The Cookbook Scoop

When my sister, Susan, went into the Marines, we inherited a few things.

One of them was her cookbook "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman. I had to reluctantly give it back to her once she got married, but my sweet husband bought it for me for my birthday. My mother also gave me his international cookbook and it's wonderful, too. These cookbooks are interesting. For one thing, they're huge. Take a gander.

And for another, they have not ONE SIGLE SOLITARY picture of food in them. There are diagrams and illustrations drawn in black ink, but those are for things like carving a turkey, etc. The text is black on white and crammed together. But it is a cookbook to sink your soul into, let alone your teeth.

Bittman makes the case for homemade chicken broth, or veggie broth and now I'm a believer. It's so EASY, it's so HEALTHY! His point is to cook whatever it is in the best possible way, but it turns out that means fresh, whole foods and simple combinations. Nothing is overdone or extra fancy, but he does admonish the use of the proper ingredients, not milk when cream is called for! Anyway, I'm in love and it feels so goooood!

One of my old favorites is a cookbook that my Grandma Paddon gave us for a wedding present. She gave us THREE cookbooks, actually, all from Taste of Home. And I'm sure many of you are familiar with the magazines and cookbooks they have. My favorite is the Taste of Home Guide to Country Cooking. I discovered that you can actually try a recipe for the first time and it WILL turn out right! (You do have to follow the recipe, of course.) Grandma also gave us the cookbook collection for our year, 2001:

and another cookbook that is wire-bound and split into three sections; top, middle, bottom:

The top section is main dishes, middle is sides and last section is DESERT! Anyway, you can open the cookbook to all three recipes of your choice and they are printed all on one page. Easy Peasy.

And Taste of Home is VERY VERY good about the most gorgeous photos. You can always whet your appetite by flipping through a cookbook of theirs.

Another cookbook I don't use super often, but often enough to get it's own small paragraph is Nourishing Traditions.

This is THE super healthy cookbook. It is filled with label advice educating you on those mysterious ingredients on most things you buy at the store. They have recipes for raw meat eaters, vegetarians, fermentation for healthier digestion, you name it! I've barely scratched the surface. But there's plenty of things to fall in love with, even if you don't like your meat walking about the kitchen. Salad dressings and bavarian cream are two instant winners in my experience.

The rest of the recipes I love are old fav's handed down from my side or Shane's side of the family, or a random gem I found in a cookbook that I mostly don't use, or a recipe that I stole from someone when I died (and went to heaven) after eating it. Two come to mind right away; Darla's Pumpkin Desert and Pecan Chicken Salad. Can't resist 'em!

So there's a few cookbook introductions! Wish I could share my own recipe inventions, but I don't have any. I have such wonderful luck browsing through the work of others that...well, what's the point?! I'll just share my own borrowed collection giving credit where it is so amply due.