Bride being showered with petals + title: All Sorts of Gift Ideas!

Wedding Bells & the Recipe Box: All Sorts of Gift Ideas!

“Why don’t you tell people what nice gifts these recipe boxes would make for wedding showers?” Ruth asked.

“When my daughter got married, we struggled to find unique hostess gifts.  These recipe boxes would have been just perfect. You could choose each recipe box design thoughtfully for each person and then add the matching recipe cards. It would make an impressive, well-liked gift.”

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coffee cup sitting on top of closed book and laptop with title: 5 Ways to Tell When Your Family Cookbook is Done

5 Ways to Tell When Your Family Cookbook is Done

“You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” Kenny Rogers used to sing this line in a great song about playing cards. That’s also true about calling your family cookbook done. You have to recognize when it’s time to stop adding recipes and go ahead and print.

But how can be sure your family recipe book is complete?

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Recipe card with photo of happy family and title: 3 Reasons Collecting Family Recipes Really Matters

3 Reasons Collecting Family Recipes Really Matters

In the scheme of things, you might think collecting and saving family recipes doesn’t matter much. But collecting your family’s special dishes in a personalised cookbook connects different generations and lets you get to know members of your tribe you’ll never meet.Continue reading

computer showing dark tunnel with title: How to Choose Good Recipe Software & Avoid the Data-Entry Dungeon

How to Choose Good Recipe Software & Avoid the Data-Entry Dungeon

Once upon a time there was a good recipe software, and there was a bad recipe software.

The good recipe software was easy to use, had plenty of options, and left anyone entering data happy and fulfilled.

The good recipe software meant the users could quickly make a wonderful family cookbook filled with beloved recipes, family stories and photographs.

This recipe book became a family keepsake worthy of future generations.

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child laughing at party table with title: How to Please Everyone with a Family Cookbook at Your Reunion!

How to Please Everyone with a Family Cookbook at Your Reunion!

We got a lovely note from Colette Surovy of Canada. Colette made a family cookbook for her family reunion using Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software.

She collected recipes from family members approximately four months in advance of the reunion. The final product was a family cookbook containing more than 100 pages!

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office workers laughing with title: Gifts for Co-Workers - Why Not Make a DIY Cookbook?

Gifts for Co-Workers – Why Not Make a DIY Cookbook?

Gifts for co-workers – whether they’re leaving or celebrating something important – can often be a challenge. So why not delight your favorite co-workers with a do-it-yourself cookbook made on your home computer?

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wooden bowl of salad on white background with cherry tomatoes and rosemary: Cool Summer Salads Take the Heat Off in the Kitchen

Cool Summer Salads Take the Heat Off in the Kitchen

No matter where you are in the Northern Hemisphere during the summer months, the hottest days can make you wish for a cold winter day again.  Iced beverages and lighter meals are the order of the day, and cool summer salads that take the heat off in the kitchen fit the bill perfectly.Continue reading

pieces of different cakes in a circle with big wooden spoon of sweetener overlaid with title: Sweet Success: Using Sugar Substitutes in Family Cookbook Recipes

Sweet Success: Using Sugar Substitutes in Family Cookbook Recipes

Do you have a low calorie food section in your family cookbook? With so many choices in sugar substitutes available now, making baked goods with fewer calories, and many other low-sugar desserts, is so much easier.

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Cookbook people 4x6 tabbed recipe box card dividers with title: How to Get Your Recipes Super-Organized with this simple 5 step workflow

How to Get Your Recipes Super-Organized

Are your kitchen drawers and cupboards overflowing with ‘potentially useful’ recipes? Get your recipes super-organized with my simple workflow!

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pecan pie on white plate with cutlery and cinnamon sticks on red check tablecloth, overlaid with text: Easy Apple Pecan Cream Pie Recipe, Reinvent Grandma's Old Standby

Easy Apple Pecan Cream Pie Recipe – Reinvent Grandma’s Old Standby

Amongst my grandmother’s recipes that I copied into my family cookbook, I found a wonderful old family recipe for pie using apples, pecans and a meringue topping.

Below is a re-interpretation of my grandmother’s apple pecan pie recipe that includes cheesecake filling instead of meringue. This no-cook recipe, now called Easy Apple Pecan Cream Pie, also includes many convenience food shortcuts so you can create a delicious dessert in half the time my grandmother needed.Continue reading

bowl of green leaves and cilantro on wooden table overlaid with text: "Light & Simple Cilantro Dressing + Tips on Keeping Your Coriander Fresh"

Light & Simple Cilantro Dressing (+ Tips on Keeping Your Coriander Fresh)

My favorite indulgence when watching calories is to make this light, simple cilantro dressing. It’s brilliant on all types of salad greens but you can also spoon this dressing on boiled potatoes or other cooked vegetables, and pastas for a delicious, light and fresh coriander flavour.

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Spanakopita greek spinach filo parcel with title: Spinakopita (Greek Spinach Pie) from Our Family Cookbook

Tales of Spinach, Recipes & The Family Cookbook

I use spinach in recipes all the time. I have it raw in salads, stir-steam it with garlic and olive oil in the Italian tradition, mix it up in ratatouille, add it to soups, even use it instead of lettuce in sandwiches. But my all time favorite spinach recipe (which, of course, I added to my own family recipe cookbook) is for Spanakopita or Greek Spinach Pie.Continue reading

chicken lunch in squashed brown bag

Brown Bag Lunch is a Picnic with Your Family Cookbook!

