I need to make a "cookbook"

[fifi]

First a little explanation... I keep all of my recipes in Word files. These are in a plain, utilitarian format. From time to time, I will print them out and put them in a plastic sleeve in a utilitarian 3-ring binder. That is handy, because I can remove the page and pin it with a magnet to some convenient place in the kitchen while I am cooking.

Now to my problem... For Christmas, the kids are requesting such a thing for a gift. I really don't want to give them something entirely as bare bones as what I have. They do want a binder with the plastic sleeves. I have said that is probably more practical that I send them a CD from time to time because I update them regularly. Nope. They want a book. I have searched the Microsoft site for templates and find none for recipes. I may have to "upgrade" my Word skills to come up with a classy template, uh... geese with blue bows and grapevines need not apply. But, where do you find attractive binders? I know there is a world out there that is into scrapbooking and maybe that is a source for something interesting. I just don't know about it.

Have any of you ever done something like this? Any ideas?

Thanks...

Frantic Mother

[marie-louise]

Google on binders to find something you find attractive.

Word has something called Styles that will help you do what you want to do. (Templates are for new document layouts, and you should make one to use in the future for your new recipes.) Look through your cookbooks to find a layout you find attractive, then try and duplicate it in Word. When you get a layout you like, create "Styles" for each component. (The bullets for instructions, the title, the sub-titles, etc.) Make sure you copy each style into Normal (global template) via the Style organizer, so that when you open up each of your old recipe documents, all of your styles will appear in the style sheet lists. Highlight each section (the title, the bulleted instructions, etc.) and apply the styles to update each document. You can make outside borders around the ingredient lists (in a table with no borders in each row) and you can make all sorts of cool bullets using the symbols menu.

Enjoy-

Edited October 27, 2004 by marie-louise (log)

[fou de Bassan]

I believe microsoft has something called Recipe Wizard. This program has three layout formats so you can choose the one which suits you. I hve only seen this once at a friend's house. She can also use this program to include a shopping list. I also use a three ring binder for recipes and in the course of binder shopping I realized that plastic isn't pretty but it's perfect for the kitchen. If you still want pretty then the Exposures catalogue has lovely binders that you can have personalized. I looked at some stamping binders andthese were too foofy-pretty for my taste and not very practical in the kitchen as they were fabric-bound. I hope this helps.

Kathryn

[eunny jang]

Check out the Levengers online shop - they have some seriously pretty, very functional stuff, like this Circa Leather Folio, which takes specially punched paper and plastic disks rather than ugly D-rings.

[lcdm]

Here is a link to the microsoft site for a cookbook template (I think they may have others)

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/template...3&AxInstalled=1

I have seen binders with plastic covers that you can slip a piece of paper in for the front and back cover as well as the spine (you could create this in Word also).

I know there are some places that will pubish books for you (you just send them the info), our PTA did this as a fund raiser. But I don't know how easy it would be to add additional pages, or the cost or number of books that you have to print.

Have fun.

[Carrot Top]

If you are short on time (or lacking the real desire to mess with computer stuff, as I am ) Kinko's or one of those other 'office' places can do a lot of this for you, fifi.

And usually Barnes and Noble has some good selections of journal/binder thingies....

[lovebenton0]

If you are short on time (or lacking the real desire to mess with computer stuff, as I am ) Kinko's or one of those other 'office' places can do a lot of this for you, fifi.

And usually Barnes and Noble has some good selections of journal/binder thingies....

←

Kinko's or a similar place is great for this. The printing is cheap enough -- especially when you're printing many pages as you would be for multiple copies. Most places have a breakdown for price per page based on # of pages. Also various styles of binders, paper stock, and colors -- including laminated covers/pages/whatever you want. And you can get cool and creative with graphics or photos for the cover. Just print out what you want at home and take it to them. Most places will also print off your CD. You can organize in categories and make fun cover pages for those too.

I'm in the process of doing this myself. Kids and others have been asking for individual favorites for years and would like to have a compilation in a real cookbook format. Something I've been working on for quite a while. Still have lots of old hand-written entries (pre-computer for me ) that need to be transferred.

Thanks to lcdm for the link to recipes templates also. You can create in Word as marie-louise suggested, but maybe the microsoft link is even easier or more variable. I'll definitely check that out too.

[lovebenton0]

D'oh! If you have MS Works (as I do ), fifi, you can go into the the Task Launcher or the Database and choose a Recipe Template. They do come with bleh! cutesie graphic in the corner but you can delete that and change anything you want to suit your own style.

