A Gardeners Forum Forums Willy's Place Members Favorite Recipes Creating heirloom cookbooks

My girls have both expressed an intrest in having a cookbook that has all my recipes in it that they love. One of the girls told me that it would be a wonderful Christmas present. We live in the middle of no where and there is no place to take a printed out pages to have them bound into a book (one of my friend's suggestion).

Has anyone made this type of cookbook for their kids? Any suggestions would be appreciated! I don't like recipe cards as I have a hard time fitting all of my recipe on one card.

Thanks!! Connie

I made a cookbook for a shower gift. I had it printed at Kinkos and even just to bind it in regular paper size and put a clear plastic cover cost way more than expected! It was very expensive and I had to do all the formatting myself! Perhaps you could just write on recipe cards and use a cute antique small book cover to paste the recipes in- or something like that. Make sure to include a table of contents.

If Vanessa (4Ruddy) was here right now she could tell you something about this. We discussed this same subject via phone and PM awhile back.

She'll be back online in a few days, I hope.

Cindy

My mom just filled a photo album with all of her favorite recipes. It makes it easier for her to find a recipe. Maybe you can find a real pretty album? This would make a great gift idea.
Nancy

Hi Connnie!! One day My 25yrold Daughter asked me (while I was cooking from an old Reciepe book) asked me MOM, when you get thru with that book can I have it??? Well... I turned to her and asked.."You mean when I'm dead"? Well that sent me in motion the next day I went to Walmart got a Sturdy standard note book , went to the fabric store picked out heavy, sturdy washable material, sewing velcro, and went home and "Got after it". Using a newpaper cut to a template pattern to make a cover for the book(s), (made one for each adult daughter, had the front of the the book cover fabric Emborriered saying(Daughter Name) then BACKHOME COOKING FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS... I then gave my self 1 Year to complete as I was committed to getting reciepes, quotes, blessing, Bible Scriptures, advice, poems, health tips, different wines for cooking (lists), oils, types of vege's, all sorts of cooking tips BUT the only people who could contribute to the book were family and friends my girls re-ea-a-lly knew from grade school on up and remembered eating something they really liked at their house I got in touch with those parents, relatives and reciepes used in our family, for at least 4 generations, very few more than 5 generations, the contibution was wonderful at the back of the book I listed all contributer, some even sent pictures that I put into the plastic sleeve with the reciepes, The opening of the book was a tribute to each daughter ,and how valuable this book was now and in the future to pass to their children to add reciepe thru out the years, Each Daughter has told me over and over again how their book would be charished..Connie it was a lot of work and orginizing, sending letter phone calls BUT worth it.. For each reciepe (from Family) I alternated between daughters original and copies, some reciepes even came with a short story.. I encluded a story about each daughters funniest cooking experience, and most hearwarming cooking experience, These books are now family heirlooms It was worth every times my hands cramped up, eyes were tired , and head ached, I'll never regret having done it, The next year one of my daughters brought it to our family reunion, with a stack of recipe cards many took cards home and mailed them back, you can also to go a scapebook store and get little stickers of fruits, veg, kitchen appliances, etc, and stick them on pages with reciepes calling for these ingrediants,, Again,,, A lot of work but will become her heart of the kitchen, made by your hands.......... Didn't mean to make this so long

Okay Connie One More Thing(or more) I went to office depo purchased in bulk plastic sleeve 3 ring holed some for 4x6 others that held standard typing paper slipped reciepe cards in 4x6's and pictures, hand written(the old ones) I wrote over in typing paper) and slipped the original behind it and bought divider tabs to section off baked good, cassaroles, breads, etc... the hardest part was getting the reciepes, stories, etc the fun part was putting to gether.. also After of course I was completely done I went to a kitchen specialty shop and What did they have???? A BLANK FAMILY RECIEPE BOOK for sale.....Oh well..............

Thanks for the quick replies ladies!

Angelblossom, thanks so much! I am going to print off your reply. I bet your girls cherish that cookbook so much. I am thinking now that this will take much longer than I expected! I have 2 boys and figure I probably should do the same for them as well and one grandaughter (she is only 16 mts now) and a grandson on the way and I should probably do one for them as well. My grandaugter I babysit and she is always wanting to help gramma in the kitchen. I have photos of her in the kitchen and they would be great to add to her cookbook. I wish I had thought to take photos of my kids in the kitchen helping!

