Comments on: Organizing Recipes http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/ About finding balance in your life, connecting with who you are, and creating a lifestyle where you wake up each morning eagerly anticipating the day ahead. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:15:03 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Ginny http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/comment-page-1/#comment-17485 Ginny Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:03:27 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/#comment-17485 I'm really enjoying your posts and agree with so many things that your family is doing in "Simplified" living. We lost our house to fire when I was a teen so I've always been fearful of something like that happening again so I started keeping back-up copies of certain things, like my recipes. The original in my index file and one on my computer which I back-up to disc and keep in a safe place. Works for me so far. I'm slowly working through the untried recipes but I fear that many years will pass before they're all tried as I have many, many, many! As for your lost bread recipe, you may be able to recreate it as I had to do once. Start by writing down everything you can remember about it, eg... list of ingredients and the amounts of the ones you can remember. Then search on the internet for similar breads. Find the ones that have the same content for a major ingredient or two, like "3 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup water". See what other ingredients are similar to your list and piece together a prototype. After you have your prototype, you should be able to test and tweak the recipe until you have your original version. Note the changes each time until you have it right. Sometimes, just the repetitive act will spark your memory and bring back a forgotten step or ingredient. It's a lot of work and doesn't happen overnight, but a true keeper recipe is often worth it. Good luck if you try!! I’m really enjoying your posts and agree with so many things that your family is doing in “Simplified” living. We lost our house to fire when I was a teen so I’ve always been fearful of something like that happening again so I started keeping back-up copies of certain things, like my recipes. The original in my index file and one on my computer which I back-up to disc and keep in a safe place. Works for me so far. I’m slowly working through the untried recipes but I fear that many years will pass before they’re all tried as I have many, many, many!
As for your lost bread recipe, you may be able to recreate it as I had to do once. Start by writing down everything you can remember about it, eg… list of ingredients and the amounts of the ones you can remember. Then search on the internet for similar breads. Find the ones that have the same content for a major ingredient or two, like “3 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup water”. See what other ingredients are similar to your list and piece together a prototype. After you have your prototype, you should be able to test and tweak the recipe until you have your original version. Note the changes each time until you have it right. Sometimes, just the repetitive act will spark your memory and bring back a forgotten step or ingredient. It’s a lot of work and doesn’t happen overnight, but a true keeper recipe is often worth it. Good luck if you try!!

]]> By: Shirley http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/comment-page-1/#comment-251 Shirley Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:06:15 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/#comment-251 Such nice comments! Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Sadly, no... I have not yet found my recipe for the bread, although I did remember that I shared the recipe with several other people, so I have asked them to look for it too. So far no one seems to have found it! Such nice comments! Thank you so much for taking the time to write. Sadly, no… I have not yet found my recipe for the bread, although I did remember that I shared the recipe with several other people, so I have asked them to look for it too. So far no one seems to have found it!

]]> By: Laura http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/comment-page-1/#comment-250 Laura Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:04:32 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/#comment-250 I can't agree enough. Keep a record of those recipes! I was wondering, did you ever find your recipe for the whole wheat bread? I can’t agree enough. Keep a record of those recipes! I was wondering, did you ever find your recipe for the whole wheat bread?

]]> By: Pat http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/comment-page-1/#comment-249 Pat Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:02:58 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/#comment-249 Wow! You laddies are so much more organized than me! I love the idea of making your own cookbook from favourite recipes. I have a lot of my mum's recipes that I remember but she wasn't one to be very accurate when she wrote down a recipe. The ingredients are there but no directions. Sometimes even the ingredient amounts are--to taste--or something like--add flour until dough is thick enough. I have tried to make many of her recipes without success. So I can't stress enough to keep a record of recipes that mean something to you. You won't always keep them in your head. Wow! You laddies are so much more organized than me! I love the idea of making your own cookbook from favourite recipes. I have a lot of my mum’s recipes that I remember but she wasn’t one to be very accurate when she wrote down a recipe. The ingredients are there but no directions. Sometimes even the ingredient amounts are–to taste–or something like–add flour until dough is thick enough. I have tried to make many of her recipes without success. So I can’t stress enough to keep a record of recipes that mean something to you. You won’t always keep them in your head.