[fifi]

Great ideas, all. I think I am headed for a Word template. I have a good printer so I will be able to do that. The laminating idea is really promising. While I like the sleeves so that if I update a recipe, it can be reprinted and reinserted, they are kinda ugly. The kids like the idea of removing the page to the kitchen like I do.

I would have never thought to look at B&N for binders! All of the ones in the office stores are pretty ugly. That Levenger site probably has some interesting stuff. I have been there before. I just can't get it to load "while we are young" right now. I have Microsoft Office 2003 but didn't opt for Access. I am pretty mad at Access right now anyway.

I had checked out what was already in Microsoft and didn't see anyting I was looking for.

Judith, I sympathize. I have about 75 written up and about another 75 in scattered notes and in my head. There are also some that I have finally figured out "what mother did" but I haven't gone through the process to record measurements and such. (I think I am making Mamaw's potato salad this weekend.) I remember andiesenji talking about a voice activated recorder for doing that. That is a brilliant idea and I don't think the digital ones are that expensive.

[StudentChefEclipse]

You can sometimes find attractive three-rings at scrapbooking stores. (My sister is an addict.)

You can also find nifty non-goosey papers to print recipes on, or use as backgrounds or whatever.

What a wonderful idea for gifts! You have lovely children.

[Susan in FL]

I gave my son a binder cookbook, soon after he moved into his current house in Pensacola. I made plain ol' copies of my favorite recipes and put them in the binder under appropriate dividers. For nostalgia reasons he liked having copies of my versions of the recipes, instead of all of them changed into the same format. They were mostly clipped from magazines or copies from cookbook pages, and they had my handwritten comments and changes on them. However, not everybody would attach the same sentimental value to having a copy of them in their original form. It kind of reminded me of recipes I have that are in my parents' handwriting.

I did go to a scrapbooking store and bought some stickers of Navy aircraft and cool stuff to further personalize it.

I am so with you about geese with blue bows and grapevines need not apply! LOL!

[Smithy]

How very cool that your children want your recipes! I'm happy for y'all.

I've been doing the 3-ring binder thing for years, but like your setup it's pretty utilitarian. I was going to suggest Office Max or your local equivalent - they have a wide variety of binders, including the ones with plastic covers into which you can slip a cover sheet, but it sounds like you tried that already. Have you looked at photo albums? Some of those come with decorative plastic covers that would look good but endure the kitchen environment better than a fabric-covered scrapbook.

I haven't seen Power Point suggested yet. Its template structure may work better for what you need. You can make your own template, including the automatic insertion of your own photos to personalize the recipes even more.

[jgm]

Judith, I sympathize. I have about 75 written up and about another 75 in scattered notes and in my head. There are also some that I have finally figured out "what mother did" but I haven't gone through the process to record measurements and such. (I think I am making Mamaw's potato salad this weekend.) I remember andiesenji talking about a voice activated recorder for doing that. That is a brilliant idea and I don't think the digital ones are that expensive.

←

An alternate idea, for the non-camera shy, would be to have a professional come in and videotape you making some of those recipes. That way, your kids could see exactly how you do things. Not for everybody, though. Some people are not meant to be videotaped because the process just makes them too uncomfortable. An alternate to the alternate would be a grandparent teaching the recipe to a grandchild--the child should be of sufficient age to be able to grasp the concepts and at least awkwardly perform the techniques. I could see where in some families, something like this could be a real treasure.

[jsolomon]

Depending on your computer skills, you can cut and paste your Word text into a LaTeX file and use some recipe classes to output to postscripts that have a professional look and feel.

http://www.google.com/search?q=latex+recip...=utf-8&oe=utf-8

[lovebenton0]

How very cool that your children want your recipes!  I'm happy for y'all.

I've been doing the 3-ring binder thing for years, but like your setup it's pretty utilitarian.  I was going to suggest Office Max or your local equivalent - they have a wide variety of binders, including the ones with plastic covers into which you can slip a cover sheet, but it sounds like you tried that already.  Have you looked at photo albums?  Some of those come with decorative plastic covers that would look good but endure the kitchen environment better than a fabric-covered scrapbook.

I haven't seen Power Point suggested yet.  Its template structure may work better for what you need.  You can make your own template, including the automatic insertion of your own photos to personalize the recipes even more.