I am looking forward to hearing more from others! Connie

Your welcome Connie If you do this just insert lot of empty plastic sleeves in the back of the book OR in the back of each catogory so they can add their own thru out the years to come. If your children OR grandchildren ever came home from school with "playdough reciepe, hang-on to it or home-ec class reciepes , I still had a playdough reciepe from when my oldest daughter was in pre-k 25 years ago!( I hang on to everything).. As far as your sons go this would be a Great Gift for welcoming their Bride into the family with the most personal touch filled with the kitchen's warmth a mother-in-law can give.. Have fun so many things can go in to it Not just reciepes... and it does take time but..... but all family heirlooms are about TIME -Right?? You won't regret it I promise Oh if you do this and need help just PM me I have lots of extra pages... assortment of different thing i.e. wines, tomatoes types, choosing the right vinegers, kitchen glossery terms,, things like that I would be more than happy to mail to you ..I'll be around this forum for a long time to come really enjoy postings here tho I may not always reply to those of interest I learn something new every day

Thanks again Angel! I think this will be an excellent project for this winter. We are busy in the summer with a garden and canning and freezing stuff. Plus we have a large yard and it takes lots of upkeep. I am working on a baby afgan for my grandson (due mid november) so as soon as I get that finished then I will have plenty of time in the evenings for a new project!

Angelblossom , makes me want to be one of your daughters.. sounds great....


(I just posted somewhere's how my oldest asked me one day if I had a recipe to my homemade spaghetti sauce and I said, NOPE, it's in my head.. and he got a bit tense, cause he was like if any thing happened to his mom, he'd never have spaghetti again..
Poor kid.. *wouldn't miss his mom, just the food she cooks..*

WOW....Wish you was my MOM..want to adopt me???? LOL great ideas!

Connie

Here is another suggestion for you to hand down recipes to your children. It is like killing two birds with one stone.

There is a computer cookbook program called "Master Cook", I'm not sure which version is now current, I have MasterCook 6.0. It is a very user friendly program and if you have a digital camera you can also insert pictures of the finished recipe into the recipe format. One benefit is you can sit down and type in a recipe here and there when you have the time and the will power to do so, save it and do something else without creating a mess you have to clean up. When you have all of the recipes in, you can print them out anyway you want to; they can be on full sheets, cards, etc. You can also get decorative paper to print them on if you like, the possibilities are endless. And the very best part of all your work to make "Cookbooks" for the kids is you will end up with your recipes organized and readable in your computer, just make sure you make a backup disk in case something happens to the puter.
The next trip you make it into a large store like Costco or a Office Depot, you can buy 3 ring binders and plastic insert sheets to create the cookbooks. I'm talking about the ones where they have a clear plastic sleeve on them to insert a sheet of paper to make your own cover for the book. Here again the possibilities are endless. You could have a picture of you child on the cover, the picture of their favorite dish and depending on how much you like playing on the computer a whole array of possibilites are open.
You have had many good suggestions from people and I'm sure you will find something in each one to spark your own creativity and will come up with a great keepsake for your children.

June

Thanks June! That sounds really easy!

This year...we had a family reunion...and months before hand....we emailed and mailed everyone..and asked for 2 or more of thier favorite recipes (and favorites of mothers or fathers in which are not here anymore)...we did them up on the computer..and printed them out and put them in binders and passed them out to everyone. It is wonderful...to have my Great Grandfather and Mothers favorite recipes...

That was a wonderful idea! I will have to contact family members and get them to contribute, thanks!

Well, I was really slow in getting down here! All those ideas are perfect. My aunt made all of the family a cook book of my grandmother's recipes for Christmas last year. It included all of our favorites that grandma made for our family get togethers...but, what made it EXTRA special..is in the front of the book, we all recieved one of grandma's recipes in her handwriting. Of course everyone's handwritten one was different....but all the books included the same recipes. I cannot tell you how much I cherish that book...mainly because of the one handwritten recipe. I have all of my mother's hand written recipes and am going to do the same with them...share them with the rest of the family. These books are not just cookbooks...they are treasures!
It is also a lot of fun to include pictures from family gatherings...everyone around the table eating all of thos e yummy recipes! Just brings back such sweet memories!

I babysit my grandbaby (she is 17 mts) and she loves to help gramma in the kitchen and I have been taking some photos of her in the kitchen and had my son take a couple of photos of us together in the kitchen for her cookbook.

One suggestion that I didn't see was the household tips. Like how to get different stains out and the rest of that stuff.

And I like making quilted covers for the binders so that I can take them off and through them in the wash when necessary. And with me it is always necessary lol.

That is a great suggestion...too bad I am not more handy with a sewing machine!!

I had thought about asking people for their favorite tips and hints and giving them credit for theirs in the books.

I am also going to look at my old photo albums and copy old photos of people in the kitchen. We love to take photos in my family and I have many photos of the cook

That will be a wonderful addition. I never could take photos and I'm sorry that I couldn't.

TK ...that was a GREAT idea...the washable cover! Man..I have a ton of cookbooks that need totally new covers because I am such a messy cook. That pretty funny to me because Iam really particular the way everything is served...it has to be neat and pretty..but man, don't look at my kitchen during the process! It is not a pretty sight!

I know what you mean. I can really do a job on the kitchen especially if I get out the flour. It ends up everywhere including cabinet shelves that had the doors shut. I still haven't figured out that one lol. Right now I've got some asian pears on the stove for compote. They were alittle to unripe to eat straight up but I love compote on just about everything lol. It smells so good to.