"NOT S' BAD BUT A BODY COULD EAT IT"

A good cook is measured, not by the elaborate feasts she prepares, nor by the delectable dishes she creates. I believe the very best cooks are masters at reviving overcooked food, giving new hope to a disappointing garden crop, and rescuing 2-day old leftovers in the back of the refrigerator.

Years ago when I first started to cook for my young family, I was afraid of cooking for fear of failure or, worse still, that my food would make us all sick.  As my grandmother said, and my own mother would often repeat, "It's not so bad but a body could eat it."  In other words, the food may not look too good or smell just right or seem at all like what you expected, but when it is decent food, tossing it would be a waste.  

Eventually I learned to cook, and growing to love it, I surprised myself.  A culinary disaster awakens a warrior within, and I am ready to whack the kitchen beast until I can declare with victory, “Not so bad. . . .”  

A good cook does not rely wholly upon a good recipe for she knows that any recipe can go bad with very little effort on her part.  Starting with a good recipe does not make a cook “good,” but it helps.

Many of my recipes can be easily prepared in most kitchens. Recipes are rated according to the amount of courage I think you need  to muster before you begin.  Ratings go from ♥ for easy, ♥♥ timelord, and ♥♥♥ fully armed kitchen warrior, bite your lip and grab a cast iron skillet for a club.


On the other hand, if you are the kind of cook who wonders what sort of mother would pass along questionable nutrition advice to her quirky daughter, who decides to use those words to dub her blog, well, you might skip the recipes and read the portions of my posts, “Add salt to taste."


Here is the rub.  My eldest daughter Mandy has teased me by picking up my recipe box at a family dinner and joking that her mother has a story about everybody she knows inside her greasy, well worn, but much loved recipe box.   I agree, and the recipes are easily passed along, but the stories, less so.  Hence my attempts to flesh out the stories in my Rambling Recipes.


My aim is to elicit the help of my dear husband Mike.  Blessed as he is with a voracious though indelicate appetite, his eagerness to help me in the kitchen makes him my first choice to help me here.  Each month Mike will be asked to select a recipe card from my recipe box. I will write a post or two about the recipe and add my memories as they spring to life.  After 40 years of cooking for a family, it is a very crowded box.