How to Create a Family Cookbook
Purchase a blank book to write your recipes in., Ask the older folks for their recipes., Write the recipes in your own handwriting., Compose a foreword., Sketch or doodle in the pages., Don't limit your book to recipes., Put some pictures in it.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Purchase a blank book to write your recipes in.
You can choose from an abundance of different styles.
Be sure to get the lined ones; and for a cookbook, it's really nice if you can find one that's spiral bound, so it can lay flat on a counter or remain open without a special holder.
Be sure the book is of good quality
- it's going to be a treasure to your family. -
Step 2: Ask the older folks for their recipes.
Don't be shy
- they'll be thrilled.
These gems could be lost forever if you wait until the old folks pass away, so go as soon as possible and gather the recipes for Aunt Margie's devilled egg recipe, Great Grandma's lemon cake, Mom's baked beans, Grandma's pea salad, your brother's barbecue sauce, your own applesauce.
Read them and if you want, test them before transferring them to your family book to make sure they make sense and are correct.
You should also ask your relatives for photos and memories surrounding each recipe. , Unless your penmanship is so horrible nobody can read it but you (and even you have trouble), your family will appreciate your longhand recipes.
Check the Tips below for some guidelines with recipe formatting.
Use a good quality pen that leaves a dark impression.
Cheap pens with blue ink, for example, often fade.
Use blue only if the pen is very good quality and the words are strong in color.
Black is better, otherwise.
Oddly, pencil can be a great choice, too, because it will never fade
- the only caveat there is to spray a little hairspray (a workable fixative is available at most craft stores, but hairspray works fine, too) over the page once you're satisfied, to keep the graphite from smudging when you touch it. , Leave a message in the first pages for your family members.
This book is meant to be handed down, and decades from now, your words will remind your family of you. , If you feel like it, do it! Give an impression of how the dish should look if you feel inclined. , Add helpful kitchen tips, your opinions, your ideas for variations on these well-loved recipes.
Add anecdotes that will be amusing for those who remember you, and for those who don't, which give a picture of your personality for those who follow after. , Pictures of your family eating these dishes can really add to this book
- take a picture, for example, of your family members gathering around the table, which has been laid with all your holiday dishes; or at a back yard gathering where one of the dishes in the book is being served.
Printing them out on paper will make it easy to use a spray adhesive or glue stick to mount the photos in the book. -
Step 3: Write the recipes in your own handwriting.
-
Step 4: Compose a foreword.
-
Step 5: Sketch or doodle in the pages.
-
Step 6: Don't limit your book to recipes.
-
Step 7: Put some pictures in it.
Detailed Guide
You can choose from an abundance of different styles.
Be sure to get the lined ones; and for a cookbook, it's really nice if you can find one that's spiral bound, so it can lay flat on a counter or remain open without a special holder.
Be sure the book is of good quality
- it's going to be a treasure to your family.
Don't be shy
- they'll be thrilled.
These gems could be lost forever if you wait until the old folks pass away, so go as soon as possible and gather the recipes for Aunt Margie's devilled egg recipe, Great Grandma's lemon cake, Mom's baked beans, Grandma's pea salad, your brother's barbecue sauce, your own applesauce.
Read them and if you want, test them before transferring them to your family book to make sure they make sense and are correct.
You should also ask your relatives for photos and memories surrounding each recipe. , Unless your penmanship is so horrible nobody can read it but you (and even you have trouble), your family will appreciate your longhand recipes.
Check the Tips below for some guidelines with recipe formatting.
Use a good quality pen that leaves a dark impression.
Cheap pens with blue ink, for example, often fade.
Use blue only if the pen is very good quality and the words are strong in color.
Black is better, otherwise.
Oddly, pencil can be a great choice, too, because it will never fade
- the only caveat there is to spray a little hairspray (a workable fixative is available at most craft stores, but hairspray works fine, too) over the page once you're satisfied, to keep the graphite from smudging when you touch it. , Leave a message in the first pages for your family members.
This book is meant to be handed down, and decades from now, your words will remind your family of you. , If you feel like it, do it! Give an impression of how the dish should look if you feel inclined. , Add helpful kitchen tips, your opinions, your ideas for variations on these well-loved recipes.
Add anecdotes that will be amusing for those who remember you, and for those who don't, which give a picture of your personality for those who follow after. , Pictures of your family eating these dishes can really add to this book
- take a picture, for example, of your family members gathering around the table, which has been laid with all your holiday dishes; or at a back yard gathering where one of the dishes in the book is being served.
Printing them out on paper will make it easy to use a spray adhesive or glue stick to mount the photos in the book.
About the Author
Sharon Taylor
Writer and educator with a focus on practical hobbies knowledge.
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