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Managing Recipes

Viewing Recipes

The first screen you see when you open Home Cookin is the Index screen. A list of chapters will be displayed on the left side of the screen, and a list of recipes on the right. To view a recipe, first select a chapter, then click twice on the desired recipe to view it on the Recipe screen (or select the recipe and click the Recipe tab). You can also select recipes from the Meals screen to view them on the Recipe screen.

Scroll through longer recipes - using the slider on the right side of the recipe screen, or rotate the scroll wheel on your mouse (if available). You can also use the up/down cursor keys, Page Up/Down, Home, and End, to navigate long recipes.

Flip through recipes - by clicking the Left or Right arrow buttons, or by using your left and right cursor keys. To view recipes in another chapter, you must return to the Index screen and select your desired chapter. (Hint: You can select the "All Recipes" chapter if you want to flip through all recipes in your entire collection.)

Return to the Index screen - by clicking the Index tab or press the Enter key. You can toggle between the Index and Recipe screens using the Enter key.

Make changes to the current recipe - by clicking the Edit button. When the recipe editor appears, make the desired changes then click the Save button to return to the Recipe screen.

Find text in the current recipe - by clicking the Find button on the recipe screen. Enter the text you want to search for, then click OK. All text that matches your search will be highlighted (this is a simple search that matches any string you type in).

Resize the current recipe - by clicking the Resize button on the recipe screen. Enter a new serving size then click OK. You may print or export the recipe in it's resized form, but it will return to the original measurements the next time you view the recipe. To permanently resize a recipe, you must Edit the recipe and click the resize button on the editor screen.

Delete the current recipe - by clicking the Delete button on the recipe screen, or press the delete key on your keyboard.

Add the recipe to the meal calendar - by clicking the New Meal button. Change the date and meal time, if desired, then click OK.

Email a recipe or save it to a text file - by clicking the Export button. Select the format you want to use, then click the Email or File button.

Print the current recipe - by clicking the Print button. Select the print layout you want to use, then select your printer and a font. Adjust the position and card spacings, if needed, then click OK.

Select Grocery Items Quickly - by hovering the mouse pointer over any word in the ingredients. Click on the highlighted word to quickly search for that item in the grocery list. For example, if a recipe asks for "1/2 cup corn" you can click the word "corn" to search the grocery list.

Adding Recipes

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Select a chapter to save the recipe in.
  3. Click the Add Recipe button.
  4. Type in the recipe Title, Ingredients, and Directions.
  5. Click the Serves button to enter the number of servings it makes.
  6. If you wish, load or paste in a photo.
  7. If you wish, click the Spell Check button to check spelling.
  8. Click the Save button in the text editor.
If you have informational text such as food glossaries, measurement equivalents, family stories, etc. you may want to use the Add Text function.

The text editors support many commands common to Windows applications:

Cursor Movements:

Next Word............... Control/Right Cursor
Previous Word........... Control/Left Cursor
Beginning of Line....... Home
End of Line............. End
Start of text........... Control/Home
End of text............. Control/End
Page Up................. Page Up
Page Down............... Page Down

Text Block Operations:

Mark Block.............. Hold Shift and Use Cursor Keys, or mark with mouse
Delete Block............ Mark block, then Delete key or RIGHT click mouse
Copy to Clipboard....... Mark block, then Control+C or RIGHT click mouse
Cut to Clipboard........ Mark block, then Control+X or RIGHT click mouse
Paste from Clipboard.... Control+V, or RIGHT click text
Convert to upper case... Mark block, then Control+U
Convert to lower case... Mark block, then Control+L
Strip carriage returns.. Control+Enter

TIPS:

  • Press the Tab key to cycle through the editor fields.
  • Set the Servings to zero if you do not want to see a servings display. This is useful for things like loaves of bread, sauces, and other items that aren't always served individually.
  • Once you have entered the number of servings for the recipe, you can click the Resize button to permanently resize the ingredients.
  • Home Cookin supports JPG, GIF, BMP, and PNG image formats. If you load or paste an image larger than 600x400 pixels, it will be resized to approximately 400x300 pixels before being added to your recipe. To save an image larger than 400x300, you must resize it with a graphics program before adding it to Home Cookin.
  • Home Cookin only allows one photo for each recipe. However, you can join multiple images in a graphics program and save the montage to a single image. Then load that image to your recipe.

