What are your recipes like?

[Audrey]

People ask for lots of recipes here. I get asked for them IRL, too. I always get a little stumped, though, because most of my recipes are in my head as they're things I make often enough to remember it. I also make up recipes on the fly.

 

So my recipes often look like:

Take some beans and soak overnight, then throw in a pot with......

 

But, some people always have the nicest, tidiest recipes when they post. You know the ones that go like this:

 

Ingredients

1 cup...

1 tsp....

Directions

Preheat oven to....

 

What do MOST of your recipes look like?

Do you cook from recipes in a book, on a card, from the internet?

Or, are most of your recipes in your head?

Do you make up your own recipes?

Do you make up so many recipes that you never make exactly the same thing twice?

[Firefly]

I have a big, messy binder filled with recipes. Some are hand written (by myself and others), some are photocopies. There are some recipe cards given/handed down to me by different people tucked in the front and back pockets. Almost all have my own notes scribbled on them. There are a few that I make often enough not to have to reference, but for the most part the binder gets a lot of use.

 

I am so not creative when it comes to cooking... the idea of making something up makes me break out in a sweat. I'd love to be more like that!!

[secular_mom]

Mine are all mixed- some are things I picked up from others that I just 'know', some are official recipes typed up with specified amounts, some are from books or websites or cooking shows and some I make up and they are never the same thing twice. (especially marinades- I hate those bottled concoctions but I love to make up my own)

[Mrs Mungo]

MOST of my recipes look like yours. The only time mine are neat and tidy is when I am copying and pasting them from somewhere else. :D Baking is the only time my recipes are exact.

[Pippen]

A few years ago I got frustrated with my most used recipes being a mix of index cards, cookbooks, and online printouts so I typed everything into my computer for printing out. They're all in binders now--large, bold print and easy to read.

 

I do some things out of my head but I like uniformity so I like having a recipe to refer to.

[runamuk]

A majority of my recipes come from cookbooks, magazines, and online (and the pages that aren't shoved haphazardly in a binder are jammed into a file folder). I have a few handwritten recipe cards and only the ones from my grandmother don't have specific measurements.

 

On a side note, I would gladly pay someone to organize all of my recipes. I started working on them a few years ago, but never finished. I've suggested to my husband and oldest daughter that putting a recipe binder together would be a great Christmas/birthday/Mother's Day gift, but no one has done it.

[Crissy]

Most of my recipes are in my head. I do like a pretty cook book, and I use the internet for inspiration.

Around here, cooking is more about a particular method than a specific recipe.

This is probably why I don't find as much joy in baking. I don't really care to be that exact when I'm working in the kitchen.

[Crimson Wife]

I do mostly from my head but if I'm giving a recipe to someone else, I'll make an educated guess as to an exact measurement.

[*Inna*]

I think it's a personality thing. My mom's recipes all look like yours. She's a fabulous cook, but her recipes drive me crazy. "Take a pinch of this, and a handful of that and cook until it looks right".

 

I need the specific directions written in plain language. :tongue_smilie:

[Parrothead]

Most of mine are in my head also. If I post on here or give one to somebody I'll estimate as best I can. Like the salt called for in the navy bean recipe. I specified "more than one would think." I have no exact amount though.

[mellifera]

When I use recipes they usually are from cookbooks or something like that. However, most of the time it goes something like this: What do I have in the fridge? Oh, what can I do with that? Sometimes it doesn't turn out so well, but most of the time it's pretty good. I haven't made anything inedible in a long time.;)

[BeckyFL]

Mine are now all in my Plan to Eat online. When I put them in there, I made sure to make notes so that my grown kids can follow them. I even noted if the recipe was my mom's or my grandmother's, memories I have of the recipe, etc. They were really easy to put in there and I can export them into Word any time if I want a printed copy.

It's been awesome to have them all organized to drag and drop into the weekly planner and automatically make shopping lists. Even better, when my kids ask for a recipe, I give them my username and password and they can have anything they're missing from home. Oldest ds is now married and living in another state. Somehow it made me feel really great that when they was invited to another home for Thanksgiving, they took MY sweet potatoes. The way my recipes used to be, if something were to happen to me it would have been very hard to figure out where those favorite recipes were since they were all over the place.

