A Birthday Gift
Not for me, silly. My birthday's in March.
No. This is the story of what I made Sis2 for HER birthday. Yeah, her b-day was yesterday. While I did give her a couple of small "happies" yesterday, her REAL gift will make its way into her hands on Saturday during her birthday "party."
For a long while now she's been harassing me for a lot of the recipes for things I've brought to various family functions and such. I'm always, "Yeah, I'll get that to you" but then somehow I never do. I'm forgetful, mostly.
So with that in mind, I decided to give her a cookbook for her birthday. But not just ANY cookbook. MY cookbook.
All I did was buy a white three ring binder, decorate it with card stock inserts (scrapbook supplies a'hoy!) and typed up all my favorite recipes that I've collected over the past couple of years. Blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc. Sadly, most of them desserts/sweets. But I wouldn't be me otherwise.
Then I loaded those pages in clear sleeves and voila!
A usable cookbook of all my favorite things!
See? I even did the back and the spine!
Along with each recipe, though, I included notes on my experiences with the recipe. Things that worked for me, how I modified it for whatever reason. Notes on quantities, levels of deliciousness, etc. I know I love the cookbooks Ree and others have put out lately with their personal stories about certain recipes so I figured Sis2 might appreciate that in this, too.
I'd have loved to include photos of each finished recipe but I'm not that rich (or that good a photographer) to be able to do that. Plus, it would have taken forEVER to do that. As it was, it took a good two weeks to type up all the recipes in a consistent format. All told, though, I think the project cost about $5, give or take a dollar or two. The binder was around $3 and the inserts around $2 or $3. I already owned the card stock and the paper and printer ink.
To go with this, I also bought her an industrial cookie/baking sheet and a cookie scoop--both items something that she's wanted for a while. I might end up including some "supplies" with it if my budget holds out. Things like different flavors of baking chips, slivered almonds, cocoa, different flavorings, a jar of yeast, some instant coffee (for coffee and cream cookies)--you know, things like that. Stuff she may not already have or have the grocery budget to afford.
Or I could just give her cash. Cash is always welcome everywhere it goes. ;-)
No. This is the story of what I made Sis2 for HER birthday. Yeah, her b-day was yesterday. While I did give her a couple of small "happies" yesterday, her REAL gift will make its way into her hands on Saturday during her birthday "party."
For a long while now she's been harassing me for a lot of the recipes for things I've brought to various family functions and such. I'm always, "Yeah, I'll get that to you" but then somehow I never do. I'm forgetful, mostly.
So with that in mind, I decided to give her a cookbook for her birthday. But not just ANY cookbook. MY cookbook.
All I did was buy a white three ring binder, decorate it with card stock inserts (scrapbook supplies a'hoy!) and typed up all my favorite recipes that I've collected over the past couple of years. Blogs, newspapers, magazines, etc. Sadly, most of them desserts/sweets. But I wouldn't be me otherwise.
Then I loaded those pages in clear sleeves and voila!
A usable cookbook of all my favorite things!
See? I even did the back and the spine!
Along with each recipe, though, I included notes on my experiences with the recipe. Things that worked for me, how I modified it for whatever reason. Notes on quantities, levels of deliciousness, etc. I know I love the cookbooks Ree and others have put out lately with their personal stories about certain recipes so I figured Sis2 might appreciate that in this, too.
I'd have loved to include photos of each finished recipe but I'm not that rich (or that good a photographer) to be able to do that. Plus, it would have taken forEVER to do that. As it was, it took a good two weeks to type up all the recipes in a consistent format. All told, though, I think the project cost about $5, give or take a dollar or two. The binder was around $3 and the inserts around $2 or $3. I already owned the card stock and the paper and printer ink.
To go with this, I also bought her an industrial cookie/baking sheet and a cookie scoop--both items something that she's wanted for a while. I might end up including some "supplies" with it if my budget holds out. Things like different flavors of baking chips, slivered almonds, cocoa, different flavorings, a jar of yeast, some instant coffee (for coffee and cream cookies)--you know, things like that. Stuff she may not already have or have the grocery budget to afford.
Or I could just give her cash. Cash is always welcome everywhere it goes. ;-)
Comments
For instance, I shared Jen's awesome Sloppy Joe recipe with her and she went and screwed it up with a bunch of other junk like belle peppers and extra spices and cut OUT the brown sugar. Then fixed it for me for lunch one Sunday and was all "So? Better than yours?" Blech. No. It was greasy and tasted NOTHING like the orginal recipe. And I LOVE Jen's recipe because it's thick and rich and slightly sweet.
So anyway, I don't think I'll be making Mama a cookbook. lol