Want to make a cookbook your way? We’ve got the perfect new product for you- Secret Ingredients Cookbook Kits! These new kits help you create a cookbook using your home computer or favorite pen, giving you the freedom to place recipes and photos wherever you like. Plus, you can add to your book throughout the years!
One Heirloom divider set in your favorite pattern- Fabulous Fruit, Fashionably Late, Purely Organic or Surf ‘N Turf
200 blank, pre-punched paper to use with your home computer and printer
Splash guards to protect your pages from kitchen spills and splatters
A Keepsake box for your cookbook
Directions on how to use your favorite word processing program to print your recipes
These kits are really cool and are only $125 each. Please email us at info@heirloomcookbook.com with your questions or if you would like to order. This is the perfect gift for a serious cook!
I recently came across Cooking Up a Story on YouTube, and I have become a huge fan. Cooking Up a Story releases about one video a week that tells “stories about real people and their special connections to food and sustainable living”.
This recent video, Cooking with Love: Alice’s Kitchen, is one of my favorites. It is a beautiful story of a daughter continuing the legacy of Lebanese cooking learned by her mother. You will see the cookbook she made to keep the traditions going.
Spice up your cookbook with fun recipe titles! I love fun recipe titles. They make me instantly more interested in a recipe. Here’s an example: Just this week we saw a recipe for “Stripe It Rich Cake”. Other favorites have been “Linde’s Kick Butt Cowboy Cookies”, “Hee Hee Chicken”, and “You’ll Never Go Back Cranberry Sauce”, all from our friend Linde in Reno, Nevada. Seriously fun!
So, where do you find inspiration for creative recipe titles? Look at the names of foods in grocery stores. My personal favorites are from Ben & Jerry’s. Who can beat “Chuncky Monkey”, “Bananas on the Rum”, and “Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz”?
Another great way to name a recipe is by thinking of a funny story about the recipe author or the recipe itself. “Hee Hee Chicken” found its name after being served to a crowd that kept laughing at how good it was. A cranberry sauce was named “You’ll Never Go Back Cranberry Sauce” because everyone that tries this recipe refuses to go back to canned cranberry sauce!
If you have any fun recipe titles, please share them with us!
I am single. I don’t have too much time to cook each night. I eat organic, local foods, and I try to avoid sugar (try meaning “sometimes”- haha!). Why do I bring this up? Because it can be a challenge to find recipes in traditional cookbooks to fit my needs! As a single woman, the last thing I need is a recipe that will make enough for an army. I also have to find recipes that do not use processed foods or sugar. This can be hard!
What are the best ways to find recipes that fit your needs?
If you’re like me, you are lucky to find 3-4 good recipes that really fit your needs in each cookbook. You can always buy specialty cookbooks, but I’ve found that they don’t always suit my taste. So, what are good ways to find recipes?
Talk to someone who cooks the same way you do! I have several single friends who also work long hours and eat organic, so they are wonderful resources for me.
Recipe Websites like AllRecipes or RecipeZaar are great because recipes are rated by users. This gives you a good idea if it’s worth your time!
Food bloggers are a great resource! From vegetarian to cupcake specialists, there is a blogger for every food need. Not only will you get recipes that are perfect for your diet, but you can read comments and ask questions. Food Bloggers always provide photographs of the end result which is also very helpful. Foodblogblog has a list of food bloggers and you can generally tell the subject by the title.
Modify your favorite recipes to fit your new lifestyle. This can take some time, but it’s worth it!
Once you’ve collected recipes that fit your diet and lifestyle, make a cookbook! This is very helpful for people who have to make adjustments for medical and health reasons. Not only will it help organize your recipes, but it will keep you focused on your goals!
Looking for a gift to give your favorite cook? What about the new bride? We can definitely help you!
