Recipes and Cookbooks
All the recipes on this blog are ones I have tried and that are loved. There are hundreds of recipes that I want to try, but I will not post any unless I have tried and approved them.
I love cookbooks! Many cookbooks I discovered were from the library. I checked them out over and over and studied them. Over the years I have bought my favorite cookbooks at discounted prices. My collection has grown to over one hundred. I know I should simplify, but I have a really hard time to get rid of any because they have such good recipes and information. However, I occasionally find another cookbook that is so good I just have to own it. Recently I came across a link to Lincoln’s inauguration ball menu and it was from someone who had 20,000 items in his culinary arts collection! The collection was donated to five different universities. The University of Iowa has their share of the collection available online at http://collguides.lib.uiowa.edu/?MSC0533
Sixteen years ago some friends, Jeff and Brigette, gave me a gift subscription to Cuisine at Home. That was the very best cooking magazine! I can always trust the recipes to be fabulous. My best recipes are usually from that magazine. Sadly, however, I actually let that subscription lapse after 16 years because they have changed it so much that I was no longer excited to receive each new issue. I should be all right having hundreds of their past recipes to go through.
My very first cookbook was Pillsbury Kitchens’ Cookbook, 1979 version. I bought it because it was what my culinary teacher in high school used. I remember her demonstrating how to make the recipe, Chocolate Dessert Roll. It looked so good! The funny thing is though that I have never made that recipe even though I always wanted to. You would think in 30 years of baking I would have had the chance to make it. Maybe I will someday. I took such good care of that cookbook because I did not want it to get messed up and fall apart. It is slightly tattered now, but in good shape for its age.
King Arthur Baking has great recipes on their website and in their books. Although baking is their specialty, they do have more than just baking recipes. The comments section on their site gives really good feedback on the recipes. I try to read through those for tips first, if there are not hundreds of comments. They also have very educational blogs about baking and a wonderful baking hotline I have used at times. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com.
Some other cookbook authors that I love and trust are Alice Medrich, Marcia Adams, James Peterson, Rose Levy Berenbaum and Lisa Yockelson. Additionally, MJ’s Kitchen (http://mjskitchen.com/) is a great resource for fabulous New Mexican recipes. I learned from her how to make the wonderful Chile Verde and Chile Colorado that we had in Santa Fe. (Sadly, that site has closed.)
There is no end to great recipes and great food, thankfully!