Rubber maid bins in the storage building. I am the keeper of the china --- for all mom's grandchildren when they marry.

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  23. OH I am having a crazy time trying to find space for new dishes when the old ones are still around. There are those that can go to goodwill since they have no memory value.
    Oh .and my stack of recipes looks oddly like yours. Those sopapillas looks a lot like Rollkuchen. .very yummy looking.

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  24. I have so many recipes copied down on index cards or printed off from the computer or ripped out of magazines....I'll never live long enough to cook them all once, but I still save them! Maybe around 1 in 10 make it to my table :)

    I don't have many sets of dishes as I have limited space. I have one set of china in my dining room china hutch, two everyday sets of dishes in my kitchen cabinets and one set of Christmas dishes in boxes in my basemetn closet. That's it! I am always amazed by how many sets of siehss and accessories the tablescape bloggers have!

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  25. Well recently I got my self - blog organized. I went to Target and got a three ring notebook and those clear mylar sheets, where you put the paper in them...this became my blog cookbook...I print off and put in the clear see through mylar in the notebook...I make a note of where I got the recipe.

    Then I got a spiral notebook...both are covered with pretty flowers, and it sets by my computer to write down quotes, something I learned, resources...etc. from my blog reading.

    Now if you knew me you would know how totally out of character this is...but it is working!!!

    I also have a computer program for recipes that I am collected for our family. I plan to print it off one day...I write when we started eating it, the event and where I got it...I am hoping we will have a family cookbook one day.

    Now you have made me want to go cook!!!

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  26. store recipes??? my family would smile,
    because i can never seem to follow one.
    something always sounds a little better
    this way . . .

    you are an inspiration! come on back to
    oklahoma for some more sopapillas.

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  27. Recipe #2 on your list is going in m file, thanks for sharing the links! Let's not talk about my filing system or lack there of...

    I hope you have a wonderfully happy Mother's Day!

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  28. My recipes pile up on my computer too. Last year I bought three ring binders and dividers and finally started organizing them. I had so many recipes that I ended up with three full notebooks.

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  29. I also have a stack of printed out recipes. Also ones I've ripped out of magazines. I stuff them in a binder and every now and then I go through and put them in their category dividers. But I'm not that good about it. I usually just wind up cook the same stuff I always do. But that's something I want to work on.

    The dishes.....I have them stacked everywhere. I even have some under the guest bedroom bed! But I did pack up three boxes of them when we thought we were moving. I'm going to sell a lot of them at my garage sale. My taste has changed and I'm not so in love with some of them anymore.

    Manuela

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