Fresh Idea Friday

Today we're sharing our favorite recipe sources ... cookbooks, magazines and websites!

Honestly, I find that most of the cookbooks that I have go unused most of the time! Especially since these days pretty much any recipe that I can find in most of the cookbooks I own, I can also easily find online. However, if I had to pick the most used cookbook on my shelf, I'd have to go with the Fix It and Forget It Cookbook ... a cookbook for the crock-pot! Although I ocassionally use my crock-pot in the spring/summer, I use it regularly in the fall/winter seasons. I love the flexibility of being able to prepare dinner in the morning or afternoon before reaching that crazy late afternoon time of the day. I will mention that many of the recipes call for canned creamed soups, dry soup mixes and other processed foods. But since there are so many recipes (over 800) in this cookbook, I have still found many great ones and have also modified many of the others to make them a bit healthier. Since it isn't really crock-pot season right now ... I'll hold off on sharing a favorite from this cookbook until the cooler months!

I don't currently receive any cooking magazines, although I do receive the free quarterly Kraft Food & Family magazine. It's filled with quick and simple appetizers, meals and desserts. Most recipes call for at least one Kraft ingredient (often a dressing or cheese), but you can often make easy substitutes if you don't use their products or have them on hand. For example, they have some great salad ideas, but I'll often use a different dressing then the Kraft one they recommend using. If you don't receive their quarterly magazine, but would like to you can go here to sign up. The most recent recipe I used from this little magazine was Farmers' Market Squash Saute ... a simple recipe with zucchini, squash, garlic, olive oil, fresh basil and parm. cheese (I left out the moz. cheese). It's been a great way to use our abundance of squash and zucchini!

It's hard for me to narrow down my favorite recipe websites. I'm a bit of a browser, especially when it comes to finding new recipes! But here are a few of my favorites ...
~For fresh breakfast ideas, you can't beat Mr. Breakfast! This website has a wealth of recipes for pretty much anything breakfast related ... quiches, oatmeal, omelettes, soufles, crepes, homemade cereals, pancakes, waffles and much more! A favorite from Mr. Breakfast that I make for a special treat is this recipe for Cinnamon Bun Scones. I do modify the recipe by using w.w. flour, 2 T. brown sugar to replace the 2 T. of regular sugar, and I leave out the pecans typically.

~For an all around good place to search for recipes I'll often visit allrecipes.com. I also like their search option of putting in a few ingredients I have on hand to use and seeing what recipe ideas come up. They also have a great feature called My Recipe Box which not only enables you to store recipes from their website, but also enter your own private recipes from other sources. Since I'm trying to organize all of my recipes and need to type them up anyway, this is a great place to store them online as a back up!

~One other sight that I often visit for new recipe inspiration is Cooking Light. When searching for recipes on their sight, they use MyRecipes.com as their search network, which also includes recipes from Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, Cottage Living and Health magazines. A favorite from Cooking Light is this Pasta with Five Fresh Herbs recipe. To make it a heartier main dish I've added chicken sausage or chicken breasts to it as well. I've also substituted one or two dried herbs if I don't have them all fresh. As long as you have a few fresh herbs in this dish it's delicious!

Head over to Lisa's blog for more favorite recipe sources!