 

If anyone is interested in their free 30 day trial, will you use my link? I get an $8 credit. :-)

 

http://www.plantoeat.com/jcq5grbcdv

[i.love.lucy]

MOST of my recipes look like yours. The only time mine are neat and tidy is when I am copying and pasting them from somewhere else. :D Baking is the only time my recipes are exact.

:iagree:Most of what I cook every day is just in my head. It comes from years of knowing how much salt and garlic to add, etc. But when I bake I pull out the recipes which are mostly torn out of magazines or copied on the backs of stray envelopes or scraps. It's a mess. And I'm constantly ripping out recipes I will probably never, ever make!

[Amira]

I usually cook something every day that's my own recipe where I just know how it's supposed to be, but mostly I use a few cookbooks that I love. I found some that work perfectly for me and my style of cookbook, so I just go with those.

[bookfiend]

Just like yours, in my head. However, the ones people really want are usually things that I have tossed together from scraps and leftovers, guess those aged flavors are impressive. Once I wrote a recipe for someone that started... cook a chicken a week ahead of time, save the bones, make broth. I don't think they did it.

 

The recipies with real directions, from a book almost always have scribbles and cross-outs where I've changed the amounts, converted an indredient or added something yummy (read butter).

[Mommyfaithe]

MOST of my recipes look like yours. The only time mine are neat and tidy is when I am copying and pasting them from somewhere else. :D Baking is the only time my recipes are exact.

 

Mine are like this too, but I often wing the baking too.

[Audrey]

Just like yours, in my head. However, the ones people really want are usually things that I have tossed together from scraps and leftovers, guess those aged flavors are impressive. Once I wrote a recipe for someone that started... cook a chicken a week ahead of time, save the bones, make broth. I don't think they did it.

 

The recipies with real directions, from a book almost always have scribbles and cross-outs where I've changed the amounts, converted an indredient or added something yummy (read butter).

 

 

Those are the ones that stump me. I brought this pumpkin thing to a pot luck this past weekend. I have a big load of pie pumpkins. I have to use them, eh? It's just pumpkin custard (like pie, but with no crust), whipped cream on top and some toasted pecans tossed in honey and cinnamon on top of that. I was trying to explain it, but got told, "No. Write it all down." So, I had to sit there and think of what I did. It's just a regular custard recipe with pumpkin and spices, but I almost had to walk through it again to remember the proportions. Then when I gave it to them, they said, "how do you make whipped cream. Can I use Cool Whip?" Well... no, Cool Whip isn't going to taste remotely like whipped cream, so I had to remember how I do whipped cream (which REALLY goes something like ... pour some cream in the bowl until it looks like enough. Pour a bit of sugar in the bowl until it looks like enough. Add a splash of vanilla, and beat until firm enough to be good.) I also had no clue how much honey or cinnamon was on the nuts either. I guessed. I'm hoping it turns out okay for her. :001_huh:

Edited December 9, 2010 by Audrey

[mcconnellboys]

I have, accidentally, made up recipes that my family liked and then have not been able to replicate them because I forgot some of the ingredients, LOL. I try to jot down some basics of what I use somewhere now so that I won't forget if I don't make the thing for a while.

 

My cooking mostly looks like opening the small doors over my oven hood and pulling out bottles and bottles of spices and sprinkling a million things into the pot....

[Ibbygirl]

My recipes are mostly in my head too, but I do have some on index cards that I've gotten from cookbooks too or some print outs from the internet. I always hate it when someone asks me for a recipe though because I never know how much the measurements should be. I usually make the dish and take photos of the different stages and how it's supposed to look and I try to measure it out at that time to get an exact measurement of what "looks right" to me. Then I send them the whole thing in an email with the photos so they re-create it accurately in their kitchens. It's cumbersome for me though. lol

[mommaduck]

On cards or in books until the basic idea is in my head and then I just run with it.

[LarlaB]

I'm neat & tidy :tongue_smilie: I'm usually cooking while doing several other things, so its easiest to follow a base recipe and then expand as needed. :) Of course there are the go-to recipes that are from memory...but I try to cook new as much as used, and always follow the exact recipe at least once. :)

 

Actually, I cannot stand when people say "take this & this and THROW it into a pot"...:blushing:

[Heather in Neverland]

I have a cookbook that I have used a couple of times but I cook just like my mom...a pinch of this, some of that...nothing is written down so one people ask me for recipes I am the one who is stumped as I have no idea how to explain it to them.

