Gift Certificates are Now Available!

Finding the perfect Holiday gift is hard, especially if the person you are shopping for has everything! If you are like me, finding an unique gift is important. I try to give my loved ones special, personalized gifts that they instantly love. For example, every year I make my sister Whitney a beautiful photo book that captures her family's memories of the year and her two growing children. Of course, this year she is also receiving a Keepsake Cookbook with my favorite recipes of the year!

Giving your loved ones a gift certificate for a custom cookbook is a gift that will be remembered for years to come! Whether your recipient is the family matriarch, a new mother, a gourmet chef/foodie or your family's favorite cook, she/he will love making their own cookbook.

Gift certificates are available for Heirloom and Keepsake cookbooks. Email us at info@HeirloomCookbook.com or call us toll free at (866) 697-3247. We are happy to help you give the perfect gift! Gift certificates will be available until December 22, and will be sent by priority mail or email.

Creative Ways to Give Secret Ingredients Gift Certificates:

• Fill a Christmas stocking with cooking utensils, recipes, and the gift certificate. Precious!



• Include a several handwritten recipe cards with the gift certificate. They could be your favorite, time-tested recipes or family recipes that have survived generations!



• Bake your favorite Holiday treat, wrap it up beautifully, and affix the gift certificate to the packaging.

Quick & Simple Recipe Contest: Win an Heirloom Cookbook!

Do you have a cherished recipe that was passed down to you? Maybe it’s your great-grandma’s chicken dumplings or your mom’s delicious spaghetti sauce. Tell Quick & Simple your recipe and you could win a Secret Ingredients Heirloom Cookbook!

The first-place winner will win a $250 gift card from Boston Market Catering, a Secret Ingredients Heirloom Cookbook and a Rose’s Cocktail Infusions set- a total value of $555?! Four runners-up will win an Heirloom Cookbook and a cocktail set, valued at $305/each.

Check it out! All entries must be submitted by 11:59 pm ET on Dec. 12, 2006.

Winners of Secret Ingredients 10 Heirloom Cookbook contest will be annouced tomorrow! Check our website for details.

Choosing Photos for Your Family Cookbook

The photos in your cookbook can make a powerful contribution to the feel of the project as a whole. To make the most of this opportunity, think about connections between the photos you'll use and what your cookbook is all about. You don't necessarily need the prettiest scenery, or the most professional or flattering photos of family members. Photographs that speak of the warmth of home, and the connections between and among the generations of your family are just the thing.

So, if some of the recipes you are including have been in the family for a long time, you may wish to include pictures from farther back in the past as well. Kitchen pictures are of course a natural, but pictures of a home's exterior, yard, or any well-remembered living space may work just as well.

If the book you are making has at its heart the recipes of the family matriarch, or if in some other way, the essence of the book centers on a smaller group than the whole list of people who will be receiving it, then its only natural to choose photos consistent with the book's focus. But in most cases it's desirable to include a good balance of photos of the people who will be receiving a family cookbook. Its nice for as many of the recipients to feel as much ownership of the cookbook as possible.

Go through those albums, and happy hunting!