Adding Informational Text

From time to time, you may find information you want to store in Home Cookin that does not fit well in a standard recipe record. These may include food glossaries, measurement equivalents, family stories, etc. To better accomodate this type of information, Home Cookin includes a special text record.

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Select a chapter to save the recipe in.
  3. Click the Add Text button.
  4. Type in the recipe Title, then enter your text into the main text field.
  5. If you wish, load or paste in a photo.
  6. If you wish, click the Spell Check button to check spelling.
  7. Click the Save button in the text editor.

Tips:
  • See Add a recipe for information on the various keyboard commands.
  • Information text does not include a serving size, and therefore cannot be resized. Recipes should be stored using the Add Recipe function.

Editing Recipes

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Select the recipe you want to edit.
  3. Click the Edit button.
  4. Edit the recipe as you wish (change the text, import a photo, resize the ingredients, check spelling, etc.).
  5. Click the Save button.

Tips:
  • See Add a recipe for information on the various keyboard commands.
  • You can also Right click a recipe on the Index screen to edit it.
  • Click the Edit button while viewing a recipe on the Recipe screen.

Check Spelling

Home Cookin includes a built-in spell checker which can be accessed by clicking the Spell Check button when you Add a recipe, Add information text, or Edit a recipe. You also have the option to spell check recipes during importing.

  1. The spell checker will show the first misspelled word when it opens. If no words are misspelled in the current recipe, it will show No more misspelled words.
  2. When a misspelled word is found, locate the correct spelling in the dictionary (usually close to the word Home Cookin highlights). Then click the Replace button, or click twice on the correct word.
  3. If the correct spelling is not in the dictionary, click the Add button to add the word to the dictionary. Enter the correct spelling in the Watch For field and leave the Replace With field blank. Then click Save. Remember to Replace the misspelled word in your text after adding it to your dictionary.
  4. Click the Next button to locate the next misspelled word.
  5. If you want to abort the spell checker, or no more words are misspelled, click the Quit button to return to the editor.

Tips:
  • If you want to ignore a misspelled word, simply click the Next button to move on to the next word.
  • You can correct a word without adding it to the dictionary, by clicking the misspelled word at the top of the spell checker. Make the desired changes, and click OK.
  • You can add additional dictionary words at any time.
  • If a word in your dictionary is spelled incorrectly, select that word and click the Edit button. Make the desired changes, and click the Save button.
  • If you want to remove a word from the dictionary, select the desired word and click the Delete button.
  • If you frequently need to replace a commonly misspelled word, you can use the auto-replace feature of the spell checker (For example, to automatically change recipie to recipe, or tbsp to tablespoon). Add a dictionary word, with the incorrect spelling in the Watch For field, and put the correct spelling in the Replace With field. Click Save when you are finished.

Delete Recipes

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to delete.
    (Press Control+A to select all recipes in the current chapter).
  3. Click the Delete button, or press the Delete key on your keyboard.
  4. Click OK to verify the delete operation.

Tips:
  • You can also Right click a recipe on the Index screen to delete it.
  • Delete a recipe from the Recipe screen by clicking the Delete button.

Finding Recipes

While you can find a recipe by browsing through the main Index lists, it is often easier to use the Find function:

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Click the Find button.
  3. Enter the text you are looking for (See below)
  4. Check the fields you want to search (Default is title only)
  5. Check the All Chapters option to search all chapters, or uncheck it to search the current chapter.
  6. Click the OK button.

Tips:
  • Searches are not case sensitive.
  • The search terms can be in any order (i.e. butter sugar will find the same recipes as sugar butter).
  • To match a phrase, enclose the terms in quotes (i.e. "peanut butter").
  • To exclude a search term, precede it with a dash (i.e. -butter).
  • To match any of a list of words, precede each term with a slash (i.e. /butter /margarine).

