I'm not a natural chef. I love to cook, but I need somebody else's recipes to make anything delicious. Well, that's not entirely true, but I do pretty basic cooking where I taste and add what's missing. I couldn't write a recipe so save my life.
Despite my culinary limitations, I love making a huge meal for my family on the holidays. It's the time when the whole family gets together to talk, cook, goof off, and catch up. This has been the running tradition in my family as far back as I can remember, getting together at Grams', breaking up in groups (men, women, children), and finding out what everybody has been up to. The “women folk” would take over the kitchen. I know to some this sounds completely backward and sexist, but I realize now that it wasn't so much women doing women's work, but women finding their way of getting rid of the men and kids so they could visit! As children, we were quickly shoo'ed from the kitchen, as were the men. But when we girls hit the golden age of adulthood, we were included in the “nest”, helping make home made noodles, slicing and mashing potatoes, and cleaning as we went.
I digress! It's so easy to get lost in the memories of cooking and gossiping with a dozen other matriarchs from my family. This is about the food!
When it comes to finding great recipes that are easy to follow, adjust, and make the best website I've found to date (and I've hunted down a lot of them!) is http://www.allrecipes.com/. I think the reason I like it so well is because the recipes are submitted and rated by the site users, not professionals. Every day people sharing every day recipes. You don't have to buy a dozen cookbooks to get the best 10-20 recipes (which I'm also guilty of!), and they're all right at your finger tips for free!
One thing I never did like about cooking for the holidays has always been how hot the kitchen gets with a turkey in the oven. It was fine back in the day when we had snow on the ground for Thanksgiving, but not now that you can still have 60-70 degree weather then. Here is a great turkey recipe to do on the grill to avoid all of that.
Do you need to figure out a menu? This page is great for that. If you're willing to sign up and create a profile, you can put the recipes you like the best in your own online recipe box. That way your favorite recipes are right there at your finger tips. There is also a nifty calculator to help you adjust serving sizes.
Hhhhmmmm, I started with the intent to share my favorite recipes, but it turned into more of a site support article! What can I say, it wouldn't be fair to share recipes without sharing where I get them. Maybe I'll share my Grams' home made biscuits or noodles, but that's later Go to Allrecipes, you'll love it.
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