How to be your Own Rachael Ray

How to be Your Own Rachael Ray

Everyone loves, craves, desires food.  It's our basic necessity in life to be able to eat an abundance of good food.  All over the world millions of people are inspired all the time by our food celebrities.  We've got Emiril, Martha Stewart, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray and so many other great cooks out there who inspire us to come up with theirs or deviate to one of ours.

  

Not to mention the old classics many of us have the cookbooks in our kitchen.  Joy of Cooking is a must have stand-by book to have on hand.  There's Julia Child, Fanny Farmer, Marge Standish, and so many other great books to have in your kitchen library.

But, what if you want to venture out into your own recipes and keep going with it?  I've read some of Rachael Ray's magazines in this past year on my Nook and it has loads of interesting tips on food and recipes.  But the thing I found quite interesting is that she keeps a daily notebook where she is constantly coming up with new recipes to add to her magazines, show and her cookbooks.

Now, here's the thing.  Why can't you do it too?  If she can and so many others are doing it, why can't you?  So, let's get started. 

First, think about how you want to record your findings on what may be a good recipe.  You need to start somewhere.  What would be an inspiring way to have your recipes on file?  

Maybe you want to be the old fashioned recipe keeper and first record them onto recipe index cards.  There's all kinds of places where you can get what you need for that.  Either shop in a cool store of choice for one that will suit your style, or I'm sure you can find them online and print them out.  Etsy would probably be a cool place to purchase a download of printable recipe cards.  I know they have downloads for tags, and they must have it for recipes too.

  

Anything imaginable is the internet world today.

Or you could choose to have it all compiled in a file, whether it be in your word software, other software or saved online like in Ever note or somewhere else.  Maybe you just want to open up a private blog on Blogger or somewhere else just for your notes.  It's free at many sites.  I say Evernote, as I'm on an Ever Note kick today.

Would you rather have it hand written in a journal of your choice?  Some people like that idea too.  Or the classic plain index cards are always fun.  I love index cards for practically anything.  There's the old fashioned recipe boxes that everyone's mother, sister, aunt and grandmother had in their kitchens.  My Mom had about three or four of them.

She used to have the laminated sleeves for one box of her favorite recipes, another box of the old typed up ones she did from her old electric typewriter and then she had a few boxes filled with recipes she clipped from newspapers, magazines or anywhere else she found a good recipe to try out.

Be a Rachael Ray and set out some time each day and just come up with your own concoctions.  Read recipe books as they can be helpful in aiding you into a new one of your own.  I've skimmed through multitudes of library recipe books and remembered some of it. 

I'm sure many recipes got lost in translation.  Some I copied down to try theirs and if I may pursue my own that's deviated okay.

I guess when you are jotting down thoughts for recipes, you can remember ones you know and like, have tried and go from there as to how to come up with a new and interesting idea for a recipe.

Make sure you try it out as if it's a wash and it ends up not being very good, you are not going to want to put it in your book.  For me, that would be that flavored salt recipe I tried recently.  The one with the sugar added, the lime juice, etc...  I was hoping it would dry up nicely to put in a spice container.  So far, I've got hardened clumps.  It may be I just need to food process it again to get it to the fine salt texture.  It may still be okay, but it's not going to find it's way into my recipe book most likely.

Maybe you want a cool binder type folder where you can contain your recipe cards, paper clips for other ideas, or other things.  You could paper punch some pretty envelopes for adding things to it.  

Come up with several different styles for getting your thoughts all into collections.  I think it's good to have more than one resource as you never know when you would rather do it the old fashioned way or go to something different.

Maybe you would like to get really creative and create your own designs.  Food for thought, huh?

Anyway, have fun on your food adventures and you could most definitely be your own Rachael Ray!!

Jennifer Jo Fay

Copyrighted December 16, 2013

  

I'm already forgetting what recipe this is.  I think what I've got to learn is when I take the pictures for my food is how to name the title of the recipe with the jpeg right in the then and there.  Seeing that I couldn't upload my pics from the memory cards for so many months, I've got scattered pictures of my recipes and I'm going to have to try to figure out which ones they were.  

Ah, a matching game!!!  Which written recipe goes with what picture!!  Name that picture!!!

I'll figure it out!!