I have a friend who invites all her neighbors and friends over the day after Christmas to have a “leftovers” party!  She provides the beverages and they provide the potluck. How’s that for being ingenious in having a no-fuss holiday party on the cheap with a chance to see friends during the holidays without any hassles whatsoever.

If you are contemplating a last-minute gathering, it is perfectly okay during these tough economic times days to involve your guests in the plan. Here are three ideas to make your holiday party on the cheap quick and easy for everyone: Read the rest of this entry »

During the summer, I simply cannot eat enough fresh home grown tomatoes. The flavor of a just-picked tender home grown tomato is unsurpassed, and conjures a fond memory of grandma’s table with loads of fresh vegetables from her bountiful garden.

Perhaps that is why I still have a tomato bush, year in, year out. There is something compelling about home grown tomatoes. In fact, I once heard someone say that if you don’t know what to talk about with a stranger, even a famous one, the subject of home grown tomatoes always breaks the ice. Read the rest of this entry »

How many times on a cold winter night has the urge to make something gooey, sweet and comforting drifted across your mind? Time to pull out your family recipe cookbook and find the perfect easy-to-make snack recipe.

But what if you don’t have exactly the right ingredients that Grandma used in her special chocolate ginger snap cupcakes?  Easy!  Just substitute a similar recipe ingredient, and chances are you won’t notice the difference enough to complain while satisfying your snack attack. Read the rest of this entry »

With budget cuts on everyone’s mind these days, it is logical to think of ways to use your creative talents (and Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software) to delight your favorite co-workers with a do-it-yourself cookbook gift made on your home computer. Read the rest of this entry »

When my sister lost her husband suddenly in early 2001, the prospect of celebrating the food-laden holidays were very sad. Thanksgiving seemed to be particularly hard due to her husband’s love of a good meal and sports on the telly. To help ease this family loss, we decided to modify our holiday food traditions and be a bit more exotic in our choices for Thanksgiving dinner.

Instead of traditional foods such as roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, green bean casserole, rolls and pumpkin pie, we chose international themes to brighten up our Thanksgiving table. The rule was to incorporate the same ingredients used in the traditional Thanksgiving meal in the menu for our exotic Thanksgiving feast, with variations as needed.

Here is how we converted traditional ingredients into wonderful Thanksgiving twists with an international flavor: Read the rest of this entry »

Back in July, I talked about creating a timeline for completing your family cookbook in time for Christmas giving. The suggestion for November included taking any missing photos at family gatherings to include in the family cookbook.

Now that Thanksgiving is just over the river and through the woods, so to speak, let’s review some useful tips for taking those missing family photos for your family cookbook: Read the rest of this entry »

“Our homemade family cookbook software is going to be very popular as families buckle down for a long, cold, hard winter of scrimping and saving instead of elaborate budget-busting gift giving,” I said to Ruth a few weeks ago as we sipped a cuppa and planned our Christmas gift shopping excursions.

Traditionally, we select the same day and time each week beginning November 1 until the week before December 25 as our “shopping” day.  We always try to visit a different store, mall, or shopping center for variety and to keep our gift spending under control. We like to see the holiday decorations, have lunch, and get in the holiday mood.

“Yes,” Ruth nodded. “I’m afraid it is all back to basics now with our economy what it is. Your cookbook software not only makes a great gift at a reasonable price, it also builds wonderful cookbook gifts for others, too. It’s a gift that can keep giving!” Read the rest of this entry »

When making your family recipe cookbook, it is always a challenge to make the family cookbook recipe titles a bit more fun and exciting. This is because we get so used to saying “Grandma’s popovers” for the family recipe instead of something more exotic, such as “Miss Lucy’s Genuine Buttery Popovers.”

Likewise, “Grandma Harriet’s Blazingly Bold Riblets” is much more intriguing to family members perusing the family recipe cookbook than plain old “Spicy Spareribs.”

Basically, the family cookbook recipe titles should have three things in common: Read the rest of this entry »

In my ever-present quest to clear out “stuff,” as the late George Carlin used to say, I found one of my old collective fundraiser cookbooks that had some serious baking tips and techniques nestled in the “Cake” section of the cookbook.

Although the collective cookbook was published a mere 31 years ago, some of the ideas must have come from still farther back in time. Yet, the basic helpful wisdom of the cookbook’s contributors, long gone by now, still reaches out across the decades to anyone who cares to be the best baker possible.

You might find these baking tips and techniques as fascinating and amusing as I did.

Baking Tips & Techniques

1. Creaming butter and sugar: A little hot milk added will aid in the creaming process.

2. After using the oven, leave the door open until the oven is cool so that moisture will not condense and rust the metal.

3. To decorate a cake without a decorator, cut an envelope from one of the top corners to the middle of the bottom of the envelope. Cut a little piece off the corner. Read the rest of this entry »

With the 2008 Presidential Election just around the corner, it seems appropriate to plan some Election Night grazing to enjoy while watching those many happy voting returns.

What a perfect time to work on your do-it-yourself family cookbook!  Nothing else of consequence will be on television, or on the internet, to distract you. Why not take this opportunity to devote time to your important cookbook-making project (especially if you plan to gift your cookbook to friends and family for the holidays).

To help you spend more time using our cookbook recipe software, here are some simple Election Night menu ideas:

Election Night Snacks
These crisp no brainers get on the table fast and fill hungry stomachs quickly, so don’t refill the bowls until after dinner.  Think about Chips & Salsa, Popcorn, Pretzels or crackers & hummus dip, or Vegetables & ranch dressing.

