Nothing gives me greater pleasure than being able to spend all day watching old Doris Day movies by the fire while cooking a cozy four-course meal for the family from scratch. The kids make crafts and the hubby shouts instructions to the boys playing sports on TV. Ahh, pure heaven. However, I only had one day last year where I was able to find the time to do that. These days, it seems, even finding time to make holiday cookies is difficult.

 

What's a gal to do? Fake it, honey. You know, for years I thought my brother made the best seafood gumbo I've ever tasted. I asked him for the recipe recently, and you know what he said? "Go down to the chicken place on the corner and pick up a quart." And I thought I invented "Pre-Fab." The word comes from those pre-fabricated houses...you know, the ones that are built in a factory, trucked to a lot and put up in a few days. They're usually more affordable than building one individual home because the manufacturers' costs are spread out over several houses. The buyers snazz them up with paint and landscaping and make them their own. I thought if they can make homes that way, we should be able to do the same with food.

 

Why should we spend all our free time cooking? There are so many fabulous pre-fab foods to choose from. We can pick something up from the grocer and doll it up a bit ~ nobody needs to know we didn't make it from scratch. I've found that I save money this way, too. I don't know about you, but unless I label leftovers with signs that say "It's okay to eat this until such-and-such a day...REALLY!", they don't get eaten. Even with labels, they don't always get eaten. With pre-fab foods, there is usually less waste, because I can buy in quantities just large enough for the meal. And I don't have to get all of those other ingredients that I might not use.

 

Flo's an exception. She really makes her meals. She's a wonderful gourmet cook of those delicious old-fashioned foods that we all grew up with. When I showed her my original book, she said, "You know, you really ought to put some recipes in it."

 

So there you have it, the story of how our cookbook came to be. A combination of quick and easy or ready-made dishes to recipes that might take awhile. There are fat-free and fat-full ideas. (No guilt allowed.) You can decide how much effort to put into your meals. But, honey, don't work too hard ~ we all deserve a little pampering now and then!

 

Entertaining doesn't have to be a chore, or ruin your nails. In fact, it can be a lot of fun. The way I see it, there are two types of cooks. GOOD cooks and cooks with a good sense of humor and the will to survive any recipe. I'm the latter, but I love to entertain. What do I do? Pre-Fab it! Mix and match pre-made foods, snazz them up a bit with other flavors, decorate to the hilt and voila! A party that people will talk about for weeks (mostly good)! And the best part is, pre-fabbing saves so much time! We also threw in recipes for some dishes our families rave about, and entertaining ideas that won't cost a bundle. Flo & I hope you enjoy the book. (Don't worry, most of the recipes are Flo's.) 

​

Love,

Dish