ode to my recipe binder(s)

*Disclaimer: I wrote this post awhile ago (as in, while we were still living in the hotel) and it’s been sitting in my drafts queue just waiting for an opportunity to be published. Well, today is that day. I so desperately want to blog, and I NEED to write my Eat This column for the co-op, but life and school and the house have just all been so crazy that I can’t let myself get sucked into an hour-long blogging session. So, enjoy the fruits of my previous labor and hopefully I’ll be up for air a little more by this weekend–Emily and Dan are visiting!

This was supposed to just be a “before” and “after” shot. Except that I didn’t think to actually blog about it until it was already “after.” I mean, who cares about my recipe binder, anyway?

Well. There is a bit of a story here. OK, not really a story. And I only intended to take a picture or two, but I was getting such great shots and having so much fun (yes, recipes really DO excite me that much) that I just kept clicking away. And I hate to waste such great photography (for a dunce with an expensive camera), so here it is. I had thought about calling it “a primer on recipe organization,” but really, it’s just gratuitous pictures of my new recipe binders (basically, I went from one to two). I’ll offer a few tidbits along the way.

This is my new recipe binder. My dear friend from college, Leslie, got it for me for my birthday this year. It’s from Williams-Sonoma and it has a pineapple and my name on it. How perfect is that? I brought it with me to the hotel thinking I would move all my recipes from my old binder to it in all my “free time.” Isn’t it funny that we tend to be most productive and efficient when we have LESS time? I had months before school started to undertake this project, yet I wait until I’m a month in. Go figure.

Anyway, for the last couple years I’ve kept any recipe I loved or wanted to try (magazine clippings, transcribed recipes, etc…) in a binder in page protectors. But, time and organization got away from me little by little, until it got almost too full and pages were thrown in willy-nilly.

So, now armed with TWO binders, I decided to make one my “go-to/tried-and-true” binder to hold all the recipes I’ve actually made and we loved. The old binder became a storehouse of only those recipes still waiting to be tried. I sorted and sorted and threw things away and was ruthless. If we didn’t LOVE it, it went in the trash.

Here’s the NEW binder with our favorites:

Many of the recipes are magazine clippings (that’s my favorite way to have them–I love the color and pictures) and have my comments written on them. I like to keep like items with like. Above is a gazpacho salsa that was a huge hit at a July 4th party, as well as a tiny notepad paper with my neighbor’s salsa recipe on it. She made it with balsamic vinegar and I thought it was very unique.

I even sometimes tear out additional info/pictures if I think it will add to the binder. Above, a double-page spread on guac. LOVE guac!

We have a photocopied page on how to make pretzels from Andrew’s kindergarten class. He still uses it.

This sweet potato and scallions dish is one of Andrew’s favorites, which is stated up in the right hand corner…

I’ve typed up some recipes and added them as well. I’m not one to keep recipes on the computer; I may be uber-organized and woman of the 21st century, but I like hard copies!

The binder Leslie got me even has neat additional pages with lists of seasonal produce, measuring equivalents and blank recipe cards on which to transcribe. It even had a “journaling” section in case I wanted to write about what foods and wines I served at a particular gathering.

Below, the old binder:

It’s green and cute and I got it at Target awhile back. It was bursting at the seams; now, it’s nicely filled with “to try” recipes.

Look what I found! A 3×5 card on which I wrote a list of Andrew’s “favorites” at the time. Ina’s Chicken with 40 Garlic Cloves. BLT pasta (which I don’t make any more because I think it’s gross.) Mustard pork with pepper. Veggie chicken chili.

Here’s one I want to try for next summer–guac with fruit. Intriguing.

Lighten Up versions of mac and cheese and cheesecake. I’m always game for stuff like that! (BTW, since taking these photos, I actually tried the mac recipe on the left–TERRIBLE.)

I was hoping this dressing would be like what comes on your salad at Japanese Steakhouse places–the gingery orange dressing they have. Let’s hope so!

I found this in a Martha Stewart Living magazine in late summer this year. Zucchini bundt cake with candied zucchini pieces on top. OMG. So sad we’ve been in a hotel all summer…

And these. It was a huge spread in Food Network years ago that featured candy bar cupcakes. I had to keep them ALL. (I have yet to make them, but just in case I want to, they are there.)

Cannot wait to actually USE my recipes again!

a (quick!) list

1. I wanted to go to the gym. I haven’t worked out since Wednesday (unless you count packing, loading and unloading a car a million times).

