|
| |
Creating a Family Cookbook Scrapbook
by Cheryl Miller
The family is one of nature’s masterpieces
George Santayana
The majority of the kit orders I receive are from people
who are going to create a Family Cookbook Scrapbook. I’ve made two such scrapbooks.
I just finished reading an article in our local paper entitled, “Family
Cookbooks a lot of work but still worth it.”
That is not true at all. They
are one of the easiest and most enjoyable cookbooks to craft.
If you plan to create a cookbook of your recipes to give to
your children/grandchildren:
- Ask
each family member what recipe of yours is their favorite and why. You may be surprised at the responses you elicit.
You might have created some dinner that ties into a special event in
their life and they will always remember it.
Be sure to journal their comments about the recipe.
My son Matt commented to me one time, “I just love those chocolate
oatmeal cookies you used to make when I was in elementary school.”
I remember little comments like that.
No
Bake Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies
2
cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 Tablespoon cocoa
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
2 cups quick oats, uncooked
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine
sugar, milk, butter and cocoa in a saucepan; cook over low heat until mixture
boils. Boil 4 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter, oats, and
vanilla. Drop from teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper and let cool.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen.
- Write
family comments on recipes – start today! - I have about 15 boxes
of 3x5-inch recipe cards that I started compiling when I started cooking. When I was first married I would try something new at
least five days a week (can you believe that??). After I made the item I would ask my husband (at the
time) what he thought about that particular recipe.
He was exceptionally honest (which is one of the reasons we are no
longer married …just kidding) and I would write his response on the card
and date it. When I had my two
sons I continued this practice. Therefore, creating a family cookbook was
very easy for me because I had comments on recipe cards and in my cookbooks.
It’s always a good idea to write comments on recipes you have made
so you can make it again and know it was a success or avoid it at all cost.
Also, when your grandchildren inherit your cookbooks they will see
handwritten comments next to recipes and I think that is very special.
I love it when I purchase old cookbooks and find notes or additions
to recipes jotted in the margins!
 |
- Spatters
Matter - When my sons Matt and Kelly were very young, I wrote
and self-published a cookbook entitled: Meals ‘N Mirth: A Working
Mother’s Cookbook. I
had recipes that my family liked and I coupled it with crafts I worked
on with the kids. The
recipes that they loved are the ones that are spattered in the
cookbook. So go through
your cookbooks and look for spatters.
That is the sign of an often used and much loved recipe. That
certainly has to be included in your family cookbook.
3
(Note the spatters!)
|
- Include hand-written items - By all means, when you create your family cookbooks,
have copies of hand-written items on your pages.
It is so special to see your grandmother’s or mother’s
handwriting!
 |
- When I was a boy, my
mother and I would make eye contact,
- and she would give me a
smile that would
- make my day. Her eyes and
her smile would say,
- “I love you, you’re terrific.”
- She was the center of my
universe, and, like most children,
- I thought I had the most wonderful mother in the world.
I adored her.
-
-
Bob Keeshan
-
-
 My very special mother, Bette Taubert
|
- Note
the name of the giver on the recipe cards - When my former
mother-in-law passed away, I went through her recipe box and made a cookbook
for our family and her friends. This
was before scrapbooking was “born” so I just typed it and had
friend/mother-related quotes. When
typing the recipes, if the recipe had a comment about who it was from, I was
sure to include it. When her
friends received a copy of her book, they were touched to see that a recipe
that she had received from them was included among her favorite recipes.
- Family
Gathering for Ideas - Gather your family together and tell them you
are creating a family cookbook and you want their input and thoughts about
special recipes or food-related events.
I guarantee you; this will be a very funny gathering.
All families have humorous tales about their mother when it comes to
cooking, since we are typically the primary cooks.
For example, everyone loves my
broken glass candy. I used to make
it and give it to my children’s teachers for the holidays or to apologize for
Kelly getting into trouble in class (I made a lot of this for Kelly’s fourth
grade teacher!). I donated jars for raffles, door, prizes, etc.
I am sure you have all made it (recipe below).
I think it is so simple and I (seriously) have made it thousands of
times. I don’t need a candy thermometer because I can look at it
and know if it’s ready. Do you have a recipe you are known for?
Be sure to include it in your cookbook.
Broken Glass Candy
Powdered Sugar
3 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups light Karo Syrup
1 cup water
Food coloring
1 teaspoon cinnamon oil (purchase at local pharmacy)
Sprinkle powdered sugar on a cookie
sheet and smear with your hand. Combine sugar, Karo Syrup, and water in heavy
saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Continue to cook,
without stirring, until syrup reaches 290°
on candy thermometer. Remove from heat and add food coloring to desired
intensity and the cinnamon oil (fume are intense!). Pour onto cookie sheet,
cool, and break into small pieces. Makes 2 pounds.
- The history of our grandparents is remembered not with
- rose petals but in the
laughter and tears of their children and their children's children.
It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us
that their history becomes a future.
Charles and Ann Morse
- The happiest
moments of my life
- have been the few
which … I have passed at home in
- the bosom of my
family.
Thomas
Jefferson
Go to ... Scrapbooking Tips
for Family Cookbooks
|