Examples:
  • Do I have a recipe for Curried Chicken?
    1. Enter curried chicken
    2. Click the OK button (Defaults to Title search only)
  • What can I make with potatoes, corn, and ground beef?
    1. Enter potato corn "ground beef"
    2. Uncheck the Title search field
    3. Check the Ingredients search field
    4. Click the OK button
  • What kind of salads can I make with walnuts or pecans?
    1. Enter salad /walnut /pecan
    2. Check the Ingredients search field
    3. Click the OK button
  • Do I have any clam chowder recipes that aren't New England style?
    1. Enter "clam chowder" -"new england"
    2. Click the OK button (Defaults to Title search only)

Printing Recipes

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to print.
    (Press Control+A to select all recipes in the current chapter.)
  3. Click the Print button.
  4. Click the Layout field to select a print layout.
  5. Click the Printer field to select your desired printer.
  6. Click the Font field to select a font for printing.
  7. Click the OK button to print your recipe(s)

Tips:
  • All print layouts assume your printer is set to standard 8.5x11 inch letter size paper, regardless of what paper you are actually feeding. Make sure letter size paper is selected in the printer properties when you choose your printer.
  • You can adjust the location of the cards on the page, by dragging the card in the preview window (top-left card with multi-card layouts), or by pressing the keyboard cursor keys (Up, Down, Left, Right). Most printers cannot print within 1/4 inch of the papers edge, so keep this in mind as you adjust the card positions.
  • With multiple card layouts, you can adjust the space between cards by dragging the right-hand or lower cards. Or, hold down the Control key and use the keyboard cursor keys (Up, Down, Left, Right).
  • Not all printers feed paper the same way, especially when manually feeding index cards. You may have to change the margin settings to align the printouts with your cards.
  • If you are printing one of the multiple card layouts on plain card stock, click the Print Card Outlines option to provide lines for cutting the cards out.
  • Click the One Recipe Per Card option if you want to limit the number of recipes printed on a card.
  • Click the Print Photos option if you want to print attached photos with the recipes. Obviously, the photo will only be printed if one is attached to the recipe. Because of the limited space on index cards, this option is best restricted to full page layouts.
  • You can also print a recipe by clicking the Print button on the Recipe screen.

Move or Copy Recipes

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to move or copy.
    (Press Control+A to select all recipes in the current chapter.)
  3. Click the Move or Copy button.
  4. Select the chapter where you want the recipes to be moved/copied.

Import Recipes

Many recipes can be found on web sites, newsgroups, mailing lists, or even other recipe applications. Home Cookin lets you import these easily, saving the work of retyping every recipe. You may import recipes from text files, or copy them to the clipboard in other applications (i.e. web browsers, email clients, or newsreaders) and import from the clipboard.

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Select the chapter you want to save the recipe(s) in.
  3. Click the Import button.
  4. Select the file you want to import, or click the Clipboard button to import a recipe that has been copied to the clipboard.
  5. Select your desired import method:
    • The Automatic import method supports recipes exported from Mastercook, Meal-Master, Big-Oven, Cookbook Wizard, From Scratch, From My Kitchen, Living Cookbook, Now You're Cooking, Recipe Processor, or Computer Chef.
    • The Manual import method will let you save recipes that do not adhere to any of the supported formats.
    • The Information Record method will save the recipe as generic text.
    Normally you should leave the method set to Automatic. If the recipe format cannot be determined, Home Cookin will fall back to the Manual import method. The only time you may need to purposely select the Manual method is if the Automatic method is not importing a recipe properly.
  6. Check the sort by category option if you want the recipes to be sorted by their defined categories. If the category does not exist as a Home Cookin chapter, a new chapter will be created automatically. If the recipe does not specify a category, the recipe will be placed in a chapter called Undefined Chapter.
  7. Check the Spell Check option if you want to check spelling before saving the recipe. (Spell checking during importing will significantly slow down large import sessions.)
  8. Click OK to import the recipe(s).

Manual Importing:

The manual import is used when Home Cookin cannot detect a recipe automatically, or when you specifically choose the manual import method. This allows you to select the various recipe segments yourself, and save the recipe in Home Cookin.
  1. Select the recipe title by clicking on the line of text that contains the recipe title. Then click the Title button.
  2. Optional: Select the line that specifies the number of servings for the recipe. Then click the Yield button.
  3. Select the ingredients lines by clicking on the first ingredient and dragging down to the last ingredient. Then click the Ingredients button.
  4. Select the directions lines by clicking on the first line of the directions and dragging down to the last line of the directions. Then click the Directions button.
  5. Click the Save button.
If the text contains additional recipes, you can repeat the process with those. Click the Done button to return to the Index screen.

