Enhance Recipe Resources Using Software

Cooking and Nutrition have been incredibly hot topics over the past couple of years. Other hot topics such as anti aging and fitness exercise are discussed in correlation with cooking and nutrition on a regular basis. At the same time the rise in Cooking Television Shows has been exponential. This craze has resulted in a cooking channel! A channel devoted to a plethora of cooking shows! These television shows often have associated websites where their recipes are cataloged and made available.

Technology has allowed us access to these websites and recipes at a moments notice but in order to organize and keep your favorites on hand it may be necessary to create a file or use a software package. I have researched and will offer a review of a few software products that I recommend. These products will allow you to import, catalog and print your recipes in a variety of convenient formats.

1. MasterCook Deluxe 9.0 by ValuSoft

Product Features

Meal-planning software with 8,000+ recipes and 100s of international recipes



Thorough search capabilities; expert nutritional analysis



Professional tips, cooking for a crowd, and essential cooking techniques



Enjoy 400 savory baking recipes with step-by-step instructions



Print shopping lists for single recipes or entire menus, or download to PDA

2. Cook'n for Every Holiday by DVO Enterprises

This instructional computer software [http://www.thesoftwarespot.com/default.asp?SID=xSUDBN7CQH9W2UP3PGZYM6&S=500&A=F&SearchText=&CategoryID=1695949&NID=6372614] includes 582 recipes, recipe manager, menu planner, and more!

Product Features:

Search thousands of recipes in seconds--just tell it what you have on hand



Adjust recipe serving sizes automatically



Demonstrate preparation techniques with video clips



Display hundreds of full-color food photos



Organize your own recipes



Print your recipes on decorative 3x5 cards



Create weekly menus



Make grocery shopping lists



Analyze the nutritional value of your recipes

Recipe Manager:

Organizing your family recipe collection in the computer is easy with Cook'n. You already know how to put in your recipes, that's because Cook'n's recipe window looks just like a recipe card. And, "Quick-Fill" editing does much of the typing for you.



Cook'n has simple cookbook-like chapters and categories that make it easy to find your recipes fast.



Cook'n's Recipe Manager makes entertaining a snap. Simply select the number of guests you will be serving and enter it into your favorite recipe. Cook'n calculates the new ingredient amounts for you.

Menu Planner:

Build your own weekly and monthly menus



Drag and drop meals to make your menus



Combine recipes and food items to make complete meals. Then, drag and drop meals to make your own weekly or monthly menus.

Grocery Shopping Assistant

Compiles your family's shopping list automatically



Organizes shopping list items by aisle



Converts to package sizes (e.g., tablespoon tomato paste to 8 oz. cans)



Calculates your grocery cost

Personal Home Nutritionist

Analyze the nutritional elements of recipes and menus (even the ones you add!)



Choose between brands to satisfy dietary needs



Cook'n will analyze the nutritional value of any recipe or menu (even the ones you add!). Easy to read...Cook'n nutrition facts window looks just like the label on a can.



Cook'n has nutrition facts from the labels of 10,000 food products. You can choose between different brands to see what the nutritional effect is.



Now you can plan menus based on dietary needs and tastes. Prepare one delicious meal for the entire family.



Home Cookin: Recipe Software by Mountain Software

Product Features:

· Easy to Use Interface - Home Cooking uses a simple tabbed interface that is easy to operate while providing all the features you use most. You can create as many chapters as you wish. Home Cookin will keep everything sorted alphabetically so you can quickly browse through your collection, and find your favorites easily.

· Easy Recipe Entry

· Import and Export Capabilities - Thousands of free recipes can be found on web pages, newsgroups, and various mailing lists. You can easily add these to your collection by importing them into Home Cookin. Most standard formats are supported.

· Meal Planning - The meal calendar makes it easy to plan your upcoming meals. Locate your desired recipes, then add them to the calendar. Add personal notes if you plan on eating out, want to indicate a holiday, or to reference recipes in other cookbooks. When you are ready to prepare the meal, you can access the recipe quickly from the meal calendar.

· Grocery Management - The Home Cooking grocery manager will make quick work of preparing your grocery shopping lists. Start a new list, select the items you need, and print. A cost estimate is calculated as you select each item, so you'll know ahead of time how much you'll be spending on your groceries. The printed list is compact and sorted by store and location to make your shopping trip as easy as possible.

Websites provide us with recipes at a moments notice but in order to organize and keep them handy and get the most use of them it may be necessary to create a file or use a software package. I have provided a review of a few software products that I found to be of good quality. These products will allow you to import, analyze, catalog and print your recipes in a variety of convenient formats including a grocery list!

