Cook'n is the best selling recipe organizer

You've been reading about my amazing Aunt Annie for months now - she almost has mythical status in our family. She was such an accomplished cook - she could make something out of nothing and it would dazzle us every time.

Well it just happens that conversations are beginning to revolve around Christmas (seems like we start thinking about it earlier every year).

So here's the point: I have seven children and my sister has eight. And you know what all these kids want for Christmas? They want a collection of Aunt Annie's recipes. And of course, my sister does, too.

SIXTEEN recipe collections? I have to say, if it weren't for our Cook'n software, I'd be running and screaming from the building. But with a little planning ahead, I think I can do this. If I start soon (like now) and do maybe two a week, I will definitely have them done by the middle of December.

And to make this gift even more special, I think I will go through our family photos and include all I can find of Aunt Annie as well. Cook'n will let me do that.

I don't mean to sound like an infomercial here, but thank goodness the Cook'n 9 is easy to use. I'm not computer/techie-savvy, I get frustrated easily, and I don't have a lot of time to not understand things. It's user friendly and I just LOVE how it organizes everything into categories and how the "Quick-Fill" editing does so much of the typing for me. OK, breathe breathe, yeh, I can do this.

What I would love and really need, though, is some feedback from those of you that have already created family cookbooks. I could use your ideas and advice - any thoughts you have will be very appreciated.

Now one more idea on another ultra-cool Christmas gift. First, some background: In one of her monthly newsletter articles, Jeanne Wolfley shared her recipe for homemade laundry soap. She's even done a demonstration video for DVO to show us how to make it. Jeanne gave me a little of this detergent and I used it to wash my king-size quilt in the MEGA washer at the Laundromat the other day. Holy cow! Did it come clean - I was blown away.

So now the idea: I'm going to collect pretty glass containers with lids from our local thrift store and fill these with her laundry soap. The stuff is so easy to make, so inexpensive, and so incredibly good at cleaning the laundry - my whites have never been so white! It's the perfect gift!

Hey - I just had another idea. I think I'll include Jeanne's laundry detergent recipe in my Aunt Annie's cookbook as a little bonus. Yeh, I can do this.