The Family Cookbook Project

Category: General Cookbook

  • Customizing Your Family Cookbook Recipe Categories

    One of the things that we are most proud of at FamilyCookbookProject.com is the ability to give complete control of every aspect of making a cookbook to the project’s editor. We provide professionally designed options that are perfect for most people, but some have visions of something different.

    One of the things that you can customize went creating your family cookbook project is your recipe categories.  We provide 8 basic recipe categories that organize your recipes into types of meal.

    • Appetizers & Beverages
    • Bread and Muffins
    • Soups, Stews, Salads and Sauces
    • Main Courses: Beef, Pork and Lamb
    • Main Courses: Seafood, Poultry, Pasta and Casseroles
    • Vegetables and Vegetarian Dishes
    • Desserts, Pies, Cakes and Cookies
    • Miscellaneous

    By using our custom category tool, you can add different categories or change them altogether. For example, if you wanted to create a dessert cookbook, the categories would all be dessert related. We’ve also seen people organize their recipe sections by family member.

    You can also create sub-categories or categories within categories. In my personal cookbook I have a category for Seafood and then I have added subcategories for Clams, Fish, Oysters, Crab and Shrimp. This way, if I need a shrimp recipe, they are all grouped together.

    You can create your own Custom Categories and sub-Categories by going to the Recipe Center on your Editor’s Homepage.  Then click on Category Add/edit.   Once you add your new categories, you’ll see a sort field – simply number them as you’d like them arranged and Save.

    One note, if you use both our default categories and your own custom categories, ours will come first, then yours in the order you set.  If you want full control, create all your own categories and set the selection to “Use ONLY your own custom categories” .

    If you need to move recipes, there is a bulk move tool at the bottom of the Category Section Editor.

     

    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!l

  • Customizing Your Family Cookbook Project

    One of the things that we are most proud of at FamilyCookbookProject.com is the ability to give complete control of every aspect of making a cookbook to the project’s editor. We provide professionally designed options that are perfect for most people, but some have visions of something different.

    Here are some of the things that you can customize went creating your family cookbook project:

    1. Recipe Categories – We provide 8 basic recipe categories that organize your recipes into types of meal. By using our custom category tool, you can add different categories or change them altogether. For example, if you wanted to create a dessert cookbook, the categories would all be dessert related. We’ve also seen people organize their recipe sections by family member.
    2. Recipe Dividers – Dividers are the pages that separate the recipe categories. We proved several simple black and white divider options but if you want to create your own, or add photos, you can. However remember to leave space for the name of the category to be displayed.
    3. Cookbook Cover – a custom cover was the third most popular cover option last year. Some people simply have a white cover with a photo, others with graphic design skills create beautiful designs to personalize  their cookbook. Creativity knows no limit with Family Cookbook Project.
    4. Recipe Layout – The recipe layout controls the font and size of the recipe text. You can control each section independently – title, contributor name, ingredients, directions and personal notes.

    Over the next few weeks, we will go into each of these customization options in more detail.

     

     

    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!

  • Assisted Living Cookbook To Honor Our Moms

    We received an email from Kori, an activity director in an assisted living home. She had an idea that we thought we’d share.

    She wrote “Mother’s Day is coming up and with isolation precautions in effect, I was thinking of a way to honor our moms.  My idea is a cookbook of the children of the moms in our community favorite recipes.”

    We at FamilyCookbookProject.com think this is a wonderful idea and our online program is uniquely suited to create this kind of a lasting tribute to those who made so many meals for us.

    Here is how to create an Assisted Living Cookbook

    1. Invite Recipe Contributors – The first step after establishing your FamilyCookbookProject.com account is to let those in your community know about the project and asking them to share a favorite recipe or two from their loved one. Use your facilities email lists or newsletter to generate interest and then when the responses come in, use the Invitation Tool to add those individuals into the cookbook. This will send them an email with their own username and password and they can add the recipes directly into the system.
    2. Design Your Assisted Living Cookbook – Select a cover from our professionally designed covers or create your own, write an introduction and select a recipe layout (I recommend the Easy Reading format (T3) which is good for older eyes). Our system will automatically create a table of contents and recipe index for your cookbook.
    3. Publish Your Cookbook – While it is too late to get any printed copies for this Mother’s Day, You could make available a PDF copy of the cookbook to everyone. Families could also access the cookbook online using our app. Printed copies of the cookbook would make great holiday gifts for families and staff members.

    When families enter the recipes directly into the cookbook. there is a field for personal notes that they can use to talk about their special person and why the dish reminds them of the person.

    If you have a loved one in an assisted living facility, suggest a community cookbook to the activity director or maybe volunteer to be the coordinator as a great way to bring your community together.

     

    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!

  • Target Temperatures for Grilling Meats and Chicken

    For a long time, judging if meat was cooked to our liking was judged by look and feel, an uncertain art at best, it is actually pretty easy to get great results all the time when you use an instant-read thermometer. A thermometer is the only reliable way to measure internal temperature.

    When grilling or baking meat and chicken, it is important to let the meat rest before cutting into it and serving.  If given the time to rest the meat will lose less juice when you cut it and when you eat it the meat will be juicier and tastier. Steaks or chops should stand for 5 minutes before serving while other thicker cuts should be longer. Remember that the meat with continue to cook even after being taken off the grill or out of the oven. Include that fact in your calculation of when to take the food from the heat.

