Graduation Recipe Book

My oldest child is graduating from college next month.  He has lived on campus, and eaten food from the dining hall for the last 4 years. 

This fall, he's heading off to graduate school several hours away from here. 

He's also going to be cooking for himself.

As a result, I am compiling a recipe book for him.

I found this awesome recipe book at Hallmark not too long ago.  It's small, and it's a 3 ring binder.  3x5 inch recipe cards fit inside of the book, and each "page" is a plastic page protector that holds two recipe cards.  You can write front and back on the card, put it into the page protector, and read through both sides.  I love this little album.

You notice it has Mickey Mouse on the cover?  There's a reason for that.  When he was little, and he was getting ready to move to his "big boy" bed, we went in search of just the right sheets for his bed.  After more hours than I care to admit, my little man found his sheets.  (he was about 20 months old at the time.  We were trying to transition him to a big boy bed before his brother arrived on the scene 4 months later.)  He saw these sheets - red sheets- with the black and white Mickey Mouse on them.  He picked them up, hugged them to him, and the match was made.

Since that time, those sheets were his sheets of choice until he went off to college.  Worn down and faded with age and washing, he still has them on his bed at home, and he gets after me if they are not on his bed when he comes home from school.

Anyway, back to the album....

I thought I would collect all of the recipes for his favorite foods.  The stuff he has grown up eating and consistently asks for every time he comes home.

I hadn't realized what a monumental task this was going to be.  I have recipes on slips of paper, taped to the inside of cupboard doors.  I have recipes on paper, shoved into the cabinet next to the dishes.  There's 3 or 4 recipes in one cookbook, and 2 in another, and 4 in another.  A few are in e-mails, and several are stored on my flash drive.

I'm still working on copying the recipes, but I have finally put them all into one place.  Let me tell you, that is the most amazing compilation of recipes you have ever seen.  All of them are my favorites, too.  (I guess that explains why I fall back on them so often!)  From Arroz con Pollo to my mother's recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes, I have a treasure trove.  I sent my Mom a couple of recipe cards, and there, in her flawless penmanship are two of her timeless recipes. Not only is it a treasure because they are her recipes, but - they are written in her own handwriting.  That will forever be a priceless treasure for him.

You know, I've been realizing a couple of things as I've been compiling this book over the past few months.

1) I need to make my very own copy of this book.  I have too many recipes scattered in too many places.

2) While I have the recipes out, and tracked down, I need to go ahead and make copies for the other two children.  Life is uncertain, and I want to make certain that I have the recipes, written in their own handwriting, of the remaining members of the older generation. 

3) I wish I had thought of this 10 years ago, when most of the members of the older generation were still with us.

I know a lot of people don't cook from scratch very often anymore, but with a book like this - a book of easy, quick, favorite meals - I think it would happen a little more often!