Make your own cookbook

Banana and blueberry muffins

A few years ago I started to write my favourite recipes into one cookbook.  It saved me from having to remember which book they were in.  Since then, Iv added to them as Iv found recipes in magazines, on the Internet or been given them from friends.  Recipes that are still to be tested are placed on scrap paper in the front of the book. 

As you can imagine It's stained with cake batter and nearly falling apart.  I came up with a great idea to make a new one and get it printed.  Type "make your own cookbook" into your Internet search engine, and you'll find lots of websites who will allow you to do that.  It's a great Christmas present idea for family.  

My problem is some of my recipes are still works in progress, and not really print ready.  So I came up with my own solution.  At the Pantry canteen, regularly made recipes are printed or photocopied.  Then stored in an A4 Ring binder, and kept in  plastic wallets to keep them clean. 

So i did the same with my own recipe collection, Iv handwritten my favourite recipes and the ones that are most requested.  There's something more personal about handwritten recipes.  I was given one of my Grandma's cookbook before she died I love seeing her handwriting.  It's a lovely link with the past.

Another good thing about keeping your recipes in a ring binder is that it can double as a recipe holder.  I have a tiny kitchen and I'm short on  space.  I used 2 of my clothes pegs to keep the pages from turning.  There's nothing worse than trying to bake a recipe from a  cook book, and then the pages flipping over.  Even worse if you don't notice mid recipe!!!

Ring binders and plastic wallets also don't cost that much, so it's a great budget solution. 

What ever way you do it, a family cook book is a great way of passing on family history xxx