2. Some people use a workout to de-stress. Sometimes I do, too. Unfortunately, the biggest cause of my stress is my looming Chemistry quiz.

3. While I’d love to hit the gym and study my chem notes on the elliptical (yay for killing two birds with one stone!), the actual trip/time involved at the gym would stress me out MORE. So, I’m about to take my Chemistry quiz (relatively) unprepared to get it over with.

4. I made my first cup of coffee in the house this morning. It was somewhat anticlimactic; the only Keurig pods we have are a coffee variety I’m not a huge fan of and I haven’t found the mugs I wanted to use yet. But nothing beats staying in one’s pj’s!

5. Hadrian is sleeping on his bed next to me and his tummy is making the LOUDEST noises.

6. We got A LOT of the kitchen done last night, but there is still more to go. I ended up unpacking our white dishes and some of my oldest green ones, but left all my “favorites” (some colorful Goodwill finds and all my fun mugs) packed away. I think I’m one of those “delay gratification” people… I’d rather get by with the minimum/boring stuff and have something to look forward to when we find our “real” house. Note: We haven’t found A SINGLE THING broken (ok, I did find one decorative plate broken, but it was one I packed in a Rubbermaid bin that they didn’t repack and it’s so not a big deal)! Go Moog for hiring awesome movers!

7. That, and I intend to get rid of some of the “boring” stuff (hello white baking dishes we got for our wedding that I barely use because I have a gazillion other ones…) before the next move.

8. I made room for the most important stuff (bakeware) and have set up shelving in the basement with all my appliances, but have almost NO. ROOM. FOR. ACTUAL. FOOD. Seriously. And I didn’t realize how much food (just to clarify, when I say “food,” I don’t mean boxes of mac n’ cheese and cans and the like. I mean all my Tupperware Modular Mates with different grains and flours and granolas and cereals….) I USED TO KEEP in my pantry in Ohio. I mean, I used to have three kinds of oatmeal alone! I emptied out what I could before we moved, cleaned the containers and had the movers pack them up. Now, I have THREE giant boxes of empty Tupperware, and I don’t even have room for what little Tupperware I brought to the hotel! Ack! What is a girl to do?

9. My first thought was to set up shelving in the basement and put all my Tupperware things there. And then I realized I’d have to walk down to the basement and truck all the ingredients for EVERY meal up EVERY time. Not practical. Next plan?

10. This list was not short or quick. The sun is up. I got sucked into blogging and haven’t started the dreaded Chemistry quiz. Story of my life.

Wish me luck! I’m hoping to reward myself with a mid-morning run/trip to the gym and a Target-date (um, we need EVERYTHING) with the hubby 🙂

two future RDs in a small world

Happy Saturday!

Before I forget, I posted my first official “Eat This” column for the EA Co-op’s blog the other day–it was on FIGS! Check it out here!

I’m in an unbelievably good mood for feeling incredibly UNproductive this morning. I woke at 6:15, and then putzed around while drinking coffee and eating breakfast; I didn’t leave for the gym until 7:45! I had had visions of ARRIVING by 7, when the gym opens.

I lifted weights for 30 minutes, then went to change into my swimsuit and realized I’d forgotten my shower shoes! I couldn’t bear the thought of walking to and from the pool and showering without them, so I packed up and went home. Ran into Wegmans for some random items (salad dressing–I’m having salad for lunch today–dryer sheets, vitamins and this month’s O magazine–Kath’s PUMPKIN recipes are in it!). I started thumbing through the issue in the check-out line and saw a giant “whole grain” spread featuring recipes from Kim Boyce, author of one of my FAVORITE cookbooks, Good to the Grain. SCORE!

I had thought I’d do some cardio here at the hotel, but I don’t really have time anymore, so I’m calling it my “idiot tax” for the day since I didn’t blog early this morning, which would have freed up some time now. Oh well. But then I wouldn’t have this nice story to tell you about my unproductive morning and magazine find at Wegmans!

Anyway, on to the REAL story: my dinner with Emily last night!

I actually didn’t MEET Emily until last night; she’s another blogger I found through Kath’s website. After I decided to go back to school, I emailed Kath and told her how much she inspired me and that I’m a huge fan, etc… (Yes, I really did. A little silly? Perhaps. But don’t we all like a little unexpected affirmation every once in awhile?) Anyway, Kath has a list of current and future RDs and their blogs on the “R.D. Me” section of her blog. She said she’d add my blog there (yay!) so I went to check it out. Sure enough, “Holly @ thefrozenpineapple” was there! I started clicking on some of the other blogs listed and came upon “Eating Chalk,” Emily’s blog. She said she was a recent transplant to Buffalo and currently in the Dietetics Program at Buffalo State–SMALL WORLD! I immediately emailed her and we’ve been trying to meet up ever since.

