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Sitting next to my favorite chair in the family room is a good-sized canvas tote filled with cookbooks. When I feel the urge for something interesting for dinner or maybe a new idea for a dessert, I grab several cookbooks and begin to read.
I have a sizable collection of cookbooks. Many were purchased, given to me as gifts or inherited from family members.
Some of the books are those paperback versions filled with recipes from an assortment of churches, fire departments and other entities that were compiled and sold as fundraisers.
And I still have several of the paper pages from this very newspaper's past cookbook contests. These are among my favorites as they are often filled with simple, easy-to-make recipes from people in our very own communities.
I don't pretend to be a great cook but I always believed that if you can read, you can cook or bake. It's just a matter of finding recipes that are easy to follow and contain foods that you enjoy.
Among these cookbooks are some amusing footnotes detailing recipes for success, for happiness and for love. Most of the time these messages suggest "a pinch of patience" or a "dash of humility."
With Valentine's Day approaching, I know many cooks and bakers are seeking to make a special dinner or treat for the loved ones in their lives. Most of the time, these recipes involve heart-shaped pizzas or fancy cakes and cookies.
Hershey's has sweetened the pot with some special edition Kisses that include sweet little notes stamped on the foil wrapped chocolate buds. Despite health concerns of too many sweets, I think Valentine's Day and its inherent relationship to chocolate get a one-day pass.
But let me tell you that not all recipes for love involve the sweet side. Recently my husband and I collaborated on a large pot of vegetable beef soup. If ever there was an effort of togetherness, it was found in the kitchen that day.
First, after debating the best meat to use, we pulled a chuck roast from the freezer. A discussion followed as to the best course of preparing the roast that would serve as the flavoring base for the soup. It was decided the crockpot would be home to the roast for four hours on high. Into the crockpot went hefty portions of onions, carrots, garlic and dry onion soup mix. Some beef broth bathed the roast as it simmered.
When the meat was cooked, an oversized soup pot went onto the stove. In went a large bottle of V-8 vegetable juice, beef broth (including the strained broth from the crock pot), several bags of mixed vegetables, a handful of barley and the chopped up roast beef. Then an assortment of seasonings was added, and soon our joint effort resulted in a delicious, hearty soup for dinner and lunch the next day.
There were no chocolates or heart-shaped goodies involved in the soup day. But it was a sweet ending just the same.
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.