Our site sells the highest quality recipe binders, recipe boxes, recipe cards and cookbook software available. However, I also write in this blog about all sorts of subjects related to our products and customers.
Eight Reasons to Give Your Mom a New Recipe Binder This Mother’s Day
Reply
A new recipe binder will make Mom’s day!
There are few people in our lives more important than our moms. She’s the one who helped you with your homework, hugged you when you fell off your bike (after she had scraped the grit out from the wounds ooohh!). She encouraged you and supported you, even with your craziest plans, and, maybe the most importantly, she’s the one who brought your family together around the dining table every evening to talk over the day’s pleasures and pains. When Mother’s Day comes around it’s sometimes hard to find a gift that really acknowledges her hard work. Here are eight reasons why we think a recipe binder–or a recipe box–make a great Mother’s Day gift.
A selection of some of our newest half-page recipe binders.
1. Help her organize her recipes.
Tabbed dividers from Dotted Cottage Rose recipe binder
Chances are your mom is still busy when it comes to cooking – even if you’re not relying on her to feed you anymore, there’s still those special family holidays and reunions! Organizing a meal can get overwhelming very easily though, even for her – especially when there’s family over she hasn’t visited with for a while. With a recipe binder she can have all those recipes stored in one place – and all our recipe binders come with tabbed dividers to help categorize them. Page protector sleeves make adding more recipes to the recipe binder a snap! No more rummaging through bookshelves and in cupboards!
2. Help her pass on family favorites.
Nothing takes you back like the taste of a cake or pie your mom made regularly when you were growing up – and few things matter to her more than passing on these precious traditions that she worked so hard to cultivate and maintain. It’s more than just a cake – it’s your family’s cultural heritage. As time passes and those family recipes are used less regularly, they’re all too easy to forget – what was it she used to make every Thursday after soccer practice? What was the frosting she always swore by for that chocolate cake? A recipe binder will help her document all these important details for future generations.
3. Help her get started on creating a family recipe collection.
Like many of us, your mom may have been meaning to collect all her recipes in a family recipe binder for years but hasn’t gotten around to it yet. She may not do the school runs any more, take you to ballet class or football practice, but hey, she’s a busy lady still! A recipe binder will help her out – you can fill it with recipes you know she loves to make, or you might want to give her a recipe binder with just page protectors and dividers, so she can decide what recipes go in there. From a selfish point of view it’s in your interest don’t forget – it will make it simpler for you to crib those favorite recipes if they are easy to find!
4. Show her how much you value those meals she used to make.
If your mom doesn’t cook so much these days now that you kids have all grown up (well supposedly!) then a recipe binder that you’ve filled with some of the most cherished family favorites she’s made over the years can still be a wonderful gift. What better way to show her how much all her hard work has meant and continues to mean to you? Maybe she’ll be inspired to make those cinnamon rolls you all used to enjoy every Sunday again – but even if not, it’ll still bring back some great memories.
5. Help ensure a favorite recipe doesn’t get lost forever.
You remember those things…oh what were they, you know, they were sticky and brown and sort of flattish and…we had them that time when… Well,you get the picture. My own mom used to bake a cake that we all loved and for years after her passing my sister and I would check her old recipe books, bake something that we thought might be ‘the one’ only to find that it wasn’t. Was it just the way she made it, we wondered? Did she even have a recipe or was it in her head? Then, one sunny Sunday in my sister’s garden and we were talking about mom, I saw a coy look on her face. She half whispered, “I’ve found it!”. And there it was in an obscure recipe book, the dull title ‘Sultana Loaf’. Mom had even marked it with a pencil and we hadn’t noticed! So the moral of this story is; if you still want to taste those things that you so loved when you were younger, make sure Mom writes those recipes down and hands them on! Buy her a recipe binder or box for recipe cards, and buy yourself one too so that you can duplicate her recipes.