I have an extensive background in Finance and Fiscal Procedure. I also have a web business where I offer Educational Computer Software and Games [http://www.thesoftwarespot.com/default.asp?S=500&A=F&SearchText=&CategoryID=1695863&NID=6372614]. I am very interested in the product itself as well as the subject matter that it involves.

Please use the link above to visit us at The Software Spot! Thank you, Allison Merlino

Free Online Recipes

One reason people love the internet is due to the incredibly quick and pain-free way you can access information. Within seconds, you can access a wealth of information regarding almost any topic imaginable. While the majority of us don't utilize the internet for heavy duty research, one way almost anyone can enjoy the convenience and power of the internet is by locating free online recipes.

Just 15 years ago it didn't seem possible that in the near future, millions of recipes covering almost every kind of food would be readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. The future has arrived so here are several ways to take advantage of free online recipes.

Without a doubt the free online recipes are extremely handy because you can pull up a recipe in a matter of seconds. While many use a search engine like Google, most people often have their preferred recipe websites that include vast databases of recipes. Simply input a key word or keyword phrase like "chili" or "chicken soup" and you will generally find several to dozens of flavorful recipes.

In addition to being easy to access, a lot of recipe websites are full of people that enjoy cooking, have their own favorite recipes and enjoy adding recipes to the database for others to use. These community recipe websites are an excellent way to share knowledge. In addition, the majority of recipe websites offer those that use recipes on the board to add comments. So whether you like a recipe or you didn't like it, you can easily share your comments with others. This is a great way to try out a recipe (especially if many people liked it) or avoid it the recipe if it received bad reviews.

In addition to being able to read recipes on your computer screen, many cooks take it one step further- they print out their favorite recipes. It is extremely easy to print out recipes and many free online recipe sites offer the option of special recipe formatted files which make it a snap to print out your favorite recipes. This way you no longer have to worry about ruining the recipe card while you cook or misplacing it. If you spill something on it, you can effortlessly print it out again.

top of all these advantages, a lot of free online recipe sites have gone one step further in providing quality information on how to make specific meals. Many free online recipe sites now provide images and some even include videos showing you step by step how to prepare a moderate to difficult dish.

Free online recipe web sites are perhaps the quickest way to locate new recipes, read reviews, and chat about the latest or best techniques on cooking and sharing with the world your favorite or time honored family recipe. Free online recipe websites are definitely the ultimate home recipe box.

For a large collection of family friendly free online recipes visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/archives.htm

Online Recipes - Better Than Cookbook Recipes? - Useful Information From a Google Search

Online recipes have overtaken the internet and information technology world by storm. On a recent Google search (Oct. 1, 2009), I received 68,000,000 hits on the phrase, "online recipes". I clicked on dozens of these sites and came up with the following results and conclusions.

I found mostly recipe websites where members can find and exchange recipes, post blogs and enter contests and sweepstakes. Some even offer photo contests sponsored by name brand food companies. Some sites contain chef biographies. Many sites house only certain types of recipes. I found international, holiday, soul food, heart healthy, youth club and family recipe sites. Some sites post recipes only for web surfers with specific dietary restrictions.

There are computer software recipe sites that supply webmasters (who post recipe files on their own sites), with tools, in exchange for credit back to them on their sites. Cookbook software companies sell recipe and cooking related software to the internet world.

To answer the question on whether or not I think online recipes are better than cookbook recipes, I would have to say yes they are! Recipes found online and more specifically in ebooks (geared toward a specific cuisine or special grouping of recipes) are usually updated periodically or replaced in data bases. For example, if a recipe has been around for many years and an ingredient in that recipe becomes outdated, it would be discontinued and rewritten with the updated ingredient.

An example of this would be the use of the word "drippings" in decades old recipes. Recipes written today would call for olive oil or margarine in place of drippings (or no form of fat flavoring, due to many fat restricted diets today). The other huge advantage of online recipes is being able to access them (in the kitchen) instantaneously. There are no bulky cookbooks to get in the way!

Do you love the convenience of online recipes? Do you want your own large grouping of trusted, popular recipes? Recipes that you already know are good, because you've taste tested many of them while dining with your friends!

Just go to http://www.squidoo.com/cooking-techniques-from-copycat-restaurant-recipes to access my long list of restaurant recipes (plus bonus recipes) that are easily available to you. These recipes are updated monthly; appetizers, salads, entrees, soups, desserts, dressings, sauces, cocktails...

