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→

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→

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→

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.

Class cookbook instead of a yearbook

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!

Organizing a class cookbook

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

A young friend recently sent me an email. She wanted to warn me about the dangers of not washing off the tops of cans before opening them.

After all, dirt can accumulate on the cans in the warehouse or on the grocery store shelf.

And then there are the diseases carried by critters of all kinds walking about on the cans. To say nothing of reports of bugs and small rodents found in bottles and cans – ugh! (We kids always laughed at my dear Mom, who would habitually check the glass Coke bottle after she took her first sip!)

Aside from the obvious good advice for removing any accumulated dust, I remembered an even greater bit of wisdom I once heard about the dirtiest inch in your kitchen.Continue reading→

More people seem to be thinking about trying a vegetarian meal plan with meatless dinners. That’s great news for all the critters in the world that get scooped up as dinner fare.  That’s also great news for the long-term health of our nation. May 13-19th happens to be national Vegetarian Week, so why not join in?

If you are trying to go vegetarian (even just a little bit) but don’t know how to start, consider experimenting with one week’s worth of meatless dinner meals to try veggie-tarian dinner cooking.  The following meatless dinners and meal plan ideas are not necessarily organic, vegan or gluten-free, but they are meatless dinner meals:

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 1
Fresh vegetable soup (any veggie combination)
Whole-grain bread slices, Spinach-stuffed mushrooms

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 2
Baked potatoes topped with cottage cheese and barbecue sauce
Steamed broccoli florets, Raw carrot sticks with dressing as a dip

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 3
Chili beans made with TVP (textured vegetable protein) over nutty brown rice
Spinach salad with choice of dressing, Homemade croutons

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 4
Roasted vegetable sandwich with chipotle mayonnaise on toasted rye bread
Homemade potato chips, Pickles

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 5
Saffron rice, Steamed Brussels sprouts
Cole slaw, Hummus with saltine crackers

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 6
Spaghetti topped with sliced Roma tomatoes, crushed garlic, chopped parsley and olive oil
Green salad with cucumbers, Breadsticks

Veggie-tarian Dinner Day 7
Black bean & avocado tacos (or burrito wraps)
Chips & salsa, Roasted corn on the cob

Preparing seven meatless meals in a row doesn’t seem that hard to do, given I put the above meatless meal menu plans together in just a few minutes. By the way, a vegetarian section is a wonderful resource in a family cookbook. Vegetarian eating can be very healthful and delicious!

Happy Cookbooking,

Erin

Why do we say? “An apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Because consuming natural nutrients in the form of whole foods, instead of supplements or packaged processed foods, is much better for your health.

According to experts, this is mainly because the body can absorb and utilize natural nutrients more easily than artificially-prepared tablets that might not be thoroughly digested in the system.

Continue reading→

Selecting wines to go with party menus can be a bit of a challenge. To make sure you don’t whine about wine, I’ve created a simple guide to which wine best accompanies what food.

Continue reading→