6. Share and pass on your own recipes.
Okay so what about new young moms! Come on Grandma! Share those recipes of yours with your family so that all the little things that you have learned over the years get passed along. The most precious present a young mom or mom-to be can have is the knowledge that she is carrying on, not just the family genes, but those most important hints and methods and nutritional meals that will make her life a little easier when she is worried about what to put in the hungry little mouths around the table. With so many young moms having to work to make ends meet, those old recipes are coming into their own again. You can keep on giving her advice and tips and jot down a recipe for her once in a while, but if you organize it all for her in a beautiful recipe binder, she’ll be able to keep consulting it for years!
7. Make it easier for her to save money and eat healthily with good, home-cooked meals.
I remember when I was a girl that eating at a restaurant was a really big deal. It was a time when there was not much spare cash around for treats. We have got more used to going out to eat in the last few decades (or do I mean half century – whoops! where did that time go?!) but of late we are all having to tighten our belts (literally and metaphorically!) and the cheapest way to eat wholesomely is around the kitchen table. Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma knew all about thrift and nutrition. They may not have learned these things in schools or in magazines or on on TV, but if you look at some of those old recipes you’ll see that Mom ( and Mom’s Mom) really did know a thing or two about eating healthily, cheaply and probably most importantly, satisfyingly. A recipe binder will help ensure that those recipes don’t get forgotten even when the lean days are over – and will make the prospect of cooking dinner rather than ordering a pizza a lot less daunting!
8. A recipe binder is beautiful – and will remind mom of how special she is longer than flowers will!
Full-page recipe binder – Dotted Cottage Rose design
A binder that you invest in now will last a long, long time. I have talked to many of our customers in my time with The Cookbook People, who tell me that the old one they have had for the last thirty years (seriously!) is at last falling apart and they are ready to start again with a new binder and maybe add some new recipes to the old ones. Well, maybe help them out with one of the most thoughtful gifts you can give this Mother’s Day. And remember that , yes, we all have computers but those recipe websites have a limited life span and the surest way to keep those precious foodie moments alive in the memory is the hard copy! So, feel free to buy the candy and the flowers, Mom will love them, and you, just as always. But how about that extra little gift that can say ‘I love you, Mom’ and show her that you recognize how truly special she is.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Make a Recipe Box For Your Spring Recipes!
A recipe box that’s just for the Spring and Summer months can be a great tool in helping you uphold your favorite family traditions for the Spring holidays.
It’s that time of year again!
The winter holiday season lasts a long time, involving a lot of work and a lot of eating! Come March, it sometimes feels like we’re still recovering from it all – I know at this time of year I tend to stick to very simple meals for my family, both to save hours in the kitchen and to save my bathroom scales from the result of more feasting. My poor recipe box sits neglected at the end of my counter, still crammed with recipes for pumpkin pies, chocolate pies, cakes, tips on roasting the perfect turkey – and I’m no longer very inspired by them. Stuffing? I’d rather nibble a stalk of asparagus.
Mom’s Hot Cross Buns. I didn’t make these!
So when Easter comes around it often seems all too soon, and many of us can feel somewhat unprepared. If you celebrate Easter, you may remember some wonderful cooking from Easters past – I especially remember my mom’s hot cross buns – but after all the work of Thanksgiving and Christmas it’s easy to feel reluctant to head back into the kitchen for another day of cooking and baking. Last year I was full of good intentions – but with all the fuss of coloring eggs with the kids, finding a decent ham, inviting family over and preparing the traditional egg hunt, those hot cross buns never did get made. All the cherished traditions from Spring are starting to get overlooked, and of course it makes me a little sad – I don’t want to deny my children of the delights my own mother passed down to me!
Is there a solution? Of course there is! With Easter only a week away, I’m starting to do what I probably should have done sooner – I’m setting up a new recipe box that’s specifically for my lighter, simpler Spring and Summer recipes. Having a couple of separate recipe card boxes can really help keep things cooking – your recipe cards aren’t all crammed in one place, and you can look for your favorite ways to prepare an Easter ham or rabbit-cookies or carrot cake without having to wade through all the hearty, rich recipes of winter.