Secret Ingredients is happy to announce two new gift options! Both are perfect for any occasion and require less work then our Keepsake and Heirloom cookbooks…
COOKBOOK KITS: Our new Cookbook Kits allows you to make a Secret Ingredients cookbook using your home computer or favorite pen. Choose your favorite Heirloom binder in black, burgundy, or navy. Then choose your favorite Heirloom divider set. We’ll even throw in splash guards, a keepsake box, and enough paper to fill your binder. You will have the choice of lined or blank paper.
GIFT CERTIFICATES: Secret Ingredients’ Gift Certificates are the perfect gift for the computer savvy cook in your family! You may purchase a gift certificate for any dollar amount.
So as previously mentioned, I’m a fan of national food months. In September, many folks celebrate Better Breakfast Month; it’s in correlation with Back to School month which is cool since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, National Honey Month, and National Mushroom Month.
I did a little research, and was surprised to find that mushrooms are very healthy for you. You always hear about green veggies being good for you, but to me, a mushroom’s biggest claim to fame is the fact that it’s fungus. I always felt like such a rebel for eating it and actually liking it.
The truth is mushrooms are one of the few natural sources of vitamin D. They’re also chuck full of other healthy vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Mushrooms also add a whole other level of versatility to cooking. There’s the classic white button mushroom, the meaty savory taste of a portabella or shitake, the light flavor of an oyster mushroom or for those with a more extravagant palate, there’s always morels, truffles and chanterelles.
Find your favorite mushroom recipe, or venture outside of your comfort zone and dare to taste the fungus for the first time. Make it your own, and add the recipe to your budding cookbook project.
We get questions from customers every once in a while about the placement of certain recipes in their cookbook projects, and whether or not they can create their own recipe tabs. For instance: What section should I put my famous Chicken and Beef Vegetable Casserole in? Or, I have a lot of Rice dishes, can I add a Rice tab to the recipe sections of my cookbook? Here is an explanation and a handy trick you can use should you end up asking yourself similar questions.
Your recipes are organized according to the pre-set categories you see on the website; this way our programming can organize your recipes correctly throughout the cookbook, Table of Contents, and Index. We do have suggestions for recipes that fall into several categories:
Here’s a trick: Place your recipe in the category that you feel best fits the main ingredients. For example, casseroles and rice dishes that are based around chicken, we suggest the Poultry category. For dishes that have several vegetables in them (casserole, rice, or even an egg dish) we suggest the Vegetables category. Any dish that has seafood in it, that is not categorized as an Appetizer (i.e. Crab Dip), is obviously best placed in the Seafood category.
For non-food recipes, such as Playdoh or Recipes for Life, the choice is yours. Hope this helps.
That’s it for me, until next time…
The Holidays are right around the corner. Can you believe it? I noticed that Macy’s is already displaying their Christmas ornaments. As you all know, Secret Ingredients’ Keepsake Cookbooks make the perfect holiday gifts for your friends, neighbors, and family members. Instead of handing out fudge, rum cakes, and candy canes this year, why not give your favorite people something they can use all year… like a cookbook!
My mother goes all out for Christmas. Each year she makes individual rum cakes, soup mixes, homemade crackers, and fudge. She packages everything individually in boxes and tins, and then places one of each item in a clear bag tied beautifully with ribbon. Last year Mom made Holiday Homecoming and Merry Maker cookbooks for all of her friends and included them in her gift bags. It was the perfect touch! Click here to flip through a small sample of her book.
All Keepsake orders must be placed by December 3rd this year, and we have some great deals for the early birds! Remember that these are only for Keepsake Cookbooks.
$5 off your order of 10+ Keepsakes: Use promo code HighFive.
$15 off your order of 15+ Keepsakes: Use promo code Snowflake.
$25 off your order of 20+ Keepsakes: Use promo code HolidayCheer.
All of the above coupons expire on October 31, 2007.
To use the code, type it into the Promo Code box when you are Reviewing Your Order. If you have any problems, please contact us at info@heirloomcookbook.com.
