Works For Me Wednesday

We've all been there, in the kitchen cooking breakfast, getting ready to make the all important pancakes only to realize that the Bisquick mix you use is now tucked safely in an air tight container instead of the box it came in. And along with the box, went the recipe for the pancakes. I don't know about most of you, but I usually don't realize the recipe is missing until I'm about half way through mixing everything together. Then, what I thought was an easy, memorized recipe, becomes a pain in the neck as I try to remember if it was 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of milk.

Or, you're in the middle of an all important dinner party where the biscuits are the bread of choice for the evening. You get half way through the "memorized" easy as pie, recipe only to forget a small part of it. Then, the only choice you have is to frantikly call friends, or look on the internet for the missing ingredients. Making a stressful evening even more chaotic.

The scenarios are endless because, lets face it, Bisquick is an awesome product. But it isn't just Bisquick. I also have a hard time remembering how many parts water do I mix with rice? Do I add the rice when I put the water in, or do I let the water boil first? When do I cover the pot? Grits, is it double the water? How much butter? The list is endless.

So, I've come up with a way to keep your food fresh, and still have all those silly last minute problems solved. I went out and purchased a small (half about 5x7) 3-ring binder. Now, before I throw any box away I make sure I have all the useful information off of it first. I'll write down everything I need to know in my handy little notebook. Then I separate all the recipes by product. Like Bisquick has it's own section, then rice, then grits, instant potatoes, so on and so forth.

Also, if you're pressed for time, and you don't want to mess with writing or typing up the recipes, just cut the box apart and tape the needed information to the paper.

Then you can say "Goodbye" to those last minute culinary nightmares. And, in my case, stop overcooking the rice all at the same time!

That works for me!