To make things more fun, there are so many beautiful designs to choose from when purchasing a recipe box for the Spring – some that seem just perfect for the season! So take an hour, collect your favorite recipes for Easter, Spring, and Summer together. Read through them – get inspired! If you can, do it with your mom, sisters, or friends – you can exchange great ideas and keep some of your fondest family memories alive. And finally, give these treasured recipes the home they deserve. Suddenly, the prospect of preparing the meal to celebrate Easter sounds like a lot of fun. Doesn’t it?
My Favorite Recipe Box for the Spring!
Making a Family Cookbook: A Unique Story
Make your family cookbook special by including the most memorable family recipes – good and not-so-good!
The idea of making a family cookbook is a popular one. Actually starting one “from scratch” is a process that will include talking to family members old and young, and organizing all your information in a way that beautifully displays your traditions and heritage. Everyone’s family has traditional meals that are served every year. This is especially true for the holidays but also includes special times like birthdays and anniversaries.
You’ll laugh about it one day!
In my family stories of lasagna from scratch and homemade pasteles abound. In my husband’s family, their favorite story is grandma making corned beef and boiling it long enough to make leather out of it. Oh, it was served every March for St. Patty’s day, but instead of eating it they chewed on it and spat it back in their napkins. In fact, the eldest daughter didn’t know she could actually EAT corned beef until she had it at someone else’s house in her twenties. Grandma’s corned beef recipe probably won’t make it to the cook, but that’s part of the fun! Should I exclude it from the cookbook altogether? I think I’d rather include a section for stories like that at the end of the cookbook. Or maybe a story like that should be paired with one of grandma’s more successful recipes. Maybe I will include my father’s stuffed peppers and next to it include the story of his split pea soup. We were drinking water with green pebbles that night!
The love and effort it takes to mess up a meal for your family and keep on cooking is something to be admired and remembered. That is part of the beauty of making a family cookbook. It becomes a part of the history of your family that you can pass down to your own children. Whether you are using cards in a box, or binders with page protectors you can create and add to your own family cookbook with grace, elegance and humor that will become a unique work of art for your family to cherish for generations.
Take a look at our many styles and contact us to see how we can help you capture your unique family traditions.
A Recipe Binder Can Prepare Your Teen For What Lies Ahead
They’re about to head out on their own – but a recipe binder you’ve put together for them to use will help them stay healthy and organized.
As teens move through the high school years, we want to prepare them for what’s ahead. We want them to be able to fend for themselves when they are out on their own, especially if they’ll soon be heading off to college. Here’s one way you can help them get started – put together a recipe binder.
Some great recipe binder designs your teen will love!
A recipe binder can contain all the dishes you fixed for them over the years – perhaps starting out with the simpler ones. Since organization is key to getting anything done, that’s where to start. Simply label dividers for your recipe binder, preferably with pockets, to have a place for the different types of recipes that you want to put in.
You might want to include how to read food labels and price information. How to select the right equipment. How to measure dry versus wet ingredients. A glossary of cooking terms is helpful too.
You might also want to include an extra section for general household tips. These might cover how to do anything, from sorting laundry to putting together a grocery list to polishing shoes – or even tying a tie!
To make the binder extra special, add photos of your teen making the dishes and cleaning up. The illustrations are important, especially in a how-to manual.
Making a recipe binder is a fun and practical way to prepare your child for the things to come, and it’s a nice way to spend time together and build memories,too. And, wherever your son or daughter are heading, enabling them to enjoy those great meals you provided for them as they grew up will mean they’ll always feel close to you. What better way to stay connected?
For more information about creating a recipe binder, contact us.
A recipe box or binder that’s just for you.
A recipe box just for you can make cooking dinner a joy.
Have your own personal recipe box.
You may have given quite a few recipe boxes, recipe binders or recipe card sets away to relatives or friends as gifts this year. But have you thought about how much you might benefit from a simple recipe keeping solution yourself? Now a new year is well underway and it’s time to think about your own kitchen needs – and maybe give yourself a gift for once!
