I have been meaning to write this post forever. I enjoy cookbooks. I check them out from the library all the time and usually try out a recipe or two that sounds good. However, there are two cookbooks in my arsenal that I use almost daily and I do not know how I ever lived without them. My favorite is The Six O'clock Scramble: Quick, Healthy, and Delicious Dinner Recipes for Busy Families by Aviva Goldfarb. This cookbook is absolutely indispensible to me. Almost every dinner we eat comes from these pages. The recipes are really good (although we’ve had a couple of doosies, but that may be because I hate chicken so anything with chicken just makes me go “bleck!”). Some of our favorite recipes include saffron bean salad, ravioli lasagna, sloppy joes, roasted sweet potato and apple soup, and Tuscan white bean soup with croutons. Something I love, love, love about the book is her suggestions for side dishes included with almost every recipe, like serving peanut butter stew (yum!) over couscous with mango slices on the side. They are varied, yummy and interesting. Our family’s dining repertoire has expanded in delicious directions with this book. The recipes serve anywhere from 4 to 8 people and pretty much work perfectly for our family of five-and-a-half eaters.
Another cookbook I have grown very attached to is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., and Zoe Francois. Wow! These people are not kidding when they say you can make amazing bread in five minutes a day. This method requires a simple mixing of ingredients into a large bowl (I mix it all by hand – piece of cake - it takes about 3 minutes) and storing it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. One batch makes about three loaves for us. I simply pull out some dough, let it rise on the counter for twenty minutes, or so, about an hour before dinner. Then I toss it in the oven for 35 minutes and, viola`, delicious, crusty, yummy bread piping hot from my oven. We were paying a good four or five dollars a loaf for this stuff at the grocery store. You can even shape little balls for rolls, make fancy sweet rolls or braids or pizza or flatbreads or anything. It is all so yummy and so easy.
I highly recommend both of these books. Check them out at the library and try out a couple of recipes. C’mon live a little . . . I promise it will be delicious! What’s your favorite cookbook?
3 comments:
We have had very yummy meals! Although, I don't know how much of it has to do with the cookbooks. I think it has more to do with the gourmet chef! Thank you MyLiege for making me good food to eat!
I tried a few recipes from the Artisan Bread cookbook. My family didn't care for the "aged" flavor the dough takes on after living in the fridge. To each his own, I suppose. I'm glad you have found tools you love!
I loved the bread! I would eat way to much if I made the dough and left it in my fridge.
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