Six Month Review: Highlights of My Favorite Recipes and Least Favorite Recipes

 Six Month Review: Highlights of My Favorite Recipes and Least Favorite Recipes 

    I have been tossing around the idea of doing a six month review of my blog for about a week and well, I guess you can tell that I decided to do it.  I'd like to talk about what I've gotten out of doing this blog and review my favorite and least favorite recipes.  

    From my first post, I "was inspired to create this blog after I inherited a cookbook which had belonged to one of my great-grandmothers. My aunt knows I collect cookbooks, that I am a very sentimental person and that I would cherish it.  And I do.  It hits several marks.  It is a church recipe book (a church my great-grandfather was minister of, but I'm not sure if he was, when this book was made) in which member ladies submitted recipes; it belonged to a relative; it is old, it has handwritten notes; it has different types of clipped recipes in it, the first page is separate from the binding and it has taped pages and cooking stains." One of my favorite things about old cookbooks besides what I mentioned in my first post, is knowing that some of them have been very, used and obviously cherished. 

    I realized when I was talking to my friend "J" the other day that I've picked a lot of recipes, based on their unusual names.  Those would be in order which I made them, Crazy Cake, Porcupine Balls, Donna James' Salisbury Steak, Farmer Jones' Special, Country Club Breakfast, Yum Yum Chicken and "Philly" Sloppy Joes.  Donna James' Salisbury Steak isn't a super unusual name, I just thought it was interesting that it had her full name in it.  I really just like picking unusually named things. Like for example and unrelated to cooking &  baking, I once bet on a horse race at Charlestown Racetrack in West Virginia, solely because his name was "Super Donkey".  That was over 25 years ago and I can't remember for sure, but I think I won something on him.  

    I started this blog in July 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still sort of new.  I had a few things to help occupy my time, but had been looking for something new. Like I said in my first post, I am not "a writer". I hated English class in school and grammar is not my favorite either.  I decided I would just write about what I wanted to make, what I made and what I was feeling about how the recipes turned out (It is my blog after all). If what I wrote resonated with someone, great and if someone tried one of the recipes I made and liked it, even better. 

    I've found, that I have enjoyed having this new to me hobby. I enjoy finding new recipes to make.  I even enjoy planning out what ingredients I need to buy. I have enjoyed figuring out how to do those recipes that do not include pan sizes or measurement amounts for essential ingredients.  There will be more of that. My next recipe will be "Potatoes, Peasant Style" from a the 1929 New Delineator Recipes cookbook. I've had polls on Twitter to help decide what to make. My polls don't get that many votes, because they are not "risque", but I still do them. I recently found a recipe for a vegetable relish which I want to make, because the name is Rummage Relish. It's not something I've ever thought about making, but I am looking forward to that in the Spring or Summer, because it will be cool to see how it turns out and I'll get to use my canning stuff.  

    I've really been happy to have so many leftovers, which I freeze some of, because I am the only human in my household. I have found that I am not eating as much fast food, because I have more options at home.  So, I am saving money in addition to having a new hobby. I'm enjoying seeing what I like about recipes. The flavors and how they could be modified for personal preference or health reasons.  I try to address that when I write about the recipes.  

    Some of my favorite memories of my mother, who died when I was 19, are of cooking and baking with her, when I was a kid. Growing up, my father did most of the cooking and my mom would cook on her days off. Most of the main dishes she made either had cream of mushroom soup and or canned tuna. My favorite/comfort food dish she made is what I called her "Un-stuffed" Pork Chops, which I have not yet made for this blog, but will at some point. Dessert wise, we would bake chocolate chip cookie bars we called "Picnickers", Oatmeal Raisin cookies and I think we made peanut butter cookies sometimes as well. My mom had a pie she would make for my father on occasion . I baked that pie on December 23, 2020, which was the 2nd anniversary of  my father's passing and made that blog entry on December 24, 2020.  Pie crusts are not my strong suit, but I've made two with pastry crusts and they both turned out pretty good, so I am happy about that and am planning to make more. 

    Anyhow, this is turning out to be a longer post than I had thought it was going to be and now I want to give you my favorite and least favorite recipes.  I am not including the Mom's Chocolate Cream Pie with Meringue, because that is a "not new to me" recipe.

    Favorites have been the Fruit & Honey Candy, Colorado Cream Pie (Soooooo good), Grape-Nuts Bread, Spanish Limas, Stuffed Cabbage Leaves and the 5-Hour Stew. The shockers in this list are the Fruit & Honey Candy and the Grape-Nuts Bread. I wasn't sure what to expect from the Grape-Nuts Bread, but it had a nice flavor and I loved the texture. It would make a yummy French toast. The biggest shocker was the Fruit & Honey Candy. I have made that twice!!  It really isn't candy, but more of a healthy treat. I have a tiny, ancient Tupperware container which had belonged to my paternal grandmother in which I can fit up to five Fruit & Honey Candy balls. I know that I can have a couple for a late morning or mid/late afternoon snack, if I need something to tide me over to my next meal. I carry that to work with me every day.

    So, there you go. My six month review. I've enjoyed writing this entry and if you're reading my blog for the first time with this post, I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even try some of the recipes. I am looking forward to the next six months.