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Anyone who likes to cook will have a drawer full of recipes scribbled down on scraps of paper, so why not use Pages to collate them into your very own bespoke recipe book? Whether it’s recipes found on the internet, made up yourself or secret family recipes that have been passed down through generations, it’s easy to make sense of your notes. It’s simply a matter of taking a photograph of the dish and adding the text. Then, by using the tools in Pages, you can make it look stylish and professional. Even if you’re not a master chef yourself, this app will make an ideal present for the cook in your family. Once you have a template saved, you can add recipes whenever you want. You can also make pages more dynamic by changing the colours or by moving the images around. When you have a few, why not print them out and bind them into a book? Or you could even paste them to card for your own special recipe cards.
1: Start designing
Open Pages and choose a blank template. We’ve selected the landscape format. Create a frame for the page by using the Shape tool.
2: Delete outline
Fill the shape with your choice of colour. It may have a black keyline. Remove this by selecting None from the drop-down menu at the top of the interface.
3: Add another shape
Add another shape slightly smaller than the first and select a paler colour. Use the Graphic Inspector to add a stroke to make it stand out.
4: Add pictures
Drag and drop an image from the Media palette onto the layout and select Mask from the Format menu. Drag the corners to crop the image.
5: Text
Now we can start incorporating some text. Tap the Text box icon at the top of the interface and key in the title of your recipe.
6: Formatting text
Format the text by increasing the size; as the title, we want it to stand out. Choose a font and change the colour so that it suits the background.
7: Details
Add another text box and add details such as how many it serves. Choose a more legible font and use different weights and colour to make the data clear.
8: Title
Cut and paste the title box, make the text smaller and type in ‘Ingredients’. Add a text box underneath and use the small body copy to list the ingredients.
9: Method
Repeat the last step for the Method and add any extra details. Save and export as a PDF, or print it out. Once you have a few, bind together to make a book.
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