It all depends on what I'm making...I'm always leery of new recipes as I don't know what they are going to taste like.

Worried about gaining weight? Yeah...not me. I'm a Wisconsin girl...we're all predisposed to be more solid thanks to our hearty German/Scandinavian stock. ;) I'll take my beer and cheese, and eat it too! (I'd be that cow on the California cheese commercial, *Wisconsin accent*,"ooh, where's the snow, dontcha know??")

That's me... you can always find me sampling food before it's served. :-) Now sometimes it gets annoying, like when I spend 5 minutes getting certain soups *just right*, but I almost have to ask, "Is there another way to do it?" Since I'm like you, Tammy, and not very fond of measuring, this is my way of making sure that meals come out alright. :-)

I'm semi-vegetarian (I eat fish but not meat) and my family's not. So I do taste all foods that don't contain meat. For example if I'm making lasagna I prepare the sauces without meat and add it only after tasting the sauce.
Sometimes I let the children taste and tell me, if the food is spicy enough.

If it is something I make all the time then I am sure it will come out fine so I do not taste it.

If it is something new I taste it all the time until it is done.I go over board then.

I never can tell if it's done anyway, so I only taste sometimes. Of course with cookies or something I ALWAYS taste... but it's not for the science of it. :)

Always. :)

Sometimes I do, other times I just smell it. More often than not, my nose will tell me if it isn't right, and then comes the tasting... but I try to avoid it, just because I'd rather not. :)

I almost always taste the main dish unless I keep it simple or meat. I don't like black pepper so I seldom use it and ever since my children were very young I usually leave the salt out so I need to sample to know if the herbs I'm using are working. I usually only use a recipe for a basic guide of what goes in a dish then start adding whatever herbs and other seasoning I feel like that day. Cooking with herbs has broadened our tastes, now it is hard to use just salt and pepper to cook. My mother won't eat at my house because it is "too herby" But both of my children (a boy and girl) are pretty good cooks and my two finicky young grandsons say it is "good food grandma" every other bite. Plus the health benefits and wonder of growing it myself.

Auntie Linda

When I look up recipes its not so much to see how to make something, but to see how other people make it and to insire myself to come up with the "latest creation". I'm also a bit of a perfectionist so if its not perfect before it goes to he table I pitch it out and start all over.