The Family Cookbook Project

Category: FamilyCookbookProject.com

  • Lowering the cost of printing your cookbook

    When it comes to printing your family cookbook, page count is the largest determining factor on what the cost per book will be.

    To lower the number of pages that need to be printed, you don’t always have to just delete recipes. Here are some simple formatting charges you can make to affect your page count.

    Go to Editor Tools>Publishing Tool>Cookbook Options and Design.  Under Recipe Layout, choose any or all of these options to save space:

    • Choose Arial or Times Roman, Two Column Small for the smallest type faces
    • UNcheck Print my recipes in non-continued format
    • UNcheck Force recipe photos to be on same page as recipe
    • CHECK Print Directions and Comments as single paragraphs
    • Under Recipe Sorting, choose Print my recipes in book order – shortest to longest

    Another thing to do is look at your recipes that are more than one page long. We show you multi page recipes in the “recipes by category” index. There is a “*” next to the edit button of long recipes. Consider removing some of these recipes by unchecking the box by the recipe title and see the impact on page count.







    Bill Rice 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!

  • Freezing Cookie Dough


    The best cookie recipes can be frozen and used as needed

    In our house, there is nothing like a warm, soft cookie right out of the oven. However since it is not practical to make dough for only a few cookies at a time, the next best thing is to freeze your cookie dough and pull out enough cookies for your immediate needs.

    Freezing cookies also provides time saving opportunities when you want to get ready for a holiday cookie swap in October or getting ready for a school bake sale anytime.

    How you best freeze cookies depends on what type of cookie you are making. The FamilyCookbook Project had collected thousands of cookie recipes if you need a suggestion.

    Cookies like chocolate chip and oatmeal-raisin freeze best if you make the actual cookie beforehand. Scoop out the dough just as if you were about to bake it and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat (they can be close, but not touching). Instead of putting it into the oven, but them into the freezer for atleast 6 hours instead. Once frozen, the dough balls get sealed inside a plastic freezer bag and when it is time to bake, you are ready to go.

    Cookies like shortbread or sandies, or any smooth slice-and-bake cookies can be pressed into logs, wrapped in wax paper and frozen solid. Prepare the dough as usual, then shape it into one or two logs that can be covered with wax paper and placed in a plastic freezer bag. When you’re ready to bake, let them warm on the counter for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. You might also want to let the logs thaw in the fridge for a few hours before you’re ready to use the dough. Slice the cookies into thick disks and you’re ready to put them in the oven as usual.

    The third type of cookies that can be frozen are cut-out cookies, like sugar cookies and many holiday cookies. The dough for these cookies can be frozen in disks and then stacked together with wax paper between them. When ready to bake, thaw until bendable and continue with the recipe.

    Most frozen cookies will need an extra minute or two in the oven. Otherwise, prepping and baking the cookies is exactly the same as in the recipe.

    Bill Rice 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!

  • Holiday Recipe Book and Cookbook Printing

    Holiday Recipe Book and Cookbook Printing

    Happy November 2nd!
    (well, it’s a not a holiday, but have fun anyway!)

    As we prepare for the holiday season, many family cookbook editors are working to finalize their projects in order to give as gifts this year. Cookbooks must be submitted for printing by Saturday, November 30th to guarantee delivery without expedited shipping before the Christmas holiday.

    So now is the time to contact all of your contributors with your reminder tool and tell them to enter their recipes now before it is too late. We recommend using a recipe submission deadline of November 15th in order to give you time to review the recipes, make sure all of the extra spaces are removed and words are spelled correctly, and still have time to place your order before the printing deadline.

    Family cookbooks make wonderful gifts for family and friends alike. The effort you put into your cookbook now will pay off for your entire family for years to come.

    Get Our iPhone or Android App
    Announcing our new App for iPhone and Android! You don’t always have to have a printed cookbook to use your recipes – you can always access them from the web on any PC, Mac or iPad with a nice larger screen. But what about your phone? Well, now we have an app for that! Here are links to get the one for your phone:
    iPhone App here    Android App here

    Check out our Cookbook Accessories Shop
    Need a great extra to go along with your cookbooks – like a nice cookbook stand? Check out our Accessories Shop powered by Amazon!


  • 4th of July Cookbook and Reunion Time!