Recipe collections are often passed down through the generations, but not everyone has a Great Aunt Sally who made the world’s best mac and cheese. Some of us were raised by busy single parents who just didn’t have time to cook. Some simply don’t have a family legacy in the kitchen. Many of us may still have the family recipes, but still want their own collection to help them find their style as a cook. It’s great to keep passing down traditions, but all great traditions change and grow with time. After all, it is your family too!
Another reason to start a personal collection is if you or someone close to you has a special diet. After all, grandma’s collection from the 40′s probably doesn’t have too many vegan options, to say nothing of gluten-free possibilities. Sometimes diet restrictions can feel overwhelming and isolating. Starting a collection that fits your needs can empower you to handle your specific needs.
So, consider starting a personal collection of recipes, in a recipe box or binder. If you’re starting out, starting over, or just getting adventurous in the kitchen, a personal collection can be a great way to encourage you to develop your skills. A recipe box is good place to start – recipes written on smaller, easy-to-find cards can make things seem less daunting! Most recipe boxes come with subject dividers to help you keep things organized, and you can buy dividers and protective covers for the recipe cards separately too.
To start, don’t over think the project. Choose a system that lends itself to easy organization, and then start collecting recipes. You can find them online, of course, but don’t stop there. The library often has a large selection of cookbooks, including specialty books that you might not consider buying for yourself. Take them home and try them out, then copy your favorites to cards for your recipe box or binder.
A personal collection can be an empowering aid in the kitchen. It can help you to break out as a cook in your own right – and it keeps cooking fun! Even if you already have the family cookbook, it’s never a bad time to start your own collection to be passed down for generations to come.
Create A Family Cookbook from Your Printed Recipes
It’s easy to create your own family cookbook.
In the past, pre-printed cookbooks used to be one of the main sources of recipes. The other source was passing the recipe from one individual to another on a 3” x 5” index card. What’s more, people had time to hand-write their recipes out in notebooks, creating a family cookbook to sit on the shelf along with their favorite recipe books.
Pages of recipes printed from the internet get disorganized – make them into a family cookbook you can feel proud of
Nowadays, things are not so simple, or organized! With less time to spare and more information available, many of us still haven’t gotten around to writing out those old family recipes – but have started turning to the internet to find ideas. That’s no bad thing - the web has many excellent recipe sites bringing an a vast range of recipes right to our fingertips. But of course, computers, tablets and smart phones aren’t too good around food or liquid – besides the risk of spillage, it’s not easy to scroll through the instructions (especially with a touch-screen device) when your hands are covered in flour! So, when it comes to putting these recipes to the test in the kitchen, printing off the recipe is still the best option. The result is we have a wealth of fantastic new recipes and ideas, but many of them end up scattered around the kitchen printed on loose pieces of paper with no way to organize them. Meanwhile the family cookbook, once shared through the generations, seems to be falling by the wayside – ironically at a time when preserving, sharing and passing on recipes has never been easier.
Maybe you’re someone who wants to rekindle the family cookbook tradition, or perhaps you simply want a tidier kitchen. Either way, with all these great recipes – whether it’s something your mom wrote out for you or from your internet research – you have a wonderful opportunity to create and maintain an organized collection of recipes that you can feel truly proud of. Instead of being overwhelmed by the all the print-outs you’ve kept, the scraps you’ve been given, and the bookmarks to more great recipes you’ve saved on your computer – you can collect all these favorite finds and bind them together to make your own, new, family cookbook.
Making a family cookbook that is customized to your family may be simpler than you think. First of all, place each of these printed recipes into a page protector. This allows you to wipe off the page if any food or crumbs should get on it during food preparation.
Pick out a recipe binder in your preferred color or design. This can be your favorite color, or it can be coordinated with your kitchen. You may choose a simple, plain binder which will allow your family to decorate and customize the outside of it with craft paint or markers. Many ring binders allow for a paper insert for the front, back and the spine, so you and your family might want to try drawing a design together. Alternatively you might prefer to select a more ornate binder that your family all will love.
