“How much time does it take to make a family cookbook?” This is a question our customers often ask when buying our Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software.

The answer is as simple or as complex as our customers want to hear (we didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, you know.)  How much time it takes to make a family cookbook is dependent upon 5 important areas of discussion, which we ask right back: Read the rest of this entry »

During this week prior to Yom Kippur (High Holy Days), I am reminded of the many Jewish congregations that have put together sisterhood fundraising cookbooks for their charitable causes.

One sisterhood fundraising cookbook I ran across years ago included a light-hearted look at Jewish life and culture, with many funny stories from members of the temple sisterhood interwoven between the recipes. It was called “Chicken Soup,” (not to be confused with the best-selling Chicken Soup series), and most of the recipes fit into the following categories: Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t poked around our website lately, you’ll be amazed at all the great things we offer to increase your enjoyment of Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software.  Bet you didn’t know that we now have beautiful gift bags that make wrapping and presenting your home-made family cookbook as a gift much easier!

We have standard size beautiful gift bags that accommodate our half page recipe binders and recipes boxes quite nicely. And, we also have large size beautiful gift bags that are perfect for the full-size recipe binders, recipe boxes and other items that need a little more room. All the designs are beautifully finished, and some even coordinate well with the existing binder and recipe box patterns that we carry. Read the rest of this entry »

Some people think that creating a family cookbook is worse than going into labor. Can you believe that? They obviously haven’t tried Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software. I made sure that creating a family cookbook was not anything like labor of any sort, but fun and easy.

I can understand how some people might think creating a family cookbook is too complicated or hard. But it doesn’t have to be. With our easy to use software, you don’t have to do any organizing upfront before you start creating your family cookbook. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best things about technology is being able to duplicate work without actually doing it twice. In the case of creating a family recipe cookbook, technology lets you input recipes once, manipulate them, and then make more than one copy, all within minutes.

You couldn’t do that with a typewriter. Even the magical old IBM Selectric typewriter couldn’t keep up with even the most primitive word processor that technology has brought to us. You really couldn’t be as up close and personal as we are today with a technology-created family recipe cookbook. Read the rest of this entry »

While traveling I often try to stay at local bed N breakfasts because I generally have a nice time visiting with like-minded travelers, the accommodations are usually very homey, and the food is most likely top-notch.

Last time I visited a bed N breakfast, I asked for a copy of a recipe for a particularly delicious morning pastry. The hostess obliged by hand-copying the recipe for me on a sheet of bed N breakfast stationery. Read the rest of this entry »

My father had some unusual tastes in food to a kid hanging around wondering what all the fuss was in the kitchen. Burnt toast eaten with sunny side up eggs was one combination I remember. The smell of charred forgotten toast still makes me think of him. Scrapple. Corn pancakes. He also liked raw oysters, and it wasn’t until I was in my mid-30s that I learned to appreciate them.

My father grew up in hard times just after the turn of the 20th century, when men changed their shirt collars instead of their shirts, and bread that you sliced yourself was a few pennies a loaf. Read the rest of this entry »

Some of our lovely “Matilda’s” users have asked questions in the past regarding printing their cookbooks at the neighborhood quick print shop or at one of the national chains instead of printing their cookbook at home.

Many of them would like to get printing quotes from several shops around town in order to get the best product at the best price.  We think this is a good idea, and often suggest a standard format for providing this information to the printer/counter person. Read the rest of this entry »

In case you didn’t know already, I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to stay between the lines. So it was a real eye-opener for me to learn that most people like to have lines to stay between. So, when we started designing Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, I began to understand why easy-to-use recipe templates are the key to creating cookbooks.
 
Using a recipe template to create a cookbook is really an idea that was borrowed from the crafting world. For example, sewing hobbyists use patterns. Interior decorators use stencils. Painters and muralists use outlines. Thus, using a recipe template to automatically produce a professional-looking family recipe cookbook made sense. (At least that’s what I thought when I imagined a recipe template that I would use.) Read the rest of this entry »

On one of my internet surfing expeditions to spy on my competition (yes, I do that regularly), I was happy to see that my Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software still leads the pack in helping you create a custom cookbook at home.

There are websites that coax you to enter all your family recipes online into a virtual custom cookbook world in cyberspace, all for free. Be sure to read the fine print of the “terms and conditions,” because you may be giving up ownership of your own family recipes.

There are websites that offer you hard-bound editions of your custom cookbook. After a three month wait for delivery, you may realize the recipes you originally selected are no longer desired, so you are stuck with that inflexible expensive-to-make custom cookbook volume on the bookshelf. Read the rest of this entry »

Situation: Late for dinner / No hostess gift
You are going to be late for a dinner party this evening, and you forgot to pick up a hostess gift, too.  What do you do?

Solution:  Notify the hostess / Make a gift cookbook!
That’s right. Call your friends and sit down at the computer. In the time it takes your husband to remove his dirty yard work clothes, take a shower, shave and dress, you can make a fabulous hostess gift that is both personal and clever. Read the rest of this entry »

Recipe software, recipe book software, cookbook software, whatever you want to call it to make your own cookbook, the key to success is how tech easy it is to use.  Although I’m the Granny Guru around here at The Cookbook People, some things do scrabble my brain, and one of them is “tech issues.”

Nothing is more frustrating that knowing you need to accomplish something with a software but don’t understand how to do it. Add a deadline, and waah! I can be in tears in no time.  (I tend to always think the problem is me, not the software.)  So when we created Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, we tried to take the “tech” out so anybody could use it. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you belong to a church or other organization that can benefit from fundraising activities?  If so, you might want to consider creating a cookbook to sell to members of your local community.

