diff --git a/recipes/git.rb b/recipes/git.rb
index ae25b901..ff42367e 100644
--- a/recipes/git.rb
+++ b/recipes/git.rb
@@ -2,20 +2,17 @@
 # https://github.com/RailsApps/rails_apps_composer/blob/master/recipes/git.rb
 
 ## Git
-say_wizard "initialize git"
 prefs[:git] = true unless prefs.has_key? :git
 if prefer :git, true
-  copy_from 'https://raw.github.com/RailsApps/rails-composer/master/files/gitignore.txt', '.gitignore'
-  git :init
+  if !File.directory?('.git')
+    say_wizard "initialize git"
+    git :init
+  end
+  if !File.file?('.gitignore')
+    copy_from 'https://raw.github.com/RailsApps/rails-composer/master/files/gitignore.txt', '.gitignore'
+  end
   git :add => '-A'
   git :commit => '-qm "rails_apps_composer: initial commit"'
-else
-  stage_three do
-    say_wizard "recipe stage three"
-    say_wizard "removing .gitignore and .gitkeep files"
-    git_files = Dir[File.join('**','.gitkeep')] + Dir[File.join('**','.gitignore')]
-    File.unlink git_files
-  end
 end
 
 __END__