Recipe Collection Meets Technology

While I don't have a lot of actual cookbooks to speak of, I've had an extensive recipe collection for some time now.  I store them a few different ways.  The recipes I find online and print out go into 3-ring binders, in plastic sheet protectors, and are divided by category- chicken, desserts, breads, etc. 

I also had a subscription to two different cooking magazines, Martha Stewart Everyday Food and Bon Appetit, for about 3 years each.  Every month when I received a new magazine, I pored over it cover to cover.  I marked recipes that looked good with a tiny Post-It note with the recipe name written on it.

About 2 years ago, I started an index system to keep track of what I had.  I went through the binders and magazines and made a list.  Binder recipes were indicated by "NB" for notebook.  Magazine recipes were marked with "BA" or "EF" and the issue date.  That way, I could scan the list of recipes, make up a menu, and mark my menu with a quick notation of where to find the recipes.  Easy peasy, and that system worked well for quite a long time.

Here comes the end of 2010, and I've got a big drawer full of back issues of magazines taking up valuable storage space in my dining room, and a brand new Nook Color for Christmas.  (If you haven't laid eyes on this fancy schmancy e-reader from Barnes and Noble, go get you some.)  Not only can you read electronic books, magazines, and newspapers, but you can store and view photos, play Sudoku, do crosswords, listen to Pandora, surf the web (with WiFi), and read Word and PDF documents.  It's like a mini iPad for the PC crowd, but without the $600 price tag.  Economy WIN!

I'm the wife of a computer dude and somewhat of a gadget whore myself, so one of my dreams in recent years was to have an electronic recipe collection at my fingertips in the kitchen, completely paperless.  Now, I had the perfect piece of equipment to help facilitate my dream.

Over the last week or so, I've been visiting the websites of Bon Appetit and Martha Stewart, looking up the recipes I have marked in my issues, and creating PDF printouts of each one.  It sounds time-consuming, but has gone very quickly.  I do a little at a time, and my stacks are getting smaller.  I will take my paper issues to the local library to give away- they have a give-away magazine shelf that gets pawed through daily by patrons.  I've offered this culinary goldmine to two people in my family who proclaim to be learning to cook, but they turned them down.  I call "bullshit" on their purported interest in cooking.

Soon enough, minions, a world of electronic recipes will be at my fingertips!  *insert maniacal cackle here*


Some of my Everyday Food issues with their wee little Post-It notes.



A fraction of my Bon Appetit mags.  Good bye, friends.  You've served me well.



Pork Stew with Hard Cider, Pearl Onions, and Potatoes

The February 2010 issue of Bon Appétit offers a decidedly wintry concoction called Pork Stew with Hard Cider, Pearl Onions, and Potatoes. However, I loves me some stew any time of year, and given that my husband is a die hard meat-n-taters man, I figured this would be a good choice. It was, but I'd make some changes for next time.

We thought the finished product was a little too sweet, probably due to the inclusion of a chopped Granny Smith apple. I'll leave that out next time. I'll also leave out the thickener, a paste of butter and flour whisked into the finished stew. It wasn't necessary.

A delectable mix of root veggies was used. The purple onions came out of my vegetable garden. For some reason, they all came out really small, but since this recipe calls for pearl onions, they were the perfect size!

Chopped bacon is cooked and removed to be added back later. I love bacon!

Cubes of boneless pork shoulder, also called Boston butt, are seasoned with salt and pepper before being browned in the bacon fat.

The cider I used was a kind I drink regularly, Hornsby's Hard Cider Amber Draft. I'm not a beer drinker, but this stuff tastes deliciously apple-y. I halved the recipe, so part of the cider was for cooking and part of it was for drinking. My kinda dinnertime!

This was the first time I've ever cooked parsnips, which were sautéed with chopped shallots.

The photo of the finished stew keeps winding up funky on the post's layout, so I'll try to add it again later.

Day Thirteen: Fettuccine with Peas, Asparagus, and Pancetta

Day thirteen of Operation: Expand Horizons was a simple pasta dish from Bon Appétit's May 2010 issue, Fettuccine with Peas, Asparagus, and Pancetta.

The dish is quite simple and fast. The prep time is actually longer than the cooking time.

We were a little disappointed with the bland flavor overall and the overwhelming amount of lemon, but it was worth a shot. The combo of pasta water, cream, olive oil, lemon juice, and Parmesan is worthy of using again as a light pasta sauce base, with a smaller amount of lemon.

The recipe says it serves 4, but quantities listed told me that I'd have too much left over if I didn't trim it down. Instead of 1 1/4 pounds of asparagus, I used about 3/4 pound. Instead of two cups of peas, I used one cup. Instead of a whole bunch of scallions (we call them "green onions" here in Oklahoma), I used 4. There was still a very generous amount of veggies in the recipe, and it seems like the called-for amounts might have been too much anyway.

Pancetta is outside of my budget, so I used regular bacon, which is an acceptable substitute per the recipe. We are a bacon-loving household, and Wright brand thick-cut bacon is fantastic. The recipe calls for 2 ounces of bacon, but because of my die-hard carnivore spouse, I used more- 3 slices, or about 3 ounces.

The bacon is merely a garnish, so of course my husband whined about the lack of a hunk of meat at dinner. He'll get over it.

I made some garlic toast for a side out of that delicious homemade wheat bread I promised to post on soon.

Operation: Expand Horizons - Recipe list

I've compiled a list of 31 days' worth of new recipes for Operation: Expand Horizons. Here it is, in no particular order.

Pork and poblano tamale pie

Falafel with hummus

Chicken cutlets with asparagus, capers, and shallots

Vegetable pad Thai

Pork chops with peppers and green beans

Spring vegetable couscous

Quick lemon mousse

Fettuccine with peas, asparagus, and pancetta

Spring vegetable and quinoa pilaf

Mushroom and leek soup with parsley dumplings

Pork stew with hard cider, onions, and potatoes

Three cheese beer bread

Arroz con pollo

Chicken and sausage cacciatore

Pasta Trapanese - pasta with tomato and almond pesto

Skirt steak with crispy garlic potatoes

Meat sauce with spaghetti

Lemon zucchini cornmeal cookies

Spinach and Brie chicken with tomato orzo

Breaded pork chops; wild rice with mushrooms and parsley

Pound cake tiramisu

Red beans with andouille sausage; buttermilk cornbread

Honey-soy grilled pork chops with bok choy and rice

Pineapple-stuffed jerk chicken

Coconut pineapple loaf cake

Creamy lemon squares

Pork and chive potstickers

Pork and chorizo burgers with green chile mayo

Best blueberry muffins

Bratwurst bites with beer-horseradish mustard; German-style fried potatoes

Multi-grain bread

Most of these recipes come from America's Test Kitchen, Everyday Food, and Bon Appétit. I'll post links and recipes as each one is tried.