Category Archives: General Cookbook

Still More Of What Users Are Saying About FamilyCookbookProject.com

During our recent survey of more than 2,000 cookbook editors, we asked them to please tell us in their own words about your experience creating a family cookbook with Familycookbookproject.com. Here are what some of them said:

I love the Family Cookbook Project. My family has been working on a family cookbook that we hope to have printed this year. The website is great for family that are spread out throughout the country like ours is. It has been a great way to stay in touch. What fun to get the emails when someone adds a new recipe.– Brenda O’Neill, Our Amazing Family Cookbook

I’ve tried other cookbook programs before and nothing compares to Family Cookbook project. It’s so easy to use that even a computer novice should have no problems. Once your recipes are added it’s so easy to access them via their app. In the store and can’t remember an ingredient, you just go to the app and pull up your recipe. Easy as pie! – Teri, Tried and True Family Recipes.

I have created two family cookbooks Gran’s Favorite Recipes and The Brawley Family cookbook. I found the software easy to use. and I liked the cover choices. I created these as gifts and my family is very appreciative of the recipes from their mothers and from me. – Ann

The staff at familycookbookproject.com was most helpful and prompt when I emailed them questions!

This was a great project that brought my family together and brought back many fond memories of not only my childhood, but my mothers and other family members as well. It took some time to do, but I know will be worth the final project of having all of our family recipes in one safe place 🙂

This has been awesome for my 12th grade students who leave this cookbook as a legacy for the students who follow them. There’s no way I could do this for my 165+ students every year without this amazing service!

My name is Amy and familcookbookproject.com brought my Mom and I closer than ever. I was introduced to this website from a friend who has a large family who all actively adds recipes (they must have hundreds) daily. My Mom and I have always talked about finally piecing together the treasured recipes of our family and our findings and the Goodfriend Family Cookbook is ours. No joke our last name is Goodfriend. We have thoroughly enjoyed not only have a great place to compile all of our recipes; it has been a treasure to revisit recipes that have been favorites for decades or ones that haven’t been used in a few years and will come back again for the holidays.

I absolutely loved the ease of use the software it was intuitive and I looked at and tried several different programs before purchasing. The best experience and I finished my project which was in honor of my mothers memory so I designed a special cookbook cover. The program allows you to do that also. Great experience thank you.

The Family Cookbook Project is dedicated to helping individuals and families collect and preserve the time-honored recipes that are so important to our family traditions. This website has helped thousands of families and groups coordinate the creation of personalized cookbooks by provides step-by-step instructions and online tools to create a valuable family heirloom. Personalized cookbooks are also used by schools and church groups as important fundraisers. Start your own cookbook today at www.FamilyCookbookProject.com.

Anatomy of a Great Recipe

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One of the keys to a great family cookbook is to have great recipes that your family and friends have come to love. Here are some simple tips to help you capture the magic of the food you make.

1. Use catchy titles. Using a catchy title will make your recipe sound more interesting. It is more interesting to people when they see the title “Gooey Triple Chocolate Cake” rather than just “Chocolate Cake”. When you are writing a title for a recipe, try to think of not only what the final dish will be, but what makes it special as well.

2. Include photos. Using images in your recipes can allow the person reading your cookbook to see what the final dish will look like and give then a guidepost to follow. Next time you make one of your special dishes, snap a quick photo and add it to your recipe the next time you log in.

3. Be specific with your Ingredients. For many cooks, include a can of crushed tomatoes in your recipe and they know exactly what you mean or maybe not. Tell them to include a 12oz can of crushed tomatoes and everyone will know exactly what your recipe needs.

4. Use step by step instructions. You might have made this recipe a thousand times, but someone new will need detailed directions for how to do it. Remember to include pan sizes, cooking times, the order that ingredients are added and how to tell when a dish is done. Also adding how many servings a recipe can make will help with meal planning.

5. Add personal notes. One of the things that make a family cooks so important is that it helps to capture the family traditions. Include a note with each recipe about how you first were introduced to the recipe and when it is typically served in your household. It makes the recipe more interesting and more meaningful to later generations.

Chip Lowell is Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!

Your Recipes on the Internet

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One of the benefits of having your recipes on Family Cookbook Project is that they become available to you from any computer.

Google and other search engines regularly crawl our site looking for new recipes. When they find them, they make them available to the entire Internet. That way you can access a recipe simply by typing in The title of a recipe and your cookbook name into any browser.

This is useful for when your family cookbook is not available, like at a grocery store buying ingredients for recipe, or wanting to share a dish with a friend.

You also can have access to all your recipes if you download our award-winning mobile app for iPhone and android devices.

Not only are the recipes made available to you online, but many other people around the world can enjoy them as well.

Currently the most popular recipe on family cookbook project.com is Saskatoon Berry Crisp, by John and Verna Heinrichs, is from The Heinrichs Family Cookbook . This recipe has had almost 50 people view the recipe in the past month.

Be all time most viewed recipe on family cookbook project.com is Camp Fire Pizza Roll, by Danyeil Reed, is from 40 Something Cowgirls Restless Riders Cookbook, which has been seen by more than 7,000 people since 2013!

