Recipe related posts are going to be lacking for at least another week. We move this coming weekend and the recipes I’m coming up with leave a lot to be desired. I’m trying to clean out the cupboards, fridge and freezer. So far this week we’ve had:

Thai Peanut Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich – dipped in honey mustard

Fancy Ramen – that would be instant ramen with peas and corn added

Leftover steak dinner sauteed in honey mustard – Andy’s creation

Nonfat/plain Greek yogurt with leftover Mixed Berry Syrup – this one really was good!

You probably won’t find these recipes in any of these cookbooks. I snapped a picture to share with you. These are my most used cookbooks that stay on the counter book-ended by my 4″ x 6″ and 5″ x 7″ recipe boxes.

On Cooking – Culinary school book. It’s very well organized and is a great reference tool. It also has some of the best classic recipes.

The Pastry Queen – I use it almost every week for Project Pastry Queen

The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles – Love this one! It’s a Cook’s Illustrated cookbook that has my never-fail pasta recipe and TONS of sauces.

Abs Diet – lots of delicious, healthy recipes and yummy shakes

Brown notebook – This is Andy’s wine journal (looking forward to filling this again!)

Paula Deen & Friends – Not even sure why it’s on the counter. I haven’t cooked a single recipe from it. The recipes do look really good.

Better Homes & Gardens – classic and basic recipes, and also a good reference

Joy of Cooking – who doesn’t love this one?

But really what I wanted to show you is this. This is what I do when I get a new cookbook — put the little sticky paper tabs to mark the recipes I want to try. (I still need to do this with The Homesick Texan — from the picture above.)

Back in December my dad was out in Washington visiting his dad, sister, and brother. While they were there, they were helping my Grandpa clean out the house. Since I’ve been deemed “the cook” of the family, they let me pick out some of my Grandmother’s old cookbooks. This is just a few of them.

Notice a pattern? We mark our cookbooks the same way. I thought it was pretty neat.

What I remember most from visiting Grandma’s is her food. There was always way too much and it was always good. She made a lot of recipes from scratch but she also had a ton of recipes made from cans and boxes. Her pantry was always stocked with the latest Costco deal.

I haven’t had a chance to delve into the cookbooks yet but I’ve promised myself I’d start on them once we move. I’m very excited about the one on the bottom with the metal rings. It’s our family reunion cookbook and I don’t think it’s been updated in more than 20 years. That’s going to be a fun one!

What do you do with a new cookbook? Do you actually get around to making the recipes?