October is National Cookbook Month

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I love cookbooks. Even though I use Pinterest now for most of my recipes, I still collect cookbooks. I adore the food photography and the little stories about each recipe. Sometimes I just sit and page through them, looking for inspiration.

Cookbooks make great gifts. In all honesty, they tend to be too expensive for me to buy for myself. Cookbooks are almost always hardcover, which makes them pricey. I usually ask Hubs for them for Christmas and enjoy giving them as wedding or shower gifts. Kids also love cookbooks and there’s a ton out there directed towards them. (The Child’s favorite cookbook is included on my list below.) Kid-friendly characters and themes are all widely represented in the cookbook genre.

So let’s jump in. Since October is National Cookbook Month, please allow me to introduce you (in no particular order) to my favorite cookbooks of all time!

Bad Manners: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck by Bad Manners and Michelle Davis

Originally published as Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck. This is the version I have. Please be advised – you need a good sense of humor for this cookbook. The curse words are rampant, but the book is a hilarious manifesto for healthful eating. The recipes, all vegan and plant-based, are creative, modern and delicious. My very favorite is the “Maple Oat Banana Bread”. I eat it for breakfast, toasted, spread with crunchy peanut butter. (Once Again’s Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter is always in my refrigerator.)

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Deb Perelman is the food blogger and founder of smittenkitchen.com. I stumbled across this cookbook on a sale table and recognized the name as that of a blog from which I had grabbed many recipes over the years. One of my favorite things about this cookbook is the way Perelman separates the entrée category into two chapters – vegetarian and non-vegetarian. This way, you can simply look through the chapter you need, rather than sorting through a ton of meat-based recipes when you don’t need one or vice versa. For us, the winning recipe in this cookbook is the “Wild Rice Gratin with Kale, Caramelized Onions and Baby Swiss”. It is definitely a fall/winter recipe. I made it last week when the weather finally flipped to “fall.” I use not baby swiss, but the beautiful Silver Lake cheese from East Hill Creamery. Similar to Gruyere in flavor, it adds an amazing flavor and nuttiness to this wild rice casserole.

The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s Farmers’ Markets by Deborah Madison

Deborah Madison, possibly the most famous vegetarian chef in the U.S., gets two spots on my Favorite Cookbooks list. The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone is beautifully designed, accessible to the beginner cook and inspirational to the well-seasoned cook. Madison discusses vegetarian diets and local and organic foods before delving into kitchen skills and tools, menu planning and basic ingredients. This is a great cookbook to have on hand after you’ve visited the farmers’ market and come home with some new-to-you produce. Simply turn to the “Vegetables” chapter and find what you need. (I have the originally published version, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.)

Local Flavors, a gorgeous book in its own right, focuses on the glorious variety of foods available at farmers’ markets around the country. It highlights markets at different times of the year, and the produce available at that time. Madison groups chapters by seasonal availability and botanical families – one chapter on leafy greens, another on cabbages, kale and other crucifers, still another on vining fruits and veggies (cucumbers, melons and pumpkins all in the same chapter!). The photos and stories are amazing. The recipe I return to over and over is in the “Corn and Beans” chapter, called “Corn Fritters with Aged Cheddar and Arugula.” Pair this recipe with some simple grilled zucchini and sliced tomatoes and it’s a perfect mid-summer meal.

Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard and Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch by Nigel Slater

If you love fruits and veggies, you need these books. Slater is Britain’s foremost food writer and he clearly adores fruits, vegetables and gardening. He shares information on choosing produce varieties for both planting and cooking and tells stories about his own experiences in choosing both the right and wrong varieties. Chapters are divided by individual fruits or veggies (apples, blueberries, figs, etc.). Slater includes nuts in Ripe as well – botanically, they are fruits and provide an interesting change from the “normal” fruits found in other chapters. Like Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, these are great cookbooks for finding uses for farmers’ market produce or dealing with an abundance of home garden fruits and veggies. They are also both enjoyable to simply sit down and read.

Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Giada de Laurentiis

I’m not going to kid you here – this is not an easy cookbook. Many recipes are time-consuming, despite de Laurentiis’s reassurance in the Introduction that “this book makes it easy for you to create fantastic Italian meals in your own kitchen every day of the week, whether it’s a quick lunch or Sunday dinner.” However, if you’re interested in Italian cooking, it is very thorough and the recipes are delicious and vibrant. Just be sure to read the recipes before starting so you know which are “quick lunch” recipes and which are “Sunday dinner” recipes and set aside the appropriate amount of time. I use the “Basil Pesto” recipe in the summer and make a quadruple-batch, then freeze in meal-size portions and use all winter. Another fabulous recipe is the “Grilled Pineapple with Nutella”, an amazing and (fairly) easy dessert, but fancy enough for a dinner party.

Kids Cooking: Tasty Recipes with Step-by-Step Photos by the Editors of Klutz

This is a fantastic kids’ cookbook. The Child got it as a birthday gift a couple years ago and he loves it (as you can see from the sticky marks all over it). The recipes are fun and easy, with cute illustrations and descriptive photos. The Child’s favorite recipes to make are the “Holy Guacamole”, “Rainbow Fruit Kabobs” and “Scrambled Egg Buddies”. The three of us can devour a bowl of “Holy Guacamole” during a Bills game, with no difficulty whatsoever.

The Betty Crocker Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook from Scratch by Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker is not a real person (in case you were unaware of this). She was a fictional advertising character created by the Washburn-Crosby Company, which eventually became General Mills, in 1921. But boy, that fictional lady can cook. I bought this cookbook when I moved into my first apartment at age 19. I knew how to make hot dogs, Rice-A-Roni and Toll House cookies (provided I had the chocolate chip bag with the recipe printed on it). This cookbook was my guide as I learned how to make soup, lasagna, meatballs and even bread.

If you are just getting started with cooking or looking for a gift for a college student or newlyweds, you can’t go wrong with this book, now in its 12th edition. (Mine is the 8th edition, published in 1996, titled Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook.) It’s a great cookbook to learn from and to have on hand for good, basic recipes and cooking skills. You can see from the photo how well-used my copy is! I do fear it will fall apart on me soon, so I’m very careful when I open it to my go-to recipes, the classics “Pancakes”, “Zucchini Bread” and “Dilled New Potato Salad.”

I hope this gives you some motivation to pick up a fun new cookbook. Online recipes are great, but nothing beats the bright, shiny pages of a new cookbook just waiting to be splashed and dripped on. (If your cookbooks stay bright and shiny, you’re doing something wrong!) If you’re learning to cook for the first time or trying to create some new, healthier eating habits, let me help.

Thanks for being with me on this wellness journey.