This project will really get you organised in the kitchen! I'm not someone who likes to be in the kitchen, but I have to be because I don't want my family eating rubbish. I wanted to make the whole cooking experience as simple and as pleasant as possible for myself... so I organised my own recipe book to do just that for me.
I started with a Word document that had a table of contents etc. It was all already set up via a template. I separated my headings into categories that suit the way I cook. I used:
Soups
Side Dishes
Main Meals
Salads and Dressings and Sauces
Breakfasts and Brunches
Desserts
Cakes and Slices
Biscuits and Muffins and Scones
Jams and Spreads
Drinks
Then, I collected all the loose bits of paper and cutouts with recipes on them, and typed them into the document one by one. A bit time consuming I know, but as I typed them, I re-worded the cooking detail (method) where necessary in order to make them easier and quicker for me. I'm a basic cook! If you use your table of contents properly, each entry will have a number and an allocated page etc, so recipe one can easily be found when you're scanning through your book.
(Below) is what a page of the table of contents looks like.
And (below) is what one of the typed out recipes look like. I also included space for mentioning where my recipes come from, if it was from someone special.
The real difference with my cookbook is that I also went through each of my recipe books and made a note of all the recipes that I would cook out of each particular book. I noted down the name of the recipe, the book that it was from, and the page number. Then I added these lists to the end of each of the sections of my cookbook (eg. Main Meals). Below is an example of what one of these lists looks like.
Then I had my book printed out double sided, and put each individual piece of paper into plastic slips, and then all clipped into a folder.
I have found that my recipe book has really made my cooking life easier! I only ever need to look up the one book now! The rest are just for display!
Happy cooking!
Emma
