Have you ever tried this cake?

7up Cake: Recipe sent in by P.R. Montgomery

3 – sticks of butter
3 – cups Sugar
3 – Eggs
½ tsp. – Vanilla Extract
1 – (12 ounce) can 7up
3 – cups Sifted flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a Bundt pan.
Cream butter, sugar and eggs; add vanilla. In three rounds, alternate adding 7up and flour into the mixture. Pour cake mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour, o until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

The heat at hand:
In The Barbecue! Bible, Steven Raichlen recommends the “Mississippi test” for those who don’t have grill thermometers, Hold your hand about 6 inches above the coals or gas fire and count “one Mississippi, two Mississippi,” etc., until the heat causes you to pull away. The number of seconds you can hold your hand above the heat roughly corresponds to these temperatures:
High Heat (650 degrees): 1 to 2 seconds
Medium High (400-450): 4 to 5 seconds
Medium (350) …………. 6 to 7 seconds
Medium-low (300)……... 8 to 10 seconds
Low (250-275)…………. 12 to 15 seconds

Organizing Tips for recipes:

Purge: Organizing recipes is like organizing anything else. Purge first, and be ruthless. Honestly, will you ever make that multistep Sweet Corn and Peach Trifle that requires cornmeal cake, corn pastry cream, roasted peach filling and candied corn kernels? And if you ever decide to make dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), surely you can locate another recipe.

Think: Before investing time or money in an organizational system, ask yourself what you want most, the ability to search your collection? To scale recipes up or down so that your white-bean chili will work for two people or 30? To calculate the nutritional content of Aunt Millie’s yam and pineapple casserole? Or do you value holding a recipe card written in your grandmother’s hand? How you answer such questions will guide you to the solution that suits you.

Categorize: Consider how you typically select recipes. By course (appetizer, main dish, dessert)? By function (fast and easy, for the grill)? By ingredient or season?

Update: The longer you let clipped recipes accumulate in a pile, the more daunting the prospect of organizing them. Sort and organize as you collect. Otherwise you will end up with a box in the attic, such as the one described by Cypress baker Connie Rosenthal: “I don’t look at it, but I can’t throw it away. The box is just up there living its own life.”

Backup: If you keep your recipes in a computer program, be sure to back up the files.

Note from Lucy: Yep! Sounds like me. I have a bag of recipes that sound wonderful and I might want to try someday. My “handful” of recipes that I always use are located in the kitchen drawer where I can get my hands on them. I love the recipe cards that are handed down from TF’s mom and grandmother. My favorite “chocolate glaze” recipe was cut off of the Duncan Hines box many years ago. My pancake recipe is cut off the Pioneer baking mix box. I also have recipes saved on my computer. I actually did use the Crockpot Breakfast Casserole for the Fourth of July church activity. I suppose it is time to purge the recipes in the Ziplock bag…….How do you handle your recipes?

All of today’s news comes from the Houston Chronicle “Flavor” section dated July 9, 2008.

On a personal note: Three weeks ago I pulled some muscles in my right arm while cutting some tree limbs. It has healed up well. Last night I slipped and turned my right ankle. Am I trying to kill myself???? I have gone years without incident and within three weeks, I have hurt myself twice. TF and I leave for New York next week and I should be healed by then……I’m keeping my fingers crossed….

Have a great week everyone.