    Happy Independence Day, U.S.A.!  It’s 4th of July and family reunion time!  If you are planning to have your family cookbook ready for your reunion, make sure to allow 2 weeks for printing and delivery.  If you have a tight time crunch, let us know and we’ll see what we can do to help.

    If you don’t plan to have your cookbook ready for summer – no problem!  Right now is the perfect time to get everyone involved – and print your book for Thanksgiving and the holidays!

    We wish you and yours a great holiday – have fun and how about fixing a few items from your family cookbook!

    If you get a chance, we’d love for you to “Like” us on Facebook.  Just visit our home page http://www.FamilyCookbookProject.com and click the like button in the middle right – thanks!

    Here is a recipe we tried recently for a fun dessert:

    This recipe for 4th of July Banana Smores, by Cheryl Botkin, is from Family and Friends Cookbook, one of the cookbooks created at FamilyCookbookProject.com.

    4th of July Banana Smores Recipe

    Contributor:  Cheryl Botkin

    Ingredients:

    Bananas
    Chocolate Chips
    Small Marshmallows
    Graham Crackers

    Directions:
    Pull one section of peel back from banana, but leave attached.
    Scoop out center of banana, just enough to where it looks like a boat.
    Fill banana with chocolate chips and marshmallows.
    Cover with section of peeled back banana and wrap in foil.
    Put bananas filled and wrapped in foil on the grill.
    Let set until marshmallows and bananas melt.
    Remove from grill and top with Graham Cracker crumbs.

    The Great Family Cookbook Project has surpassed 400,000 public recipes in the system thanks to you!  If you need a fun recipe idea that’s not in your own cookbook, go to our home page and use the search function to see what’s available – lots of good eats!

    Do you love BBQ Recipes?  Check out this list of over 600 BBQ recipes and treats we created!


    Enjoy!

  • Best of Family Cookbook Project Cookbook

    Best of Family Cookbook Project Cookbook

    Families from all across the United States contributed their cherished recipes – from every day favorites to those brought out only for special gatherings. Now they are available in a new Cookbook from the Family Cookbook Project.

    The Family Cookbook Project was started in 2003 to help families create personalized cookbooks to help preserve those beloved recipes to be handed down for generations. This year, the editors selected from more than a quarter million recipes to come up with The Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook (ISBN 978-0-9820243-0-0 Price 19.95), available at Amazon.com or www.BestCookbookProject.com.

    “These fantastic recipes were hand selected by the editors of more than 120 family cookbooks as their best,” says Bill Rice, Co-Publisher of the Family Cookbook Project. “Some are simple everyday favorites from all around the country and some are the prized “family get-together” show stoppers. All of them are beloved by the families that submitted them.”

    Every family has treasured recipes, beloved as much for the memories they evoke, as it is for the taste. Often those recipes have been handed down orally through generations, or squirreled away on index cards or scraps of paper. A family cookbook is a way to gather, organize and share this wealth of family culinary favorites.

    The Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook is 8 1/2×11 in size and has 218 pages. It contains full color photos of some of the recipes. 354 recipes are divided intro eight categories: 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 and Miscellaneous.

    Some of the recipes include: Hummingbird Cake from The Snyder/Johnson Family Cookbook Project, Chicken Tortellini Chowder from Lewis Girl’s Lucky Duck Cookbook, Sausage, Shrimp and Zucchini Casserole from La Famiglia Campano Cookbook, Best Ever Lemon Scones from Joy of the Repast Cookbook, Finger Licken Hawaiian Chicken from Home Sweet Home Recipes and Ginny’s Award Winning Irish Soda Bread from The New Donovan Family Cookbook Volume II.

    The back of the Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook contains indexes by both category and by contributor. It was created using the same online program thousands have used to create their own personalized cookbooks.

    Winner if the 2009 Web Marketing Association Family Standard of Excellence WebAward, the Family Cookbook Project Website was started as a project in 2003 to help one family collect recipes and organize a family cookbook. Overwhelming feedback from those who used the website led to its continued development and public launch. Currently, more than 12,400 individuals, families and groups have started personalized cookbooks using the website and have contributed more than 267,000 individual recipes to the database.

