The 'Picking' Swap idea :)

I cook because we have to eat not because I love it! so recipes for me involve oven temperature and time(ish)!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Bindiibabe!!! WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA YOU JUST HAD!!!

YES! YES YES YES YES! A chunky book of recipes is the most awesome thing I can think of! OOOoOOOHHH me want! Me waaaaant! WAAAAAHH!

BINDIIBABE! HOST! SWAP! NOW!

(Hihi, posting this I realized I was so excited my words actually exceeded the post frame size. Yay! )

Can I suggest postcard sized cards? And we can take peoples dietry requirements into account, i.e. if your a veggie etc.

Hmm, a postcard might be a little too small for a detailed recipe. May I suggest something along the lines of half an A4 regular page? Like, 5.5 x 8.5 inches?

I'm glad you're a-cited by the idea Mary!!
And I was also thinking A5 (big enough to fit what you need & how to do it, room for a bit of creativity, not too daunting to fill if you're doing a bunch, plus quite cheap to post.)

Libby, dietary reqs will of course be address.

As will fussy eaters, Nikki! (on the subject of raw meat, have you tried the pre-steamed chicken breast strips? you can buy them in most supermarkets in the freezer section and they're great for avoiding the oog-factor ;) You just defrost them and add them to your dish. I use them loads for putting in chicken soup or chow mein or salads. We also use them in work for all the chicken dishes.

I'm happy to host, I'll work out some details and add a recipe swap to the boards tomorrow cos I'm just in & I've just got time to go put a wash on, make a cuppa & check my mail before I go meet the Kid at the doctor, then it'll be another mad dash home to feed them before I'm off out tonight. I have somehow managed to let myself be talked into face & body painting in & around the city centre pubs for Uni Freshers Week. It seemed a good idea at the time...lol
Now, I'm wondering why I agreed! Oh, yeah, it was the ludicrous hourly rate I was offered I think they're possibly adding on "danger money" ;P

Here's what I'm thinking so far :
# A5 recipe (must be tried & tested!!), decorated as you please
# Multiple recipes to one person? / one recipe to multiple people?
(I vote one recipe to multiple people)
# It will be a regular thing so we can add to our books (and repertoire!) so each "round" will be on a theme.
(Suggestions for themes welcome)

Who else is interested?? And what do you think of the idea??

LOL Heather so love your day !
I only managed to volunteer to make muffins for 36 waterpolo players today !
Would love to be in this swap.Would keep 3D decorations to a minimum so cards can be stored and kept clean.
Seasonal foods would be fun too.

I use a lot of recipe's that are available on the internet, with little changes..would that count?

sounds like a good idea, themes definately needed, maybe we do a theme 3 course meal?
what about pictures?
and a gap on the right side to allow for hole punching if people do it that way
would it be hand written or typed?
one recipe to multiple people because then we all have the same and we dont have to think of a recipe for each person, but it may mean that veggies/vegans get meat dishes, but they could sub for quorn or something.
theme ideas:
* 1 person meal (feeds 1)
* 2 persons meal (feeds 2) etc you get the gist of it
* sunday meal
* freezable stuff
* soup
* fancy
* dessert
* cake
* ice cream
* chocolate
* different meat like chicken, fish, cow, pig

I missed out the overtime this morning from the list Debs....

Cassie, of course it counts! The only rule I'm gonna stipulate is that everyone must have tried their recipe and knows that it works.

Pictures are good, I kinda assumed everyone would think about leaving binding space but yeah, since Nikki mentioned it, does 1cm or 1/2" sound ok? it also brings something else to mind.... do u want portrait or landscape or do u not mind a mixture of both???

i would prefer all portrait.
would there be a specific layout to it like on the front ingrediants and equipment (nothing fancy like a pasta maker or bread maker or deep fat fryer) then the back the how-to?
id just like to say that all the kitchen equipment i have are measuring stuff, oven (electric- degrees C), grill, sink, 4 gas hobs, microwave. I dont have a wok, deep fat fryer, bread machine, toaster machine, blender etc etc i dont know if many people have them or use them a lot

oh and by grill i mean the thing to make toast with (i think grill means something else in america)

I think the layout should be up to the maker, this is meant to be a bit of fun, so I don't want to put too many constraints on everyones creativity!!

If theres a long or many steps recipe would that be allowed to go onto another page or would it be a 1 page limit. also anyone should say if they need it written large or cant read certain colours

I thinking about measurements earlier. I have a set of american cups but I was wondering about the other UK people, is this gonna be an issue?

Nikki, you worry tooooooo much! If your recipe is gonna take 10 pages, that's fine! (But if I was you, I'd change that 1 for 1 that's easier to type/write.... lol)

Measurements: If you were really on the ball, I suppose you COULD work out the conversions and put metric/imperial/cups.
Alternatively, people could just google it as & when they needed to.
Or I'm fine for making up a conversions page that everyone can insert into the front of their book (unless someone else wants to do it ).