Recipe Boxes

As soon as I'm done Appleshining for the day, I'm scootin' home for a dinner date.  The weather's still cozy enough for lasagna and I found a great recipe from Southern Living last month.  (You can take the girl out of the South but you can't take her SL mag away.)

I like tearing out recipes from magazines or finding them online.  Once I've prepared the dish and determined if it's a keeper, I'll write it by hand to put in my recipe box.  There's something so comforting about handwritten recipes.  I remember watching my mom and grandma pull out their recipe boxes every holiday; kinda makes me feel like I'm passing along an heirloom.

There are a few different ways to categorize your recipes.  When in book form, it's best to sort by course.  Although, with loose recipes, I like to sort them alphabetically by the title/main ingredient (put chicken dishes together, lasagna recipes under 'L', etc.)  This helps avoid confusion when searching for recipes. 

If you're looking to get a new recipe box, here are a few to pick from:

A bamboo twist on the classic wooden version that I grew up with.

Cutesy saying on a marigold colored box.  (Wonder if it says, 'good lookin' on the backside?)

A vintage tin box from eBay.

Look at all the bright, preppy colors the Jack and Lulu boxes come in.  I like the yellow honeycomb print.

Tell me, Appleshiners, how do you sort your recipes?

PS- Here are some gorgeous letterpress recipe cards and dividers!