]]> By: Shirley http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/comment-page-1/#comment-248 Shirley Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:56:41 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/#comment-248 Hi Michelle, Thanks for writing. It sounds like you are doing exactly what I want to do with my recipes. I think adding comments about each recipe is so important... where you got the recipe, who likes it, etc. I love to read community-type cookbooks, and I think the additional information for each recipe is what makes reading them so interesting. Good luck with your project! It sounds like you are way ahead of me, but I'm glad my post was a bit of inspiration for you! Hi Michelle,

Thanks for writing. It sounds like you are doing exactly what I want to do with my recipes. I think adding comments about each recipe is so important… where you got the recipe, who likes it, etc. I love to read community-type cookbooks, and I think the additional information for each recipe is what makes reading them so interesting. Good luck with your project! It sounds like you are way ahead of me, but I’m glad my post was a bit of inspiration for you!

]]> By: Michelle http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/comment-page-1/#comment-27 Michelle Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:08:46 +0000 http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/organizing-recipes/#comment-27 Like you, I type out all of our tried and true recipes and keep them in a Word document. It is a running joke in our family, that when I try a new recipe, we take a vote and decide if it is good enough to go into the recipe book. I also personalize many of them with the dates that we have tried them, special people and memories associated with them, and any changes that we would make. My biggest thing now, after spending the last 12 years typing our favourites into my computer, is to take the time to print them all out. On more than one ocassion, I have been completely "lost" when my computer has quit working, and the only copy I have of a recipe is trapped on its hard drive somewhere. You would think I would learn. Getting it all printed out is one of the goals I have set for myself this year. I took you up on your challenge last night and pulled all of my loose recipes out of the cupboard where I keep them "stored". You know...the ones I get from friends or relatives, or print out from one of a hundred different sites online that I fully intend to try someday, but never manage to go back to. I must have had at least a 3-inch stack of them, and despite my good intentions at the time I first printed them, I know that only a very small fraction have ever been made. I started dividing the recipes up into categories to see if I was drawn to any particular category. If I was to take a guess, I would have predicted chicken and pasta recipes, with a few dessert recipes thrown in for good measure. I was surprised to discover, from that sampling anyway, the I was pretty evenly split in ALL categories, having everything from recipes for Sonic Lemonade to the Best Bowl of Oatmeal. It appears that I am non-discriminatory in my food choices. Now that you have me thinking about my recipe book again, I really should go back and finish that off, as well as decide what I am going to do with that huge stack of untried recipes. Even if I tested one every day, I would still have recipes left over at the end of the year, I'm sure. Like you, I type out all of our tried and true recipes and keep them in a Word document. It is a running joke in our family, that when I try a new recipe, we take a vote and decide if it is good enough to go into the recipe book. I also personalize many of them with the dates that we have tried them, special people and memories associated with them, and any changes that we would make.

My biggest thing now, after spending the last 12 years typing our favourites into my computer, is to take the time to print them all out. On more than one ocassion, I have been completely “lost” when my computer has quit working, and the only copy I have of a recipe is trapped on its hard drive somewhere. You would think I would learn. Getting it all printed out is one of the goals I have set for myself this year.

I took you up on your challenge last night and pulled all of my loose recipes out of the cupboard where I keep them “stored”. You know…the ones I get from friends or relatives, or print out from one of a hundred different sites online that I fully intend to try someday, but never manage to go back to. I must have had at least a 3-inch stack of them, and despite my good intentions at the time I first printed them, I know that only a very small fraction have ever been made.

I started dividing the recipes up into categories to see if I was drawn to any particular category. If I was to take a guess, I would have predicted chicken and pasta recipes, with a few dessert recipes thrown in for good measure. I was surprised to discover, from that sampling anyway, the I was pretty evenly split in ALL categories, having everything from recipes for Sonic Lemonade to the Best Bowl of Oatmeal. It appears that I am non-discriminatory in my food choices.

Now that you have me thinking about my recipe book again, I really should go back and finish that off, as well as decide what I am going to do with that huge stack of untried recipes. Even if I tested one every day, I would still have recipes left over at the end of the year, I’m sure.

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