What’s Matilda’s Family Cookbook Kitchen?
Matilda’s Family Cookbook Kitchen is where I write about cookbooks, cooking, owning my own cookbook software business (The Cookbook People) and my favorite recipes.
Also known as “The Granny Guru,” I am a senior who loves good food and good family cookbook software.
I also run a business called The Cookbook People, where I sell Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software. The software really is quite delightful. You ought to buy it if you haven’t already.
For more information about my family cookbook software, please visit CookbookPeople.com. Remember to wipe your feet first.
PS: As a thank you for visiting, why not grab a few free recipe card printables? No signup forms, no obligation.
I bought the software, but a few essentiols are omitted from the functionality. First of all, there are no page numbers associated with the contents list of recipes. Therefore, you don’t know what page to turn to for your recipe that you would like to make. Also, an index would be EXTREMELY helpful if you are searching for a particularly named recipe. There should be a fromatting option to have one recipe print per page if you so desire. I also am not able to print out anything but a full page (8 1/2 x 11 inch) layout. This makes for an extremely large cookbook. A landscape, half page option would be nice. Just some suggestions.
Colleen
Thanks for the feedback, Colleen. We’re working right now on making a half page version available for our software. That’s been a big priority for us.
The “Contents” section does sort the recipes by type and then by recipe alphabetically, so you can use it to quickly find recipes. It is organized in the same way a phone book or a dictionary is organized.
I do like your idea of an index linked to page numbers, though. It’s something I’ll talk to our programmers about. I can’t begin to imagine how we’d program that to work, but perhaps it’s possible down the road.
Please keep in mind that although it has its limitations (all software does) it still is the most advanced piece of cookbook printing software out there. We’re the only ones offering an address book, birthday calendar, biography, and 27 different templates.
Just because it’s the best software currently available, though, doesn’t mean it’s the best software possible. With helpful suggestions like yours, I think it will be.
Matilda – is it possible on your next version to design a template that is blank (no predesigned artwork) I would like to do a totally custom cover (like text over a photo), my own custom dividers as well as the recipe pages having a small design of my own choice.
thank you
connie
Is there anyway I can copy this onto a portable USB and take to a printshop? I am unable to get it to do this PDF creator. Also I JUST noticed from Colleen’s comment that this will print in a 8 1/2 x 11 size page. So would like to take into Word and format into small(landscape)size. Any suggestions? I am ready to print. Thank you. I love the format and how it catagorizes it all for me!
Please tell me how I can purchase this w/o Credit card?
I would need an address to send my Money Order or check. Also the amount including the S&H.
Thank you.
Do you have to purchase new software at the same price to get the updates or do you have a reduced fee if you already purchased an older copy?
These are wonderful people who work very hard with much energy to make this work. Since I am one of the family, as most of the family we work on this project. Please remember my son and his wife have a young family so ask your friends to buy a copy of this software and keep yours for your very own. My loan is depending on it. Grandma
Goodness! I should check in here more often. Sorry I haven’t replied sooner.
Connie- What an excellent idea! We’re always looking for ways to improve. I’ll be sure to add it to the list.
Sherri-
I’m glad you like our software!
Sorry you are having problems with the PDF creator. You may also want to try this one:
http://www.download.com/PDF-ReDirect/3000-6675_4-10721006.html?tag=lst-4-2
You may be able to bring the PDF’s into Word–I just don’t know. I haven’t tried it. The problem is that you’ll shrink the type size so much that it may not be readable anymore.
We just added 5 half page formats to the software, but that doesn’t help you.
We will be selling a $10 upgrade in the spring. In that upgrade there will definitely be the 5 half page templates.
Matilda
Sherri-
I’d also like to add that we now have a service where we can print the cookbook for you if you’d like. Please contact projects@cookbookpeople.com. Here’s a page describing the service:
http://www.cookbookpeople.com/we_print_cook_book_for_you.html
Leona-
You can mail a check to us payable to The Cookbook People at:
3607 W Yates
Boise, ID 83703
Total is $29.90, including shipping/handling.
Donna-
We’ll be offering a software upgrade in the spring for around $10 (download) or $15 (another disk). I’ll post more information as it gets closer.
Matilda
Sharon-
Thanks for your kind (and highly biased!) words.
I am so glad I downloaded your CD as soon as I got it this afternoon. I’m not impressed, I’m BLOWN AWAY! It’s like you’ve read my thoughts for what I’ve been needing to get my heir loom recipes and stories in print.
Excellent, Bravo, Well done!
