We often get questions from our lovely Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software users about printing family cookbooks at the neighborhood quick print shop, or one of the national chains, instead of printing it at home.
We’ve gathered a few tips to make the process easier for you.Continue reading
Once I had a potluck dinner party and no one brought anything! I was mortified when there wasn’t enough food to go round and, as a result, I developed a reliable system to make sure I always have enough food to feed a crowd.
With ripe tomatoes and cucumbers hitting supermarkets just about now, the fresh taste of my easy Greek Salad recipe is a great choice for a crowd.
Known in Greece mainly as country salad, or horiatiki, the Greek Salad we know here is a combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, feta cheese, and Kalamata olives, all dressed up with an olive oil and vinegar blend.
Last time I visited a Bed and 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 guesthouse stationery.
But wouldn’t it have been nice if I could have bought a copy of the Bed & Breakfast’s recipe cookbook?Continue reading
When we started designing Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, I began to understand why easy-to-use recipe templates are the key to creating great family cookbooks.
We borrowed the idea of using a template from the crafting world. Sewing hobbyists use patterns. Interior decorators use stencils. Painters and muralists use outlines. So, using a recipe template to automatically produce a professional-looking family recipe cookbook makes total sense. Continue reading
Before there was Caesar, before there was Ranch, before there was Balsamic Vinaigrette, there was Green Goddess salad dressing.
Green Goddess salad dressing was one of the most popular salad dressings in the United States at one time. The story goes that Green Goddess salad dressing originated at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1923.Continue reading
Have you noticed that some of the most delightfully unusual foods nowadays have slight flower flavors? You can find these flower flavored foods in everything from entrees to desserts.
And there’s such a wide range of choices that even the picky American palate will find something to love.
Here are some of my favourite flower flavored foods:Continue reading
How can you capture the essence of someone’s story when you’re writing biographies for your family cookbook? This can be really hard to do, especially when your subject rambles or hopscotches through years of a life well-lived!
Through my experience of interviewing members of our clan for our family cookbook, I’ve developed some simple strategies to keep my interviewee on topic.Continue reading
On one of my internet surfing expeditions to spy on my competition (yes, I do that regularly), I was happy to see that Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software still leads the pack in helping you create a custom cookbook at home.Continue reading
You wouldn’t think a medium-sized Tupperware container of pickles made in the freezer could cause a stir. But it did.
The Tupperware in question was the one that my friend Kim brought a to a social potluck at the local church many years ago.
Garlic toast – twice broiled? It might sound complicated, but this simple, standby recipe is sure to tickle the tastebuds!
Just about everyone interested in cookbook making at home wants to achieve a professional quality recipe book.
But how do you know you’ve achieved professional quality cookbook? Continue reading
When I think of traditional tea parties, I think of a somewhat formal, yet comfortingly familiar routine that brings sanity to the crazy world.
But, oh my, tea parties have a whole new meaning these days, don’t they?
Recipe software, recipe book software, cookbook software, whatever you want to call it to make your own cookbook, the key to your success is how easy it is to use.
Nothing is more frustrating that knowing you need to accomplish something with your recipe software but don’t understand how to do it. Add a deadline, and waah! You can be in tears in no time. Continue reading
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 you’re going to be late and quickly make a gift cookbook!Continue reading
Where would we be without onions? For that matter, where would our family cookbooks be without onions as a key ingredient for homemade appetizers, entrees and side dishes?
Stuffed onions, creamed onions, onion soup, onion rings. About the only recipes I can think of without onions are dessert recipes – and I’m sure there probably are sweet onion desserts out there somewhere.
Historians say onions were first used in China, India and Egypt, and many of these cultures used onions as medicinal ingredients. Continue reading
You might not think it. But making a recipe book can have as many therapeutic benefits as cooking!
We’re all familiar with the therapeutic effects of cooking: We methodically measure out ingredients for the recipe. We follow a proven recipe plan, successfully combining different components and techniques. And then we enjoy the delicious outcome of our efforts.
The stages of making a recipe book can be therapeutic, too:Continue reading
Last year about this time, my young neighbor Jessica came to my door. She asked if she could have one of my potluck recipes for a cookbook she was making for her classmates. She was a senior, and thought it would be fun to create a class cookbook for her classmates to use in the future.
Jess thought a class cookbook would be a fabulous memento of her last days in high school. Plus all her high school friends could write their fond farewells in the cookbook.
In my day, your friends wrote on the pages of your high school yearbook. I don’t know what kids do now, but back then your “status” was made by how many people signed your yearbook. You would “save” whole pages for your most special friends to write a poignant dedication you could look over throughout your lifetime.
Jess planned to get recipes from each of her friends to include in her class cookbook. But she needed a few other good, sensible recipes to round out the selections and categories. To fill out the gaps she was asking for recipes from people she felt had good taste. (Flattering to be included in that category.)
Most of the recipes Jess had for her class cookbook were not fancy or expensive. There was lots of really good, quick college dorm fare. A fabulous memento indeed!
I gave Jess a few of my favorite, easy recipes to add to the ones she had already collected for her cookbook.
I also made a few suggestions on how to organize her class cookbook. I suggested she added some photos and also some information about her friends.
Jess told me she was entering all the information in Word, and she planned to make copies of the class cookbook for every friend who wanted one.
Oh my.
I just couldn’t help myself! I gave her a copy of Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software as an early graduation present. And off she went to finish this fabulous memento of her last days in high school!
Happy Cookbooking,
Erin
Preserving family treasures, including the keepsakes in your family recipe cookbook or recipe scrapbook, can be a simple matter if you know what you’re doing.
Ever since the Library of Congress lamented the loss of deteriorating books during the late 1980s, we’ve been hearing more and more about conservation techniques to save family heirlooms and museum displays.
You’ve decided! You’re going to make a family cookbook. But what size should you choose? A half page or a full page family cookbook?Continue reading