Nettles and recipe books

I've finished over the fence!  Now I wait for it to grow over a little so it doesn't look quite so bare and I have visions of neat rows of young stinging nettles along my path and plenty of lovely blackberries - I know it won't actually be like that of course but I can dream.

Why would I want stinging nettles at all I hear you ask?  Well so that I can make soup with them - naturally!  I read about nettle soup in two library books I had earlier this year and I decided to try making some.  I picked a carrier bag of nettles - just the tips and not from anywhere I though any dogs might have been and wearing rubber gloves to do so - and this was my harvest picked over and washed ready for use.

The soup was delicious - even the wanderer who was still with us at the time enjoyed it and asked for seconds. 

All of this brings me to my recipe file - I was inspired to post about this having read of Helen's recipe books On her blog Helsie's Happenings (can't do a link to it for some reason it keeps telling me that a script in it will make my computer unresponsive and I then have to log off) and thought how professional hers looked.  This is mine.  Just an ordinary A4 ring binder with a clip art design on the front and spine.

My recipes are a motley collection including clippings from old newspapers - now yellowed with age,

Some recipes from magazines....

Some handwritten ones...

Some recipes in my Mum's handwriting - it is wonderful to have something which a loved one actually wrote,  the paper she physically touched - as she died nearly 11 years ago there won't be any more of these.  And notice what this recipe is for - nettle beer so more uses for the nettles on my path!!  I haven't actually made this but if I get a crop of nettles I might give it a try next year.

Some of my recipes are written in French - this one my neighbour gave me.  She told me that a clafouti is made with cherries and if you make the same thing with apples it is a flognarde - this recipe was for flognarde.

And here's another French one.

So nothing professional about my recipe book but a collection of recipes from all sorts of places many of which bring back happy memories of the friends who kindly passed their recipes on and of the times when I enjoyed them.  My pages are often splattered with marks and put together in a somewhat scruffy way but it works for me!!  Do you have a recipe collection and if so how do you organise yours?

The wanderer is on her way to spend a couple of days with us - we haven't seen her since she left at the beginning of June and I have been making her favourite biscuits from one of my recipes in the folder along with granola which we made when she was here and she enjoyed.  Shan't be able to make any nettle soup this time though as you really need young green nettles not the 10 foot tall ones I have been pulling up!!

Many thanks for all your kind comments on my last post - I noticed I had suddenly had 2 more followers again and now one's gone so as you all say it's best not to worry about it!  Hope you all have a good weekend - for those in UK hope your Bank Holiday weekend is not a complete washout.  My sister-in-law is camping near Weymouth with her walking group - I wouldn't be too surprised to see her at the door asking for a dry bed as it's been raining cats and dogs all day here!!

PS Many thanks too for all your good wishes for Mr M - glad to say he is on the mend now - must be that Metatone I bought for him!!