“I have two recipe boxes, actually,” she said “Both contain recipes I never touch, but I know where they are when I want them.”

I asked if she would consider converting the contents of her recipe box into a cookbook containing the same recipes and that she could keep handy on the kitchen counter.

“No, my recipe box has recipes that I’ve gotten from friends and acquaintances over the years. We used to have potlucks, and everyone would bring the recipe for the dish they brought.”

But wouldn’t it be easier to find the recipes you like if they were neatly categorized in a tabletop cookbook instead of in a recipe box?

“I already have everything in my recipe box set up by category….beef, chicken, Mexican, breakfast, salads, vegetables, that sort of thing.”

What about culling recipes out of the recipe box?

“Oh, I go through my recipe box occasionally for ideas, maybe looking for recipe, but never to clear it out. I found some Weight Watchers recipes from 1974, 1982, 1984 in there that I’ve never really looked at. I don’t know where they came from, but if I need something like that, I know where to find it.”

Do you keep the phone number and address of the person on the recipe card in your recipe box so you can keep in touch?

“Not really, although that is a good idea. I have kept in touch with people I really liked and kept our friendship going by writing them and making telephone calls, depending on where in the world they are.”

So you keep recipes in your recipe box that you’ve never tried or even intend to try?

“Well, yes. I did throw away a recipe for aspic that I would never use. I keep my Spaghetti Surprise recipe, even though everyone in the family hates it. That would be an interesting cookbook idea, a cookbook of a family’s most hated recipes…giggle.”

But haven’t your tastes changed over time since you first started keeping recipes in a recipe box?

“Probably, but I also have two gallon-sized Ziploc bags full of recipe clippings I want to try someday. And, another big cardboard box full of those soft cover cookbooks you can get free by sending postage.  These are always fun to look at, although I’ve never made any of the recipes.”

So is there any way I can convince you that a cookbook created from recipes in your recipe box would be useful?

“I really don’t like the computer well enough to put recipes from my recipe box on it. Anyway, if the recipes from my recipe box were converted, I would still keep the originals. They are more personal. The person’s handwriting makes her face and the event pop into my memory. Basically, I don’t know how I would find my favorite spinach salad recipe if I couldn’t find the hole in the paper first.”

So, I gave up trying to convince this lady and turn her into a Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software user. Luckily, we just happen to have quite a lovely collection of recipe boxes.

Happy cookbooking,

Matilda

Grandma’s Recipe Box
This prized possession contained the essence of favorite family meals. Grandma’s recipe box with its wooden, metal, fabric or plastic construction made it sturdy, even if dropped from a kitchen counter while madly dodging spilt milk. The dents and scratches on Grandma’s recipe box prove its worth as a fixture in Grandma’s magic kitchen.  Grandma’s recipe box is empty now, waiting for new recipes to protect. Is Grandma’s recipe box destined to reside in your own kitchen, where you can create magical kitchen memories for your own grandchildren? Yes or No?

Grandma’s Recipe Book
A treasure trove of tried-and-true (and still untried) recipes resides within the yellowing pages of Grandma’s recipe book. She carefully wrote down the formulas for favorite family meals on notebook paper in her own handwriting and made what came to be known as Grandma’s recipe book. Somewhere in the back of Grandma’s recipe book are scraps of paper with more recipes she meant to neatly copy onto the notebook paper and get organized.  Is Grandma’s recipe book one of the cherished keepsakes you would choose from her magic kitchen?  Yes or No?

Grandma’s Recipe Cards
Perhaps the most intimate of all Grandma’s tools in the kitchen, Grandma’s recipe cards conjure up scenes of countertops sprinkled with flour and rolling pins; of baked cinnamon smells wafting into the sitting room; of pot roast simmering for the Sunday meal.  Grandma’s recipe cards are most likely spotted, splotched and grease-stained, and sport her unmistakable handwriting now fading with age. Grandma’s recipe cards represent the labor of love in preparing food for the family. Are Grandma’s recipe cards the keepsake you would choose, if you had the choice to choose a keepsake from Grandma’s magical kitchen. Yes or No? 

So, which of three possible keepsakes from your Grandma’s kitchen would you choose to enjoy for now and pass down to your kids, and why?  Grandma’s Recipe Box, Grandma’s Recipe Book, or Grandma’s Recipe Cards? There is no right answer. Just the enduring memory of a magical kitchen that satisfied our tummies and filled our heads with thoughts of greater things.

Which one would you choose?

Matilda

You might think it odd, but my little recipe box has had a whole other life besides its original use. Here are some of the items that have found their way into my little recipe box over time:

1. Car keys and house keys (you’ll always know where they are)
2. 4 x 6 envelopes and notecards (I use the bigger 4 x 6 recipe box)
3. Index cards for listmaking
4. Postcards from past vacations
5. Photographs
6. Post-it® Note pads
7. Scrapbooking paper
8. Discount food coupons
9. Business cards
10. Cut up unsolicited credit cards to shred
11. Golf balls & tees
12. Highlighter markers
13. Teabags (in 2 rows)
14. Language flash cards
15. PEZ candy refill packs, or chewing gum packs
16. Rubber bands
17. Old tangled necklaces
18. Clippings about websites to explore
19. Make-up
20. Oh, yes. Recipes are nice, too.