    Rely on the thermometer for doneness, and save your creativity for seasoning and presentation.

    USDA Safe Minimum Family Cookbook Project Sugests
    Chicken & Turkey
    Whole or parts 165 165 breast 165-175 thigh
    Beef & Lamb
    Rare 125 + 3 minute rest
    Medium rare 130-135
    Medium 135-140
    Medium well 145 + 3 minute rest 140-150
    Well done 155+
    Ground 160 160
    Pork
    Medium rare 145 + 3 minute rest 145 + 3 minute rest
    Medium 150
    Well done 160
    Ground 160 160

     

     

    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! Also check out our BBQ Recipes Facebook Group and Family BBQ and Grilling Recipes Pinterest board.

     

  • How To Share Your Family Cookbook Recipes

    One of the real benefits of collecting all of your recipes in your online cookbook on FamilyCookbookProject.com is to be able to share them very easily with friends and family.

    Say you have friends over and they really like your split pea soup and want the recipe. All you need to do is go to your cookbook account either on your desktop computer or even on your mobile Mobile phone or tablet and pull up the recipe.  Now all you have to do is choose how you want to give it to him.

    Email – In the upper right hand corner, you’ll see a box marked email a recipe. Enter your friends email here and send them your recipe. It’s that easy!

    Posted on Facebook – Wow your friend might like your recipe, so will other friends. You can select the Facebook icon and post your recipe to your Facebook page to be seen by call your friends. Especially if you’ve been adding photos to your recipes, your posts will really stand out and be appreciated by lots of your friends and family.

    Posted on Pinterest – Here’s another way to share your recipes if they have photos attached. Pinterest was built around sharing photos and when you share one of your recipes on this social media platform, the photo becomes the pin and people who click on it will see your recipe.

    Print your recipe – If your friend simply wants a printed copy of your recipe, it is easy to select the print icon and simply print them a copy and give it to them.

    You also might want to suggest to your friends that they create their own family cookbook account so they can share their recipes as well!

     

    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!

  • 8 New Recipe Card Themed Covers Added to Family Cookbook Project Design Center

    At Family Cookbook Project, we are always trying to improve our offerings to our members. We have a lot of requests about using recipe cards in cookbooks and that got us thinking about recipe card themed cookbook covers. So we are please to announce eight new pre-designed cookbook covers that you can choose when designing your own personal cookbook.

     

    All of these new cookbook covers options are now available and can be found in the new Recipe Card Covers section of the Cookbook Cover Design Center.

     

    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!

  • What Is The Hardest Thing About Creating A Family Cookbook?

    Family Cookbook Project  has been helping individuals and families create and print cherished customized cookbooks full of their own personal recipes. We thought it would be interesting to learn more about the typical person who wanted to create a cookbook.

    Earlier this year, we surveyed 2,041 Cookbook Editors and asked “What was the hardest thing about creating a family cookbook?”. We received 1,600 individual responses and here are some things we hear the most:

     

    When asked for specific comments, here is what some of the editors said:

    Finding the exact recipes of grandparents who have passed,

    Getting people to contribute.  When I send a letter, other people will contribute. I’ve contributed the most.

    I don’t really use recipes so it’s hard to put them into recipe form

    Deciding which recipes to include.

    Reading my mother-in-law’s handwriting!

    Finding time and translating a ” pinch of this, a handful of that” into standard measurements.

    Figuring out the amounts of ingredients. I cook by feel…

    Scanning hand-written two sided recipes.

    Getting all my recipes in order.

    Deciding what pictures to add.

    Sifting through all the papers, magazine clippings, and anything else we had be relying on around the house for our recipes.

    I like to photograph the dish so it takes time. All recipes are in my head and trying to measure out the ingredients

    Getting everyone motivated to add recipes.

    Nothing was difficult, it just takes time to type the recipes. Not a big deal.

     

    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!

  • Family Cookbook Project Expands to the UK

    Family Cookbook Project is pleased to announce that our personal cookbook making software is now available to individuals living in the United Kingdom at FamilyCookbookProject.co.uk

    Since 2004, our ever-expanding website has helped more than 90,000 individuals and families in the USA and Canada create beautiful lasting personal cookbooks. Now individuals in the UK have the ability to enter their best recipes into their online recipe box and create a beautiful printed customized cookbook that they can share with family and friends.

    The website has been modified specifically for the needs of our new UK customers. It has the same functionality that will allow them to collect and enter their favorite recipes into the online program. The communication tools that allow them to Invite others to contribute online are available as well.

    The cookbooks will be printed in Oxfordshire, north west of London, using The latest digital print equipment for fast turn-a-round. Our printer uses 100% renewable energy and works to recycle 99% of their waste.

    Design your own cookbook has never been easier than by using Family Cookbook Project’s professionally developed covers, dividers and layouts to design your on personal recipe book.  Add your recipes, write an introduction and add photos if you wish. Our program will automatically create the table of contents and indexes for you and you’re ready to go.

    Order as many cookbooks as you’d like and download our award-winning app to conveniently access your recipes from your mobile device.

    For more information, visit FamilyCookbookProject.co.uk.

     

    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!

  • 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

    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!