My favorite recipes

   So you like to cook?

   I don't... But I sure do like to eat! And as far as eating goes, nothing beats home cookin! And that goes for the family pet too!

   Cooking is a good way to trade favors with friends. For example, a jar of homemade peach jam or cinnamon pancake mix is a nice way to thank a friend for fixing your car. After all, they say you reach a man (or dog!) through his stomach! ;)

   I much prefer to eat healthy foods made from scratch. I don't generally like to cook with processed foods or mixes, and I never ever eat frozen TV dinners. I avoid cooking with a microwave as much as possible, even for warming up leftovers, as this method of cooking destroys most of the nutrition in food. Read here to find out more about why it's a good idea to avoid cooking with microwaves as much as possible. Also, my digestion requires me to exclude many vegetables and corn from my diet, and I don't generally like meat, so I like to get creative with my cooking so I will get as much nutrition as I can in each meal. It gets even more interesting when I have friends who eat special diets for health reasons stay with me and I then must cook meals that cater both to my and my friends' needs. Mind you, I do enjoy a good chocolate cake or dessert here and there, but as I'm only one person I don't see any point in cooking up a whole cake pan because either I will eat it all in one day and get sick, or I won't eat it all and at least half gets thrown out.

   My friends have found some of my ideas very tasty. Some of them are big time savers--like the Spanish rice and the 5-minute chocolate cake--and some are so healthy you wonder how they could taste so good--like the flax seed muffins. Some ar downright weird--born of necessity--like the walnut quesadillas, but they still taste good enough to make a part of my everyday meal planning.

   Be forewarned, some of my recipes do not sound good on paper (or on your computer screen!). Many of my friends will flatly refuse to try my green tomato cake. In fact, I'm surprised I tried it myself since I loathe tomatoes! But if I take it to a picnic and just call it "spice cake", the green tomato cake disappears so fast you'd think I brought an empty cake pan. So, please, don't judge any of these recipes until you've tried them. Of course, you're not going to like them all, but you never do know which ones you will like.

   On top of that, some of these recipes are rather unusual. A case in point is my recipe for relaxation. Well, I'll just let you see that one for yourself...

   And, one more thing... My definition of cooking does not mean "making something yummy to eat". It means "messing around in the kitchen". Since my skin is very sensitive, I like to make my own hot oil hair treatments and I use things from my kitchen instead of prepared skin care products. My mom likes to make her own shampoo and laundry detergent as it is cheaper than buying it from the store. When the season for drawing on sidewalks comes round, I find that kids find it just as much fun to make their own chalk sticks as to draw with them! They also enjoy making their own Play-Doh of sorts. I even found a peanut butter-flavored Play-Doh type thing that is really tasty to eat when you're done playing with it! And as I mentioned earlier, I make most of my pets' food myself rather than feeding them commercial canned dog food or whatever. It's so much better for them; canned food is no better for cats and dogs than canned Ravioli is for us humans. I figured I might as well share all these with you here too.

   Enjoy cooking... Or eating!

My favorite recipes!

Teas, smoothies, and other drinks
Pancakes and eggs
Soups and salads
Muffins and breads

Teas, smoothies, and other drinks

Pancakes and eggs

Soups and salads

Sandwiches, wraps, and quesadillas

Easy meat dishes

Pasta dishes

Other main dishes and sides

Vegetable sides

Potatoes

Muffins, cupcakes, & breads

Desserts & sweet breads

Jams, mixes, and unusual recipes

Snacks and miscellaneous recipes

Recipes for pets

Skin care and crafts