Organized Recipes Equals Happiness

If you're like me, every time you get a cooking magazine you have high hopes that everything will be cooked, tried, and rated within the month.  

Here is my stack of magazines that has accumulated throughout the years and has slowly overtaken my kitchen shelf.  I'm guessing about 3 recipes total have been attempted.  As much as I love looking through magazines, it's a bit intimidating when I'm searching through a dozen of them looking for "that recipe I saw"...

So one quiet Friday evening, I popped in a movie, got the scissors out, and got to work.

The "keeper" recipes -

And the recycle pile. This made me so happy it's skirts the line of pathetic.

I already had a 3-ring binder, so I bought a pack of sheet protectors for about $3.  

I organized the clipped recipes by category: appetizers, salads, soups, main dishes, desserts, and drinks.

I taped the smaller recipes to pieces of printer paper...

So now I have this binder that can be added to and edited...  If I try a recipe and don't like it, the taped-in recipe is easily removed.

I also added food prep and party ideas that I found.  For instance, serving a chicken salad in individual Mason jars for an outside Spring brunch. How cute!

I plan to do this same thing with house decorating and entertaining ideas I get inspired by.