A family cookbook is more than just a compilation of recipes. It’s a spiritual document.

Go ahead. Laugh and roll your eyes. (My husband did. He laughed and laughed right up until I sold the 50th copy of my software, Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software. Then he started paying attention. Now that it’s the best selling Cooking & Health software on Amazon, a lot of people are paying attention.)

What makes a family cookbook spiritual? Look into the eyese of your granddaughter. Those eyes have atoms swirling in them that were once in your Aunt Maureen’s Top Secret Cheesecake. Same goes for the strong back of your husband and a lemon-yellow lock of your grandson’s hair. The hippies were right–all things really are connected. And some things, like the food we all ate as children and the lives we live as adults, are even more connected. Not just in sight and sound and taste and smell, but in our very beings.

Maybe that’s why thousands have used their family cookbooks to commemorate a mom or grandma who passed on. A family cookbook can connect us across countries, decades…even death.

I can go online and find a thousand different recipes for meatloaf. But there’s only one meatloaf that smells like the one my own grandmother used to make. She’s dead now and the recipe died with her, and that’s a real shame.

Look at your own family recipes and think about those you love. You may have a will to cover who gets exactly how much money, but money and things are forgotten. Have you given them a way to remember how connected they are to you?

Obviously, I’d prefer it if you went out and bought my software. But there are lots of other options, whether you just write a cookbook by hand, in Word or online. The important thing is to get those family recipes written down and passed on. The recipe book you create will indeed become a spiritual document.

Much of that spirit will be yours.

350°F.

Jealous? Asking yourself, “How did she make that tiny little circle next to the F?”

If you have the latest version of our software, you probably know it’s easy to add with the Recipe Builder feature. If not, you can still easily make it. There are two easy ways:

A. Just copy and paste it! Click in front of the °, hold, drag across it, then right click and click “Copy”. Then right click and choose “Paste” wherever you want it to appear.

B. Use the Alt key and number pad to the right of your keyboard. Hold down the Alt key, and hit “0176″ on the number pad. Let go of the Alt key and it’ll appear.

Our software will point you to this page if you want this symbol or others.

Sharon Thompson, Food writer for the Lexington Herald-Reader, has written a delightful piece about us in her blog this morning–A Family Cookbook Can Be a Family Yearbook.

Here’s a short quote:

Company owner Erin Miller sells software that lets users print a cookbook from home, drastically cutting the cost of printing copies. Users simply type the information in the space that’s provided.

Family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas are an ideal time to pitch a cookbook. Bring a few copies of a short mock-up of your idea and let the relatives get a feel for how it will look when it is done. “They will be much more responsive in helping you out,” Miller said.

“Make your family cookbook a living, breathing document that gets added to regularly, not just by you but by everyone,” Miller said.

Thank you for the press, Sharon!

Since I’m gushing, I’d like to also thank Violet U., a customer who entered in over 500 recipes in our software and needed a little customer support. One of The Cookbook People, Erin, was able to get her fixed up and on her way.

Well, Erin was completely surprised when a few weeks later we received this gorgeous hand-crocheted blanket in the mail in gratitude! The handiwork is amazing–completely flawless. And it’s obviously pretty comfortable, as you can tell from Erin’s son, Louis.

Thank you, Violet, from all of The Cookbook People! It means so much to all of us that you took the time and effort to put together such an amazing blanket for Erin and her young family.

When I sat down to write the previous entry, I meant to write it about Jaime Lee Mann. She’s written the most delightful post about our little company in her own blog here.

Here’s a little snippet:

…the service I’ve received is outstanding, and I would recommend the product without ever having used it – based on the relationship that I’m building with the company through their website, blog (hilarious) and the customer service representative that I’ve been in communication with.

Thank you so much, Jaime!

I love all my customers, but there are a few who do something special to help out our business or just brighten our day. B. Matheson and drdriller wrote delightful things about our product on Amazon recently, and we’ve noticed a subsequent up tick in sales there. Thank you so much for your help!

We’re a small but fast-growing business, and your contributions there really contributed to our bottom line!