My friend Vanessa started posting weekly meal plans on her blog, and in her recent post she included a photo of a pancake recipe on a stained page from a cookbook. I smiled as I thought of all my “oops” moments as I’ve dripped or splattered various things on my recipes.

So I went on a hunt, through the pages of my cookbooks to find the stained pages. Wrinkled, dirty or stuck together with who knows what.

Here’s my Saturday morning pancake recipe. The page is warped from spills and has a couple mysterious splatters. I actually memorized the recipe a while ago, so the page isn’t getting weekly use even though the recipe is. This is in the “More-with-Less” cookbook.

One of my other favorites is the “Betty Crocker Cookbook.” (link is for most recent edition) A messy page in there is for Cucumber Salad. Runner up is blueberry muffins.

Anyone else think dill weed would make a great insult? Like, “Arrrrgh, he is such a dill weed!” Anyway…

These stains aren’t a mar or a ruin, they are proof of real cooking!

I actually don’t use “real” cookbooks very much any more. Most of the new recipes I try are ones I come across online. And the cookbooks I have purchased recently have been in Kindle form which I pull up on my iPad.

A splattered cookbook page may be a badge of honor, but a splattered iPad is just gross. I quickly realized I needed to keep my device out of mess range. This was harder than I thought; there are many cabinet-mounted iPad racks available, but I needed one that could hold mine with the cover on. I found this on Amazon.

This is great! And the recipe on the screen is from the Kindle book “Crock On” by Stacy Myers.  I made this one a couple weeks ago, and it was really good. The rack keeps my iPad clean and safe plus gives me more counter space. It works with lightweight cookbooks, too.

What is the messiest page in your cookbook? Anyone else use a tablet device in the kitchen? I’d love to hear what everyone else is doing. Let me know in the comments.