Recipe Book

A few years ago I decided that if I were able to collect recipes in a cute, organized manner I would be more inclined to start cooking...

...well, a few years later I have a beautiful binder of recipes collected from friends, family, magazines, and pinterest (of course) but my culinary skills are still slim to none.

Anyway all you need for this project is:

•  3-ring binder, at least 2-inches (I prefer the ones where the binder spine is on the back, it prevents the pages from bending)
• transparent sheet protectors
• bright colored paper (you can use printer paper or cardstock for a sturdier feel)
• Labels/tabs (I like the durable plastic ones you can write on with sharpie)
• Markers
• Glue
• Stickers (optional)

Directions:

• Each piece of paper should go in a sheet protector to keep it safe from the kitchen accidents and sticky fingers that often accompany cooking
• Divide your binder into main sections and sub-sections, with each section getting its own "title page" (see below)

• I divided my binders into the following main sections and sub-sections:
• Appetizers
• Soups
• Salads
• Dips/Sauces
• Entrees
• Chicken
• Fish/Seafood
• Meat
• Pastas
• Side Dishes
• Veggies/Potatos
• Rice/Bread
• Other
• Desserts
• Cakes
• Candies
• Cookies
• Ice Cream
• Other
• Beverages
• Alcoholic
• Smoothis/Milkshakes
• Juice/Tea
• Breakfast
• Eggs
• Pancakes/Waffles
• Sandwiches
• I labeled the main sections with tabs on the side of the pages and the sub-sections with tabs along the top
• After setting up the sections, start adding recipes
• Each recipe gets a full page
• I put white labels on the top of each page for a uniform look and used them to write the name of the recipe
• At this point you can get creative, sometimes I handwrote the recipes on index cards and glued them to the page, sometimes I typed the recipes, and sometimes I cut things directly out of magazines:

• If the recipe comes from a magazine with a picture I usually include that. Sometimes I'll also leave space on the page in case I want to take a picture of a dish after I've made it.

And that's it. Pretty simple but I think it looks really nice. Next goal is to actually cook something from this binder!!

<3 Bee

A proper introduction

Hello, my name is...

well, we can get to that later. For now I'll just go by Bee. I've decided to start this blog as a way of holding myself accountable for the changes I'd like to make in my life by documenting my journey on the internet. And if someone out there happens to like something I post, then that's great too :)

I'm a highly organized, some might say obsessive compulsive, person. I am constantly coming up with new systems to streamline my life and improve efficiency, but I lack the follow through to maintain the projects I start. This blog will focus mostly on things I experiement with (organizational technique, cleaning tricks, recipes, crafting, etc.) and a little bit of things I've already found to be successful.

Here's to a happy, healthy, and productive summer!
<3 Bee