The next question you may ask is how to organize the inside of the book. There are different ways to do this. Some may want to organize by type of dish such as appetizer, casserole, soup, stew, cakes, or cookies. Others may want to organize the book by what is contained in the dish such as having a section for beef, chicken, or pork. Using basic tab dividers which are made for binders, organize the cookbook in a way that will be easiest for your family. Some more expensive binders include pre-printed tabs.
Putting together a family cookbook is an activity in which the entire family can become involved. If you have children, they will enjoy decorating the outside of the binder and the dividers for the different sections. They also may enjoy helping to place the recipes inside the plastic page protectors. In the end, you will have a product that your family will use and will remember the joy of making.
For more information and ideas, please visit us!
Planning to Get Organized This Year? Start in the Kitchen with a New Recipe Binder
A recipe binder might not help you keep all your New Year’s resolutions – but it’s a great start!
After the New Year celebrations died down, was one of your resolutions to ‘be more organized’? So many of us start the year with good intentions, only to get overwhelmed before the first month of the year is out. When it comes to organization in the home it can be hard to know where to begin. If you’re anything like me, that feeling starts when you look around your kitchen.
Cooking for guests and family can be a joy, but it sometimes results in your kitchen looking like a hurricane blasted through it. When you write down notes for recipes, they can become scattered across your kitchen counter and even get lost in the mess. Cooking your favorite recipes gets extremely difficult when you have to look through heaps of disorganized notes. One thing that can save you from this is a specialized recipe binder.
There are various types of recipe binders that can work in your favor whether you’re a big time chef or someone who is new at cooking up meals. Full page recipe binders have 8.5″ x 11” paper dimensions as well as 4″ x 6″ and 5″ x 7″ recipe card holders. You can easily organize these binders with divider tabs that state what each recipe is for.
If you or someone you know is getting the hang of cooking and needs a little extra help, why not try a mini recipe binder? These binders are small enough to stack on a tiny shelf for safekeeping. Each binder comes with protective sleeves that will guard your precious recipes from the grease splatters and sauce spills. A handy-dandy recipe binder in any size will carry on the family tradition of home cooked meals for generations.
If you’d love to keep your recipes well adapted and organized, contact us! We’ll help you and your loved ones find the perfect binder for all your cooking needs.
Customer Writes about our Cookbook Software
“Um Mom, what’s for dinner?”
This is usually the first sentence I hear when my kids get home. Sometimes I know what dinner is going to be…sometimes I even have all the ingredients and everything prepped and ready. But some days this daily ritual gets away from me, and my answer is “well, it’s a Mommy invention”.
This used to strike fear in the hearts of my children. They’d look at each other, communicating with glances as only siblings can, expressing their trepidation at the idea. You mean that woman can look at what she has in the house and miraculously turn it into dinner? Is that even possible? “Mom, don’t you need a recipe?” one of them would ask quietly…
They’ve learned though that Mom can cook. They’ve asked me to keep track of some of these “Mommy Inventions” for when I can’t think of what to cook. My youngest has even requested his own cookbook to take with him when he’s grown. Gulp. That means I need a way to organize all these recipes…the ones we like, the ones we’ve made up, the ones we’ve made our own adjustments to…yikes!
Since organization isn’t exactly my forte, I started looking for some options. I needed something simple, that I could periodically update, and where I could make more than one copy. While the boy child is the one who wants the cookbook, presumably the girl child will eventually move out and need to feed herself too, right? That’s where cookbook software comes in.
Matilda’s Fantastic cookbook software allows you to customize your cookbook exactly the way you want it. You can add in your recipes as you find them, and when you’re ready just print the whole thing out on your home computer as many times as your little heart desires. The system is user friendly, comes with several pre-loaded templates, and even has measurement converters for those of us who aren’t so mathematically gifted. It’s a simple way to share your family traditions and keep track of those recipes that tend to get lost in the shuffle. This is a great tool, and even comes with a free trial so you can try it out. Genius!
Suddenly the idea of my kids being able to cook for themselves seems a little less daunting. Now if I could just get them to not grow up…
