Skip to main content

Organizing Your Cookbooks

Who knew that all of those recipe books were hiding in my buffet? Only me! It was simply another one of those projects that I kept thinking I'll work on it later. And everyone knows "later" never works out well. A couple of years ago, I did a massive sort with my cookbooks and I was able to sell many of them on a garage sale. Since I love to cook and bake, I felt some sort of attachment to my cookbooks! (I know, it's weird). Many of them are old, family members have written cute little notes in them and I didn't want to part with them. But when I took them out and saw my cookbook disaster, I quickly changed my mind.  

 
I started this project by giving myself limits. I used the top shelf in the buffet for my favorite cookbooks that I actually use. The bottom shelf is for our blog information and family recipes. My first rule in throwing away was to throw away any loose papers, you know the internet recipes, magazine, newspaper recipes or those free recipe brochures that I've picked up at the grocery store. Next were the recipe books that I haven't touched in the last year (or ever), I am donating those. Remember to picture what you want it to look like in the end. By the time I was finished I was left with only the items that I use or those that have a special meaning to me.

4 hours later
Even though this can be a time consuming project, once you are finished it's worth it!  This was the last organizing project left in my kitchen. I love the feeling when everything is sorted and organized. So get started before the weather is too nice, you can do this!! And don't forget to share your organizing tips with us, we love to hear from you!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Popular posts from this blog

Grandma's Bread Pudding and Caramel Sauce

I was trying to think of something for dessert last night and homemade bread pudding was my choice. Our Dad was not a dessert lover but bread pudding was one of his favorites. Our grandma made the best bread pudding, hope you like it! Ingredients : 5 cups slightly dried out bread, any kind. I used Italian bread.  1/4 cup raisins (optional) 2 cups milk 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 T vanilla 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon Caramel Sauce Ingredients 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla Directions : Cut the bread in cubes. I cut some of the crust off (on about half of the bread). Place bread into a greased casserole dish or an 11x9 inch pan. Add raisins.  Microwave milk and butter about 4 minutes on 60% power or heat in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Slowly add the mixture to the egg and milk an...

Grilled Orange Roughy

My favorite food choices are often related to family memories, so I wanted to share one of our favorite grilled fish recipes. Our Dad used to take us fishing and we grew up eating the fish we caught ourselves. Then came the time when we had to start buying fish, I searched for types of fish that didn't taste too "fishy". It's hard to accomplish that in the Midwest, we don't always have many choices. We were introduced to orange roughy during a trip to San Diego where my great-uncle treated us to some of the most wonderful seafood we had ever eaten at an establishment called Anthony's. It was the first time we had eaten orange roughy and it was white, flaky and not too fishy tasting. After a few experiments, this is my favorite method to prepare it at home. Serves 4 or 2 with leftovers! Ingredients: 4 orange roughy fillets 1/4 c fresh cilantro, I use a small handful * if you are not a cilantro fan use fresh dill, about 1/4 c chopped 2 tsp garlic powder o...

Homemade Goulash

Last weekend I made meals for the freezer. It takes a few hours but this will save you time during the week (in case you have nights like I do when you don't feel like cooking) and your family will love it! I adapted this recipe from Paula Deen (it's called Bobby's Goulash). I used organic ingredients but use the products of your choice. I would have liked to use fresh tomatoes from the garden but my tomatoes weren't quite ready. You can also make it gluten-free by using gluten-free elbow macaroni. It's so tasty - my family loved it! Ingredients : 1 pound ground turkey 1 pound lean ground beef 1 -2 small onions, diced ( I used red onions) 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice 3 cups water 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 T Italian seasoning 3 bay leaves 3 T soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce 1 T seasoning salt course ground pepper to taste 2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked) Putting it together: Brown meat and onions in a lar...