I share this one with people and they say I’m cheating!! Not so, I make typical sage dressing…,even toasting and cutting my own bread. I assemble everything and then…throw in a box of stovetop stuffing. It’s a fraction of what’s in my assembly pan. My son told some mom it was the best stuffing he’s ever had…he has no idea how I make it. When she told me that in front of a bunch of other moms, I told my “secret” and they all stood up laughing saying you cheated, etc. excuse me…I made the stuffing. I’m not telling anyone again.
I think it’s good time management to use SOME pre-prepared ingredients and not have to acquire and prepare everything from scratch. At William Sonoma cooking class we attended, they even talked about that–how to use SOME pre-packaged things to make your dishes faster without sacrificing.
I share recipes all the time. I have never invented my own recipe, but I’ve changed a few existing ones. And I often use the back of the box recipe. Such as macaroni salad, which I used to bring to picnics all the time years ago. It’s from the jar of Hellmann’s mayo. http://www.hellmanns.com/recipes/detail/36024/1/classic-macaroni-salad The only difference is that I grate the onion rather than chopping it. It’s a very basic recipe.
My sister wanted to know my recipe, so of course I told her. I’ll never forget her bragging about how “Everyone loves my (her) macaroni salad.” To me! I still smile about that.
But I do think it’s rude for other people to use your recipe to bring to the same party as you!
" At William Sonoma cooking class we attended, they even talked about that–how to use SOME pre-packaged things to make your dishes faster without sacrificing" Probably because Williams Sonoma makes a lot of prepared foods they want you to buy at exorbitant prices. 
Wasn’t this the whole premise of that cooking show with Sandra Lee, Semi-Homemade?
To me, it makes sense to use some things and not need to do EVERYTHING from scratch. For one thing, tomatoes cost too much/pound to use them fresh and make them into sauce in HI. For another, if things take too long, many would just go out and eat, since many are short on time.
I make a spicy Asian-style dip with rice crackers and crudités that I often take to parties because it’s a little different and lighter than the usual fare. It’s hugely popular with most people, and I’ve been asked to make it many times. It has hot sesame oil, which does have a kick. Several years ago I took it to a party and one woman tasted it, thought it was too hot, then spent the entire evening hovering over the dish warning people that it “really hot” and just “be aware.” Not exaggerating, this woman took it as her duty to stand guard all night. I never took it anywhere after that night.
Gee, @Gourmetmom, that poor woman needs to get a life. You shouldn’t allow that to dissuade you from bringing such a popular dish!
I don’t cook much for other people nowadays, but I never had a problem sharing any of my recipes when I did. However, one of my pet peeves is people saying, “I made musicmom’s [dish] except I substituted this and this and this.” Doing it your way is fine with me, but then it ceases to be MY recipe and I wish you wouldn’t announce it as such.
I have had many people ask for my guacamole recipe. The secret ingredient is a dab of mayonnaise. One person substituted Miracle Whip and brought it to an office luncheon. OMG. Mayonnaise and Miracle Whip are not interchangeable. I definitely did not want my name associated with that! LOL
Since I am single with no kids at home now, I use mostly fresh vegetables. A group of boy scouts came to my door one day for a food drive and I was embarrassed that I didn’t have any canned goods or convenience foods (mac & cheese, etc) to give them.
My aunt was an excellent cook. I enjoyed her pumpkin pie and asked for her recipe. She gave it to me, then admitted it was the one on the label of the can of pumpkin.
We are finally no longer buying bigger quantities of canned goods, realizing that we just don’t go thrubthem and just buying what we need so we don’t have things expire and get wasted. I mostly cook fresh things or we go out anyway.
^Libby’s back of the can pie recipe is excellent.
Recently we had a couple here installing new shades. I was cooking an old recipe from my vegetarian days
ala 1970’s–a corn potato chowder with cumin seed. They were drooling and I gave them each a bowl. She asked
for the recipe and I gave it to her. It was sweet when she texted a few months later thanking me and saying
she had made it twice and loved it. We do not run in the same circle so I am fine with that.
