cutting the amount
By savypat
@savypat (20216)
United States
November 10, 2012 7:59am CST
There are just two of us who live here and most recipes are set up to feed more. Now if it feeds four I know to cut it in half, if it feeds ten one fifth will do. But where I run into trouble is that I always change it just a little and I never know if the change is going to make it better or worse. So my pencil is the most treasured item I have when cooking, if I grab a pen instead I will bet you my concoction will be so bad I never want to add those changes again. And there is nothing worse than a recipe that has scratched out ink marks all around it. But then again in reviewing this discussion I am reminded that some of my most loved recipes come from my Mother and Grandmothers will all their little changes written along side and the ones in pencil fade with time.
2 people like this
11 responses
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
13 Nov 12
You are right that changes that are made with pencil do fade over the course of time. However, I still think that the changes should be written in pencil as opposed to being written in ink. The reason that I think they should be written in pencil is because of the fact that the changes that you've made are not permanent changes and the mark of a pencil isn't permanent either.
This reminds me of the way that my mother kept her address book while I was growing up. She would write a person's name in ink, but when it came to their address and phone number, she would write those in pencil because those could change over the course of time.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
10 Nov 12
There are some recipe sites that will make those calculations for you but I can't think of them off-hand, I just remember thinking how convenient that was!
I have one of my grandma's recipes that my sister put in a protective acrylic frame. She didn't have any changes there but wrote at the bottom that if you don't have an electric mixer you should beat the batter until it looks as if you did! 
She wrote it out for my mom before I was born so I know it's at least 58 years old. What precious memories it brings when I look at that hanging in my kitchen! I got to shake the donuts and holes in a brown paper bag of sugar while my brother was allowed to drop in some of the donuts. And the aroma!!! 
But we liked it best when we sat down with her and grandpa and grandpa would tell us that our grandma made the best donuts in the world and look at her with love in his eyes.
Wow, that was a wonderful interlude for me! I'm glad you brought this up! 
She wrote it out for my mom before I was born so I know it's at least 58 years old. What precious memories it brings when I look at that hanging in my kitchen! I got to shake the donuts and holes in a brown paper bag of sugar while my brother was allowed to drop in some of the donuts. And the aroma!!! But we liked it best when we sat down with her and grandpa and grandpa would tell us that our grandma made the best donuts in the world and look at her with love in his eyes.
Wow, that was a wonderful interlude for me! I'm glad you brought this up! 1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
11 Nov 12
I only have two recipes from my mother ..nothing farther back. But one is for Carmel Corn and one is for hot german potatoe salad...both the MAIN dish at our family functions.
But I want to leave mine to my kids/grand kids...so I typed out (back on a 5,1/2floppy with Word Perfect!) my favorite recipes that I had used religiously over the years for my kids and their favorites...and I typed them out on regular paper and added on the bottom a little note about the recipe...who liked it, why it was memorable, things like that. I made one and I have it, but I copied it for my daughter when she got married. She hasn't used it to much as she doesn't cook, but at least she has it if she needs it and she has made 3 favs of hers...the carmel corn, my famous chocolate chip cookies and my invented baked chicken!
I am trying to find time to re-do it for my grand daughters now...it sits here on my desk always reminding me, but I can't stop quilting, house cleaning and MYLOTing to do it!!! I need to force myself...or I will be gone and they won't get the family history and that is all we have for family history!
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
12 Nov 12
If you anticipate changing the quantities or the ratio between then etcetera, then it would be more prudent to use a text editor rather than a paper copy of the recipe. Typing something into Microsoft Word or equivalent is easily changed without leaving any amendment marks behind.
I know that some people will prefer to use an actual cook book, but you could always enter the final recipe into your cook book once all amendments have been made.
1 person likes this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
15 Nov 12
Most recipes I use now come from the Internet so I make a paper copy to take into the kitchen and that I can change. I hardly ever seem to get back to the computer to enter this into word and make the changes. There is just to much infor available these days. Thank
@barehugs (8973)
• Canada
11 Nov 12
I've worn out 4 or 5 bread-machines, and I'm always looking for a better bread recipe. This is a hobby that I enjoy and I've found most of my best recipes on the internet. lately my favorite recipe calls for 1/2 cup of mashed potato, so I just cut the flour by the same amount, and this gives the bread a longer shelf-life, without adding any chemicals.