Why not use the picnic ideas in your family cookbook to inspire your brown bag lunches? When you think about it, you can enjoy the same kinds of food that make for a great picnic, in your workplace dining.

Taking a brown bag lunch to work can save you a bundle every week as well as making it easier to commune with your co-workers. Continue reading

jars of spices and sprinkled spices on grey surface with title: 15 Spice Combos to Surprise Your Tastebuds

15 Spice Combos to Surprise Your Tastebuds

I remember how odd I felt the first time I made Moroccan Chicken with cinnamon in it. My taste buds almost refused to allow me to include cinnamon in the dish, but I went with it. I was so amazed at how good it tasted! Since then, I like to surprise my family’s tastebuds by adding interesting spice combinations to almost every dish.

Over time I’ve developed a list of spice mixes that I keep inside my spice cupboard. (Based on recommendations from the American Spice Trade Association and other places, including my own observations).

Today I’m sharing my list of 15 condiment combinations so you too can bring new life to every recipe in your family cookbook!

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Wooden cookbook holder stand with text: You need a stand up cookbook stand

No More Messy Recipe Pages: Why You Need a Cookbook Stand

A cookbook stand. You probably wouldn’t think of a holder for your recipe book as a priority in your kitchen, right?

Yet working with your cookbook on the counter means it gets messy food stains all over it. And, especially if you’re using a larger recipe binder or cookbook, it takes up precious space needed for the many dishes you’re preparing.

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Jug of iced tea and glasses on summer table with title: Sweet Iced Tea Recipe for Summer: That's Hot!

Sweet Iced Tea Recipe for Summer – That’s Hot!

Summer has arrived and with it my annual dilemma. Do indulge myself with sweet iced tea? Or stick to standard, unsweetened iced tea? I find both delightfully cooling on hot summer days and warm evenings.Continue reading

Hand round blue plate with egg eye and chilli smile + title: Treasured Memories in our Family Cookbook: Father's Day Burgers & Sunny Side Up Cake (and the day we fried an egg on the sidewalk!)

Treasured Memories in our Family Cookbook: Father’s Day Burgers & Sunny Side Up Cake

Some of my most treasured memories are of the times I spent with my grandfather. Especially the year when my Mom and I made him burgers and ‘Sunny Side Up’ cake on Father’s Day. These kind of memories really should have a place in our family cookbook. I want to record those smells or flavours that so strongly bring back my childhood.Continue reading

little girl with long ginger hair and stripy clothes feeding a treat to a jack russell with bone shape overlay containing text: Easy Dog Biscuit Recipe for Your Family Cookbook

Easy Dog Biscuit Recipe for Your Family Cookbook

Do you have a dog biscuit recipe in your family cookbook? After the last dog food scare, I started making homemade dog treats for my dog. Not only are they easy to make once a week, they are very economical, and I know what my dog is eating!

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Guy grilling on BBQ with text: "Father’s Day Grillin’ & Chillin’ Menu Favorites + Muhammarah Recipe"

Father’s Day Grillin’ & Chillin’ Menu Favorites + Muhammarah Recipe

Time to dust off the grill and pull the patio cushions from storage so that Dad can have his special moments enjoying some Father’s Day grillin’ & chillin’ favorites.

I thumbed through my family cookbook to devise the menu below. Most of the tastes are strong and guy-oriented, so they are sure to please most anyone who likes bold flavors.

As a special bonus, I’ve included our particular family favorite: a recipe from a Lebanese friend for a delicious, tangy walnut & red pepper spread called Muhammarah.Continue reading

Gift your grad a family recipe binder

Help Your Grad Get Started with a Family Recipe Binder!

A recipe binder will be an invaluable aid to your grad as he or she heads out into the world!

After all the anxiety over your child’s education – worrying about whether they were getting enough to eat, enough sleep and how well they would do in their finals, you daughter or son has graduated and is heading off into the big wide world.

But there you are, back home, still worrying,

“Are they getting enough to eat?”

In the past mothers’ might have carefully hand-written the cherished family recipes onto elegant cards in a recipe box as an heirloom gift for their departing daughters, but times have changed. Today a family recipe binder is a highly appropriate gift for any graduate. Here’s why:

A family recipe binder – home away from home. 

Your kids may have to move far away from you to college, or to where the work is, but family recipes will remind them that they’ll always have the strong family support they need to move forward in life. Cooking up a favourite dish is a way of connecting back to their roots and feeling the comfort of home away from home.

Everyone needs to cook for themselves.

Dining out is going to be beyond many a graduate’s budget and this maybe the first time they need to know how to prepare a nutritious meal for themselves. With the onset of popular TV shows, guys are just as likely to be in the kitchen showing off their culinary skills as girls. Whether they’re eating alone or making a meal for friends, those family recipes will come in really handy!

Easily add new printed recipes to the recipe binder. 

Even when you’ve given your kid all their favourite recipes, they’re going to develop a taste for some new ones. With so many great online recipe sites, they can easily find new recipes to try, print them out and add them to their recipe binder, or quickly pop it into that recipe accordion file!

So why not go ahead and choose the perfect gift for your departing graduate from our wide range of recipe binders and recipe organizers!