 

And my dh says I am the queen of knowing how to look in a pantry, grab some random things and make dinner out of it. :) Of course, my dh also LOVES casseroles of any kind so how can I go wrong? :D

[WarriorMama]

My day-to-day cooking is all in my head. I'm a throw-something-together sort of dinner maker. ;)

 

Collectively my family has a load of food allergies, so very VERY few recipes work for me. If I'm trying to make something new to me, or need a recipe for baking, I...do research. :tongue_smilie:

Seriously. I look things up in my cookbooks (which I seem to use only for such reference...I don't remember the last time I made a recipe 'as is' from any book), and search the internet. I take the ideas that appeal the most to me and devise my own recipe based on that. THESE recipes are written on whatever scrap of paper I had on hand when I was thinking about it. I also always forget to title them, so no one has a clue what they're for but me. After I test them out I change them and improve them, but seldom remember to write down the changes, so the 'recipe' ends up being nothing but a memory jog for whatever new creation it's turned into.

 

I'm also not afraid to substitute willy-nilly if I don't have an ingredient. I pretty much NEVER make the exact same thing twice.

 

Now that I've typed this out, it sounds kind of crazy. No wonder my husband gets so frustrated when he wants to know how to make my favourite cookies. :lol:

[Audrey]

I have a cookbook that I have used a couple of times but I cook just like my mom...a pinch of this, some of that...nothing is written down so one people ask me for recipes I am the one who is stumped as I have no idea how to explain it to them.

 

And my dh says I am the queen of knowing how to look in a pantry, grab some random things and make dinner out of it. :) Of course, my dh also LOVES casseroles of any kind so how can I go wrong? :D

 

 

I do the same thing, but without making casseroles. My dh doesn't like them so much. I just don't tell him it was a casserole, except that I didn't mix it all together. ;)

[alpidarkomama]

Mine look like....

 

1 buttnernut squash, roasted, then cubed (well, I don't have a butternut squash, but I do have yams. Roast it? Really? That will take too long. I'll just cut the yams in chunks and throw it in the stew)

 

1 cup lentils (lentils? Hm... I don't like lentils. I like chick peas, though! I don't have a cup. Hm... I guess I'll use 1/2 cup chick peas)

 

1 onion (well, I have a half onion that needs to be used, but that's not quite enough either; I guess I'll use 1-1/2 onions)

 

etc., etc., etc.

 

My mom's tomato butternut squash stew turned into butternut chickpea masala... Wish I had the recipe. It was good!

[joannqn]

It depends on what it is. If it is regular food, like breakfast and dinner dishes, then it is probably just something I throw together. I do have a few things that I follow a recipe in order to make it, or alter a specific recipe. For example, the lasagna I make is my homemade spaghetti sauce and double the cheese mixture of a certain recipe.

 

If I'm baking, I almost always follow a recipe. I get a lot of them from allrecipes.com.

[mellifera]

The other thing that will happen is dh will say, "I want something with these ingredients" (proceeds to list 3 to 5 ingredients). Last night we had ham and pea pot pie with a cheese sauce.

[AuntieM]

Well, there's a big difference between my feeding-6-on-a-tight-budget recipes and my cooking-for-friends-when-money's-not-so-tight recipes!

 

The first are pretty specific, utilitarian. The second are more creative and fun to cook.

[HRAAB]

Outside of baking where you have to be more precise, I have nothing written down. It's all in my head and probably changes from one time to the next - especially depending on what I have on hand.

[Daisy]

People ask for lots of recipes here. I get asked for them IRL, too. I always get a little stumped, though, because most of my recipes are in my head as they're things I make often enough to remember it. I also make up recipes on the fly.

 

So my recipes often look like:

Take some beans and soak overnight, then throw in a pot with......

 

But, some people always have the nicest, tidiest recipes when they post. You know the ones that go like this:

 

Ingredients

1 cup...

1 tsp....

Directions

Preheat oven to....

 

What do MOST of your recipes look like?

Do you cook from recipes in a book, on a card, from the internet?

Or, are most of your recipes in your head?

