a few of my favorite things: cookbooks

Maybe it's the fact that I was raised with homecooked meals every night or maybe it's the fact that growing up I watched Emeril Live on the Food Network every night before bed (that was back when my bedtime was 8pm, so that tells you something.) I've just always adored cooking. It's one of those relaxing, rejuvenating, 'soul-care' kinda things in my life. While most of my recipe collection consists of recipes my mom cooks, I am trying to pave my own path and branch out, trying new cookbooks and new recipes I can instill in my little babies one day.

Too Busy to Cook by Bon Appetit. I grew up eating these recipes and nothing can really top the easy and yummy meals that come from this book. Everything reminds me of home. The Spinach, Bacon, and Apple Salad is yummy, the Chicken-Artichoke-Mushroom Saute is one of my favorites, the Chicken with Asparagus Mousse was a classic growing up, the Stuffed Green Peppers are really good, I love the Zucchini with Farfalle and the Fettuccine with Peas and Ham, and I would buy the whole book just to make the Broiled Tomatoes. I used to eat them growing up like they were going out of style. If I suggest any book to start out cooking with, it would undoubtedly be this one.

The New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne. This cookbook seems to be a classic that is recommended across the board to buy. I haven't cooked a whole lot out of it yet because it's my newest one, but I do have a ton of recipes highlighted to try out soon. (I searched the Internet like crazy and these are the recipes I noted): the Minestrone soup and the Cold Cucumber Soup, the Chicken Tetrazzini and the Chicken Paprika, the Eggplant Parmigiana, the Broiled Scallops, the Stuffed Grape Leaves, the Sour Cream Fudge Cake, and the Chocolate Souffle are at the top of my list of things to try.

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham. Thus far, this cookbook has yet to fail me. There is a perfect mix of really easy and basic recipes and also, much more complicated recipes that you can cook when you have a lazy day or a weekend free. Some day soon I am dying to make the Stuffed and Baked Red Snapper, the Chicken Provencal, their classic Bechamel Sauce, Fruit Fritters, and their Apple Crisp. (In the picture to the right, I chopped up some fruit and served it mixed with The Fannie Farmer Cookbook's Pineapple-Honey Dressing. It was delicious, sweet, and would be perfect with a wide array of berries and fruit.)

The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso. I have more marked recipes in this cookbook than any other. What that says? A disproportionately large amount of these recipes look absolutely delicious to me. (Your taste buds may not be like mine though, so go figure, ha). In the photo above, I made the Linguine with Tomatoes and Basil and the Asparagus with Prosciutto. The pasta was a really good, easy cold summer salad that would be ideal for a picnic. It's super rich, has a ton of Brie cheese, and I think it would easily become a crowd favorite. The asparagus side dish was super easy to make, my best friend loved them, and I could have eaten plenty more of them. Other recipes in this book that I am dying to try are the Curried Butternut Squash Soup, the Famous Chicken Marbella, Shrimp with Apples and Snow Peas, their Chili recipe, French Dressing, and the Blueberry Lemon Tart.

Even though I'm linking the Amazon pages of these cookbooks, if you buy them off Ebay you can get them at a really affordable price and honestly, eventually cookbooks are gonna look ragged and fall apart anyway, so if you buy them a little used its no big deal anywho. If you don't have room in the budget to buy some cookbooks, then head to a local bookstore and take some photos of good looking recipes in cookbooks that look good to you. Usually that's my sneaky way of testing out some recipes from a cookbook before I invest in it. 

Find the cookbooks on Amazon: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4