I was reading Coleen’s post about index pages and see from your response that it’s something you’re working on. I think having the ability to do more than one index would be helpful. For instance, you have one index by recipe name and the page numbers.
You could have another index by cook. That way if you know you want Aunt Sally’s amazing deep fried thingies, but can’t remember the recipe’s name or even if they were made of cake or some kind of meat, you can go to the cook index to see all of Aunt Sally’s recipes listed together with page numbers.
Anyway, that’s what I want. Can you deliver?
Hi, Auds-
I love that idea! What a handy way to see who made which recipe.
I wish I could say, “Yes! We’ll deliver that tomorrow!” Unfortunately, like any software company, we have to make revisions on a schedule or else the product suffers.
I’ll be sure to put that on our list of potential upgrades for our next version. When that upgrade comes out, existing buyers will have access to it for a pretty small fee ($10 for a download is what we project right now).
We feel we have the best cookbook printing software available, but there will always be room for improvement. Thanks for the great idea, Auds!
Matilda
Is there a blank template to add poems, short stories, jokes etc.?
First of all, please bear in mind that I am still exploring the software and still haven’t found everything, so some of my ideas may already be there, but I haven’t discovered them yet. These are all minor revisions I would like to see in the future, but please know that I do understand that no software can do all everyone wants or needs it to do. As you can tell, none of these ideas are earth shattering, but since you are thinking working on an upgrade, you may want to consider them.
In future versions would it be possible to?
Go to a specific recipe instead of scrolling through all of the existing recipes until you find the one you are searching for? It would be nice if there were a bookmark that would stay and open up where you left off for the next session of work, instead of always having to start at the beginning of the list of recipes.
Whenever a mistake is corrected, the program reverts back to the first recipe, and the only way to get back to where you have been is to go through all of the recipes. This is fine when you only have a few recipes entered, but once you have several hundred, it is tedious to locate the previous recipe. I have tried the search button, but it is not working on my system. Also, on the two buttons on the left side of the recipes, it would be nice if they can go backwards from the last entered recipe to the first, instead of just going forward.
It would be wonderful to be able to hit a category and have all of the recipes in that category show up on a list. This way you can tell if you have entered a recipe or not already. Or have some kind of a method to sort and automatically go to a recipe that may be already entered. The “you have already entered a recipe by that name†is helpful, but some of my recipes have different names from changing and working with them over the years. The only way I can figure out around this is to go to the printing part and open up the contents, and look through all of the recipe categories.
Sometimes for boredom’s sake, it would be nice to be able to have one or two books opened at once. For instance, the current book I am working on now is on the menus and recipes I have used for entertaining over the years, but because of the holiday season, my grand daughter has asked me to make her up a cookbook just on cookies and candies. I don’t know how to do that unless I enter the recipes she wants into a separate cookbook. My decision is to just export the recipes she wants from my recipe software into a plain text version, and give her an extra file with the photos, and promise her another cookbook with the recipes when I am finished with the current one.
Someone mentioned having page numbers. I think if the pages do get numbered, that will be a difficult job for the programmers because as a cookbook is worked on, the pages are changing all the time. This won’t be necessary if you can include category pages (like dividers) between groups of recipes, or in front of each category. Then the contents will reflect what section the recipes are in. For instance, if there were a page for Poultry, then that section will have all the chicken, turkey, birds, stuffing and dressing recipes, etc. Then if there were a divider page for meats, all the beef, pork, lamb, game, etc. would be there. I don’t know if this could be done without having to show up in the contents. Even better, these could also be made as templates, with an extra one that we can add additional categories in. I have added categories such as Mixes and Seasonings, Ethnic Recipes, etc. All of us have favorite categories that probably are not in any cookbook. For family and heritage cookbooks, categories with the families names, such as “The Smith Family†or “Polish Recipesâ€.
For the lady who inquired about a template for adding poems, short stories, etc, I have a suggestion for her. She can enter a separate category for them and just add them in as text. Or she can put them into the biography section if she knows whose poems or stories they are.
Thank you for all of the work you have already put into this project. I am enjoying working with it.
Happy Trails,
Dee
Wow! Dee, those are some really great suggestions. I’ve just forwarded your comments to our development team. There are so many good ideas here I don’t even know how to reply!
I can’t promise we’ll make all those fixes down the road (although I wish I could!) But we’ll definitely take a close look at each one.
Thank you so much for taking the time and thought to put together such a great list.
Matilda
Your software sounds just like what I have been looking for with one exception. As a Senior person, I have to watch my calories, sodium, etc., very carefully. Would it be possible to include in a future version the caloric content, etc., based on the ingredients? And also to convert the recipe into more or fewer servings? I would love to be able to covert my Great Aunt Lily’s recipe for chess pie into a smaller pie for one or two people without sacrificing flavor. Thanks for listening!
