Category Archives: 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!

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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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 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!

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.

What Users are Saying About FamilyCookbookProject.com

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It is a delight looking through The Matthews Family Cookbook Project. My Mom passed away recently and it always brings a smile to my face seeing her recipes in print.–Amy Spino

It was a lot of work, but I had a great time putting it together. Didn’t advertise, just let locals know via FB. Was overwhelmed with compliments and sales. Received many letters thanking me for doing this cookbook. So pleased with the results and plan to do a Vol.III and offer to sell through stores, etc. So much fun! – Linda, Favorite Recipes from Wardell Party Home, Vol. 2

We sold 526 cookbooks in 14 months and made a net profit of $5,172. Mr Lowell was quick to respond to my questions. The cookbook was completed in 3 months, 461 recipes. The funds allowed us to support many of our outreach programs. I highly recommend familycookbookproject.com.– Glendale Christian Church Ladies Circle Cookbook, Donna, Editor.

The Eaton, Jorae, & Plunkett Reunion Remembrances Cookbook was done to celebrate the 100th year our Eaton descendants coming together. We decided that a cookbook and bookmarks were the winners over t-shirts, hats, mugs, etc. Everyone was invited to participate and directions were shared. It was a labor of love. With Gail as our’ editor, Family Cookbook Project guided us and our cookbook was published with ease. Thank you, guys

Creating my cookbook was fun and easy! My family and I completed ours together as a memorial to my grandfather who was an amazing baker. During the process we were able to share stories of growing up in his kitchen and now we have those to pass on to the next generation.

I had been looking for an affordable cookbook site to compile a family cookbook as a gift to my grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins. This is the first site I found that could fill my needs. The site is user-friendly, provides easy editing and numerous options. When I had a couple of questions, I received a surprisingly quick response. I haven’t completed the book but am enjoying the process.

I created one for my family and friends. When I talked about how much we enjoyed it with my church family, they wanted to do one for the church.

This was a great way to assemble family favorites and connect personal stories and memories to each. It was a gift of good taste and memories that I could leave to my family since I had been diagnosed with a serious illness last summer…..book and I am still here! Great Christmas gift! – Lore of the Mmmm, Yumm, Funn Family Cookbook

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!

To start your own team fundraising cookbook project, go to our fundraising specific site www.CookbookFundraiser.com

Why Blank Pages are Important in a Family Cookbook

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One of the questions we get a lot as Cookbook Publishers is “how do I remove the blank pages in my cookbook?”

It seems that when people preview their family cookbook on FamilyCookbookProject.com, they see the cover, then a blank page, then the title page, then another blank page, and so on. They want those blank pages eliminated to lower the cost of printing.

In publishing, especially cookbook publishing, a cookbook needs to be laid out in a specific way in order for the most important pages to be on the right side when the book is opened. Think about it, Whenever you open a book, the title page is the first thing you see and it is always on the right page of a two page spread. Same goes for the Introduction, Table of Contents and the section dividers.

On FamilyCookbookProject.com, if you create a preview cookbook PDF, you want to open it in your Adobe Reader program and select the option to view “Facing Pages” or “Double-up” (look under the View menu), you’ll see how the pages back up to each other.

Now with that said, there is no reason why those pages have to be blank. The inside front cover can have a family photo photo or bio of the cookbook editor. The same goes for other blank pages as well. If your introduction is one page and after it is a blank page, consider writing more, adding a photo or even making the text larger to fill up that extra space.

One benefit form using FamilyCookbookProject.com is that we provide a complete set of handy kitchen information that can be used on the back of the recipe category dividers with the touch of a button.

How Family Cookbook Project Stacks Up

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A while back Family Cookbook Project did an informal survey of other cookbook publisher to see how our online cookbook software compared to the competition. We were very pleased at what we found:

Recipe Collection

	US	THEM*
Email blast to invite recipe contributors	Yes	No
Email reminders to some or all contributors to keep motivated	Yes	No
A growing message library that you can use to keep contributors motivated	Yes	No
Online storage of recipes	Yes	No
Send email of individual recipes easily	Yes	No
Show how many times a recipe has been viewed online	Yes	No
Track which contributors have logged in and how many recipes they have entered	Yes	No
Track and list recipes by contributor	Yes	No
Offers a unique URL for contributors to reach your website	Yes	No
Offers an online forum for sharing cookbook ideas and questions	Yes	No
Allow contributors to edit their own recipes	Yes	No
Lock recipe input for final editing	Yes	No
Monthly newsletter with editor tips and helpful ideas	Yes	No
Online audio help to make entering recipes easy	Yes	No

Cookbook Design

	US	THEM*
Offers pre designed color covers and dividers	Yes	Yes
Lets you design your own custom covers and dividers at no cost	Yes	Some
Offers unlimited sections and dividers	Yes	No
Offers unlimited free black & white photos in cookbook	Yes	No
Offers several recipe layouts to choose from	Yes	Yes
Offers Non-continued recipes FREE	Yes	No
Offers Graphics clipart and Quotation filler FREE	Yes	No
Lets you see cookbook proof for each recipe layout if you wish	Yes	No
Online audio help to make designing and editing your cookbook easy	Yes	No

Cookbook Printing

	US	THEM*
Low minimum print orders – just 5 copies	Yes	No
Offers online tool to determine how many copies your contributors will want	Yes	No
Fast printing turnaround using 100% digital high speed printers	Yes	Some
Online audio help to make printing your cookbook easy	Yes	No

We are so confident that you will find Family Cookbook Project print prices so affordable that we offer you the ability to download a high resolution PDF file of your completed cookbook and take it to another printer if you wish.

If you are interested in selling your family cookbook or creating a fundraising cookbook, Family Cookbook Project also helps you sell your cookbook at a profit.

Cookbook Promotion

	US	THEM*
Online profit calculator	Yes	Some
Sample promotion information	Yes	Some
Offers ISBN numbers and bar codes	Yes	No
Gets your cookbook listed on Amazon.com	Yes	No
Gets your cookbook offered on eBay	Yes	No

Bill Rice is Co-Publisher of the Great Family Cookbook Project, a website that helps families and individuals collect and share food memories. Create your own customized cookbook today. Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest!

Family Cookbook Project included on Amazing Christmas Gifts To Impress Your Older Parents

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Family Cookbook Project was highlighted in an article on the publishing platform Fubbing Website entitled 20 Amazing Christmas Gifts To Impress Your Older Parents

According to Jacob Jacobowitz, the article author, It can be difficult to keep digging up gift ideas each year for your parents. They’ve have had decades of Christmases and nothing seems to surprise them anymore. He found 20 great ideas that will put this tortuous time behind you. There are great gifts to foster healthy living, taking up a hobby and generally enjoying life. With this catalog of ideas, you can just keeping coming back!

Family Cookbook Project software was listed as #4 on the list!

Create a Family Cookbook Blog

Ideas and tips to create a charished Personal Cookbook for family and fundraising! by The Family Cookbook Project!

Category Archives: FamilyCookbookProject.com

Anatomy of a Great Recipe

Your Recipes on the Internet

More Of What Users are Saying About FamilyCookbookProject.com

What Users are Saying About FamilyCookbookProject.com

What To Do Once You’ve Printed Your Cookbook

Why Create A Family Cookbook Project?

Sports Teams Can Raise Money with Team Cookbooks

Why Blank Pages are Important in a Family Cookbook

How Family Cookbook Project Stacks Up

Family Cookbook Project included on Amazing Christmas Gifts To Impress Your Older Parents