Grandma’s Kitchen – a DIY project

Easy suggestions and instructions for a family recipe book full of memories.

I created this recipe book a year ago as a Keepsake for my six granddaughters. It includes family recipes, cooking tips, old and recent family photos, anecdotes, and quotes. Creating photo-books is easy with the online programs available these days. For this book I chose Vistaprint as they often have specials (which I timed well 🙂 ). I have also used ClickOnPrint, Harvey Norman, and Office Works on other occasions – if I’m rushed for time the later one provides on the spot print-and-go. The VistaPrint program is easy, it will let you know if an image size or resolution is not suitable for the template your placing it in to.

To create this book I did the following:

  • Select square format – 40 pages, plus hard cover
  • A variety of page templates are available and can easily be altered.
  • I included pictures of myself (the girls grandmother) and their fathers/uncles, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandmother. I referred to each as their relationship to the girls.
  • I added anecdotes to many pages, for example for this recipe for lamb shanks I added the photo of me dressed up as Little Bo Peep and added the following short story:~ Loving Lamb ~Little Bo-Peep – 1953/4 – Fancy Dress Competition – Junior School Methodist Ladies College, Kew. The Local Butcher loaned me his cute little lamb, a window prop. In those days Butcher’s used to decorate their windows with ‘things’ and parsley. There was always water trickling down the window – like the front window at the Victorian Art Gallery. I came 2nd – 1st Place was a girl dressed as the Queen in the 1953 Coronation gown and robes – which was very topical then.
  • Choose unique headings for the pages that do not have a recipe name. I used these titles: cooking classes, baking tips, more tips, my pies, family, grandma’s words (repeated quotes from myself, and their other grans), and on the front page I introduced the book with … from my kitchen to yours, with love.
  • I was surprised how many little anecdotes came to mind once I started – even a short note, like the first page in the video, where there are pictures of my sons with the peppermint choc slice recipe I added – This is scrumptious – it was a favourite for your Dad and Uncles in their school lunch boxes and parties. 
  • I added the names of the people who gave me the recipes, where and when too, and any anecdotes.
  • The last page I made fun with eleven individual photos of my sons, granddaughters, and myself, all enjoying food 🙂
  • This concept could be adjusted to other projects such as gardening, woodcarving, sewing, etc.
  • Enjoy creating your book of Family Recipe Memories. Feel free to comment, email addresses are not used for newsletters or forwarding to third parties, Cheers, Judi

 

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