I have never been a theme girl. It could be because I’m a total perfectionist, and having a theme party or project would make me nervous and bring out the worst of my compulsive ways. It could also be because I’m a little short on time. I’m not sure, but I think things are about to change. The beautiful Seattle summer weather, festivities, and food make me want to celebrate friends and life and with that comes themed events and gatherings…
Last night my group of friends had a Grey’s Anatomy party to prepare for the new season. We all brought delicious snacks to watch our favorite moments from last season. Alex, our airplane engineer/bartender, delighted us all with Seattle-themed cocktails. What better way to celebrate our fine city than a coffee martini!
Last night was my first lesson on how to make a theme party easy, memorable, and fun, and I’m completely sold on the idea! As a matter of fact, my group of friends has already planned our next themed event. Later in the month we are having a potluck and everyone is bringing a favorite dish from their home state. How fun is that… and easy!
Why not make a theme for your cookbook project? Gather a group of friends, and let everyone contribute their favorite childhood recipe. Invite your family members into creating a cookbook of favorite holiday meals. Make a cookbook with recipes that are easy enough for your children to enjoy.
The possibilities are endless! To really have fun with this, try our potluck idea. This way you get to choose a theme, try all of the recipes, and then make a cookbook to remember the event.
10. Organization: Now that your recipes are nicely organized alphabetically and by food type, not to mention a handy-dandy Table of Contents, Index, and List of Contributors, you’ll never have to hunt for a recipe again.
9. Great Gift: You know by now that personalized cookbooks are perfect gifts for any occasion. Most special occasions have two things in common: food and gifts. Why not combine the two, and add a personal touch by giving that special someone a personalized cookbook?
8. Easy to Find Recipes: Whether you keep your recipes in a box, kitchen drawer, or stick them in a scrapbook as you go, taking the time to create a personalized cookbook will make finding your recipes much easier.
7. Kitchen Décor: Secret Ingredients Heirloom Cookbooks come in beautiful 3-ring leather binders with three color options to choose from (black, blue, and burgundy). You no longer have to stuff your recipes into a box and hide it in a kitchen drawer. Your Heirloom Cookbook has such a beautiful and professional look that it can now become a part of your kitchen décor.
6. Preserve Recipes and Memories: Creating your own personalized cookbook not only allows you to keep your favorite recipes intact, but it also preserves them and the special memories that make them more than just good food.
5: Easy to Re-order: Our goal at the Secret Ingredients is to make things as easy as possible for our customers. If you’ve ordered a Keepsake Cookbook from us in the past, now you can re-order your cookbook and change your cover to match whatever occasion you want. Stay tuned for more details.
4. Have it Your Way: Perhaps you have more beef recipes than you can shake a stick at, but barely any recipes for appetizers. Maybe you prefer pictures of family and friends instead of vegetables and cookies. Not a problem! When you make your own cookbook, the world is your oyster and you can always have it your way.
3. Unique to You and Your Family: Sure you can buy a celebrity cookbook from a national book store chain, but how many people can say they’ve got a copy of the very special Smith Family Cookbook complete with Grandma Sue’s Apple Pancakes, and cousin Jake’s Chile-Cheese Dip.
2. Inspires Others: When friends, family, and co-workers find out how easy it was to create such a beautiful cookbook, you’ll become an inspiration to them all. Their own ambitions will fire up and they too will be inspired to make their own personalized cookbook all because of you.
1. Secret Ingredients: If you’re reading this list, you already know of a great place to get started. TheSecretIngredients.com works very hard to offer its customers the best products and services available, as well as upgrading our website to improve our user-friendly capability everyday. We want your cookbook project to be an easy and pleasurable experience. Don’t forget, our Customer Service team is there to help you whenever you need us. Send your emails to info@heirloomcookbook.com or call toll free 866-697-3247
Secret Ingredients offers custom cookbook options perfect for every family. Kate Walling, President and Founder, built her company as a platform through which she explores the importance of food traditions, cooking, and their integral place in the lives of modern families. Check back often for updates on Secret Ingredients products, as well as tips, recipes, inspiration, and ideas!
