These are recipes straight from the table of our family in America. There is no reinventing here. This is tried and true food I have grown up on.

— Rocco DiSpirito —

No matter what culture or country we come from, some of the treasures we have are the recipes that have passed down through our families, and the ones we add to our repertoire from various sources. Since our recipes do come from various sources, we often have them on various media from index cards to magazine clippings to written scraps of paper. Our goal here is finding a way to consolidate all of those into a usable system so we can access them easily.

What Makes a Good Recipe?

The first criteria is, of course, is that you like the item it creates. But there is various information which you can include in your recipe to make preparing your meals and shopping easier.

1. Descriptive Title.
   If the title is "Secret Kid's Delight," rename it with an appropriate title mentioning ingredients — "Chocolate Marshmallow Kid's Delight."
2. Ingredients List.
   Some recipes go right into the directions without a list of the ingredients you need. If the original recipe did not have an Ingredients List, make one so you will have that information when you go shopping. It would be very frustrating to do your shopping, but forget the nutmeg you need, because it was stuck in the middle of a paragraph.
3. How many it serves.
4. Detailed directions.
5. Prep time.
6. Cooking time.
7. Special utensils needed.
8. Where you can buy needed specialty items.
9. Nutrition information.
10. Source of the recipe.
11. Last Served.
    This note would not be for regular dinners, but if you like to entertain, this will help you in noting the last event you served it at. This will allow you to make a different and creative menus for friends and associates you invite often.
12. Pairings.
    If the recipe item goes well with other drinks, desserts, or other items, note it so you can easily create menus.

The Testing Kitchen

You may not be the Gourmet Magazine or Pillsbury testing kitchen, but you certainly are an important kitchen to you and your family. You may already have your tried and true family favorites, but I am taking an educated guess that many of the recipes you have floating around your kitchen are ones you haven't even tried yet. So the first thing we are going to do is gather and separate the recipes we haven't tried yet and put them in a box or file or folder that says "Not Yet Tested." There is no need to put those into your formal Recipe Organization until you have tried them and decided that you like them. So those are going to stay in their original source form, whether they are scribbled napkins or printouts from the website of a favorite cooking show. You may want to reserve one day a week to try one or several new recipes to see if you really like them. If they pass the test, they'll move on to your real recipe file.

Methods of Filing Recipes

You will first need to decide if you want to just have a hard copy method, such as a notebook or index cards, or a computerized method, or a combination of both. The advantages of hard copy is that it is readily available. The computer advantage is being able to store many recipes and having a copy of them for backup, you can organize them into several categories, and it is easy to pass on a recipe to a friend with a printout or email. I tend to use a combination of both, having my favorite items available already printed out, but storing most of them on the computer.

Hard Copy Recipes

There are two ways to organize your recipes with hard copy — a file box or a notebook. No matter which method you decide to go with, you will need a method of separating your recipes into categories using appropriate dividers. One advantage of the hard copy method is that you can glue or tape your various recipes directly onto the card or paper. You may also write out the recipes or if you are also using a computer to store recipes, you can print them to cards or paper.

Computerized Recipes

Getting your recipes in the computer can be accomplished in several ways. You can type them in, scan them in, or copy and paste from a website. You can organize them in various ways. You can use a word processor, a database, a note taking program like Microsoft OneNote, or a Recipe Program. The easiest is using a Recipe Program as those are set up to organize your recipes and calculate amounts. Different programs offer different extras such as Menu Planning, Shopping Lists, Costing, Pictures, and some will allow you to paste recipes from the web or a text file and will convert it to the appropriate amounts, so that you will not have to individually add items for calculations.

As with any good computer practice, back up your file so that it will be available if something goes wrong with your computer.

Categories

The various categories you can have are as varied as the number of tastebuds we have. But here is a list to get you started.

1. General Categories.
   1. Appetizers
   2. Beverages: Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic.
   3. Breads: Yeast and Quick.
   4. Canning: Fruits, Jams, Vegetables etc.
   5. Cheese
   6. Condiments
   7. Desserts: Cakes, Candy, Cookies, Frozen, Pastries, Pies
   8. Eggs
   9. Fish
   10. Fruits
   11. Meats: Beef, Lamb, Pork, Poultry
   12. One Dish: Casseroles, Slow Cookers
   13. Pasta
   14. Rice
   15. Salads
   16. Sauces and Butters
   17. Soups
   18. Specialties and Miscellaneous: Cereals, Souffles, Timbales etc.
   19. Vegetables
2. Ethnic Foods (many to choose from, but here's a few).
   1. African
   2. American: can do various regions
   3. Australian
   4. Asian: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai etc.
   5. European- Various: Belgium, Dutch, English, Irish, Welsh
   6. French
   7. German
   8. Greek
   9. Indian
   10. Jewish/Kosher
   11. Mexican and other Central American
   12. Middle Eastern
   13. Scandinavian: Finnish, Norse, Swedish
   14. Slavic: Czech, Polish, Russian etc.
   15. South American: Brazilian, Chilean
   16. Spanish / Portuguese
3. Specialty Health Diets
   1. Low Fat
   2. Low Salt
   3. Low Sugar
   4. Low Protein
   5. Low Iron

— Shelly —