At a family gathering this past weekend we sat around eating. Eating and  we did some more eating. And while we sat and ate we talked. We talked about family stories most often told when our family gets together and we talked about the stories more often not. We talked about how some of the families recipes evolved and some items that were left out of recipes for particular family members and some left out for family allergies.

It is amazing that there were no plans ahead of time to do any of this family recipe talking or family story telling but it happened organically. Just sitting around and talking. It makes me think that most of us need to get together and when we do make sure someone asks that questions about how some of the foods that are served are part of the family traditions and then ask for the story.

What made my weekend so great was that it was not a holiday gathering but just celebrating the birthday of my Mother who has become the matriarch of our family. And boy, did she have stories and recipes.

        

These are everyday kind of meals and they are not hard to make. You need to figure out what your family eats and then do the grocery shopping to match the meals. And of course, children in the kitchen and children in the grocery store are just a little part of making the meal a success. When one person is not working it is a family thing and that means all in the family must work hand and hand to get everyone working as a family. << MORE >>

I heard some where today that on the White House menu today is Chicken Noodle Soup. That made me wonder where did they get the recipe for that! I hope they got some old Bubbies recipe (a Jewish Grandmother) since I am sure that it would use chicken pullets to give the soup that extra medicinal quality. There has been research done and a good bowl of a Bubbies chicken soup will cure the common cold. I think if you look it up you will find research to that fact. I know that I forwarded my recipe to Leslie in Kansas and I think she recovered since I have not heard a peep out of her since then! As my old grandmother used to say, "It couldn't hurt." 

By the way, this could be the way the White House will bring down the cost of health care. A Chicken in every pot and soup in every bowl. And for desert, an apple a day. You Go Girl, Michele and take on the health care industry with a proofen cure all- Jewish Penicillin- Chicken Noodle Soup!!!! This could be the health care overhaul bill that everyone can sign up for!

My grandmother's recipe is in a January post from last year 2009. And it really is good and easy to make.

PS...this blog will be updated on Wednesdays and Thursday since most food column are published those days too!

        

How you choose the names for each recipe in your cookbook is very important. Have you noticed many people just leaf through a cookbook to later take a closer look. It is in that first read quick that determines whether the cookbook is picked up again. So Grandma's Every Day Meatloaf or Kicked Upped Tuna Fish Salad are things people will look at and come back to again. Meatloaf and Tuna Salad are not that exciting to look at but they could taste great so the name is very important to determining if you cookbook sits on a shelf or gets opened and used.

Go through your cooking magazines to see the headlines and that will give you a hint of what makes people stop to read an article is the same that will make stop to look at your recipe. Names of the people who gave you their recipe are the easiest start to the name of a recipe. I harp on the stories need to added so that the cookbook gets read with so many family members not entering a kitchen to cook but heat up a meal. The title or name of a recipe can be the thing that gets one of these non-cooks to try a recipe. You just don't want to spend all this time and effort in creating a cookbook unless your family will read it and these are just the little things to make it tilt in you favor.

By the way, don't get cooking magazines, just check them out at the grocery store. You might even buy one once a recipe grabs your attention. You just never know!

        

I know that my mother's chicken soup is pretty wonderful but I never have put it to the test of some competition.I have shared her recipe in this blog and have had people who tried it compliment the recipe. But now I am so proud of my old college roommate Lauren. Lauren is not old but we have been out of college for a while. She won the best chicken soup in the city of Columbus Ohio. I guess I know of what I speak when I say good chicken soup.

After being a judge for a number of years Lauren decide to put her own recipe up to the challenge. Cooking is nothing new for Lauren. She was one of my roommates that really cooked and cooked great meals. I guess I have been lucky that I have always surrounded myself with people who love to eat, love to eat great food and love to cook. Life does not get much better than that.

What I love about Lauren's award is that over the years I have eaten her chicken soup numerous times. I have always complimented her on her cooking but as is her style to slough it off that she just keeps on making great meals. I also love that Lauren uses the big European soup spoons when she serves soup. Big spoons to capture all that wonderful.

But now others have given her an award I am sure it means more and the size of the award is something too. I am wondering if she will share her recipe with us. I am wondering if I bribe Collin her son and her sous chef to get the recipe he would give it up. I DOUBT IT...

I think I will have to find a reason to get invited for a dinner and see if she will share it.

        

A family memory cookbook can be frustrating when you are still waiting on relatives to furnish you with their recipes? It can not be completed until you have all the recipes! It can be hard to get other people to do what and when you want. << MORE >>

So for those of you who are doing a family cookbook theme healthier eating you may want to search the web right now for all those recipes that are less fat and more flavor. While these recipes are all over the place collect them and then compare them to your family recipes. Remember you can change them if you state that they are updated to be healthier than the original. Healthier recipes means healthier eating and isn't what you really want.<< MORE >>

The Number One Questions I Receive Is How to Add Photos to Your Cookbook. I find this question very scary with today's technology. It is due to most of the formats or templates have not been updated to give you the most flexibility. Many years ago the cookbooks had many recipes on a page and that was it. The other part is that many want to up sell you on your cookbook information. You pay more for the number of pages of editorial which are the pages of stories.  The want you pay for more recipes, more photos and anything from you want that makes your cookbook unique. Very few  cookbook publishers give you the flexibility without extra charges.

I often tell you that I use microsoft's free cookbook templates for my own cookbooks. I can change art work, add pages and do what ever I wish.I have used the cookbookpeople templates that offer that kind of flexibility. It has more updates to give a plus beyond my free templates and once I spend the $39 I can use it in different times and ways. HP has a scrapbook page that can be created and then each page done as its own page printed later to create a cookbook that uses all the levels of your own creativity. Make sure before you use a company to publish your cookbook see what they will have additional charges that will cause you to add dollars to create your family recipe cookbook.

If you can cut and paste to add a photo to a document then you can add your photos to your cookbook. Most computers allow you to drag the photo from you photo file to the page. It is that easy. You just have to have a template will allow that.

What are the photo's to add to your family recipe cookbooks?

1. Good quality old family photos to show your relatives off.
   
2. Good new family photos showing your relatives now.
3. Recipes cards written in the original handwriting. (scanned as art work)
4. Photo of what the foods should look like (created when you taste and test the recipes)
5. Photos of the old homestead or house where the stories took place

The hard part is with all those topics is to choose the correct photos for your family recipe cookbook. It takes someone who can say no so that your cookbook is more a photobook than a cookbook. I still have that problem after all these years. I worry that if I do not use it they will be lost. I have to remind myself that I can do another book later. So can you!

        

Personal stories are great to get people to read and use your cookbook but it is just as important to get your cookbook to be used and you can do it with themes. Since temperatures here in Minnesota where I write this blog have not been above freezing since Christmas Day an easy solution would be soups.<< MORE >>

Yes, you can change Grandmother's recipe. Yes, you make it more modern and make it fit your family but never discard the original so that it can be made a holidays as it has been for years. ... << MORE >>