←

Yeah, PP can be good -- but not a lot us have that on home computers. No problem inserting photos into a Word doc. I do that all the time and my printer is a good but fairly inexpensive E/S Photo 820 that produces more than adequate images. That way you can even do your own special pages with appropriate images for individual categories if you want to get fancy.

Setting a template for the recipes is simple if you go that way. Basically I just have a simple format:

Title

Servings

(special note area, such as oven temp, prep/cook time)

Ingredients

Method

Serving suggestion

Insert small photo for recipe if I want to up top my the title, etc. area.

I have dumped the database crap -- not me enough. Just set up one doc in Word with basic format as above, then open that to a new Save As and insert recipe, photo. Oh so simple.

[peppyre]

I don't know how creative you want to get or how professional you want it to look, but if you go to Adobe.com you can download 30 day free trials of InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop (they also have tutorials). These programs will give you the look and feel of a professional book as they are layout and design tools. InDesign is particularly simply to use for a basic layout. Good luck and I think it is truly the best gift your kids could ever get. I wish my grandma had kept better track of her recipes.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks for starting this thread, Linda. It has given me several useful ideas and started me thinking about some possibilities as I try to get recipes organized.

[fifi]

All of you guys have given me some wonderful ideas. Where I am now is that I am going to keep this simple. I think I have come down on individual Word files and I will set up a Style sheet. (I think that is what it is called.) For one thing, I can steal some of my consultant's time to help me out. For another thing, I know how to do that. For another, managing updates to the recipes will be easier. Over the years, I have been bitten badly by any sort of database applications through their various incarnations. I will not even think of going there.

The recommendations for the binders has been really helpful. Yes, I agree that the binders need to be "kitchen proof". If I stay with the standard 3-ring binder style, that says to me that additions will be no problem for years to come. As new recipes develop, I can pretty much e-mail the kids the Word file, they can print it out and insert in the binder. (They both have good printers.) I will stay with the commonly available sleeves. They may be uglier than some options but they are universally available and meet the criteria for being removeable to the kitchen, pinning on the fridge, and are protected somewhat from flying food products. I think a nice binder will mitigate the ugly factor.

I will be ordering some CD labels from the site so kindly provided by lovebenton0. Somewhere on the label I will add a Date line so I can put the date of the CD on there with a Sharpie marker. So, I will have a dual thing going. The kids want something on paper and I agree with them. 25 years from now, electronic format may not be readily retrievable. (But... the simple Word file approach may help with that.) The CDs are a current convenience. The paper is for posterity. (My printer uses archival ink.)

Last night, I spent considerable time entering new recipes. (Sheesh... I had never entered onion confit or roasted cauliflower. For shame.) I have decided that I do need to include more photos. Here is a tip... the sizing for posting in eGullet is perfect for inserting into an 8.5x11 document. It goes in just right if you want a full width photo. One of those I wrote up was Mayhaw Man's chicken pie. (With full credit and even a copy of his story.) I used the photo of the finished product that I used in the discussion thread.

Now I have to go gathering up all of those sticky notes that seem to be everywhere.

[FL Heat]

As new recipes develop, I can pretty much e-mail the kids the Word file, they can print it out and insert in the binder. (They both have good printers.) I will stay with the commonly available sleeves

I did this for my brother for his birthday this year. Called some relatives, got some recipes, gave him some of my favorites, and included tips and changes I'd made. Slid the recipes into sleeves (which he likes because "crap wipes off them easy") and included plenty of empty ones. He's a bachelor and kinda on his own for the first time, so the recipes were geared toward that specifically. I also included things like how to make a basic salad dressing, things that are easy that really impress people (Hollandaise sauce, for example), and what to look for when picking out meats, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Also included was a page that listed things he needed to acquire for his kitchen, very basic, simple things (10 or 12 inch cast iron skillet, pre-seasoned; small food processor; non-stick cookware with oven-proof handles) that will serve a young man on his own well.

I think my point was something like this: because he can keep adding to it, because he can pull the pages out and write his own notes on the recipes, because it was made the best that I could make it, he really enjoys it.

I included silly & stupid pictures on some of the recipe pages. A chicken running away from a hand holding a large cleaver on one of the chicken recipe pages, a guy dressed up in a garlic costume on the Chicken w/ 40 Cloves page. Just enough to make him roll his eyes.

Diana

[fifi]

Diana... That is really cool how you tailored the book to fit your brother's needs. I like the idea of the funny pictures. I will have to remember that when I come across something that is a fit.