Author: Pam Myers

Got Healthy Dog Food? The Best Dog Food Uses a Homemade Dog Food Recipe - 3 Reasons to Make Your Own

A Healthy Dog Food Recipe is a Homemade Dog Food Recipe - Reason #1 - Peace of Mind

You've watched the news or you've read the newspaper stories. Pet owners across our nation are up in arms because of the tainted food they are feeding to their pets. This poisonous and sickening dog food has killed hundreds of dogs and caused countless others to become sick. When I feed my pet his food, I want to have the peace of mind that what I am feeding him will not cause him to become sick or worse!

Whether this recent outbreak in tainted dog food is because of the sick and twisted who dwell among us or because of a lack of testing standards among producers, still has not been determined. Could this all be caused by a single individual? Probably not. If these deaths have been caused by unscrupulous people, because it has been so wide spread, it most likely has been perpetrated by at least a small group.

Additionally, the food that most people are giving to their dogs day in and day out are filled with so many preservatives that it's only a matter of time before it sickens your dog. Think about the Hostess Twinkie for a moment. Tastes great, right? Of course it does, but did you know that that Twinkie has a very long shelf life? Why? Because of the preservatives within it. Of course, you wouldn't ever solely go on a Twinkie diet. Why then would you ever put your dog on such a preservative laden diet?

Whatever the case may be, whether caused by a band of renegades or because of a lack of production standards, I want to know that what I am feeding my dog is only the best of what I can offer. Peace of mind, therefore is a huge reason to use a homemade dog food recipe in your search for a healthy dog food recipe.

A Healthy Dog Food Recipe is a Homemade Dog Food Recipe - Reason #2 - Increases Their Life Span

As you search for a healthy dog food recipe, you will end up using a homemade dog food recipe because it is by far the healthiest option. Why? Because you will know exactly what it is that your dog is eating, you will use only the best ingredients. When you choose the best ingredients, you will also be choosing the healthiest ingredients. Studies have shown that dogs that are fed using a healthy dog food recipe, as in a homemade dog food recipe, live longer than those who are fed a mass produced dry or canned food.

Isn't that the whole reason you are even looking into a healthy dog food recipe in the first place? As you realize that a homemade dog food recipe will give you more time with your dog here on earth, the choice to make your own pet food really becomes a non-question...of course we would! But there's one more important reason to use your own homemade dog food recipe.

A Healthy Dog Food Recipe is a Homemade Dog Food Recipe - Reason #3 - It's Cheaper

This may be hard to believe, but it's true. When you choose a healthy dog food recipe, one that is also a homemade dog food recipe, your lifetime costs to maintain your dog will be lower. Using the right recipes, your per serving cost for dog food can actually be lower than if you had used a commercial dog food AND you will have fewer vet bills because your dog will be happier and healthier. The bottom line? You can save a lot of money by giving your dog a healthy dog food recipe, one that is a homemade dog food recipe.

You need to see that using a healthy dog food recipe, one that is also a homemade dog food recipe will save you much in the future. You'll never suffer from a broken heart, as you have a complete peace of mind, knowing you have given your dog the best and healthiest food that you can. As an added bonus, it will save you money too! Show your dog how much you love him...use a homemade dog food recipe!

If you want to know how to easily prepare your dog's next feast, using a healthy dog food recipe, which is also a homemade dog food recipe, help is on the way!

Click on this link today, http://www.squidoo.com/Healthy-Dog-Food-Recipe to get ALL your questions answered AND receive the FREE mini-course ?5 Simple Things You Must Do Now To Protect Your Dog From Death By Disease?

Have You Tried Scrapbooking Recipes?

Have you seen the new scrapbooking supplies for recipe albums? Local craft stores are responding to the new trend of scrapbooking recipes. You can find albums with a recipe theme, as well as stickers, paper and embellishments to complement the scrapbook. The main thought behind scrapbooking recipes is the same as using photos and memories. We want to preserve the recipes for future generations. However, recipe albums are very popular as gift items as well. Some scrapbookers are even using them in their kitchens as cookbooks.

To begin designing a recipe scrapbook you need to think about your purpose for creating it. Will this be an album documenting family recipes handed down from generation to generation? Or are you creating an album to give as a gift? If this is a recipe album meant to be used in the kitchen, you also may approach the design differently and choose a scrapbook that will be more durable. Albums come in a variety of sizes including, 4x6, 5x7 and 12x12 inches. Choose the one that will best fit your goal for scrapbooking recipes.

Decide whether or not this will be a gift album. You may not want to use the original recipe card written by your great-grandmother in a gift recipe scrapbook. You still could make the recipes personal by writing the ingredients and instructions in your own handwriting instead of a computer font. Recipe albums make welcome gifts for weddings, graduations, Christmas or housewarming gifts.

