How It All Started
A few years ago, my wife Solange and I received a copy of a very special book from my parents, our “Family
Favorites” cookbook. The cookbook was put together by our Aunt Lucille back in the year 2000. It seems strange to say that 2000 was a long time ago but the past 15 years have gone by so fast. The book featured recipes from as far back as at least 3 generations through quite a few families. My guess is, these recipes were all compiled by pen, paper and an ancient, corded telephone. I can’t imagine what a daunting task this would have been without the use of the glorious Internet. In the book, Aunt Lucille has a few excerpts that tell a great story of her family along with how and why she created the book. You can read these excerpts on this site and get a little history of where it all began. Our Family Favorites Cookbook is responsible for over 700 recipes on this website, which created the foundation and the inspiration for Our Family Cupboard.
Our Family Cupboard’s Purpose
Solange and I both really learned to cook using my aunt’s book as a guide. We used many recipes from it regularly and as time went on we started to also accumulate new recipes of our own. Some came from family, some from friends and others from websites, grocery stores and wherever else we could find them. We found ourselves from time to time struggling to remember where we had some of our favorite recipes stored. Were they family recipes? Did we add them to our new book? Maybe we saved them on allrecipes.com. “Let’s call mom and dad.” Even when we knew where they were, it wasn’t always easy to find them. It took us about 3 years until we finally had it down that “Grandpa Ralph’s Pancakes” were under the “This and That” tab in our Family Favorites.
We needed a place – one made just for us – where we could easily store our favorite recipes from all sources in the same place. What we needed was a database of recipes that we could easily sort and search, easily add to and easily mark certain recipes as our absolute favorites! Certainly this could be useful for others as well. Speaking of others… Wouldn’t it also be great if our Family Favorites Cookbook didn’t stop when it was created over 15 years ago? Why couldn’t family members, with the click of a couple of buttons, add a recipe for all the family to share? We also thought it would be a great tribute to our ancestors that their long standing family recipes will live online for generations to come. Some day, long after our paper books are tattered and torn, Giovanni and Mariana (our children) might whip up a batch of Grandpa Ralph’s Pancakes and hundreds of other Family Favorite recipes for their grandchildren to enjoy. And so, Our Family Cupboard was born.
Solange and I really hope you all enjoy the website and make as much use of it as we know we will. Our Italian/American family has grown so much over the years. We have become so diverse, incorporating and creating new cultures and traditions and are now spread out across the entire U.S. Food has always been a great way to bring family together. We hope that Our Family Cupboard can become a way for each of us to share some of these new and exciting cultures, traditions and experiences with loved ones. Enjoy the website and may we meet each day in our prayers. – Thomas Capone (Orlando, Fl)
What’s In Our Family Cupboard
Website Features
- Use the homepage to see all our newest recipes submitted by family members all over the Globe
- Want to see all the recipes submitted by a certain family member? No problem, just click the author drop down on the right column of the recipe pages.
- Click on Browse Recipes to search by keywords, by category or by ingredient.
- Easily print any recipe you come across and if you love it, mark it as a favorite so it’s easily available next time you visit the site.
- Really excited about a recipe? Rate it, leave a comment and share it on Facebook or Pinterest for all to see!
- Don’t forget to check out the resources tab for helpful cooking related links and information
- As you come across great recipes, please feel free to submit them from our main menu so that Our Family Cupboard never goes bare!
- Finally, make sure to check out the “Family Forum!” It’s a great place to keep in touch with family members across the globe. Special thanks to cousin Nina for inspiring this new feature!
- If you or someone you know has any issues with the site, has an update or correction to an existing recipe or just has some suggestions, please send a note to the site admin under the resources tab. We’d love to hear from you!
- Enjoy!