I was provided with complimentary TasteBook products to facilitate this review. The opinions in this post are 100% mine. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
I love to cook and try new recipes, so I was really excited to check out TasteBook, a site I’d never heard of before but quickly fell in love with. TasteBook is the Random House online food community where you can discover, share recipes, and create personalized cookbooks. And it is SO much fun!
I was offered the opportunity to create my own TasteBook, and they sent me a sampler to check out too. So now I have tons of awesome new recipes to try!
UPDATE: Scroll Down If You Are Looking for How to Add Pages to Your TasteBook
I have updated this post, November 2021, with detailed info. Scroll to the end to read!
TasteBook provides the really simple instructions you need to create your own cookbook. It’s very easy and more than that, it’s FUN! I really enjoyed browsing so many delicious recipes.
When I finally got all the recipes I wanted in my cart, I had to double check that ‘Available’ column with the green dots. Not every recipe is available for purchase, some are just to view online. So you want to make sure you’ve got a green light on each one to add to your book. There’s a box to check when you’re search that says ‘for purchase’ and you can use that to make sure you’re only adding recipes you can actually put in your book. One TasteBook includes 50 recipes for $34.95 plus shipping. You can add additional recipes for only $.29 each.
This is my TasteBook! So cool, right? I got to choose the title, which is also imprinted along the binding. I chose the background picture too. They have some neat foodie ones to choose from.
It comes packaged just like this with all the pages wrapped together and some empty sleeves so you can add new recipes that you might clip from magazines to your book. I really like that they thought of that! And it went together in seconds. The rings snap apart and back together perfectly and line right up with the holes on the pages. Super fast to put together.
When you design your cookbook you can customize a dedication page. This is mine, dedicated to my family. You can upload your own picture and write your own message. I absolutely love this! This feature makes TasteBook a perfect gift idea. I love it for Mother’s Day, Christmas, or a birthday. You actually can add your own recipes and photos to TasteBook so if you have any family recipes you’d be able to include them, too.
This is the table of contents on the Sampler book that I was sent. When you select your recipes online, you can categorize them like this (Appetizers, Sweets, etc.) and a Table of Contents will be automatically generated and your recipes are printed and sent to you in that order. Totally easy! There are also chapter pages included to divide your recipes by the table of contents.
Here’s just a quick sneak peek of some of the recipes in my cookbook. So excited to try some of these! What I found is that there are a lot of unique recipes but most of them are really easy to make. So don’t worry that this is a fancy schmancy cookbook that you’ll never actually use. Remember, you choose the recipes so you get to pick what resonates with you. There are plenty of really quick and easy choices.
As you may know, February is American Heart Health Month and TasteBook has added a fantastic new recipe collection from the American Heart Association from their Go Red For Women Cookbook, The Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook, and Eat Less Salt. Heart-healthy recipes for the entire family include Shrimp Jambalaya, Veggie Mac and Cheese, Open-Face Empanadas, and more. The mission of the American Heart Association is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, and this recipe collection—along with the AHA’s bestselling library of cookbooks—will make it easy for you take charge of your health without sacrificing flavor. I was sent a copy of Go Red for Women and this book is jam packed with delicious, healthy recipes. Heart health is a cause that’s near and dear to me because I have a family history of heart disease and lost my Dad to a heart attack several years ago. I love the AHA recipes that TasteBook has added to their site.
To keep the spirit of heart health alive all year long, TasteBook has now added nutritional information to thousands of their recipes. Recipe pages now display fat, calories, fiber, and other nutritional values per serving. This is great for those of us trying to make healthier choices for our families.
You can create your own TasteBook either for yourself or as a special gift (or both!) right here. Be sure to follow TasteBook on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ to be the first to learn about their latest products. I’m excited to add some new recipes to my TasteBook in the coming months!
Adding More Pages to Your TasteBook: Updated November 2021
I published this post in 2014, and in the past couple of years I’ve gotten several emails from readers asking me how they can add pages to their TasteBook. It appears that while TasteBook is still operating we website, they are no longer providing this service.
I did find an alternative, however! CreateMyCookbook offers a make-your-own cookbook option, and they have special instructions if you are coming over from TasteBook.
Note that CreateMyCookbook pages do NOT fit in a TasteBook cookbook, but making the switch looks pretty easy and you won’t lose any of your recipes.
If you never got the chance to download your HTML file, but have the files saved digitally, you can copy and paste your recipes into the CreateMyCookbook program. Here is a helpful article on getting content from electronic sources.
If you don’t have your recipes saved digitally at all, you can actually take photos of your Tastebook pages and upload them to CreateMyCookbook’s WeTypeIt service. Their transcribers will type your recipes for you so all you will need to do is review and add the recipes to your new cookbook. Awesome!
I hope this option helps some of you. Their customer service was super fast to respond and give me this useful info, so feel free to reach out if you have further questions.
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