Which recipes to choose will depend on your goal for the album. You may want to use quick and easy recipes for a graduation gift. Holiday favorites would be ideal for a Christmas gift. You could also narrow down the recipe choices to just desserts, soups, main dishes or family favorites.

When you begin to design your recipe album decide if you want to keep the same layout format for each page and if you will coordinate the embellishments on each page. You may want to keep the album with an overall uniform look, or have each individual page have a unique look.

You can use recipe cards or journaling blocks for the ingredients and instructions. You may also want to include a photo of the dish or a picture of the person who gave you the recipe. Consider adding comments about why you love the dish or opinions from your family on why it is one of their favorites. Try journaling about the history of the recipe or any special memories you have about it. Making the album personal is what scrapbooking is all about.

Scrapbooking recipes doesn't have to be limited to a recipe album. Think about including recipes in other scrapbooks. Highlight the recipe for witch's brew on a Halloween page layout. Recipes on Thanksgiving pages are an obvious choice. Include your secret recipe for perfect gravy. How about including the recipes for the dinner you made for your husband on your first Valentine's Day? You can also include your grandmother's apple pie recipe on a page all about your memories of her. Food is a big part of our lives, and recipes are a natural page element for scrapbooks. Think about creating a recipe album as craft project or add a recipe to your next page layout. Be a part of latest scrapbooking trend and pull out your recipe cards.

Christine Perry is an avid scrapbooker and has over 10 years of scrapbooking experience. Her favorite scrapbooking subjects are her reluctant teenagers. She invites you to her website, http://www.intoscrapbooking.com for more scrapbooking tips and scrapbooking recipes ideas.

Get Your Recipes Together!

Here a few methods I have found to organize recipes:

PHOTO ALBUMS

Your can place clipped recipes and recipe cards in a any type of photo album (hint: go to the thrift stores and pick up inexpensive albums) although the type of albums that you can add pages to would be best because this will help you organize the album better. You can place tabs on pages to divide the album into categories then simply place your clipped recipes into the appropriate category. This method is a great way to keep all loose recipes together. The plastic protection will help keep your recipes clean.

A RECIPE FILE

Get an accordion-type file to organize clipped recipes and recipe cards. Label each section with a different recipe category then simply file your recipes. This method will at least keep them all together and is quick, but you will have to sort through all the recipes in a certain category when trying to find a particular recipe.

A RECIPE BOX

With a recipe box, you can put different categories onto tabbed dividers and you can buy more dividers if necessary. You can file clipped recipes but it is neater if you write them onto recipe cards which is time consuming. As with the accordion file, you'll have to sort through recipes in a category to find one.

A COMPUTER RECIPE PROGRAM

If you have a little spare time this is a great way to compile all of your favorite recipes--including ones in your recipe books. These programs are pre-formatted so you just fill in the blanks. It can get time consuming entering in all your recipes, but if you stick to entering in 1 or 2 recipes a day, you'll make some progress.

There's a number of benefits using this method, one being that you can easily find recipes and print them out. You can print out recipes and make homemade cookbooks to give to your friends and relatives. The program will figure the nutrition information for your recipes. Some programs offer a menu maker and a shopping list. It's also easy to locate certain recipes with certain ingredients. For example, if I have ground beef on hand, I can do a search for 'ground beef' and the program will bring up all recipes with ground beef in it. Also, these programs come with recipes--so if you don't want to enter your own, you'll still have a great cookbook to use all these features on.

A THREE-RING BINDER

I use the three-ring binder in conjunction with my recipe programs. I have put tabbed page dividers into it and labeled each divider with its own recipe category. Whenever I print out a recipe to use from my recipe programs, I punch holes in it and place it into the appropriate category in the three-ring binder. This eliminates the need for me to re-print the recipe later.

I hope this article gives you some ideas for organizing your recipes. Recipe collecting can be a fun hobby especially if it is organized!

BENEFITS OF RECIPE E-BOOKS:

~ Rather than lugging out a cookbook and turning pages for hours

searching for the perfect recipe, simply click open a recipe e-book

on your computer, do a quick search for an ingredient or key word,

then print your recipe!

~ Get your cookbook dirty & it's ruined; get your printed recipe from

a recipe e-book dirty, simply print a new one!

~ Make your own customized cookbook by filing your

favorite printed recipes in a 3-ring binder with dividers!

~ Print favorite recipes for your friends & family, or even

make them a homemade cookbook!

