"More like treasure protectors"

Some might think that being without a car has got to be one of the worst things ever.  While it is true I've had to adjust my plans, 

however, staying home has given me renewed determination to weed-out,

purge, and organize the closets, the bookshelves, the homeschooling supplies, and most recently ~ my recipes.  

 

What can I say.  I really do like to organize, and I was on a roll.

 

Let me give you a little history...
Many years ago I had a friend who had created a three-ring binder of typed family favorite recipes.  It was very organized, divided by tabbed sections, with all the recipes inside sheet protectors. Not only were her recipes easy to find in the binder, but if someone asked her for the recipe, she could just print off a copy.  The best part about her system was that she was thinking of her daughter and being able to create a binder for her with all the recipes she had grown up with, that she could take with her as she began her own home.

I loved the idea, and set to work to make one for myself.  When I would find myself with some spare time, I would type up recipes.  I sorted through ones that we loved, and ones we wanted to try.  It took a long time to complete.  My masterpiece was massive. 

We used it all the time and it worked well, just as my friend's had. 
 
BUT THEN...

One Christmas I was given a little recipe box from my Aunt Barbara.  In it were about a dozen recipes written in her own hand, that were recipes from her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother.    It was a treasure!

I kept the cards in the little box, but after repeated use , the box fell apart.  {It wasn't wooden, but a cardboard replica of a cottage.}

What to do?  The recipes would just slip around inside the big, notebook, page protectors, and I was not going to just type them into the computer and discard the hand-written cards.  A few years ago I found some recipe books at a Hallmark store. {of all places!}   They came with 40 plastic {read wipe-able} sheets that are divided in the middle to allow for two recipe cards to be inserted. They were perfect for my treasured recipes, but it also meant I would have to copy some recipes back onto cards.  I was ok with that.  The notebook was huge and heavy.

The one thing I didn't care for with the new book was the tabbed dividers.  The categories weren't the way I cooked or thought.  I decided to personalize it.  I cut the tabs off the dividers, then I replaced them with the adhesive kind and attached them onto the dividers to make my own personalized sections.   Over time, I began to copy the most used recipes back onto cards and transitioned out of the computer recipes.   I am so glad I did. 

This summer I bought a second book. {the retro one above}.  It has all my "cooking" recipes in it.  The older blue one has the "baking recipes" in it.    

I like this way of recipe keeping the best.  I love seeing the cards that are handwritten, not just from my aunt, but from Eric's Grammy, and friends too. 

 

 It also makes me think through my collection before I add another card.  {Do I really need another chicken recipe?}  So now I have two manageable and organized books filled with the tried-and-true and treasured family recipes. 

P.S.  As for the handing down of recipes....I just write them out in my own hand, which I think my girls will look at with sweet memories of our time in the kitchen.

 

P.S.S.  Can you guess the quote in my title?  ;-)