Ingredients:
 
1 1/2 lbs small red potatoes, washed & unpeeled
2 *italian turkey sausages
1 celery stalk, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbls olive oil
2 tbls white wine vinegar
2 tsp dijon mustard
*1/2 small red onion, julienned (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
 
Directions:
 
Cut each potato in half. Place potatoes in a large pot and add water to cover. Cook on medium high heat until tender. Drain & cool. Set aside.
 
Cut sausages into 1/2  inch slices. Put 1 tbls olive oil in frying pan and fry sausages until fully cooked - 10 to 12 minutes. Remove sausage slices onto paper towels and set aside.
 
Add remaining olive oil to pan. Add celery & onion and cook on medium high till almost tender. Add garlic to pan & cook for 1 to 2 minutes more, being careful not to burn garlic. Reduce heat to medium low. Whisk in vinegar, mustard, and salt & pepper. Heat until warm.
 
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, sausage & vinegar mixture. Toss gently till everything is evenly coated.
 
Serves 6
 
*Note: Be creative & substitute your favourite sausage in this recipe.
I’ve been known to add about 1/3 cup diced fresh chives or diced green onion instead of the red onion in this recipe.

Ingredients:
 
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 3/4 cup *milk
2 tbls vegetable shortening, divided into 1/2 tspfuls
 
Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 425*F.
Using a 12 cup muffin pan, place 1/2 tsp shortening in each cup. Once oven is at the proper temperature, insert muffin pan and heat till shortening just starts to *smoke.
 
While the oven is heating up, in a large bowl, start by adding flour. Using your fist, gently push down in the center of flour creating a well. Add eggs & salt to well and combine. *Add water & milk & beat till well blended and light. Pour equal amounts of batter into each cup and return to oven.
 
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.
 
*Note: You can use soy milk in this recipe. It actually makes the yorkies puff up more.
Use your kitchen vent fan on this recipe if you’re worried about the small amount of smoke.
Upon adding the liquids to this recipe, you can either use a stick blender or handheld blender if you don’t want to do this step by hand.
 
These are a great addition to any roast beef dinner. Just pour some gravy on these little beauties!
 
Shout Out
Again, another untouched classic recipe. The queen should be proud….this is a true British recipe. So kudos go out to my fabulous mother-in-law. Ta very much! xo

Ingredients:
 
Cake:
1 cup sugar + enough sugar to coat pan
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls butter, melted
1/2 cup milk, *warmed in microwave
 
Topping:
2 tbls butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tbls milk
5 tbls brown sugar
 
Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 350*F.
 
Grease & sugar (not flour) 8×8 pan. Set aside.
 
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, & salt together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 cup sugar and eggs. Add flour mixture and stir until well combined. Add milk and butter to mixture and stir till mixture is a smooth batter-like consistency. Pour into prepared pan & bake for 25 minutes or toothpick inserted into cake middle comes out clean.
 
While cake is baking, mix all topping ingredients together in a small bowl. When cake is completely baked, remove from oven and spread topping over entire cake. Place cake back in oven and broil till topping is golden bown. Remove from oven and let cool before serving.
 
*Note: The milk should be a little warmer than you would give a baby. Warm not hot. 

Shout Out
This is another classic that I didn’t change. Kudos go to my best friend, Mollie, for this recipe. Thanks so much Sweetie! xo

Ingredients:
 
1 can clams
4 slices bacon
4-5 medium red potatoes, skins on, scrubbed clean & cubed
1 small or 1/2 medium onion, diced
1 cup + 1/4 cup milk, divided
1 cup *chicken stock
2 tbls flour
1/ cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper to taste
 
Directions:
 
Drain clams reserving liquid, adding enough water to liquid to equal 1 cup. Set aside.
 
In a large pot, add bacon and cook till done. Leaving bacon drippings in the pot, remove bacon onto paper towels and set aside. Add potatoes, onion, clam juice, and chicken stock to pot. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender.
 
Stir in clams and 1 cup milk. Add flour to remaining 1/4 cup milk and mix well. No lumps please. Add flour mixture to pot and stir till well combined. Continue cooking on medium heat till chowder thickens. Reduce heat to low simmer and cook for 10 more minutes. Add parsley, worcestershire sauce and salt & pepper to taste.
 
Serves 6
 
*Note: Chicken stock adds a little more flavour to this chowder but feel free to substitute water if you don’t have any on hand.

Ingredients:
 
3 cups *roast turkey meat, cooked & shredded
1/2 cup *turkey gravy, cooled
1 1/3 cups prepared stuffing, cooled
1 cup cranberry sauce, whole berry
1/4 cup red onion, diced
4 romaine lettuce leaves
8 slices whole wheat texas toast, toasted
salt & pepper
 
Directions:
 
Evenly spread gravy over all 8 slices of toast, sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste,  & set 4 slices aside. With remaining 4 slices, spread 1/3 cup stuffing on each slice. Then place 3/4 cup turkey meat, 1/4 cup cranberry sauce, 1 tbls red onion, and 1 slice of romaine. Top each sandwich with 1 of the 4 slices of toast that was set aside. Cut each sandwich in half or quarters.
Serves 4
 
*Note: Use leftover turkey meat from your next big dinner or pick up a small turkey breast and cook it the night before.
If you preplan this, you can freeze turkey gravy from that big dinner to use later for this recipe -or- you can use chicken gravy (homemade or not) and add a pinch of dried rosemary & a pinch of dried thyme for instant turkey gravy. Ta Da!