Do you make up your own recipes?

Do you make up so many recipes that you never make exactly the same thing twice?

 

Most of mine are in my head, but when given recipes to someone else I can come fairly close to what the measurements are. If a recipe comes out very well and I did something unusual, I'll jot it down. But even my notes would be impossible for most people to follow.

 

I really appreciate though that my mom didn't really teach me recipes. She taught me cooking formulas. I know how to make soup. I can make soup with any kind of vegetable or herb that I have on hand because my mom taught me the basics of a good soup. Same with cookies, cake, casseroles, etc.

[In the Rain]

Most of my recipes are printouts from allrecipes.com. They are covered with marks adding and subtracting ingredients, or changing the amount. I generally do my own thing, but I like to have a base recipe to follow.

 

FTR, I am NOT one of the people who completely change a recipe and then post a review on allrecipes. :glare: That drives me crazy!!! :lol::lol:

[Sherry in OH]

My day-to-day recipes are in my head. Sometimes I will look at a few recipes for inspiration, then tweak to fit what I have on hand.

 

When I bake, I mostly follow the recipe. The main exceptions are that I use butter instead of vegetable shortening and nearly always use whole wheat flour instead of white flour.

[JoyfulMama]

When I was first married my MIL gave me one of those write-your-own recipe books, in which she had written in a bunch of her favorite recipes. Well, it was nice and all, but probably 1/2 of the recipes didn't have measurements. Her vegetable soup recipe reads:

 

tomato juice

every vegetable under the sun

salt/pepper to taste

 

Cook on low for many hours.

 

I was quite bewildered by a recipe such as this. Soup? OK, well, I at least know what that is supposed to look like. Some of the other things??? I was clueless.

 

Following a recipe then was my saving grace, as I wasn't experienced in the kitchen.

 

Now???? It's quite different. I am much more experienced, and much more free to use a handful of this and that to create something delicious!

[The Girls' Mom]

Many of mine are in my head, but I've tried to take the time to write some of them out, so my girls will have them when they are grown. I don't cook that way though. The only things I ever actually follow a recipe for are baked goods. The rest, I'll often look at a new recipe to get the gist of it, then just wing it.

[FaithManor]

Audrey, I'm in your boat. It's pretty rare for me to consult a recipe book of any kind and when I whip something up, I'm fairly...oh a little of this, a little of that, a smattering over there...nothing in definite amounts. People always want to know how I made a dish and I have to practically give them an ignorant, blank stare. Measuring is such a bother!

 

Faith

[Lady Florida.]

It depends on what it is. If it is regular food, like breakfast and dinner dishes, then it is probably just something I throw together. I do have a few things that I follow a recipe in order to make it, or alter a specific recipe. For example, the lasagna I make is my homemade spaghetti sauce and double the cheese mixture of a certain recipe.

 

If I'm baking, I almost always follow a recipe. I get a lot of them from allrecipes.com.

 

 

This is how I cook. Everyday food, and pretty much anything I learned from my mother doesn't have a recipe. For baked goods I use recipes. I also like to try different ethnic foods, so those are almost always from recipes (some authentic, some found online that may or may not be authentic, but they taste good anyway).

[Lady Florida.]

I really appreciate though that my mom didn't really teach me recipes. She taught me cooking formulas.

 

Yes, my mom did this. I used to think cooking was intuitive until I started meeting so many people who couldn't cook. I realized that when you have the basics it's so much easier to just throw things together in the kitchen.

[Truscifi]

MOST of my recipes look like yours. The only time mine are neat and tidy is when I am copying and pasting them from somewhere else. :D Baking is the only time my recipes are exact.

 

 

:iagree:

[Peela]

I have folders full of recipes I have printed off the internet or torn out of newspapers. They are reasonably organised into various catagories.

 

I also have a document file on my computer full of recipes, and a bookmark folder of internet recipe sites.

 

WHen people ask me for a particular recipe, I generally tidy up adn tweak something I already have and make it into something useful for that person. I have done that with my raw chocolate recipe...every time I send it I change it slightly. Generally, I send recipes by email to those who ask and its not hard to quickly tweak it to make it useful to someone.

 

Even if I no longer use the recipe for something, generally I originally did use the recipe or I can easily find it online.