Reading Between the Recipes: How to Start Your Cooking Notebook Today!

Cooking with FPIES in mind can be quite an adventure! When using substitutions and often uncommon ingredients, there can be a steep learning curve involved in figuring out how to turn safe ingredients into a variety of interesting dishes and baked goods.

Fear not! Head over to the Cooking and Nutrition section of our website and find resources to help create an FPIES Cooking Notebook, an invaluable resource for all kitchen adventures!

What is a cooking notebook?

A cooking notebook is a type of journal used for keeping track of recipes, notes on specific products or foods, and what cooking methods/recipes have previously worked well (or those that have not worked). This resource can even provide a springboard into creating your own recipes! For individuals learning to cook in a new way not often discussed in commercial cookbooks, the cooking notebook is essential.

Let us take a look at the various tools and outline their uses:

•  Helpful Baking and Cooking Substitutions
• Keep this list handy when altering “traditional” recipes to suit your family's safe foods. Be sure to read the tips and list of additional resources for extra help!
•  Label Reading Tutorial
•  An essential tool in navigating the grocery store aisles when seeing safe ingredients for recipes!
•  Homemade Baby Food
• Crafting recipes for the smallest of gourmands? From cooking techniques to storage tips, this tutorial will be a wonderful stepping stone to getting started.
• Kitchen Equipment to Consider and its Uses
• Need help figuring out what kitchen equipment might be helpful to your cooking endeavors? Consider this list and then tailor it to your needs!
•  Allergy Friendly Cookbooks and Websites
•  Checking out cookbooks and websites targeted at allergy friendly diets can provide inspiration for creating your own recipes or simply provide a venue to seek out safe recipes for your family.
• Produce Washing and Preparation
• Wondering how to remove waxes from produce? This tool has a few options for thorough produce washing and wax removal.
• Quick and Easy Tips: Saving Money on a Food Allergy Diet
• Allergy friendly diets can sometimes drive up the costs of your grocery bills--- these tips can help learn ways to save money.
• Creative Tips for Food Preparation for Various Ages
•  Check out these lists of ideas for ways to help make mealtimes more interesting and appealing for all ages and developmental stages.

Now with these resources in hand, choosing an organizational strategy for keeping the resources together can be helpful.

I personally use a binder that has a combination of notebook style pages and plastic pocket pages that fit two different sizes of recipe cards. It gives me the versatility I need to keep my cooking endeavors organized.

Those who are particularly computer savvy may even want to keep on online cooking notebook, using a combination of organizational sites like Pinterest and self-created documents available for viewing in a database like Google Drive or the Cloud.

Whether using a simple spiral notebook with pockets, a three ring binder, or even a specific cooking notebook from a specialty store, keep one key concept in mind. Learning what structure and tools that will best meet your family's needs is essential to getting the most out of your cooking notebook.

Copyright © 2013, The FPIES Foundation

Post contributed by The FPIES Foundation Executive Board Member, Amanda LeFew. Amanda also blogs about her family's experiences living and cooking with FPIES at Baby B and Our FPIES Test Kitchen.