Country Kitchen:
Creating Cooking Calendars
By Mary Emma Allen
We often think of creating cookbooks with recipes from family, friends,
or members of an organization. Some of these may be solely developed as
fund raising projects. In other instances, they're a means of saving
recipes for the family heritage.
However, cooking or recipe calendars also can be an enjoyable way to
preserve memories or to raise money. There are a variety of ways to
undertake this project.
With today's computer programs, you can design and print calendars fairly
inexpensively. Or you can take your ideas to a printer and have them do
the job.
School Project
My granddaughter's school class recently developed a birthday/recipe
calendar. This was a fund raiser item the youngsters and their teachers
produced themselves which I enjoyed purchasing as a keepsake.
It consisted of recipes contributed by the young people, along with their
birthdays and those of family members and friends. The calendar was
arranged with seasonal topics for the various months and recipes to fit
in accordingly.
Family Calendar
Having published a family heritage cookbook, we're planning a family
calendar with recipes and pictures of ancestors and historic settings.
This also might have a page of family data.
We could take recipes from the previous cookbook or ask for recipes that
weren't included in that publication. This type of calendar generally
would be a keepsake, not a throw away when the year was over.
Photo Calendars
One lady mentioned that she makes calendars from photos she takes of the
area where she lives. Others might take photos of their travels and use
the calendar as a reminiscence or journal calendar with travel tidbids
and recipes from wherever you visited.
They could be gifts for friends and family members. Or you might develop
a calendar business, as a photographer friend did.
ABC Calendar
Actually this would be a calendar with recipes for each month that begin
with the same letter as that month. For instance, in January, you could
have: Jam Cake, Jelly Filled Cookies, January Thaw Cocoa, Jubilee
Chocolate Cake.
For February, the recipes might include: Fudge Brownies, Five Layer
Salad, Fudge Frosting, Frosty Strawberry Milk Shake.
Calendar Recipes
One of my granddaughter's favorite recipes, which was selected for the
school calendar is CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE. This is a recipe that's baked
in the oven. I also have a recipe for this dessert that's cooked in the
microwave.
Combine in mixing bowl, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 3
tablespoons cocoa, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir
in 1/2 cup milk, 1/3 cup melted margarine or butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons
vanilla; mix until smooth. Pour this batter into an 8 x 8 x 2-inch square
pan.
Combine in another bowl 1/2 cup sugar, 4 tablespoons cocoa, 1/2 cup
packed light brown sugar. Sprinkle this over the batter in the pan. Pour
1 1/4 cups hot water over the top. DO NOT stir.
Bake in pre-heated 350 degree F. oven for 40 minutes or until center is
nearly set. Remove from oven and let stand for 12 - 15 minutes. Then
spoon into individual serving dishes. Top with whipped topping or vanilla
ice cream, if desired. Or you can spoon cherry pie filling over, then the
whipped topping.
Article (C) 2004 Mary Emma Allen
About the Author
Mary Emma Allen has been writing her "Cooking Column" for newspapers
and online publications for 30 years and
has compiled a family cookbook. She’s currently compiling a
cookbook/story book,
"Tales From a Country Kitchen." Visit her web site for more cooking
articles. Contact her at me.allen@juno.com