Hi, Beverly-
The conversion thing we’ve been working hard on and will definitely have ready for our next upgrade. But that won’t be for a while.
Calorie and sodium counting is another issue. It would require us to store each ingredient in a different field, which would make it much harder to type in recipes or copy/paste them in off the internet/email.
You are the first person to request this. If we hear more buzz on this issue, we’ll definitely look into it.
Matilda
Hi Matilda
I have just been exploring your software and I think it is the answer to my prayers. I am going to try making a cookbook for Christmas presents.
I am looking forward to the spring update as I want to print my recipes in A5 format as well as on recipe cards.
Lynn
I just love your software, it’s so simple and easy to use. It’s the best I’ve ever found. I do have a couple of things for a future update, though not serious. #1 is it possible to have the images print under the title instead of at the end of the recipe? This would be much more pleasing to the eye to have the title then the image right away. #2 Can it be possible to make up our own templates and input it into the software? or should we send you email with the actual template for you to add to an update?
The other thing is, and I believe someone may have already mentioned this.. but everytime you update a recipe, it takes you back to the 1st one. this is a problem when you start having quite a few recipes installed in the software. the other thing is a more effiecient way of locating a recipe vrs the current scrolling method. such as having an additional search field to be able to select a specific recipe under the author or under the recipe type.
Some comments have included how to add little poems or family notes. When I enter a recipe, just before I enter the ingredients, I enter a little tidbit note regarding the history of the recipe, or about it, who the recipe came from, or a short little poem. this works great… As far as the software working out nutritional values, I can’t see how this can be done, the software is based on working as a text not entering each ingredient in a seperate field box.
Sorry, just though of something else for a future update… Would it be possible to have an option to print the recipes in order of Recipe Type (current) or by CookBook. For example, my 3 yr old daughter takes cooking classes and we enter her recipes under her own cookbook title. It would be nice to print the cookbooks seperately or at least sorted seperately.
Hi, Di-
Thanks for all the great comments!
I’ll try to take them in order.
Image placement: There was a pretty big debate internally about where to put the photo. I thought more customers would have an opinion on this issue, but as of now you are the first to say anything.
Custom template: Yes! We hear you (and many, many others) loud and clear on that one. The next big upgrade will definitely allow you to add your own designs to the tops and bottoms of pages, much like you can now add a custom front cover photo. If you have a specific idea that you think lots of people would like, please post it here. We are always looking for new ideas for templates.
Additional search feature: That’s a pretty valid point. We like the clean, simple look of our software and aren’t excited to add too many buttons or fields. But if you are managing hundreds of recipes it would be nice to have a more complex search.
Nutritional values: You definitely understand the problem. It’s something of a tradeoff–our software is designed to make it very easy to add recipes. But that necessarily makes it hard (if not impossible) to do a complex analysis like looking up nutrition.
Changing print order/multiple cookbooks: We were surprised how many people want to manage multiple cookbooks. It’s definitely something we’ll be looking at.
Thank you for taking the time to list all your ideas, Di. I can’t promise that we’ll be able to implement every one (there just isn’t the time or resources), but I can promise that we’ll thoroughly discuss them all.
Matilda
I just have another question. I think I am going to order your software in order to do a cookbook for Christmas 2008. I am way too slow for 2007. Should I wait for your spring update, if so what can I do in the meantime to get started?
Hi again-
To be honest, I wouldn’t wait for the spring update. If you know anything about software, it’s that deadlines tend to get pushed back. We’re much better than many, but it’s quite possible we don’t have any significant upgrade indefinitely. I’d hate to see you wait.
Buy the software now and get going on your cookbook! The worst that happens is that we release an upgrade in April and you decide to pay $10 or $15 for the upgrade. That’s not much money for the ability to get going immediately on your cookbook. And you may decide not to upgrade at all.
When the upgrade eventually comes out, it’ll be fully backward compatible. That means you won’t lose any of your work.
Just get started! There’s a new year coming up and you should buy the software as a way to seal the deal on a New Year Cookbook Resolution!
Good luck, Cherie!
Matilda
I found a way to do nutritional data in the cookbook. Set up a recipe type called Nutritional data. Here, you can enter items such as various fruits & vegetables, meats, fast food items, etc. There are websites such as Nutritiondata.com, where you can get all the nutritional information you need to record into the “recipe”. I added pictures of each item I listed, you can even set up it’s own cookbook such as “nutritional facts”. So far, I’ve added things such as special events with photos, craft ideas, nutritional info, etc. works good.