    “Personalized cookbooks have been around since the 1940s, however the process of collecting and organizing recipes has always been a labor intensive project for the cookbook editor,” says Chip Lowell, Co-Publisher of the Family Cookbook Project. “Our site brings this process into the Internet age and now it’s easy and cost effective to have your very own cookbook printed. The Family Cookbook Project website provides step by step instructions and tools to help cookbook editors invite others to participate and allow them to enter their favorite recipes directly into the online system. The editor then simply reviews and edits the recipes, selects printing options, and sends the cookbook to be printed. The finished printed cookbooks are then received by the editor in a few weeks time”.

    The Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook (ISBN 978-0-9820243-0-0 Price 19.95), available at Amazon.com or www.BestCookbookProject.com .

    About the Family Cookbook Project

    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. The website at www.familycookbookproject.com 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. Groups looking to create cookbooks for fundraising efforts, can also check out www.cookbookfundraiser.com.

  • Family Cookbook Project Wins WebAward For FamilyCookbookProject.com

    The Family Cookbook Project has won both a Publishing Standard of Excellence and a Family Standard of Excellence in the Web Marketing Association’s 13th annual WebAward Competition for Web site development. The Family Cookbook Project creates personalized cookbooks for individuals, families, church groups and schools. This is the fifth consecutive year that Family Cookbook Project has been recognized for their Website excellence.

    “The Great Family Cookbook Project is a website dedicated to helping families collect and preserve cherished recipes into a printed cookbook that can be passed down from one generation to the next,” says Chip Lowell, Co-Publisher and Technical Director of the Family Cookbook Project. “We are proud that our efforts have been recognized by the Web Marketing Association with this WebAward. We will continue to develop our site to help families, schools and church groups create both online and printed cookbooks that become treasured heirlooms.”

    The Family Cookbook Project Website was started as a project in 2003 to help one family collect and organize a family cookbook. Overwhelming feedback from those who used the website led to its continued development and public launch. Currently, more than 12,400 groups have started family cookbooks using the website and have entered more than 267,000 individual recipes.

    More than 2,000 sites from 45 countries were adjudicated in 96 industry categories during this year’s WebAward competition. Entries were judged on design, copy writing, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation, and use of technology. The competition was judged by a team of independent Internet professionals representing a variety of relevant disciplines of Web site development. Judges included members of the media, advertising executives, site designers, creative directors, corporate marketing executives, content providers and webmasters.

    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. The website at www.familycookbookproject.com 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. Groups looking to create cookbooks for fundraising efforts, can also check out www.cookbookfundraiser.com.

  • Family Cookbook Newsletter: Back to School September 2009

    It’s September and Back to School time. Time to get “everyone on the bus” and helping on The Best of the Family Cookbook Project Cookbook!

    Well, Summer 2009 has come and gone. Hope you had a great one! Fall is coming officially on the 21st – but it’s feeling like fall already with school back in session. So – time to get everyone busy adding and trying yummy recipes to your cookbook.

    Believe it or not, the holiday season is almost upon us. Since family cookbooks make a wonderful gift, it’s no wonder why that is by far our busiest time of the year.

    Thank you for using our state-of-the-art system to help create your family heirloom cookbook. We have valued your business and hope to continue to help you with your family or group cookbook.

    Tips for Making a Holiday Deadline

    In order to make sure you receive your cookbooks in time for sharing with your friends and family for the holidays, here are some tips from Family Cookbook Project.

    Use the Reminder Tool to email contributors to enter in their best recipes so they can look forward to cookbook for the holidays.

    Set a deadline so everyone knows when their recipes must be submitted by – and make sure you leave a few days for those contributors that will want to add a recipe or two after the deadline!

    You do not have to wait until your recipe collection is completed to start working with the Publishing Tool. Pick a cover from our professionally designed assortment or design your own. Select your layout type face and dividers – just remember to click the save button and the system will remember your selection.

    Don’t wait until the last minute. While our digital printing allows for some of the fastest turn-a-round times in the industry, printing is done on a first come first served basis. We are expecting and are prepared for a lot of editors to have their cookbooks printed in October and November. You don’t want to be the last in line – so place your order early!
    Right now is the perfect time to get everyone involved – and print your book for the holidays!

    Time to Reorder?

    Need extra cookbooks for holiday gift giving? If you were planning to print more copies of that fabulous cookbook you created, now is the time to place that order!

