The Story Of Creating The Recipe Book

Recently updated on August 1st, 2023 at 10:03 am

The Idea

Every great idea stems from somewhere. A point in time where we say “that’s genius” or “I wish there was [x]!” This great idea was created in a time where I was desperate for a hobby. Ideally, something that was for me to enjoy and not a chore. The idea could have been satisfied just by me going on Etsy to purchase a custom recipe book binder and inserting the hole punched paper with recipes on it; however, that was not good enough. Strangely, my idea kept evolving and desires kept emerging.

Desire #1 – Binding

A recipe book is a collection of recipes that a person creates, cooks, and enjoys for a lifetime. Cooking is never ending since we need to eat everyday. I probably make more than 20 new recipes a year. Not all the recipes I would make again but some I would absolutely want to save to make again. The problem was I did not have a place to save the recipes. I hated that the recipes I wanted to make time and time again were all over from cook books, to magazines, Facebook saved for later folders, Pinterest Pins, all the way to lost somewhere on Google. If it was the last thing I did I was going to place them in one single spot! I decided to bind them in a book.

Books are beautiful. The type of binding and cover together create a look of sophistication giving an impression that the words inside are powerful. My favorite recipes desired something beautiful and sophisticated! I looked at;

• Plastic Spiral Binding Coils
• Plastic Spiral Comb Binding
• Traditional Binders
• Report Cover Sliding Bars
• Metal Binder Rings

All of the choices did not make any sense. They were not beautiful and the concept was not going to work. The recipe book needed something that would allow new recipes to be added easily. After further time, discbounding was presented to me! Discs come in a variety of sizes, colors, and materials.

Discs allow any type of paper that is discbound punched to be added to it’s ring. The paper punch is like a mushroom where the stem slides around the center of the disc and the mushroom top fits neatly over the discs rim. Once, the paper is placed on the ring you cannot see the stem anymore so it looks professionally bounded. It is beautiful and sophisticated!

Desire #2 – Paper

1. Discbound Punched

The paper would need to be discbound punched. That was the easy part.

2. Paper Weight

The hard part was deciding on a paper that would again be beautiful. A simple plain white printing paper was anything but beautiful. It did not have any weight to it. If you use a light weight paper the discbound punch stem would likely not hold for years to come.

3. Stain Resistant

The paper would need to be able to with stand some water or ingredients being splashed on the pages. Come on let’s be honest, I get ingredients on the counters, drawers, floor, and on my cookbooks every time I cook. What about you? Do not lie! If you are a clean cook then please show me your secret!

4. Font & Printing

Lastly, font and printing was the final step. This was a little harder then expected; however, I knew the overall style I wanted. The recipe title would have a beautiful script font and the ingredients and cooking directions would listed on same front side of paper. Click here to ruin the surprise now or see later when designing your recipe book.

5. Photo of dish being made

At minimum there would be at least one image of the dish located on the front of the recipe page plus maybe another image on the back side.

Discover our recipe pages in our store!

Desire #3 – Customizable Cover

The cover is the first impression of a book. Of course the cover is because it’s the first thing you see and to be fair the part you see the most therefore, I wanted again something beautiful and sophisticated!

For me, I was not sure I was ready to choose a forever cover. For now, I would be happy with a cover that I could love then maybe improve on or even change if I desired. It’s like a phone cover, we buy one just to protect our new phone then eventually we might get tired of the one we have and buy something else.

Deciding on a cover for you was mind blowing. How was I going to decide on something for a person I don’t even know? Maybe I am over thinking it but if I was going to make something for others I’d like them to be happy so it had to be able to be customizable!

Thankfully, I found Plum Paper! Plum Paper is a planner and notebook company that allows the customer (you) to personalize your product the way you want. It’s wonderful! They have 100s of covers which you can add text or a photo for as little as $9.00 for the 8.5” x 11”. What a deal! Check it out now.

Desire #4 – Add-Ons

Lastly, the recipe book would have the ability to have add-ons based on the persons desires.

• Calendar pages or Notebook pages
• Choice of Discs (Color, Material, Design, etc.)
• Tabs to organize dishes (Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Dinner, etc.)
• Zipper Pocket for Coupons
• Weekly Menu Planning & Shopping List Pages
• Pen & Pen Belt

& much more!

In closing, this recipe book was started just as a way for me to organize but it is absolutely too amazing to not share it with everyone! Allow this recipe book to help create your love for hating to cook! Allow this recipe book to create memories! Allow this recipe book to be YOU!