Recipe Roundup

It’s time again for the monthly roundup at Laura’s place. This month’s focus was on recipe organization. To be honest, I almost didn’t participate this month because I don’t cook that much so I didn’t see recipe organization as a big priority.

But after I considered it, I did have some cookbooks and recipes that I didn’t use or had tried and didn’t like. I decided to not put it off again.

All of my cookbooks can fit on one shelf in our kitchen. Like I said, recipes are not my thing. I have some cookbooks that I married into, one cookbook of my mom’s (it may have even been my grandma’s), and some “sneak veggies in” type cookbooks. The blue binder is my recipe binder.

Besides the blue binder, I have another binder (not kept on this shelf) that has my weekly menu and all the recipes that go along with that week. That way, all the things we use regularly are in one place. The orange tab is “This Week’s Menu”.

This is a horrible shot of what’s behind that orange tab. The left hand page is our menu for the week (I have created an 8-week rotating menu). Below the menu is the shopping list for the week. On the right hand side is the first recipe for the week.

After I went through everything, these are all the books and loose recipes that didn’t make the cut. Sorry, Betty Crocker. I’ve never really liked you…

I replaced the blue binder with a clear front binder so I could personalize it a little. I found this picture that mimics those old metal signs that hung in diners. It says “Mom’s Kitchen…Microwave Ready in Minutes.” I got some pocket tab dividers and used my label maker for the…LABELS! Genius, I know. I divided the recipes up into Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Baking, Treats, and Seasonal. The pockets in front of each section hold recipes I would like to try. My goal is to try 1 new recipe every couple of weeks to get those pockets emptied.

And here is the stunning after. Not that big of a difference, but it’s nice to not have Betty Crocker staring me in the face.  Seriously, we were not friends at all.

So that’s it! My big recipe reveal. Head on over to Laura’s to see how every one else did with the challenge!