I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours # 3

For this month's take on the event, Cate has asked us bloggers to share our tried and true recipe files. How DO we all keep track of the recipes we try that we like- that we have every intention of repeating in the future. How do we separate the good from the bad? And oh how I wish there were a tiny bit of easy and quick organization that I could share with you. But the true guts of it are that I am not anywhere near as organized as I would like to be. Not even close. Basically, my tried and true recipes end up in one of three places. Let's take a mini tour!


First up we have my nod to technology- my computer, and the program Mastercook. I love Mastercook. In my personal tried and true cookbook I have 112 bona fide recipes. I also have a cookbook that I made for my sister in law, and that has about 70 recipes in it. I also have different cookbooks for baking and candy-making, and one for soups. All told, I have about 250 tried and true recipes on my computer right now. And that doesn't even come close to touching the "to try" cookbooks.
Secondly we have my binder system. And it's really not much of a system. This is where I keep the recipes that I have printed out from the internet or taken out of magazines- or someone has given to me. Eventually, I hope to have all of these recipes in my Mastercook as well, but there is also a section for some of my more used Mastercook recipes- so I don't have to print out a new one every time I need it.
And thirdly, my tried and true recipe files really wouldn't be complete without this photo- my ever growing cookbook collection. This is the bulk of my cookbooks. What I have started doing to try to be a little more organized is putting a notecard in the front of each cookbook listing the recipes that I have really liked from the cookbook. It's not a perfect system, and the only thorough ones I've done have been the Cooking Light Annuals, but it's a start. For the most part, I just have a really good memory- and I remember which cookbook holds my blueberry muffin recipe, and which cookbook really has the best perfect roast chicken. So far it works for me.

That's how I keep track of my tried and true recipes. Not perfect, and not nearly as organized as many people I'm sure. I'm looking forward to seeing the other entries. Check out the full round-up over at Sweetnicks blog.