My little recipe life sure has a life of its own. What do you keep in your little recipe box?

Matilda

Ruth came over the other day to see our lovely recipe box assortment that I was bragging about. “Crowing was more like it,” Ruth wisecracked as she turned over the recipe box we aptly named Chicken with Checkers to inspect its interior and exterior.

After her examination and seal of approval, Ruth said she really liked all the pretty recipe box designs, and as usual, came up with a wonderful suggestion.

“Why don’t you tell people what nice gifts these recipe boxes would make for wedding showers,” she said. “When my daughter got married, we struggled to find unique hostess gifts, and these recipe boxes would have been just perfect. With those matching recipe cards, and the recipe box design chosen thoughtfully for each person, well, it would make an impressive, well-liked gift.”

That Ruth! She sometimes can be brilliant. The idea of giving away a recipe box as a wedding shower gift can spark a whole bunch of other recipe and recipe box-related ideas:

- Exchanging recipes
- Giving packets of recipe cards as favors
- Playing “complete the recipe games”
- Making a mini-cookbook
- Hiding additional small gifts inside the unwrapped recipe box

I’m sure all the clever brides-to-be out there have even more creative ideas for incorporating a recipe box in their upcoming wedding festivities.  Let’s just hope they don’t get too distracted by all our pretty recipe box designs and forget to get dressed for the big day.

Happy Cookbooking,

Matilda

I was so elated the other day when our new shipment of recipe card boxes came into the office. Even though we all have specific jobs around here at the Cookbook People, I just had to tear into the shipping boxes to see the 15 pretty new recipe card storage boxes we have added to our beautiful original collection.

Since I was involved in the selection of these recipe card boxes, I hope you can appreciate my excitement and glee when I unpacked one after another and found them to be exactly as ordered, so I know you will be delighted, too.

In case you haven’t ordered one already, all of our large recipe card storage boxes include 40-50 full color 4” x 6” recipe cards that match the recipe card box design, as well as eight tab dividers to keep your recipes separated by category. (We are finding that most people prefer the 4” x 6” format because it can store smaller size recipe cards, too.)

Here’s a list of the new recipe card boxes we now offer. Click on the name to see more information about each of them:

Four Blue Vases

Be Strong

Blue Bicycle

Butterflies & Tulips

Chicken with Checkers

Five Farm Pots on Blue

Lord is Good

Pink with Chicken French Style

Red Flowers with Watering Can

Sheep Farm

Asian Red Poppies and Bamboo

Tan with Painting of Trees

Painting of Yellow House

Yellow Tulips

Blue Vase with Flowers

We are looking to add a few more selections into our wonderful line of family cookbook- and cooking-related decorative and practical products as time allows. I’ll be sure to alert you when that happens so you can take full advantage of our special pricing.

Meanwhile, happy cookbooking with Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software.

Matilda

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.

Some recipe softwares pack so many “value-added” features to their product bundle that you forget what you’re buying. In reality, most people want just a few simple functions upfront in a recipe software:

- Recipe templates that accept typed or cut-and-paste recipe entries
- Automatic formatting
- Ability to customize pages
- Results to be proud of
- Ability to get help quickly, if needed

Then, after making your family cookbook and including your favorite family recipes, it should also be easy to:

- Edit the family cookbook
- Easily print the family cookbook
- Create custom recipe cards
- Add photos and bios
- Add more recipes, if desired
- Search recipes
- Email recipes to others

We are the first to admit that other cookbook software does exist. However, WE strive to help you write a family cookbook in a friendly, less tech way that still enables you to obtain great professional-quality results.

Happy cookbooking,

Matilda

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:

SOFTWARE 
Discusses the features of our Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, including how to use our cookbook software to create a front cover, table of contents, recipes, biographies, address book, birthday calendar, and back cover.  We also show you how it works in three simple steps: type in recipes; type in people; choose a design and print. Also on this page are template designs, a demonstration video, and how to buy the cookbook software.

BINDERS
Here we show our most popular recipe binders, our half-page recipe binders, and our full-page recipe binders for you to keep your cherished family recipes. These high-quality binders are designed to be versatile and very customizable so your personality can shine through.

BOXES
This tab features our most popular recipe boxes, including our beautiful wood and designer styles with either modern or nostalgic looks that will fit most any kitchen décor. We also have recipes cards that fit into our recipe boxes. Choose from three blank styles (available in pink, yellow, or blue, plain white, or blue-lined), or seven cute designer styles.

COMMUNITY
Here is where you can join the Forum for tech support, gossip, hints about cookbook organizing and printing, share recipes, read our blog, get free stuff and get help and support for your cookbook projects.

