
This is a photo for a handmade gift for the bride and groom. I have a niece who is getting married in May this year and I was trying to think of a different and unique gift to give her. I finally decided to make her a recipe book using recipes I had made and gathered over the last 45 years to go along with recipes I had gotten from my mother and grandmother in years past.
I purchased a 1 inch - 3 ring binder and 50 plastic sleeves. I made a decorative cover sheet to put on the front and back of the binder and filled each sleeve with a different recipe. If the recipe only took 1 page, then I could get 2 recipes in each sleeve, but some of the recipes took 2 pages so I would only get 1 recipe in each sleeve. When I was making the recipe sheets I included pictures of the different ingredients that the recipe called for on each page.
I told her I would continue to add recipes to it for her to try over the years. I will probably have to do it in books 2, 3, and 4, etc. since I have a lot of recipes I think she would enjoy trying.
Her fiance loved the cookbook as much as she did and said he is looking forward to trying making some of them, also.
Here are some of the recipes I included in the book:
Source: Kraft, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, All Recipes, and My Home
By Patricia from Houston, TX
Crafting Time: about 20 - 30 minutes per page
By Marie from West Dundee, IL
Does anyone have ideas on how to start a family cookbook? We have a blended family, with many adults and adult children. I thought it would be a great way to bring everyone closer if we put together a cookbook filled with family recipes. I have never done this before, and not sure where to start and how to finish it so that everyone gets a copy to cherish.
Maggie from VA
By Alan24
By sandy63
By tkehaulani
Then I downloaded a free office program like "open office" and began typing the recipes. In my documents I organized them by category. I'd work every weekend and do three or so pages. Then print them off and just stack them.
When that was done, I made 25 cookbooks of 75 pages front and back each. I purchases a machine from an office store, and a box of covers and spines, and put the plastic binder on. It takes a while but well worth it. A friend of mine did hers another way. She purchased 20 nice notebooks with blank front covers which she covered with spray adhesive and fabric. Then hand copied two recipes per page and decorated with stickers and ink stamps. She would do one recipe at at time and copied it in each book. She used those little index tabs and divided hers out. Good luck. its really a nice gift to give. (08/22/2006)By JJ
-coming up with a title and cover layout, -table of contents, -an introduction, explaining why the book was created, who it was created for, and maybe a little family history.
-stories, pictures, and memories to go with certain recipes, - fun facts and tips to go with recipes, - a family tree, - holiday memories and pictures, - geneology-a few hand written recipes - I added a dvd sleeve and made a slideshow of pictures, and favorite songs for every one.
One thing I learned is get everyone involved. Ask for other family members to contribute their favorite stories, recipes, and pictures. That way it's written by the entire family (10/17/2007)I am starting a project of a family cookbook to give to my mom for Christmas as she is a huge fan of cookbooks. I've already contacted several family members asking for their favorite recipes to use in this book. Does anyone have any ideas on how to put it together in a creative way? I know lots of you have some ideas for me. I love all the great ideas and tips I find here. By far this is my favorite web site and I visit daily. Thanks in advance for your help!
Belinda from Wingo, KY
By DEBRADJ
By binkylou
I was sure to include his favorite recipes, meat loaf, banana pudding, chocolate cake, garlic mashed potatoes, homemade pie crust. I know he will not make all of these but maybe someday his wife will. (08/21/2008)
By Judy B. T. MO
If you have recipes from family that you have to type in, you will need to reproduce them on Word, and that's fine. But, if you find things on here or on line that you also want to include, you simple cut and paste to the Word doc and create a folder titled "cookbook" or whatever you choose. Back it up onto a CD every week in case something happens to the computer.
Then, when you are ready to print out everything, do two things at once. First, there is a program in your computer that lets you list all the recipes in alphabetical order, which will help you find cakes, cookies, desserts, etc.
Then, when you are in the page you are ready to print, highlight the entire page and choose the font and size you want. You will no doubt have more than one recipe on each page, and it's fun to do one whole page in one font, another in another, or do each recipe in different ones. That way, the ones you pasted on you can change without retyping them.
Play around before you print, as Word has some amazing things you can do. I started mine out by telling everyone what my daughter had done in Sunday school when she was just 6 years old, and that was contribute to her class cookbook.
"MY BIRTHDAY CAKE"
3 cups flour, add 2 scoops of water. Mix it into dough. Put in a pan, bake 35 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip it over and bake another 24 minutes. Add more flour and water. Put in bigger pan. Bake for 35 minutes. When cool, decorate with 65 cups frosting.
Something unique to begin with will make everyone smile when they open the book and memories of meals and dishes made by people they love will keep them smiling. Good luck!! (08/21/2008)
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By kimhis