Of course if you don’t want to share your recipes with the public then simply mark them private when you post them. This keeps them out of the public domain.

Since our founding 15 years ago, Family Cookbook Project has helped more than 63,000 families and fundraising groups collect more than 1.5 million recipes and that number grows every day.

Bill Rice is founder and Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories through customized printed cookbooks filled with treasured recipes. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!

More Of What Users are Saying About FamilyCookbookProject.com

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I love being able to share recipes easily between myself and other family members. In addition, I have accessed the cookbook many times from my phone when I am traveling or grocery shopping. I hope to print it one day for my children and grandchildren, but it is still a work in progress!

I was so happy to find a site that I could create and print a family cookbook. My children are always wanting recipes and what a better way than to have it all in one place for them when they need it. The website is so easy to use. I am almost finished with Home with the Hamiltons cookbook and I can’t wait to see the end result! – Janet

My mom has dementia and is quickly looking memories, I wanted to save as many memories as possible for me, my brothers and our kids. I also wanted to include recipes from family members that have already passed so they would not be forgotten. – Nancy, Hosiner family cookbook

Loved the ease of adding new recipes. I also loved being able to search for recipes by either category or contributor. – Karah, Goetschius Family Cookbook

Family Cookbook was a Godsend. We knew what we wanted and found them to be easy to work with. The end result is something we are still so proud of. We sold several hundred and are working on #2 due to the success of our first family cookbook. We have presold over 100 just by sending out an email. We are a family of good cooks and honestly, Family cookbook helped us every step of the way and will on #2! Thanks so much. – Cheryl, Four Sisters Cookbook

Such an amazing way for families to consolidate all their recipes no matter how far apart they are to create an heirloom for generations to come. Thanks Family Cookbook! – Katharine, WhoDat Family Favorites

I really enjoyed working on our first TOPS Chapter cookbook using Family Cookbook Project, It took much longer to collect recipes from the ladies than to edit the book. My next project is to collect my favorite family recipes to make a new cookbook for myself!

Collecting family recipes and compiling them into a family cookbook has been a wonderful adventure and a fun trip down memory lane as I fondly remember amazing family dinners full of laughter and delicious food!

How Many Recipes Does My Cookbook Need to Have?

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One question every cookbook editor wants to know is how many recipes should my cookbook have? Too many and printing costs are higher, not enough and the cookbook is not as valuable. What’s a family cookbook editor to do?

Looking at the thousands of cookbooks we have printed over the past decade, there is no real number of recipes that make up a good cookbook – you have what you have. We have printed cookbooks with just 15 great recipes and as many as 1200! However, that 1200 recipe book was 750 pages – HUGE!

The average size seems to be around 150 recipes and that is why we use that number in our cost calculator.

When a great cookbook has less recipes, often the editor includes other content to augment the food offerings. Photos of each dish, a section of family photos, a family tree or family stories about people remembered can really add value to a smaller cookbook.

Larger cookbooks can be impressive simply by the number of recipes it contains. However, since printing cost is directly related to the number of pages that need to be printed, it is important to be mindful of your design choices when choosing your layout options.

At the end of the day, your cookbook is exactly that – your cookbook. You need to balance the number and quality of the recipes included with the needs of your family.

Here are some of the Top Cookbooks of 2019 according to Amazon.com that we really like. Click on the Amazon image to learn more about the cookbook on Amazon and give a try.

Joy of Cooking: 2019 Edition Fully Revised and Updated

The Joy of Cooking is a staple cookbook for most kitchens and for many of us it was our first cookbook. This is the newest edition and makes a great wedding gift.

The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook, Gift Edition: 650 Recipes for Everything You’ll Ever Want to Make

If your like my family, The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook is just what you need when the kids are off on their own. Our recipes normally feed 6 or more. This cookbook helps you to create meals when there are just the two of you.

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking is such a good cookbook that they made a TV show about it. You can watch it on Netflix. However, if you are on a low salt diet, this cookbook is not for you.

Appetites: A Cookbook

Created from famous chef Anthony Bourdain the recipes of Appetites: A Cookbook boils down forty-plus years of professional cooking and globe-trotting to a tight repertoire of personal favorites—dishes that everyone should (at least in Mr. Bourdain’s opinion) know how to cook.

The Healthy Family Cookbook: 100 Fast and Easy Recipes for the Whole Family

Many busy families don’t have time for meals together. In our house it was the one time we all sat together and enjoyed each other. The Healthy Family Cookbook: 100 Fast and Easy Recipes for the Whole Family helps create quick, satisfying meals the whole family will love, and tips for raising adventurous eaters.

This cookbook is also available for free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion

Many family gathering start with cheese and crackers. How ever a charcuterie can be so much more. Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion shows you what you can include and how to arraign it for maximum impact.

Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over

Having people over for dinner does not always have to be a major event. Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over provides some outstanding recipes is a great guide to low-stress feeding friends and family.

Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook

While it was not on Amazon’s Best Cookbooks of 2019, it’s one our our favorite s. Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook is a collection of recipes from our family cookbook editors that are tried and true recipes for you to enjoy introducing to your own family.

Be Proud of your Family Cookbook!

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Family Cookbook Project has helped thousands of families and individuals create lasting treasured Mementos and preserved family recipes for future generations.

We have received hundreds of great comments about people being Family Cookbook Projects. You can see many of these comments in our what they’re saying about family cookbook section of our blog.

In fact, in a recent survey of cookbook editors 94% said that they would recommend Family Cookbook Project to a friend.

While we have loads of great comments, we have very few photos of cookbook editors with their finished product. And this is where you can come in.

If you’ve printed your cookbook, please have someone take a picture of you with your cookbook and send it to us. We would love to share these photos on social media and in our monthly newsletter.

It’s important that people that might like to start a cookbook can see that real people like you have already done so successfully.

Send your photos to photo@tfamilycookbookproject.com

What To Do Once You’ve Printed Your Cookbook

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You’ve done it. You have collected your recipes, got others to contribute their recipes, picked a cover and recipe layouts and used Family Cookbook Project.com to publish your very own cookbook.

Now what?

The good news is just because you publish your first cookbook doesn’t mean that you have to be done.

Here are some ideas on how to continue using your Family Cookbook Project.com account

Online recipe box. Many people find that they continue adding new recipes to their account even after publishing and printing their personal cookbook. It’s easy to add recipes and it’s convenient to have them all in one place.

Use the mobile app – Access to your online recipes is only a few clicks away with the award-winning Family Cookbook Project mobile app for both Apple iPhones and android devices.

Print a second volume for your family cookbook – Often times once a book is printed new people see its value and want to contribute recipes. Creating a second volume for your family cookbook is a great way to get additional people involved and to keep the project alive.

Create a Best of cookbook – Our family cookbook has over 250 recipes but I personally have about 50 that I like cooking all the time. I created a separate cookbook just of my go to recipes which allows me to find what I’m looking for so much quicker. I printed one copy and keep it right into the kitchen where I can find it quickly.

Create a personal cookbook – If you have created a family cookbook, you were allowed only to include so many of your recipes in order to give everyone a chance to participate. Consider creating a cookbook with just your recipes which will allow you to enter many more then or in the family cookbook.

Why Create A Family Cookbook Project?

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We asked the editors of the Family Cookbook Project “Why did you create your family cookbook project?”

Of the more than 2,000 editors who responded to the survey, here are the most popular reasons given to start of family cookbook:

70% To save family recipes for future generations

35% To create one source for all my recipes

34% To give as gifts

22% To bring my family together

20% Because it was fun

Comments most often included the cookbook was used to honor a mother or grandmother and help keep their memory alive after their passing.

Here are a sample of some of the other comments we received about why they began a family cookbook project.

Fundraiser to help the church update the fellowship hall.

Special gift for my son and new daughter in law for their bridal shower.

Wedding Favors

I needed a central location for all my recipes.

To make these recipes available to more people in my family.

Everyone would always tell me to write a cookbook !!

My son and family gave it to me as a gift and now I do want to save the family recipes for future generations

Fundraiser for my son’s school in Arlington Tx.

To bring co-workers together.

It helped my sister and I have something to do together with miles separating us. It also helped us for us on the positive things in our lives as my brother in laws health was failing.

To honor a deceased friend who was a great cook.

The first cookbook was as a wedding celebration gift for a young member of our family. The purpose of the second cookbook was multi-factoral: 1) we wanted to create an archive/bank for family recipes and photos that were being hoarded by some family members, 2) we wanted to bring the family together, 3) we wanted to create enthusiasm for a family reunion, 4) we wanted to subtly remind family members that all our ancestors were immigrants., hoping to dampted the mean-spirited banter about immigrants that would have been antithetical to all our ancestors’ values.

To celebrate our town’s 100 year anniversary.

It was started because someone that I cared about was deployed to Afghanistan. He loved to cook so I told him that I would send him a recipe a day until he was back on American soil. He loved it and sometimes would write about some changes he wanted to make to a recipe. We were going to print it when he got back. I now want to put together a family cookbook because I found how easy it was.

Sports Teams Can Raise Money with Team Cookbooks

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Team sports are a great way to instill valuable life lessons to our youth. Teamwork, hard work, perseverance, how to both win and lose. These things are learned by being part of a team. However the cost for running team sport program can be more than what many families can afford. Team organizers often turn to fundraisers to help defray the costs of expenses like gear, travel, field and court time and more.

For many years, youth football programs, youth soccer programs, cheer squads, have used fundraising cookbooks as a way to bring the team and it’s community together. The team members share their family food traditions and at the same time create a lasting reminder of their membership on the team and even or raise funds for worthy causes.

Family Cookbook Project, using the power of the Internet, has been helping teams create team fundraiser cookbooks successfully and profitably. Our step by step guidance and simple online make creating a successful fundraising cookbook a breeze.

Family Cookbook Project recently added 5 new sports-themed cookbook cover option to our already extensive offerings. And more are on the way!