These things, plus all the recipes, it’s very easy to get hundreds of “recipes” in this software. It truly is the best recipe software available.
I purchased you cd and I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to use. As the creator of Plate Full of Memories I believe the family stories are as important as the recipes and I was unclear how to add them. I really believe that my cd compliments yours since many people start a cookbook and never finish. A Plate Full of Memories (www.platefullofmemories.com) has easy to use charts that allow you to follow your progress in collecting stories, recipes and photos so that you complete your cookbook. I address the index problem by using excel as a tool but would love to see it added to your cd. I also would like to see a blank template added to your selections so that if you are adding photos that they are the focus of the cookbook. When you release another cd I would love to buy it and let the readers of my free newsletter know what changes have been made. My newsletter is published to let the readers know what is new in creating cookbooks but I stress the ability to have your cookbook on your own computer which is why I like your cd so much. I also think the information about printing your cookbook is great and the common mistakes people make that appear on your website really is helpful those creating a cookbook. Let’s plan to keep in touch. Always, Hella
I just bought the sofware and have started using it. I can seem to get the Symbol Builder to cooperate. I have my recipies already typed so I am trying to add symbols and they will not drag like it said to do. What am I doing wrong? Please help.
Sue Lawler
Matilda, How come I can not scan an article in the software and make it big enough to read when printed. It will not let me enlarge the article at all. Can you help.
Thank you, Sue
Hi, Sue-
You don’t really drag the symbol from the Symbol Builder onto the recipe box. Just click the symbol you want and it should put the desired symbol at the end of your recipe.
As far as your article scan, our software just doesn’t enable enlargements. The image box can’t change sizes. I’m afraid your best option is to put the article in a Word document and print it out separately.
Matilda
I need to move over 300 recipes from a works program I used. Is there an easy way to do it with your program. I will not be doing this till fall so your newer version should be out by then. The idea of retyping all those recipes is daunting. I have not purchased your program yet but it sounds like something that I would appreciate.
do you have an expected ETA on when the new updates will be available?
Diana-
You should be able to just copy/paste them into our software. It’s really quite simple.
Di-
We’re looking at mid-summer right now, but it’s been pushed back once already.
Matilda
I would like to know if you’re going to include automatic conversion of mesurements/liquids etc? I have diabetic and need to convert a lot of what I eat. Also Canada uses the metric system as it does the rest of the world. Therefore having the standard and metric conversion would be great.
Matilda, will you be adding fonts to the new upgrade? such as bold, italic, underline?
I was wondering if your software for 1/2 size pages is out yet. I’ve just started looking for cook book software and already I’m thinking yours is it, but I’d really like to have the flexiblity of the smaller pages.
Do you have a software version with the option to print 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 cooks book pages.
I want to work on three different cook books, one for my small business, one for a local museum, and one for the family. Is there a way I can do this?
Thanks and looking forward to using this software, it has such great reviews!
Looking forward to your reply.
Hi, Judi-
Yes, you can. There’s a little trick to manipulating one file: MatildaBack.mdb.
Right after installing the software, go to C:\Program Files\MatildaBack.mdb. Copy that file a couple of times (one for each cookbook you want to make).
That’s where all your data is stored. So just replace the existing copy of that file with the museum or business one, depending on which you want to work on. Keep it named MatildaBack.mdb, though or else it won’t recognize it.
Is it possible to increase the size of the photo. I scanned a lot of my Mother’s hand written recipes so all of my sisters could have a copy. I would like to include some of those through out the cookbook. Seeing her handwriting brings back lots of memories
I recently purchased your CD. I am in the process of making our family cookbook, I looked on the internet and found only one CD that gave me most of what I wanted – Yours. I do have a couple of suggestions. Larger variety of templets, Choice of fonts, Numbered pages and larger selection of half page designes. One more, being able to print just one page in the design chosen. I was printing my recpes and several pages stuck together and made a big mess of my cookbook. instead of being able to print just the damaged page, I had to reprint the whole thing and it was quite large. I would purchase the program again, but would like it more if it had the items listed above. Thanks. LR
Hi, Lee Rose-
Thanks for the feedback. We’re constantly working on improvements, and I really appreciate your feedback.
You actually can print a single page from your cookbook. Figure out which page you need, hit print, and when the print dialog box comes up you just enter the page number.
Matilda
I have just found your software online. It looks like exactly what I have been looking for to put my Grandmother’s recipes into a cookbook for myself and other family members. Has the software been revised or when will the revised version be available?