Ingredients:
 
10 - 12 *spinach lasagna noodles (not the no-bake kind)
2 eggs, beaten
1 container *low-fat ricotta cheese
1 + 1/2cups shredded *low-fat mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup + 3/4 cup grated *parmesan, divided
2 tbls fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbls + 1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cups pasta sauce (pick your favourite jarred sauce)
 
Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 350*F.
 
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water with 2 tbls salt & add noodles. Stir often to avoid sticking-do not add oil to the water as this will prevent our future cheese mixture from sticking to the noodles. Cook till el dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. Lay noodles onto paper towels & pat dry. Set aside.
 
In a large bowl, mix eggs, ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, parsley, 1 tsp salt & pepper until well combined. Spread mixture evenly over each individual lasagna noodle using a silcone spatula or an offset spatula (you know, the one you use to frost a cake). Roll each noodle like a mini jelly roll.
 
In a 9×13 baking pan, evenly spread 1 cup of pasta sauce over bottom of pan. Lay each piece of manicotti in the pan so that the spiraled edges face out. Using a grid pattern, you can either lay them out 2×6 or 3×4, whatever fits best for you. Pour remaining pasta sauce over rolls. Sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese first then remaining mozzarella cheese over rolls.
 
Bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Serves 6
 
*Note: Feel free to use regular lasagna noodles but give the spinach ones a try first. I bet your family wont care what colour they are. As well, you can use regular fat cheeses in this recipe - more fat but also more flavour.
Do yourself a favour and spend the money on a block of fresh parmesan. If you have a grating blade for your food processor, save your knuckles from manually shredding it on the block grater. Parmesan freezes very well. Keep any remaining shredded parm in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Ingredients:
 
1 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium soy sauce)
1 tsp dried oregano
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
4 *chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium yellow onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
 
Directions:
 
In a large glass or ceramic bowl, mix lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, oregano, and garlic. Add chicken, onions, and peppers. Stir to evenly coat entire mixture. Cover and refridgerate for *1-3 hours.
 
If using wooden skewers, soak about 10-14 skewers in a shallow pan of water for 10 minutes. This prevents them from burning to a crisp on the grill. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
 
Alternating meat & veggies, thread chicken, pepper & onions onto skewers. *Lightly oil grill top. Place skewers on grill, turning them occasionally so they cook evenly. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.

Serve with tziki sauce.
 
*Note: You can substitute 3 lbs of pork tenderloin or stewing beef for the chicken. Again, just cut into 1 inch cubes.
Also, the longer you marinade - the stronger the flavour. But don’t marinade chicken for more than 8 hours or so or you’ll end up with mushy meat.  If you’re using pork or beef, you can marinade longer but you really don’t have to. You get great flavour after just a few hours.
To easily oil your grill, pour a bit of oil on to a bunched up paper towel. Using bbq tongs, grasp the oily towel and wipe down your grill top. Look Mom, no burnt fingers!

Ingredients:
 
1 cup butter, softened (or margarine)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tbls expresso powder (or 3 tbls instant coffee)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 350*F.
 
In a large bowl, beat butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy.
Combine flour, cocoa, expresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into butter mixture until well combined. Mix in chocolate chips. *Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
 
Bake for 8-10 minutes or just until set. Do not overbake - chocolate burns and what a waste of chocolate that would be. Cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack.
Makes 4 dozen.
 
*Note: I like to use a small ice cream scoop with a side trigger for cookies. I’m also a big advocate of parchment paper & silicone liners. But get a good quality silicone liner - pass on the ones from the dollar store. Makes for easy clean up.

While skimming through my recipe book trying to decide what recipe to add next, I realized that it was filled with someone else’s recipes. Page after page I flipped through finding recipes from all different websites, copycat recipes from restaurants, hand written recipes from friends. Other people’s recipes. And then I thought, “Do I not have a single recipe of my very own”?
 
But I do…
Because for every mouth-watering method I have printed in that binder, I have made those recipes my own. If I thought that the Holy Guacamole recipe would taste better with lime juice instead of lemon juice, I changed it. If I thought that the recipe for Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies would taste that much better with expresso powder, I added it. And sometimes my changes came from having to substitute ingredients I just couldn’t eat.
 
My point being that when you make changes to a recipe (for the better, I would hope) to suit your family’s tastes, you’re in a sense creating your own recipe. Have you ever gone back and looked at the original recipe that you’ve been making for years? Look how much you’ve changed it by tweeking this or deleting that. You’ve made it your own.
 
But what if you’re one of those cooks that’s terrified to stray from the original? That’s why I’m here. I want to inpsire you to bring out your own creativity. I want you to question your old standby recipes. I want you to look at them in a new light. Even if you only have a dozen recipes in your collection, by changing one or two ingredients you can create a whole new recipe. Your own recipe.
 
So be brave…I’m here to help inspire you. Help you build your own binder of new family favorites.