She lives up near Elmwood, which is a main thoroughfare lined with cute stores and eateries in the nice part of downtown Buffalo. We decided to meet at India Gate for dinner. I could just end here and say we had a great time, have a lot in common and that the food was good. And all those things would be true. However, there is SO MUCH more to the story.

Like the rain. It was POURING. I was wearing sandals. And jeans. I did, however, have a raincoat and an umbrella, neither of which helped. NOT AT ALL.

And the parking. When we first decided to meet near Elmwood, I’ll admit my heart started palpitating knowing I’d have to, inevitably, parallel-park somewhere. I don’t parallel-park often. And I have a giant car. SUV, rather. I CAN parallel-park, I just don’t do it often enough to be good enough to whip in-and-out of spaces like Andrew does, which is quite a feat when you consider other factors like visability and traffic. Well, it was rush-hour on a Friday night at the most hopping place to go out in Buffalo and POURING and other people were whizzing by me… Bottom line: it was terrible. I wanted to cry. I called Andrew in a panic. (He was hundreds of miles away on his way back from Penn State, so I’m not really sure how I thought he could help, but whatever.)

After circling the block a couple times, I found an opening and managed to back in. I think I always go in at too much of an angle because my back tire always ends up on the grass… Oh well, it was pouring and I didn’t care.

I attempted to avoid the growing puddles and eventually gave up–my feet/sandals/jeans were soaked in seconds. As I approached the intersection of Elmwood, it DID occur to me to look and see on which street I’d parked–points for me! Seriously, I’m always with Andrew and since he has GPS built into his brain, I never have to worry about where we are at any given time. I’m not used to this “paying attention” thing.

However, in my panic and unfamiliarity with the area, I realized I didn’t know which way to TURN on Elmwood to get to the restaurant… It should be obvious, I realize, but I’m not so good with directions. I said a quick prayer (I did) and made the best educated-guess I could: right. Praise God, it worked! I scurried down the street and into the restaurant!

Emily, who was also soaked to the bone, and I commiserated about the weather for a bit before digging into the subject that unites us: studying nutrition! It was so nice to chat with her about the program at Buff State and classes. I’m so glad I have someone to whom I can direct some of my questions; I feel a little disconnected right now being at ECC just taking pre-reqs.

I also found out she’s a runner, too, and she told me about the Niagara Falls International Half Marathon coming up next month in Canada–I think I’m going to sign up! It’s called “international” because the full marathon starts here in NY and ends in Canada–it’s the only one like that in the world. I’ve been DYING to break the 2-hour park “officially” in a half… I’ve trained much faster, but I always choke in races. I’ve figured out that it was because I was always going out way too fast (darn you, Susy!), so hopefully I can have a good, fast, even-paced race.

We got an order of naan and raita–I cannot have Indian food without it! I’m surprised these photos actually turned out OK for the lack of light. Now, if only I remembered what setting I was using…

I love that Indian rice comes with carrots and peas. I so miss Jeet! I LOVED their lunch buffet!

I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala, which is my favorite dish. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t taste ANYTHING like the version I’m used to, although I have no idea which is more authentic… This one wasn’t creamy at all, and I’m pretty sure typical Tikka Masala does have cream in the the tomato sauce, so I wasn’t really sure what to think. I ordered it “medium” (instead of mild) and I was able to eat it, but my mouth was on fire! I liked how big their menu selection was, but since it’s all the way up in Buffalo (not to mention Andrew isn’t a huge fan of Indian food), I’m not sure I’ll be back anytime soon.

Thankfully it stopped raining while we were eating, so the walk back to the car was relatively dry. Emily and I said goodbye and plan to do another lunch or dinner “date,” this time in East Aurora so I can show it off to her. She and her husband, a med student at UB, are city-people, so they don’t get to the Southtowns much.

I have a busy day ahead of me: photo-taking for the EA Co-op blog, an interview (I’m writing my first freelance article for the East Aurora Advertiser!), HOMEWORK, and then maybe meeting up with the family later. Today is moving day for Carolyn; she recently accepted a long-term sub position in Olean, which is more than an hour away. She’s been commuting since school started until her lease here was up–today she’s moving to her new place in Franklinville, which is about half-way in between Olean and East Aurora. Andrew is providing some muscle for the move and I wish I were there, too!