Chuck Kirman / Star staff Peggy Strople, a former Camarillo resident who now lives in Long Beach, shows off Table One Collection, her book to organize recipes.

Peggy Strople has spent years collecting and recording recipes, writing anecdotes about meals and saving kitchen ideas by the basic cut-and-paste method.

"I wanted that book to help me organize my culinary life, and instead it became cumbersome and inefficient to use — it was more frustrating than fun," recalled Strople, who used a blank, ringed book for her collection of treasures. "I had no indexing system and no place to put recipes I cut out of magazines or newspapers. I just threw items in that book willy-nilly with no way of adding pages."

With that, she came up with a better method that soon became her first book: the Table One Collection, a personal cookbook and recipe organizer that can be used to store, collect, save, write and preserve personal recipes, as well as recipes from magazines, newspapers and the Internet, among other resources.

"It comes in a beautiful box, which makes it a great gift item for Mother's Day, bridal showers, Christmas, and other occasions," said Strople, 56, of Long Beach, a former Camarillo resident who lived in Ventura County for almost 30 years.

Elegant, functional, easy

The box can be used to store recipes, and tabbed section dividers provide space for loose recipe storage, said Strople, adding that the book is also unique because it is "elegant in design and functional in form."

It's also easy to use: "Just take out the recipe page or recipe card you need, and the book looks good on the shelf. It allows a cook to keep everything in one place in an organized fashion."

It makes it easy and fun to catalogue recipes, Strople said. Use a computer to easily write or print recipes on the paper provided, or use sheet saver inserts for 3-by-5-inch recipe cards.

"Don't be afraid to use your Table One Collection," Strople said. "It is meant to be used every day. Make it yours. Don't worry about cooking stains, wine rings or bent tabs. These are signs of use and love. These will all add character and meaning to your Table One Collection."

As good wine improves with age, the book becomes more valuable to you, your family, and your friends with time as well, she added.

"As you use it and add recipes, anecdotes, pictures, memories you are writing a culinary history of your kitchen and the pleasurable memories you created there."

For Jeanne Tomlinson of Downey, the Table One Collection offers the perfect way to organize her and her mother's favorite recipes.

"My love of cooking came from my mother, who taught food service for years before retiring — we were always trying new recipes," Tomlinson said.

"After showing the book to my adult children, they want their own copy to preserve our favorite family recipes, then they can add their own, too."

Easy access and storage

She especially likes how the book is uniquely organized for easy access, with dividers and special pages for storage of clippings until they can be transferred to permanent pages.

"There is much useful information contained in the book, and it is very colorful," Tomlinson added. "This book is a real treasure that I will be recommending to my friends."

The first publication from Prosebooks, the Table One Collection is the culmination of years of cooking and creative fun in the kitchen with family and good friends, Strople said.

"It is the need for me to remember and preserve these good times, special occasions, delicious meals, delightful wines and enlivened conversations around a table that prompted me to publish this book," she said.

"The ultimate goal is the preservation of precious family traditions as we express them in the food we make for our families. I look at this book as an heirloom piece writing part of your family history you can pass down to the next generation."

For more information, go online to www.prosebooks.com.