Also, there are many recipes I have no trouble giving out in general. But not my “go to” or “cheater” or “special gift” ones.
And no to Miracle Whip anything!
I beg to differ on the guacamole secret!
The secret to great guacamole is very finely chopped white onion, serrano chiles, cilantro, and a generous amount of salt crushed together by hand in a mortar and pestle into a paste.
Then add the ripe hass avocados (ideally larger than your fist) and lime to taste.
But I promise you that starting with the onion/ chile/ cilantro/ salt paste will make the best guacamole you’ve ever had.
(This is a traditional method so I can’t really call it “my” secret).
My father’s secret to great turkey gravy was a teaspoon of instant coffee. I add half a shot of espresso instead. It really adds a depth of flavor!
Coffee is the trick to red eye gravy so I could see how coffee in turkey gravy would add a flavor punch.
I wouldn’t bring someone’s recipe to an event we both attend, either. One reason for putting the source on the recipe card. All these acts are revealing, though, and interesting to see play out.
Most years I laboriously take the turkey carcass, add onions, celery, salt and pepper, sage and cook the whole thing until the meat drops off the bones. Then I pour off the liquid into a container, cool it, skim the fat off the top. I pull all the good meat off the bones and set aside separately. When we had a dog, he got some of it but now it all goes back into a turkey soup. I either freeze the stock or use right away, but after I’ve assembled the stock, meat, carrots, celery, parsley and spices in the stock pot, I drop in a Knorrs boullion cube. That stock I work hard to make is bland. Maybe the Knorrs is just a cube of salt, but it tastes better with it. I don’t know why I bother making stock, except it gets every last scrap of meat off the bone.
Speaking of salt, anyone ever have the jello salad with pretzel sticks in it? It would be kind of fun to plan a party with all retro recipes and serve the meals on t.v. trays. Be sure to get out your Tupperware pickle elevator and have plenty of Saran wrap on hand for leftovers. (I just typed that out and spellcheck changed “Saran” to “Satan” which is more accurate. If the devil were making a household item to confound and cause otherwise godly women to swear, that’s what he’d make.)
This is my not-so-secret recipe for guacomole. Everyone raves about it and I gladly give out the recipe:
My mom just mentioned the Jello salad with pretzels last week; apparently the recipe has resurfaced on Facebook. I have only eaten it one time. Back in the mid 1980s, a co-worker brought it to the monthly office luncheon. I remember it was very good, actually, and we all could not believe that the one who brought it had never tasted it because she didn’t like strawberries. I was in my early twenties at the time and was amazed that someone in the world did not like strawberries!
My sister-in-law made Pretzel Jello for Thanksgiving…big hit. We often like to make some of mom’s old recipes for holidays…it brings back good memories. We have a family Facebook group and I uploaded some of mom’s fave recipes. It’s our go-to site when we want to make mom’s Italian Cream Cake, Two Corn Casserole, World’s Best Chocolate Cake, Sour Cream Coffee Cake, Pretzel Jello, Missouri Cookies, Mom’s Veggie Barley Beef Soup, Italian Wedding Cookies, Snickerdoodles, Spritz Cookies, and some others.
Other folks have their versions, but when we make mom’s versions, we all smile at first bite.
Madison, ours is close but the secret is cream cheese. My personal fav is just lemon juice, salt and lemon pepper (my brand of LP is already salty.)
@nottelling and Madison85, both those guacamole recipes sound really good! I love cilantro in guacamole.
I cook almost entirely from scratch, but I make a hamburger casserole that uses doctored campbells MR soup for the sauce and it is so good, way better than the ingredients sound.
I have always freely shared recipes but was really annoyed when I made a rum cake for my book club and one of the women asked for the recipe and then made it for our first meeting of the next year, I thought that was tacky!
This past fall I made a fruit terrine for our block party, the gelatin is made with unflavored gelatin and fresh orange and grapefruit juice and it has lots of berries and cut up citrus fruit in it. One of my neighbors asked who brought the “jello” 8-|
I like to substitute real whipped cream for cool whip, so much better and so easy!