The Recipe Bar

This blog started out as a simple way to share favorite recipes that I have tried and adjusted over the years as well as many recipes from my childhood.  I have a saying, I will make a dish as the recipe says the first time.   After that I will add my own little flair to it until it’s just right.  What do I consider just right?  When my family asks me to make it again time after time.  When I’m asked to bring it a party or get together.  Do you have a dish like that?

For years friends and relatives have asked me bring my famous Olive Cheeseball to a party or my Hashbrown Casserole to a family function and lately, my pudding shots have been requested A LOT! (you’re going to have to wait for that one 😉 )  I am flattered that everyone loves what I make and am happy to share my recipes with a few exceptions.  If I give away ALL my secrets people will stop asking me to make them.  I guess on the bright side, it will encourage me to come up with new and desirable treats.

The one thing I noticed while going through numerous pages of recipe cards, I really do love to cook and have for a long time.   That would be evident in the number of cookbooks I have as well has the amount of recipes I save from magazines, online recipe sites, you name it.  If it’s a good recipe, I’m adding it to my collection!  My kids really like to cook too and try new recipes every once in a while.  They will ask me if they can cook dinner!  And there are times when that is highly encouraged, hehehe.  Heck, my son, whose 15 1/2, will make things up on his own!  Being a Boy Scout, he has cooked for his troop on a number of occasions and the reviews have always been very good.  One thing’s for sure, at least I know he’ll never starve… LOL.

Another great source of many great recipes I have tried is from the Food Network.  It all started with Emeril LaGasse.  My husband and I could sit for hours watching him and I would peruse his website for recipes from all of his shows.  I still do that to this day with Paula Dean, Guy Fieri, Michael Symon and so many others.  If I see something on Diner’s Drive-Ins & Dives that is out of this world, I have to find the recipe.  Sometimes I try to make it up myself, like my Country Fried Steak that my family can’t get enough of.  Again, it’s been a work in progress until it’s just right but they don’t mind taste-testing for me :-).

I hope you enjoy the recipes I will be sharing and if you make any, please leave me a comment and let me know how it turned out for you.  I always love feedback!  And please, please, please share some of your favorites as well.  You can send them to me through the Submit Your Favorite Recipe link at the top of the page.  I would love to try some of your favorite dishes!