Oh, I almost forgot. While visiting our “Binders” and “Boxes” tabs you also have access to our other products: cookbook stand, kitchen conversion chart, grocery shopping list, menu fridge pad, menu planner pad, and coupon purse.  We even have a beautiful cookbook for sale, Grandmother’s Cookbook written by Elizabeth Rose von Hohen. Although it was not produced using our cookbook-making software, we think it is a wonderful inspiration for anyone putting together a family cookbook.

So, that’s it. Whew! There are so many things to see, so I won’t take more of your time since you’ve got a lot to look at. Please let us know what you think, as we are always open to suggestions about our cookbook software and other offerings. We are a small family business that truly cares about helping you preserve your family traditions.

Happy cookbooking,

Matilda

The Collector Mom
She loves to keep stuff. Lots of stuff. Sometimes any old stuff. Hates to throw anything away, especially old recipe cards she keeps together with a stretched rubber band that could break at any moment. She’s the ideal gift Mom candidate for one of our great recipe boxes. Yeah, it would be new but we’ve got some great designs she will love.

The Tech Mom
From Star Trek movies to tweeting on Twitter, this Mom is connected to her friends and family through her cell, her email, her wi-fi, her website and MySpace and Facebook pages. She is a gift Mom candidate who could appreciate the streamlined beauty of our well organized cookbook software as a place to easily store and manage recipes.

The Scrapbooker Mom
Snipping away happily for new recipe ideas in magazines and newspapers is this gift Mom candidate’s favorite pastime. How about giving her a cool recipe binder to keep her old scrap recipe clippings from magazines and newspapers in one place?

The Social Mom
If everyone drifts to the kitchen and kitchen table in a house of many larger rooms, this “giving” gift Mom candidate would be a great (and grateful) recipient of a surprise family gathering to help her put together a family cookbook (using Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software). Everyone rotates sitting down at the computer to enter their own favorite recipes, leaving Mom to chat and bake the chocolate chip mint cookies.

The Messy Mom
She’s the Mom with the eternal stain on her clothes, even though she uses gallons of stain remover but, sure enough, plops another stain in its place immediately upon wearing any garment. She really isn’t a slob; just a bit messy in her approach. Our suggestion for this gift Mom candidate would be a cookbook stand to help neaten the kitchen counters.

With all these gift Mom candidates out there, think of the possibilities our products present for helping them enjoy their special day.

Happy Mother’s Day,

Matilda

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.

To me, Grandma’s recipe box looked a lot like a treasure chest. How insightful it was for a four year old to wonder about the magic within that wooden recipe box. Little did I know that almost 70 years in the future I would be remembering those days in my Grandma’s kitchen where the magic wooden recipe card box lived.

Today, we of The Cookbook People are pleased to offer several types of recipe card boxes that hearken to the days when keeping recipe cards in a special recipe card box was the only way to manage recipes (way before we invented Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software).

Check out these cool pages in The Cookbook People Store to see some wonderful options for your recipe cards and your recipe card box.

Learn more about our Recipe Cards

20 great Recipe Card designs (NEW!)

Recipe Card Boxes (NEW!)

Blank Recipe Cards

Whenever I see a wooden recipe card box that looks like a treasure chest, I get a little misty eyed. It was warm and safe in my Grandma’s kitchen, where the magic recipe card box lived. Wouldn’t it be nice to go there again, even if just for the memory?

Happy Cookbooking!

Matilda

For those of you who prefer this method of preserving family recipes, we have several templates in our cookbook software that allows you to create old fashioned recipe cards in two different sizes (3 x 5 and 4 x 6).

The recipe card design choices below are found in the “Printing” tab by clicking “Recipes.” (Previews are available by clicking the magnifying glass to see your design before you print.) We are considering adding other design choices when we update our software next time, so your suggestions are welcome. For now, here are the choices:

- Cards modern — A clean-lined way to print recipe cards 4-up on regular paper or on special perforated recipe card paper.

- Custom banner — Create your own recipe card design by loading your own photo or artwork, including a personalized “From the Kitchen of …” heading.

- Heritage — A standard recipe card design featuring lacy design in two corners.

- Chopsticks — A standard recipe card design featuring a simple theme.

- Celtic – A standard recipe card design with an old country feel.

The advantage to using old fashioned recipe cards is that they fit into the old recipe card boxes (that we enjoyed thumbing through as children), and they are very easy to use while cooking.

The recipe cards you can make with our cookbook software are more legible than handwritten ones, plus they are more interesting and personalized than plain white or colored index cards.

Also, if you want to eventually create a family cookbook instead of printing old fashioned recipe cards, you can easily convert to a cookbook format by selecting a different design template (again in the “Recipe” dropdown in the “Printing” tab).

We encourage you to keep family food traditions and memories alive by making and using old fashioned recipe cards with our cookbook software. It’s a great option for preserving your family recipes.

(Incidentally, if you are interested in having a place to store your recipe cards, check out our new recipe box selection.)

Happy recipe card making!

Matilda