You also just gave me another idea. When I was going through my Recipes folder, I noted a file named Disasters. It is actually a collection of one-liners reminding me of various food disasters that are actually funny stories. I had expanded that to include some of our zanier food adventures over the years. Each one-liner is the making of a story. Some of them are hilarious. Now I am thinking of starting to write those up as I feel so inspired and include them at some point.

[snowangel]

I recently did this for my cousin, who is recently single and living alone.

I put together a notebook, with those ugly plastic sleeves. They are easily available, easy to use, and make it easy to replace recipes. You can pin them, as you said, or stick them on the fridge with a magnet. Some of the recipes I typed up, some I photocopied from the recipe cards that our grandmother and great grandmother wrote in that spidery handwriting in fountain pen ink that had sort of run in spots when something spilled on the card (I declined to part with the cards).

I got a plain, basic notebook with the sleeve on the cover, and found a really silly photo of he and I as kids, scanned it, blew it up and stuck it in.

This cousin, raised on cream of something hot dishes, loves hot and spicy food. I cook a lot of Thai food, and always offer leftovers to him for lunch at work. To augment this, I purchased (at a thrift store) and almost new (looked like used maybe once) rice cooker. A 25 lb. sack of jasmine rice. ANd, a certificate in the cookbook good for one trip to the local asian market and cooking lessons. He used a day off to take advantage of this, and after our shopping trip, he learned to make curry, larb, pad thai, and a few other Thai goodies.

As well as a lesson in heating spices in the oil when one makes curry. A quick lesson on roux, etc.

This was very special for me. A way of celebrating my heritage. A way of helping my cousin find his way in a new way. And, as we have had our cooking lessons, we have learned that spills and splatters are fun, and that they can help heal pain.

[fifi]

This was very special for me.  A way of celebrating my heritage.  A way of helping my cousin find his way in a new way.  And, as we have had our cooking lessons, we have learned that spills and splatters are fun, and that they can help heal pain.

←

If that isn't a testament for sharing a kitchen, I don't know what is. And the book is a tangible memory of that sharing and caring.

Excuse me... I have to go sniffle now. (Just like I did when I got the e-mail pleas for the book from the kids the other day.)

[snowangel]

This was very special for me.  A way of celebrating my heritage.  A way of helping my cousin find his way in a new way.  And, as we have had our cooking lessons, we have learned that spills and splatters are fun, and that they can help heal pain.

←

If that isn't a testament for sharing a kitchen, I don't know what is. And the book is a tangible memory of that sharing and caring.

Excuse me... I have to go sniffle now. (Just like I did when I got the e-mail pleas for the book from the kids the other day.)

←

Oh, fifi, it goes way deeper. This is the grandmother that taught me how to grow tomatoes. The grandmother who taught me how to kill, clean and cut up a chicken. The grandmother that taught me what to fix for lunch to take out to the field during combining season. When she died, we all gathered at her house, to take things we wanted. What did I want? Her recipe box. The Christmas cactus that was given to her by her grandmother on her wedding day. I even dug up the clematis planted on the clothes line. The silly tupperware salt and pepper shakers that had sat on her kitchen table for who ever knows how long. And, the candy dish. With a lid, amber colored, shaped like a rooster. It always had something homemade in it.

The others took the "collectibles," the handmade quilts. Heck, she taught me how to quilt; I didn't need her quilts. As the oldest grandchild by 6 years, I took the good stuff. The memories. The memories of visiting her in her classroom. A one room schoolhouse with an outdoor biffy. Putting stuff up over a hot stove in the wee hours in August. A root cellar. A storm cellar. Butchering a cow, and knowing just how all of those parts fit together.

This, for those of you younger, would have been a life before PINs and ATMs. I was in my 30's before my first PIN number. My kids each have at least 2 (lunch room and school library). I'm feeling old, but privileged.

[marie-louise]

Here's a nice looking binder! http://www.kolo.com/shop/albums/default.as...em=como&pg=pick (I'd spray it w/ ScotchGuard)

One version of my cookbook was one of those cheap binders w/ a pocket meant to hold to hold a printed piece of paper. I had a little wallpaper left over from my last home's kitchen, so I slipped it in the fromt & spine pocket. Every time I picked it up I thought of my old home...

[fifi]

Oh wow... Those are some reallycool binders. Thanks for the link!