Tips:
  • If you do not select a yield for the recipe, Home Cookin will default to four servings.
  • After you select a recipe segment, you can Right click and select the segment type, instead of clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.
  • Many documents like Word Documents (.doc) or web pages (.htm) include special formatting and control characters. Trying to import these directly into Home Cookin will likely result in garbled text with lots of strange characters. Instead, you should load the file into the application that created it, and Copy the text to the clipboard. You can then import the recipe into Home Cookin.

NOTE: Recipe importing is not an exact process. There are many factors that can cause the import functions to work improperly, or not at all. These include inadvertant editing to the original text files, reformatting by various network processes, file corruption, embedded control codes, etc. Home Cookin has been designed to accomodate many of the problems you are likely to encounter, but you may need to edit the recipe after importing.

If you are having difficulties importing a recipe, you can always Add a new recipe, then copy and paste text between your application (i.e. a web browser) and the recipe editor. In a few situations, this may provide better results than importing.

Export Recipes

To make it easier to exchange recipes with other users, Home Cookin allows you to export recipes from your collection.

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Check the boxes next to the recipe(s) you want to export.
  3. Click the Export button.
  4. Select your desired export format:
    • Home Cookin with photos - Use this format anytime you exchange recipes with other Home Cookin users. The photo will be encoded as text characters along with the recipe text.
    • Home Cookin, text only - This format is fairly generic which may be preferable if the recipient does not use recipe software.
    • Meal Master - A very common recipe format supported by most recipe applications.
    • Mastercook - A newer, but also common, recipe format that is supported by many applications.
    • XML - This format can be processed by other applications to perform various tasks. Experienced webmasters can also use this format to display recipes on their web sites.
  5. Select your desired destination:
    • Click the File button to export the recipe to a file. When the file selector appears, navigate to your desired folder, then type in a filename for your recipe (i.e. Recipe01.txt).
    • Click the Clipboard button to export the recipe to Windows clipboard. You can then Paste the recipe into any other application (Notepad, Word, Newsreaders, etc.).
    • Click the Email button to send a recipe by email. Your default email client will open with the recipe in the message body. Address the message, change the subject line if you wish, and add any additional text. Then send your message.

Tips:
  • The Email option requires a properly configured MAPI compliant email client. If you are having trouble with this function, you can always export to the clipboard then paste the recipe into your email message manually.
  • If you are posting recipes to a newsgroup or public forum, the Meal-Master or Mastercook formats will provide the greatest compatibility for other users.
  • You can also export a recipe by clicking the Export button on the Recipe screen.

Locate Duplicate Recipes

As your recipe collection grows, you may end up with many similar recipes. This frequently occurs when you import recipes from public sources. Recipes may be renamed, ingredients reorganized, or the directions edited for clarity. But the recipes may otherwise be very similar.

The duplicate locator performs a statistical analysis of each recipe, then compares statistics to locate those that are similar. This allows Home Cookin to identify similar recipes even when some words are misspelled, ingredients or directions are in different orders, or the titles are different. You are then given the opportunity to compare the matches and delete the ones you no longer want.

  1. Click the Index tab.
  2. Click the Locate Duplicates button.
  3. Compare the two recipes (You may keep both recipes, delete one, or delete both).
    • If you want to delete the recipe on the left, click the Mark Recipe 1 button. Click the button a second time to unmark the recipe.
    • If you want to delete the recipe on the right, click the Mark Recipe 2 button. Click the button a second time to unmark the recipe.
  4. Click the Right arrow button or press the right cursor key to compare the next pair of duplicates.
  5. When you are finished comparing the duplicates, click the Delete Marked Recipes button. Marked recipes will be deleted, and you will be returned to the Index screen.

Tips:
  • No recipes will be deleted unless you mark them for deletion!
  • The statistical analysis is usually very accurate, but you may encounter a few "false" matches from time to time. This is a normal side effect of the analysis process.
  • When two recipes match Exactly, the newest recipe is automatically selected for deletion. You can still unmark exact matches if you want to keep them, or click the Unmark All button to clear all of the duplicate marks.
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