Monday, August 11, 2008

What To Do With All Those Recipes You Stockpile?


That was my problem for quite some time. Whelp, that's resolved. My new pride and joy ... my beautiful recipe binders in their latest and greatest edition. These binders have grown and improved over the years and I think I have finally nailed it. First off, you need binders big enough to support all your recipes. I started with one small binder and over the years have worked my way up to two extra-large and one small binder. I swear by using glossy slicks to hold the recipes. When you go to make something you remove that slick from the binder. It doesn't matter if you spill on it because everything just wipes right off. No more smudged ink or sloppy recipes. I love the slicks and couldn't live without them, but they posed one problem... you could no longer see the tabs showing each category of food (soups, salads, chicken, etc). I knew there had to be an answer so I jetted on down to Office Depot and found some glossy TABBED dividers that are the same size and the tab sticks out beyond the slicks. Fabulous. The final thing I should note is that a recipe has to be "approved" before it can go in the binder, whether by me or by a friend or family member. If I make a new recipe that I don't love, the recipe doesn't go in the binder. Tough love baby! Why fill it up with things that aren't great?! So, if you are looking to revamp your recipe collection may I recommend a quick trip to Office Depot. You won't be sorry!
Here are the categories I sort by:
  • Appetizers
  • Soup
  • Salad
  • Veggies
  • Sides
  • Pasta
  • Seafood
  • Chicken
  • Turkey
  • Pork
  • Beef
  • Other
  • Breakfast
  • Dessert
  • Beverages
  • Menus
  • Tabletop (pictures from magazines, ideas for table settings or place card holders, etc)

Up next - a new section devoted to cooking healthful meals for my daughter.

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