~ Save all that valuable space those cookbooks are taking

and use recipe e-books instead!

Get 17 recipe e-books FREE!! Click here for details:

http://homemakersjournal.com/ebooklets.htm Get Monica's FREE e-zine for homemakers! To subscribe, just send a blank e-mail to: HomemakersJournal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Recipe Scrapbook Albums Are Fun

What is your family's favorite recipe? Where did you get it? Was it something Grandmother learned when she was a young bride? Was it a sushi recipe that won a prize for Uncle Lyle at the state fair?

A recipe scrapbook album would be a wonderful gift for family members. Imagine giving each one a collection of family recipes, each with its own bit of history, in a recipe scrapbook album.

You can make those recipe scrapbook albums following these steps.

Recipe Scrapbook Album Materials

Prepare to make your recipe scrapbook album by assembling the following minimal materials. You may want other things as well, but these 7 are recommended for a complete recipe scrapbook album.

* Family recipes, as many as possible - neatly written or typed

* Photographs of how the recipe looks when ready to serve

* Photographs of the person credited with creation of the recipe

* Notes of things people always say or remember about the recipe

* Scrapbooking paper (acid-free) reminiscent of cooking

* Food preparation stickers and charms

* Recipe "instruction" tags

Themes for Recipe Scrapbook Albums

Your overall theme is for a recipe scrapbook album will, of course, be recipes. In keeping with that theme, each page or section will have a specific theme in the category of recipes.

Browsing through your recipes and photos, look for natural groupings. If there are several recipes from Grandmother, theme a section of your recipe scrapbook album for those. If Uncle Lyle has more recipes than his singular prize-winning sushi, set aside a section for him in your recipe scrapbook album.

Perhaps you will find it easier to divide your recipe scrapbook album into themes such as appetizers, main courses, side dishes, desserts, and beverages. Each of those could be a page or section theme.

Recipe Scrapbook Album Page Layouts

Once you have your themes, you are ready to lay out the pages of your recipe scrapbook albums. There are many approaches to page layout, and you may have one you have used often. Here is one way of doing it.

1. Select the photo(s) to be used on a 2-page spread or single page. If they are colored photos, select scrapbooking paper to complement them. Be sure you use acid-free paper to protect your memories.

2. Lay out your scrapbooking paper to fit the page. Be creative with your paper. Nostalgic kitchen wallpaper is a good choice for old recipes. Italian recipes might find a home on red and white checkered paper reminiscent of a tablecloth. If your recipe scrapbook album includes a recipe for Fish and Chips, you might want scrapbooking paper on that page to look like an old newspaper.

3. Once you have placed your scrapbooking paper, begin to arrange the recipe and accompanying photos. Typed recipe cards are fine, but if your recipes are hand-written by the person who created them, it will give your recipe scrapbook albums a more personal touch.

4. Frame your photos and recipes after they are placed. You can find a wonderful array of frames in scrapbooking supplies stores. Or use your own creativity. If Grandmother always wore an apron when preparing that delicious chocolate cake, create an apron "pocket" of cloth or cardstock. Tuck into it one or more recipes. Another idea is to make fold-open frames for the recipes in your recipe scrapbook album. Simply cut an appropriate size piece of cardstock and fold it in thirds. Adhere the center third to your scrapbook, top it with the recipe, and fold the other two sides shut over it. You might even make the folded card look like cupboard doors.

5. Once your photos and recipes are framed on the page, add a few lines of journaling that capture the family memories associated with the recipe. In my own files, I have a recipe for cookies served by the host the evening my husband and I first knew we would become more than friends. Personal notes about such memories add immensely to recipe scrapbook albums. My mother's fresh, home-baked bread is remembered as Dad's favorite base for yellow mustard!

6. When each page layout is completed, each element glued firmly in place, you are ready to add stickers and charms - embellishments. You may use commercially made embellishments for your recipe scrapbook albums, and you may add more intimate touches as well. If Grandmother loved lace, and even crocheted her own, adding a touch of lace to her page will help family members remember that. Since Uncle Lyle always used that bright green "sushi grass" (baran) to separate his sushi, be sure you include a piece of it on the sushi recipe page.

Finally, you may want to leave a few blank pages at the end of your recipe scrapbook albums so that future recipes can be added later.

Recipe scrapbook albums can be made during a prolonged family reunion, giving everyone something to do with their hands while catching up on family news.

?2007, Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about scrapbooking at http://www.scrapbooking-for-fun.com Anna is posting new articles every week on that site. You won?t want to miss her recent article on how to make exciting scrapbooking page layouts.