Image taken from my Thanksgiving meal 2011
It is time for another fun February birthday month announcement! In addition to sharing more with you on my own, I will also be introducing a special blog series with a dear friend of mine, Angie, from Life as Mom Knows It. This series that we have designed together will be a whole set of blog posts on organizing your home. Between the two of us, we have 7 kids so we feel we have some experience with this topic and would love to share our knowledge and experience with you. We’ll be starting with Meal Planning and this series will be posted every other Tuesday in my new set of “Tuesday’s Tips.” We would love to hear from you about how you organize your home too so please share in the comments below!
Recipe planning is very important especially for those of you who work away from or in your homes or families with multiple kids. It is hard to find recipes that are tailored to meet everyone’s taste buds and provide nutrition too. It is so hard to find recipes that work for my family because every single one of us are picky eaters. Truly, it is kind of funny how we work but I still do my best to accommodate everyone and have learned to adapt our needs to recipes I find.
Here are some places I like to find recipes:
The Internet: I have a few favorite websites but also sign up for emails from some great online food based websites. Some that I have in mind are Kraft, Campbells and Swansons. Food magazine websites also have great recipes and I subscribe to a few. They all have easy recipes that are fast to prepare and have minimal ingredients. The recipes are simple too for the picky eaters (like my kids)! I also LOVE allrecipes.com! My favorite feature of theirs, is to insert ingredients that I have on hand to see what they come up with as a meal. If you are low on groceries for the week and don’t have your meals planned, this is a great option! The site also allows viewers to rate the recipes, which is nice so that I don’t waste my time making it and find out something doesn’t work in it. If there is something specific I want to make, I’ll search the name of that food dish in a search engine and look for something that fits my needs.
The Library: The library has SO many great choices of recipe books and I love to explore them every once in awhile. If there are only a few I like, I’ll type them up or write them out but if the whole book seems like foods my family would enjoy, then I might wait and purchase the book. Some of my favorites are the desserts and slow cooker recipe books. The other great thing about browsing the library for recipes is that they are always getting new books in and I can reserve them and just pick them up at the front counter!
Friends and Family: If I find that me or my kids enjoy a dish at a party or other event, I always ask the host/hostess to share their recipe. Also I’ve gotten recipe exchange emails in the past where everyone types up a recipe and passes it on! You can always start one if you want! It is a great way to get recipes that you know are tasty and easy. Make sure to talk to elderly family members and you may find recipes that have been passed on through generations. We have a couple yummy recipes that my mom got from her mom and she got from her mom. You get the idea!
Magazines: This is one of my favorite places to find recipes! Many family or women centered magazines have great recipes that are quick to prepare, healthy and have minimal ingredients! They frequently hold contests and post the winners’ recipes too. I usually cut them out and save them for later. I’ve seen these in Good Housekeeping, All You, Family Circle and Martha Stewart Living has fancier gourmet recipes if you have the time and patience!
Where do you find your best recipes?
To read Angie’s ideas about finding recipes and the rest of this post, please go HERE!
Thanks for reading the first post in our Home Organization Tuesday Tips series. Please join us back on Tuesday, February 21st for the next part on how to store/organize your recipes!