    Coming Soon to Family Cookbook Project

    We are really excited here at Family Cookbook Project. Our site continues to help families, schools and churches bring people together to create wonderful cookbooks to share and treasure for years to come. To date we have editors have created more than 8,000 cookbooks with more than 49,000 contributors and nearly 200,000 recipes!

    In the next week or so, we will be adding a “Facebook” type of email alert to help you get contributors involved. When someone adds a recipe into the system, all your contributors will get an email with the new recipe title, contributor name and a link to login and add a recipe. It won’t be overwhelming – just one email per login session. Each of your contributors can also turn off notifications if they like, too. You as editor can also just turn off the whole feature from ‘Edit Your Cookbook’

    Featured recipe from the database

    The Great Family Cookbook Project has a huge amount of public recipes in the system thanks to you! If you need a fun recipe idea that’s not in your own cookbook, go to our home page and use the search function to see what’s available – lots of good eats!

    Here is a recipe we tried recently for a fun dinner side dish:

    This recipe for Cheesy Squash Casserole, by Jayne Chapman, is from The Chapman Family Cookbook. Search for more great recipes here from over 200,000 in our family cookbooks!

    Cheesy Squash Casserole Recipe
    Contributor: Jayne Chapman

    ——————————————————————————–

    Category: Vegetables and Vegetarian Dishes

    ——————————————————————————–

    Ingredients: 4 lbs. yellow squash sliced
    1 medium onion diced
    1 tsp. pepper
    1 tsp. salt
    2 cups cornflake crumbs
    1/4 cup melted butter
    1 (10 1/2 oz) can Cream of Mushroom soup
    1 c. grated cheddar cheese

    ——————————————————————————–

    Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    Cook squash and onion in lightly salted boiling water until soft (about 20 minutes on medium). Drain and mash. Add all other ingredients but cheese and mix well. Put mixture into round baking dish and top with cheese. Bake 20 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

    ——————————————————————————–

    Number Of Servings: 6-8
    Preparation Time: 30 minutes

    Editors Ideas – how to keep your contributors motivated

    The holidays are coming. Remember, it may take a full 3 weeks to get your cookbooks at this time of year – so start today! When you do get together in the coming weeks, bring a printed recipe or two from your cookbook and hand them out. Let folks know that you plan to print the book soon – and get all their email addresses so you can add them to your book. Have fun!

  • Nominate Family Cookbook Project for an Open Web Award!

    Help us win recognition for www.FamilyCookbookProject.com and nominate our site simply by entering your email address below. You will then receive a single email. Click on the link and your nomination is counted!

    Thanks for helping to make Family Cookbook Project a growing success. Don’t forget to tell all of your friends to help out as well!

  • Sell Your Cookbooks For Profit!

    We often get people who are creating their personal cookbooks as a fundraiser or who would like to be able to sell extra copies to make money. Family Cookbook Project can now make this task much easier for you.

    In January, we will be introducing a new Cookbook Marketing Kit that will give you everything you need to sell your cookbook in bookstores like Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders Books and many more. It includes:

    * An ISBN number and barcode
    * Listing your cookbook in BooksInPrint database
    * Making your cookbook available for sale on Amazon.com
    * Writing a press release to promote your cookbook to the media.

    We are also working on a new Cookbook Showcase to highlight your cookbook online and gives visitors the opportunity to order cookbooks directly from you.

    While this will not be available on FamilyCookbookProject.com until January, we are offering it to editors who are printing their cookbooks for the holidays. Send an email to bill@familycookbookproject.com for more information.

    We are also working a number of other improvements for FamilyCookbookProject.com, including expanded audio help to explain how to use each of the editor’s tools. These will be introduced in the coming months to make Family Cookbook Project the easiest way to create a personal cookbook on the Internet.

  • Greater Seattle/Bellevue E-womenNetwork Cookbook Fundraiser!

    Good luck to the Greater Seattle/Bellevue E-womenNetwork Cookbook Fundraiser. They have a goal to raise $6500 for the eWomenNetwork Foundation. To accomplish this, They need at least 300 recipes, which will be assembled into a spiral-bound cookbook with laminated covers. If we sell 500 cookbooks, we’ll meet our goal!

    Guess what, this group choose www.cookbookfundraiser.com to help them collect the recipes, communicate with contributors and then print their fundraising cookbooks. My guess is that they are going to be a success.