With a powerful cookbook software, you can create a cookbook easily and quickly. Here are a few steps to get you started:

1. Ask via email or in a meeting who would like to contribute recipes and/or help with the cookbook production.  We recommend Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software as the key cookbook software for this purpose. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you noticed?
We have scrambled up our website a little bit.

2009 has been an exciting year for us. Nearly half-way through it, and here we are with a whole slew of new things to talk about!  We have so many great new products to show you that we redesigned our website to make it easier for you to see all our new stuff.

In addition to our Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, we now offer binders, recipe cards, and advice you need to save your precious family recipes.

You can either mouse-over the tabs to get drop-down menus, or click on the tab to enter the section’s home page. Either way, you’ll be amazed at all the new information that we have added.

Here is a brief tour of the main tabs on our The Cookbook People home page: Read the rest of this entry »

“You forgot my birthday again,” said Aunt Agathene mercilessly as I hung my head in guilt and shame, a day late for the celebration, as usual.

“I wrote it down, but forgot where I put my note,” I defended. “Next thing I knew, your birthday was here, then gone.”

“Well, if I was as important to you as that new-fangled Jitterbug dance you keep busy with, I guess you would remember your old Auntie.”

At that moment I vowed to keep a list of all the birthdays, anniversaries (and other important dates in our family) all in one place. That was also when I established the groundwork for what would later become the birthday record keeper template, a popular feature of my Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people who have thought about creating a family cookbook have several motives in mind. Below are some of the major reasons to create a family cookbook, preferably with the built-in features of Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software:

1. We have some great cooks in the family with some great family recipes. Read the rest of this entry »

The last time I went to a wedding, I was amazed at the details put into the beautiful occasion by the bride and her family.  With the average cost of a wedding at approximately $16,000, no wonder many brides-to-be look toward unusual wedding favors to personalize their special day.

One great way to cut costs and still have a wonderful personalized memento for guests and family members is to ask them to contribute recipes to compile in a wedding cookbook. The wedding cookbook can contain photos from the wedding, as well as any messages guests may write (perhaps during the reception) along with their recipe. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the greatest fears of cookbook authors, and one of the easiest fears to overcome, is the fear of not having a perfect family cookbook.

Oh, the pain and embarrassment of having a typographical error smack dab in the middle of the family cookbook! You just cringe at the thought of hearing snide comments from those folks in the family who think there’s a prize for finding fault (but didn’t help when they had the chance).

Here are some ways to boost confidence and help you create a family cookbook to be proud of: Read the rest of this entry »

With the price of nice greeting cards these days, wouldn’t it be even nicer to spend those same dollars on a more lasting and appreciated Mother’s Day Cookbook ‘Card’ that you can make with cookbook software?  Mother’s Day is just a few weeks away, but you still have time to make a homemade Cookbook Card for Mom.

Because your creative thoughtfulness is really what counts, your homemade Mother’s Day Cookbook Card doesn’t have to be elaborate: Read the rest of this entry »

There it was, high on the shelf at least 10 feet above me, or so it seemed. That mysterious box containing all sorts of paper recipe cards with magical potions written on them. Some recipe cards were well worn; others were barely used (I could tell because the edges weren’t frayed…the favorite recipe cards always had a telltale sign of use: fingerprints, grease stains, a missing corner, or just the yellow color of age.)

That was my Grandma’s magic box — her wooden recipe card box. It was full of her very own recipe creations, and some recipes given to her by old friends. Some recipes in the recipe box also came from magazines and newspapers clipped close to fit neatly inside the recipe box. Read the rest of this entry »

A pair of old, comfortable shoes.
   A floppy garden hat that doesn’t spin around on your head. 
       A beloved sweater that keeps you warm despite the obvious weaknesses in the seams
       and buttonholes.
Or, perhaps a discreet purple wall inside the closet that cheers you every morning.

These are the things that fit you — that match your personality, tastes and dreams. You like them because they suit you, and because they suit you, you use them over and over again. They are much like a good cookbook — another accessory in your life that gives comfort, stability and a sense of place in the world every time you use it.

But what if you could create a cookbook that fits you? One that reflects your personal flair, your enjoyment of good food, your appreciation for family traditions, and your love of your own community? Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: You don’t have to be a great cook to make a great cookbook. That may sound a bit odd coming from me, the granny guru of home-based cookbook-making. But believe me, I created my cookbook software for non-cooks as well as experienced cooks, and for those whose computer savvy may range from basic to advanced.

For example, the three tabs/templates we use for guiding you through making your own cookbook at home are pretty simple: Read the rest of this entry »

Some of my favorite pages in my family cookbook are the ones showing family members either cooking together or just having fun together. These photos capture happy family memories that can stick with you for a lifetime. Hopefully your family cookbook will help other family members enjoy their heritage, too.

Whenever I grab the camera to take family cookbook photos, I try to remember some of the following ideas to help me shoot better pictures: Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, those clever marketers. They are such magicians with the smoke-and-mirrors technique of downsized packaging. Citing higher costs for ingredients, manufacturing processes and fuel (and a concern for the environment, of course), food manufacturers have gradually downsized our food by repackaging it.

Yep, those downsized packaging pioneers have surely made us prisoners of Madison Avenue. Why, their downsizing trick has also made it nearly impossible to follow an old genuine family recipe in our family cookbooks. The new downsized packaging throws off the proportions in any old family recipe that calls for a “can” of something instead of the number of ounces, teaspoons, etc. Read the rest of this entry »