Election Night Entrées
You’ll want something hearty and flavorful, as well as easy so you don’t have to spend loads of devoted time preparing (thus freeing your time for cookbook-making). Consider Chicken and Noodles, Hamburgers/Hot Dogs, Lasagna, Macaroni and Cheese, or Vegetarian Pizza (all winners available in your local supermarket).

Election Night Desserts
A great standby dessert on Election Night is apple pie or ice cream, but how about something lighter on your stomach, such as the favored cookie recipes of our contending First Lady candidates. As published by separate websites, here are links to both Cindy McCain’s favorite Oatmeal Scotchies and Michelle Obama’s favorite shortbread cookie recipes, as well as a link to the favorite cookie recipes of several former U.S. Presidents. When made up ahead, any of the cookie recipes are easy and delicious, and time saving.

Happy voting, cookie and cookbook making!

Matilda

How do you make your own family recipe book without any family members knowing about it?  Here are a few ideas that can help you make your secret family cookbook a reality (and end up being much easier than you may think): Read the rest of this entry »

Halloween donut spiders

This time of year, thoughts are turning toward what amusing ghoulies, ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties will show up on our doorsteps on Halloween night.  Yes, it is almost time for trick-or-treaters to make their way to our front doors!

My favorite Halloween payout to these little extortionists is usually a non-frozen ice pop or two. I like ice pops because they are extremely inexpensive (a box of 100 for under $5); parents like ice pops because they are safe (if punctured by mean spirits, they leak); and the kids love ‘em because, well, they are kids and think I give them ice cream! Read the rest of this entry »

There are as many reasons to make a cookbook as there are people. The 10 reasons to make a cookbook listed below are some of the top ones our readers and cookbook software users have told us:

1. Everybody loves my food.
Friends tell me I’m a great cook and that they would like to have my recipes. If I type it up once, I can print it a hundred times!

2. I need to get organized.
I’m tired of looking through 10 cookbooks, 5 drawers, a recipe card box, and under the refrigerator for all my recipes. Read the rest of this entry »

Last February I got a nice handwritten letter from a friend’s grandson who was studying the history and geography of major cities in the United States. He asked most politely if I would send him a postcard from my town so he could pin it up on the classroom bulletin board with postcards other students were getting from around the country.

This was such a brilliant class project that I couldn’t help but admire the teacher for coaching the students so well, and also for providing a wonderful activity and lesson that will be remembered long after the school year ends. Read the rest of this entry »

The big question I always face when trying to decide which cooking oil to buy is “How does it taste?” I don’t know about you, but I hesitate to experiment with something that can be pretty pricey per ounce (especially if I end up not liking it and then am stuck with a bottle of unused cooking oil for years).

At the grocery store I will stare at dozens of cooking oils with fancy labels from a multitude of international countries (Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Spain), or from some domestic sources (California, Oregon, Texas, Arizona).  They all look good, but weeding them out is sometimes too challenging.  Which one to dip bread … which one to use for salad dressing … which one to smear on my cast iron skillet? Read the rest of this entry »

Many of my family recipes were tucked away in cardboard shoeboxes on well-worn recipe cards until I developed my cookbook software. The margins of the recipe cards were often decorated with cryptic comments and sage advice regarding the taste, texture, and preparation techniques that gave the recipe its unique place in the repertoire of our family’s cooks.

Such comments are wonderful insights from the past for anyone trying to recreate the family recipe, so make sure you include these observations and advice when creating your own cookbook. (In my Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, scanned recipe cards can be included as a photo within the recipe page, thus retaining the “flavor” of the original.) Read the rest of this entry »

Soon there will be traditional tailgating parties and potlucks to contend with as the crisp air of autumn beckons neighbors and strangers to gather for one common cause — football.

If you are lucky enough to volunteer to bring a dessert, you can’t go wrong with these delicious but easy mini-tarts that get their quickness from ready-made vanilla wafers. I don’t know where the recipe originated, but here are two slightly different versions that are sure to please hungry game-goers, game-watchers, or other gathering crowds. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember those first few days of the new school year when teachers would ask students to write an essay on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation?”

Although kids these days may not be interested in such an assignment (due to its lack of texting possibilities), they might enjoy helping create a family cookbook based on all the places they went and all the food they ate during their summer vacation break (done on the computer using cookbook software, of course). Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes I scare myself.
Does that ever happen to you?

Sometimes I will come up with an idea that I think is absolutely brilliant. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in the 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock had a famous dinner party for an intimate gathering of his Hollywood friends.  As an experiment (and most likely a joke), he asked his chef to prepare all blue foods: blue martinis, blue meat, blue mashed potatoes, and blue peas.

He was fascinated with human psychology, and the fact that blue is not a natural color for food. He wanted to see if blue food would turn people off.  It did. Many of his guests became a bit queasy and some couldn’t even eat, if I remember the story right. Read the rest of this entry »

My dear friend Ruth has a way of irritating me like no other person can. I’m always the uptight one, but in contrast she is so mellow that she doesn’t even mind if I talk about her to strangers on the Web. That’s probably why we get along; the yin and yang of our 50-year friendship.

But now I think Ruth has overstepped my limits. She has volunteered me to make a family cookbook using my cookbook software for someone she met while waiting for her Fluffy at the dog groomers.  Can you imagine that? Read the rest of this entry »