I love to cook for family and friends, and I especially like to cook for myself. My tastes run from family friendly comfort food to trying different ethnic foods. I’ve always said at least try new foods. Everybody’s taste buds are different so if someone doesn’t like something, it may be because they are not tasting the same thing you do. Cilantro is a good example. I love it. Some people hate it. Nothing I do can change that.

I like to plan menus, trying different things all the time. Some people have rotating menus that stay quite consistent. Ask my grown children about new foods. “Mom” was always trying new things. I’m a recipe clipper. I paste them on 3×5 cards and file them. When I try them I grade it and date it and if nobody liked it I tear the card up. Some cards haven’t been used for years but 5 stars meant we liked it so I’ll do it again. I also have a lot of cookbooks. If I try a recipe, I write in my books, date , and give an opinion of the recipe.

I have “grocery list pads with a magnetic strip on the back” hanging on the side of the refrigerator. When I run low on something, I’ll write it on the list. I’m in the country and the store is 15 minutes away. Nothing worse than planning a meal and you have run out of……..

Just put it on the list. A well planned pantry helps get meals on the table. When I’m menu planning I will look at recipes and add missing items to my list so when I go shopping I can pick them up. Having everything for 3-4 recipes gives me choices when I plan dinner. I usually shop once a week and with a good pantry I can put a meal on the table without a great deal of difficulty.