Ina Garten's Cookbook Index

Sometimes we get questions about how we keep track of all the Barefoot Contessa recipes - now that Ina Garten is on her eleventh book, it gets a little tricky. My mom knows almost every Barefoot Contessa book by heart but I’m not so lucky so here’s my trick - the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Index and a Personal Recipe File.

Here's my tip; print out the full Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Index from BarefootContessa.com (about 35 pages) and put it in a dedicated Personal Recipe File. The index has recipes from all 11 books (over 800 recipes), organized and listed by meal (drinks, dinners, desserts, etc.) and type (pies, cakes & cupcakes, etc.). The index fits perfectly in the Recipe File with pages to spare. I love that I can look up a recipe by name in the index and go directly to that book and page. Such a timesaver compared to my previous methods, either guess and check or call my mom. Ha!

We started carrying the Personal Recipe File in our shop because it was one of the tips in How Easy Is That? (on page 54), and we were thrilled to find out that the index fit in it as well.

The Personal Recipe File keeps the index clean and in order. I keep one recipe file to store and organize my loose recipes, and one with the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Index. It has a lightweight plastic cover and a multi-fold spine so it lies completely flat. The top-loading sleeves are designed to fit an 8.5” x 11” paper as well as most standard size magazine pages (like Food Network Magazine). Since the page sleeves are plastic, it’s easy to wipe off the inevitable splash or spill. Even when filled it’s still slim and easily slides in with my cookbooks.

You can find the index on Ina Garten's site BarefootContessa.com. The best way to print it out is directly from the site (direct link here). Like I mentioned before, the index catalogs all the Barefoot Contessa recipes from all 11 cookbooks and should print out to be about 35 pages. 

We hope you like this little tip and that you put your Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Index to good use!

--Cassandra