Finding Recipes

One of the most difficult things to do when you start to transition from fast food, take-out, or prepackaged entrees to from-scratch meals and snacks is find recipes that you and your family will use, and for which you have the ingredients. As you begin to build up a pantry of inexpensive ingredients (did you see in the post yesterday that sugar is on sale at HT?) it will get easier, but with the advent of the internet, you don't have to rely on a box of recipe cards or musty old cookbooks. Some of my best friends are musty old cookbooks, though. 

Have you gotten a chance to check out AllRecipes yet? It's a great resource. You can set up a basic, free account, and then start saving recipes to your online recipe box. The best part? You can perform an advanced search in order to find recipes that use what you have on hand. That's how I discovered a recipe for crockpot Lemon Thyme Chicken a couple of years ago, and my family loved it! (Even if you don't drink wine, you should consider grabbing a couple of bottles of Winking Owl from Aldi for cooking purposes.)

Here is my process: I find a recipe that looks interesting. I print out the full-sheet recipe. I use a heavy-duty magnetic clip on my exhaust hood to pin the recipe up for easy reference while I cook (please don't use a weak magnet and drop paper onto your stovetop!). I try not to make substitutions the first time I make a recipe. We eat, and then I ask for feedback. Every once in a while, my family will choke down a recipe, force a smile, and vehemently ask that I not make that dish again. Half the time, they will say that it was a good meal but that they wouldn't want to eat it all the time (those get saved in the online recipe box). The rest of the time, we stumble across dishes that they love; those recipes get three-hole-punched and put into my hard copy binder for more frequent use.

I posted a few weeks ago about the fabulous recipe I found for flavorful pizza dough. That one went in the binder, and I'm glad, because the kids and I were craving cheesy breadsticks.

Make the above pizza dough recipe and let it rest for about half an hour. Divide it in half and roll it out to fit two pans (tip: sprinkle the pans with plain cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking!). Poke the dough in a few places with a fork to prevent it from turning into a big ol' fluffy pita. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F for about 8 minutes.

Top with mozzarella cheese and your choice of herbs/spices. I used garlic powder, salt, pepper, and dried parsley.

Pop the pans back in the oven for 6-12 minutes, depending on your desired level of browning.

Slice into sticks and call the family down for a substantial snack!

NOTE: This dough recipe is halved for making pizza, too, so it's possible to make one pan of pizza and one of cheesy breadsticks for dinner. Just remember to use only half the sauce on the pizza and use the other half for dipping breadsticks.

Follow @RocksTheCoupons