The Accidental Pastor's Wife

It's no secret I LOVE TO COOK. I even love menu planning and grocery shopping. I think it's because I don't feel guilty buying food like I feel guilty buying stuff for my house or clothes or whatever. I mean you have to EAT.

With that said, I will divulge my system for organizing recipes I clip from magazines, the internet, and ones I write myself.

For many years, I had a computer program called Mastercook. When I only had a couple kids I was very disciplined about typing in recipes into their recipe form and then printing them off. (I actually make a cookbook for my friends when they get married to give them a head start in finding stuff their families will like to eat.)

I still type up recipes occasionally but the best part of my system are the plastic page protectors I slip all the recipes into. I then collect them in 3 ring binders. I'm a messy cook and they wipe clean in the sleeves. My collection of personal recipes has grown to include three binders:

1. Appetizers, Drinks, Desserts
2. Breakfasts, Salads, Side Dishes
3. Main Dishes

Now, I just pull out the recipes from magazines or from the internet and put them in my binder.

Works for me!