Photo Recipe Cards

For some, entertaining and gift giving is an art. The event or gift, must make a statement, be unique and let people know that you were inspired to go the extra mile for them. Believe it or not, but there are lots of ways to add something extra to your gifts using just your home photo printer. For those food lovers or cooks in your life, try creating a fun photo recipe card with the recipe printed on one side and a photo of the finished dish on the other.

A photo recipe card is a great keepsake item or giveaway for a variety of events, including:

•Bridal showers: At many showers, guests are asked to bring recipes for the bride. The photo/recipe combo offers a special touch for the bride-to-be.

•Home entertaining: Great for entertaining, providing guests with the recipe of a special food item that was served.

•Recipe books: Capture your special recipes in one collection.

•Mommy and me: Capture your early memories with your child in the kitchen.

•Important recipes: For recipes that are passed down for generations, include the cook in the photo.

At a recent Canon event called The Digital Home, the company showcased how easy it is to develop a photo recipe card, in this case, for a lemon cake.

Here's what you'll need:

•An easy-to-use digital camera (e.g. Canon PowerShot A720 IS or Canon PowerShot A650 IS).

•Double-sided matte or photo paper. Photo recipe cards are most practically printed on 4X6 paper; however, many printers can handle a variety of paper sizes.

•Compact photo printer (e.g. Canon SELPHY CP740 or Canon PIXMA mini 320) or Duplex multi-function printer (e.g. Canon MP610, Canon MP970 or the Canon MP520).

•One lemon cake – or dish of your choice!

Step 1:

Create your favorite recipe. Snap a picture of the finished product.

Feel free to embellish with elements that were included in the recipe. In the case of our lemon cake, we included some lemons.

At the Canon Digital Home, the camera of choice was the A-Series 720 IS. Benefits of this camera for making a photo recipe card include an ergonomically correct grip to ensure a comfortable fit, which is perfect for the kitchen and potentially slippery hands. The camera is easy to use, takes great pictures, has a low price point ($249.99) and offers a wide array of creative shooting modes, which enable better framing and close up shots. Finally, the camera uses AA batteries so you can ensure that it is always charged.

Step 2:

Install EasyPhoto software that comes with the printer, if you haven't already. Set-up wizards will take you through every step of the simple installation process.

Step 3:

Upload photo to personal computer using a USB or FireWire cable.

Step 4:

Print the photo onto your matte or photo paper.

Step 5:

Save your recipe to a Word document in landscape format, which will enable you to print horizontally. [In your toolbar, click File, scroll down to Page Set Up. Under Orientation click Landscape instead of Portrait.]

Step 6:

Flip your photo paper and reinsert it into your printer. Print your recipe on the opposite side as the food picture.

It's as easy as that.