PS NATURE CREATIONS

FOREWORD

In these tight, tough economic times, we need all the help and advice we can get to make ends meet.  Considering how much money we spend on food each year, I believe the information on the following pages can save you many hundreds of dollars!  Sharing ideas that help you save money was one of the “BASIC” ideas for writing this book.

The intention of this guidebook is to provide recipes, ideas and tips that started somewhere back in “BASIC” – that time when people actually made most of their own food items, or traded for homemade items from their neighbors.  Getting “BACK TO BASICS” is preparing the food you eat as it was done:

• Before we had thousands of supermarket choices, with all the convenience of quick meals and all the fast foods.
• Before preservatives, additives and imitations, clones and red dye #2.
• Before our children were being diagnosed with diabetes at an alarming rate, when they weren’t suffering from childhood obesity due to poor diet, poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

As a lover of cooking, I have accumulated hundreds of cookbooks over the years, and thousands of recipes.  Within the walls of these of books are some great recipes, but I have never found a single one to be particularly informative or useful as a “GUIDE” to everyday cooking.  I have always wished for a reference valuable enough to keep on my kitchen counter – something I could quickly flip through and find a few recipes for homemade BBQ Sauce (best for your health, but great in case you are cooking ribs and out of BBQ sauce, and don’t want to run to the store to buy the bottled type) or a quick, easy supper that doesn’t require 25 ingredients!

Many times I have wanted a recipe for something,  but couldn’t remember in all those cookbooks and loads of cut recipes where it might be, so the first step of this journey was to actually LOOK THROUGH ALL THOSE BOOKS AND REMOVE THE RECIPES I WANTED TO INCLUDE HERE.  Hard as it was, I ripped out pages and pages of recipes to reach my destination.  (At least NOW I know where all those recipes ARE!)

I have tried to appeal to all in compiling this, but because I am a Texas gal, you will probably notice a slight preference for things done the “SOUTHERN” way.  You’ll find I have also included some favorite Italian, Mexican, and Creole recipes.

I hope you will think of this guide as your COUNTERTOP PARTNER!  (A copy of the first draft sits on my counter!)