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@savypat (20216)
• United States
11 Nov 12
We had a bread machine and enjoyed it while the kids were still home once in a while. When there were only two of left we soon learned that the smell is magic.
Not soon after it had invaded the house, our brains were taken over and by the time the bread was cool enough to eat it disapeared. The next day pounds of unwelcome weight appeared on each of us. Me more than Hubby. The next guest we had fell in love with the smell and when they left the machine went with them. Blessings
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
11 Nov 12
I bought a book for cookies/breads etc...just for two. I haven'at ried it as everything calls for buttermilk or sour cream! Neither of which I use! So I finally did remember to buy a small tub of sour cream at the store last week...and now that you mention it... I will use that tomorrow.. I was going to bake blue berry muffins from a box mix that is really good and only 6 muffins...but now I will go back to this book and find one. But they only make like 6 muffins or 1 loaf of bread or 1 dozen cookies. But then again... I whip up a batch of my chocolate chip cookies that are awesome...it makes 7 dozen, but I make the dough and then using a teaspoon, make mounds of the dough as tho I were going to bake them..and put them on the cookie sheet...fill the sheet with them,a nd then put that in the freezer and when they freeze...I put the balls into a freezer bag. Then when I want a few homemade cookies... I take out 6 balls, bake them in my toaster/oven and I have perfect homemade cookies and just 6...lasts me either all day or all week...but I know I wont' be eating the whole 7 dozen in one day!!!
1 person likes this
@marguicha (223773)
• Chile
11 Nov 12
I have learned to have one of those small pads on hand while I cook and I made a shorthand so I could write my changes with not so clean hands. If you don`t want to mess up your mother`s recipe notebook, add a page (written later in the computer and printed?) with the changes you made. I know the problem about changing the amount of people. I had to give most of my pots to my daughters and kept only one big one. I had to but more small ones too.
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
19 Nov 12
Hello savypat. I think one of the hardest things to do is to cut down on the amount that you cook. It's also hard to shop for one or two. Take celery for instance You can't buy just one or two stalks any more. You have to buy the whole thing.
My grandmother made the best beans. I always have to doctor mine with herbs and so forth. Hers were very plane but oh so good. I finally found out that it is the right amount of salt. I don't think she used many recipes. Even when she used a box cake mix she added her own touch with extra eggs or vanilla. She made a prune cake that originally called for prunes but she used canned plums.I will never be able to match her cooking.
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@Anne18 (11029)
•
10 Nov 12
I don't always measure for recipes, sometimes I just pour the stuff out ie mince/pasta etc until it looks correct ot feed the four of the family as I don't eat what everyone else eats.
I also do write notes in the books just so I don't forget things if I make what I call a proper change in the recipe
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@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
10 Nov 12
I cook for just two of us here, too. However, I really don't use recipes most of the time. A recipe is merely inspiration for me. I tend to just toss together things according to my own judgement... and it tends to work out fairly well. Well, I should say "my own judgement and with cat supervision." I have to give credit where credit is due (and my male cat is reading over my shoulder right now).
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@pecito (303)
• Bulgaria
10 Nov 12
That's such a funny post :))
I don't have such worries because even if I prepare too much my daughter will eat it all till the last crumb. She is only 6 but she loves eating. She is not fat because she's got a lot of energy and she burns out all the fats but she eats huge amounts of my meals.
I also have notebooks full of my mother's handwriting- about 100 pages of recipes that I like to apply in my everyday cooking. I try to keep the dishes simple but delicious. Sometimes I am tempted to change the recipe according to the ingredients I've got in my fridge.
@prashu228 (37524)
• India
13 Nov 12
haha, you maintain cleanliness. that's good. Why is there any problem using pencil? I too like using pencil , so that we can erase if at all any mistake is done.
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