Do You Have a Favorite Recipes Folder in Your Kitchen?
The “Green Folder” was quite the accident. At some point in time, with flour-encrusted fingers I most likely called for someone to go to the school supplies drawer and bring me a folder.
No, not that one — yes, that…oh good. A plastic one. Thank you!
So into the green folder went the hastily copied biscuit recipe that turned out so delish.
Sometime later, in went the hot dog chili recipe that made everyone’s mouth so smoky hot in that perfectly mouthwatering way. It took me several tries to get it the way I wanted it and I was not going to lose my progress! Oh, the dumplins. Once dumplins are perfected — you can’t lose that recipe! Butter Crumb Noodles (check), peanut-butter smoothie (check), and everyone’s favorite Hearty Potato Sausage Chowder (check).
And so it began. This Dollar Store green plastic folder that I couldn’t pawn off on any school child became the easily wiped-off, indestructible, easily-spotted amongst the age-old cookbooks that now seem to just decorate my shelf, holder of recipes-to-die-for. I only put the most special recipes there — not every recipe is Green-Folder-worthy!
The cookie recipe my mother gave me. Green-Folder-worthy, for sure.
Some of these things need a special place where they won’t be lost in the pages of a cookbook. And I don’t know about you but my counters do not need one more thing, like those recipe card boxes with the cards so small that no decent recipe could ever fit it. And my eyes! I can’t see those little things. I want a full-size sheet of paper with all my scribbled notes — bringing that recipe to perfection, at least according to the palettes of my ever-hungry family.
Of course I Google everything under the sun when I am cooking (at least, I have Alexa Google it for me)— but there’s something nostalgic, used, worn-in, domestic, ancestral about writing down your thoughts and input to a recipe, saving that recipe, and returning to it faithfully. Creating not just meals…but the longing and familial attachment to certain dishes. There is something truly special to me about creating traditions in my kitchen. The green folder was an accident — but a perfect accident.
I challenge you to get your kitchen out of Pinterest for a moment…and just scribble down your thoughts as you cook. Get your own “green folder” to return to again and again, like a memory re-visited that makes you smile. It doesn't have to be perfect, but personal.
Ask Your Loved Ones for Their Favorites
My mom is an excellent cook. She kind of had to be with us five children and a hungry husband to feed. She was a stay at home mom for most of our childhood so home-cooked meals were the norm for us. From mouth-watering venison roasts to homemade pound cakes, my mom did it all. Some of those dishes have a lot of memories attached to them. Like the time she had a migraine and from her bed she talked me through each step of a pound cake we had to get ready for a visit to the grandparents house. I messed it up—big time. Apparently there's a really big difference between baking powder and baking soda. If you like your pound cake to taste like bitter salt, perhaps my blunder would have worked, but from what I remember, that cake was utterly un-eatable.
The pound cake recipe my mother has been using for decades is not in my green folder. Neither are any of the fun family recipes (all with super-creative names like "chicken puffs" or "slop casserole") my brother and his wife make for their children. I can think of so many memorable dishes that need to find their way into the green folder—#goals2021.
What Would You Add to Your Kitchen Folder?
It's a great compliment to ask someone for their recipe for a dish you love. Many families still do "pot luck" meals and members bring a homemade dish to the event. Churches often do this too. When someone pours their heart and hard work into making something from scratch and bringing it with them to share with others, it is often a recipe they trust and have made many times. If you try out something and just love it, why not ask them if they'd like sharing the recipe with you? Some of the most loved recipes in my kitchen were ones I found right in my inner circle of family and friends.
An online version of the green folder works too if you just do not want to write anything down. I also use an app called Any List to create a digital library of recipes I want to try online. I can add the ingredients to my shopping list and easily get what I need for a pre-planned week of meals. Perhaps you'd rather upload your favorite family recipes to a digital bank so you can share the files with family members and friends. Remember to give credit for the creator of the recipe!
Cooking for Memories
The whole purpose of having a favorite recipes collection is to bring together the memories you've had with family and friends around mealtimes and capture those moments in your own kitchen. Cooking and sharing meals are great bonding experiences we all miss out on when we depend too much on eating on the go or eating out. Don't rush the kitchen. Teach your children how to roll out their own dough and cut the dumplins. These are such sweet moments even if it seems like hard work sometimes. For me, Alexa is my cooking buddy now that my kids are grown and I cook for others less and less often. I ask her questions about what converts to what or have her play some of my favorite music as I cook. And now, I get the pound cake right.
Baking soda does not go in the cake. Got it. Now to get mom to pass that recipe on to me...
(She won't cough up the one for her FANTASTIC chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I tried!)
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