Jen Slavin said… I am in the process of organizing my recipes that aren’t in cookbooks. I have clippings from magazines, written out on post-its, print outs from the Internet etc…I remember your amazing binders of recipes/meals and I’m wondering if you’d mind sharing how you organized them. Thanks! xo j
For those of you who don’t know, Jen is my college roommate and one of my best friends in the whole wide world and one of those people who I hope hope hope to live near again someday. We both lived in Boston for a few years post-college, so we kinda got spoiled by living near each other IRL (not that college isn’t real life, but in real life is just different… and it was awesome to be near her). Now we’re on opposite sides of the country, although we oftentimes seem to be living parallel lives nonetheless. And we still have a blast whenever we get together. Gosh, I love love love her. Anyway…
Jen~~ my idea for the binders came from being inspired by something that my friend Stacey showed me. It was all of her grandmother’s recipes, all neat and tidy in a 3-ring-binder. I loved it and got to thinking about doing something similar to organize all of my own recipes. Like you, I had clippings from magazines, print-outs from the internet, post-its, scraps of paper, etc., etc., etc. It was a total, total mess. What I came up with is what I have and what you’ve seen. It was one of my “Waiting Projects” (adoptive parents reading will know what I mean…. LOL!!!)… it was one of the many things I did to occupy myself during the months of waiting for Kyle and Owen to come home. That was about 5 years ago now, and I really wouldn’t change anything about my ‘system’ because it is actually working really very well. Still, though, Jen, let me know what you come up with because I’m always trying to find ways to improve upon all of this. And anybody else who is reading~~ please let Jen and I know what you do to organize your recipes/menus/cookbooks (leave a comment here on this post).
So, I have two binders. One is for recipes. The other is for menu ideas. The recipe binder is organized by categories. I bought all the paper supplies at Staples. (click on any photo to enlarge)
Everything is in plastic sleeves (which is great for spills, drips, kitchen messes, etc.). I put all of the scraps of paper I had, and every recipe card, etc. into pages. Jen, note that the binder is open to your Dill Chicken recipe (on a “Colby” notepad piece of paper no less!)! We love that Dill Chicken — I still remember the first time I ate that in your apartment in Brookline, sitting on the floor of your family room, watching Party of Five (and I’ve learned that you can use half the stick of butter and still have it taste d-lish!!!!!!!)! I think that is a very kid-friendly recipe. Everytime we have it for dinner, K & O call it “chicken and grass” (instead of chicken and dill)! LOL!
The Menus binder is much thinner, but is also organized by category. In there I have also included photos of great dinners I’ve made or dinner parties I’ve thrown that I want to remember. I add those in from time to time because it is the perfect (and really only!!!) place to put those sorts of photos! I also sometimes put in magazine clippings that aren’t for recipes per se, but rather are for ideas (party ideas, serving ideas, etc.)
Within each category I have multiple sections. So, for example, in the “Soups & Salads” category I have soups, stews, crockpot dinners, salads, etc. Each has its own page. Again, everything is in plastic sleeves. Jen, note that the binder is open to the salad page (I know you love my salad dinners), and also note that the first salad on the list is your Fajita Salad recipe. I vividly remember the first time I had that salad too— again, in your apartment in Brookline– sitting at your kitchen table in your kitchen. It was so good! And I still love it so much! Anyway, so in the menus binder there are just lists of ideas. I don’t include recipes there. It is just a go-to place for ideas when I’m drawing a blank on what to make for meals that week, or when I need to come up with something to make for a pot-luck, or when we’re having company for dinner and I need to figure out what to serve. We also use it, sometimes, when we have visitors. I can give them the binder and ask them to pick something for dinner. Then we can go food shopping together, come back to the house, and make dinner together. This works really nicely and was, originally, actually the intent of this binder.*
My big problem now is that I still have all these cookbooks in my kitchen. Somehow I need to get them organized so that I remember what is in there and so that I can easily find new recipes in there too. Any ideas????