Organizing Recipes part 2

Going the second mile!

Here are some ideas to REEEALLLLY get your personal recipe book organized

Subdivide the categories: vegetables can be subdivided into potatoes, beans, peas etc

- Note recipes (that you use often) from other recipe books on the cover of each tabbed divider

- Make a list of family member's favorite meals (this comes in handy on their birthdays)

- Make a list of meals that work well for company

- Make a reference page for bumper crops; recipes to use when you have a LOT of berries, zucchini, tomatos etc.

- and finally, consider making a quick reference Meal Planning page: On one or two sheets of paper, draw lines to make 4 sections on each page. (I make a big +,) Title each section by however you plan your meals: Beef, chicken, pork, soup and sandwich, meatless, whatever. Write the names only of your favorite recipes under the appropriate section. You could also list good go-withs beside each entree if you'd like. You now have a good at a glance reference to plan meals quickly!

Other ideas:

- punch a hole in the put your favorite recipes on 3x5 cards and put them on a ring. Hang them from one of those easy stick hooks on the inside of a cupbaord door.

- Put your recipe cards on a Rolodex

- put your recipes on a blog which then becomes a searchable data base. I love mine! I call it my cyber recipe book. I now have acces to my favorite recipes from any computer anywhere I go. My daughters have access too. No more calls "Mom can you send me the recipe for..."

- I have a cooking journal. It's just a little spiral notebook that I use to write quick notes into of what worked and what didn't.

"...made asparagus with ..... tonight and we all loved it"

"had .... over for dinner and made ..... Next time I will make .... instead.

LOVE IT!

Creating your Own Recipe Book

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203674704574332541537816128.html

Here's a great article from the Wall Street Journal this week about self publishing your own beautiful, full color recipe books. Gone are the days when you have to order a mass amount of those cheap looking little church cookbooks.

With these companies you can design your own and only order one if you like.

My wheels are turning...I'd like to do one for holiday recipes to give out to family as gifts....and a heritage bookof family recipes...and one for newlyweds and one for.......well, its an endless list of possibilities.

Recipe Binder Ideas

Here's an idea for those who want to use a binder AND their file box cards.

I love these binder clips so you can trade out the titles if want.

Organizing Recipes

Recipe Retrieval : Here is a system that has always worked for me:

1. Gather - all those recipes from magazines, friends, 3x5 recipe cards and ...

2. Sort and file in a "trial file" - a convenient place to stash "to try" recipes quickly.
I put a few files with key labels in an open file box in a handy spot(no lid or you'll just put the paper somewhere else just for a minute, right?)

3. Put your favorite recipes in a "tried and true recipes" binder.
I put my favs in a white 1 in. binder (any bigger and it becomes too big to handle), with a clear cover that I can slip a foodie photo into. (Martha Stewart magazine has the best food photography!)

or buy a funky binder like this one from Park St. Market

4. Label some tabbed dividers with whatever category makes sense to you:

breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks. My labels are: chicken, beef, pork, fish, ethnic, soups, sandwiches, vegetables (subdivided) grilling, make it FAST, and meal planning (more on this later) I also have a binder that is desserts only...wow that's scary. I glue the recipes and photo in and slip the page into a sheet protector...I should take a picture!

Great post!

the envelope system lives on... this post lists reasons why cash in an envelope is still the best method for saving saving on your groceries.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/07/the-envelope-system--experiment----paying-with-cashwe-all-did-it-at-one-point-when-you-are-a-child-and-are-too-young-to.html

Best recipe book idea ever!

This is what can happen to our recipes over time!

But...I learned the best recipe saver idea from Penny in Rexburg, Idaho last week. She had lots great ideas and here is one of my favorite. My dilemma has always been: how do I make my recipes portable, share-able, accessible, reproduce-able, indestructible, etc, etc. My own recipe book, duplicated for family?? Well sort of.

The solution: Put all your recipes on a private blog, one that is just for you. Label each post by category: vegetables, chicken, cookies etc. Now you have a free searchable data base of all your recipes. It's portable, shareable (if you give out the link), accessible from wherever you are (your sister/daughter's house), indestructible because of the off site storage etc etc. No more "mom can you email me your recipe for..." "Just go to my recipes blog search the label......, honey."

This is easy, nothing fancy, no photos if you don't want them, just all your favorite recipes any time anywhere.... the coolest thing, right?

Fast mashed potatoes.

The goal for me, in the kitchen is to figure out how to do everything, fast, cheap, easy and delicious. Here is something that I do all the time now, that fits the bill: frozen mashed potatoes! I may even go as far as to say this one thing is life changing because if you can pull out potatoes from the freezer, dinner can be on the table fast!

Here's how you do it:

Use Yukon Gold Potatoes (Russets do not freeze well)
Cook and mash them up as you normally would. I like to add a big dob of sour cream and cream
Freeze this now or add another little something special - pureed cauliflower! It tastes good, really!

To make the caulflower, steam a head, then puree it with some cream or milk and garlic (steam the garlic right with the cauliflower) Half cauliflower and half potatoes is a good ratio or use less cauliflower. Salt and pepper to taste, use half for tonight's meal and freeze the rest separately or with the mashed potatoes. Enjoy!