14 Essential Cookbooks Everyone Should Own

The next book that I'm going to talk about is milk street Tuesday nights by Christopher Kimball so we love this cookbook we've owned this cookbook for about two or three years it's kind of like the original cookbook for us as a couple and honestly we have not become bored with this book at all. 

there are burger recipes, pasta recipes, curry recipes, so like I said there's a lot of variety within this book another really great thing about this book is that as the name kind of suggests it's a really great cookbook kind of for your every day so these recipes are kind of created to be able to be made on just a random Tuesday night with not a lot of time or preparation. 

and the way that this cookbook is organized is that it's organized by the length of time for how long it's going to cook so it has fast faster fastest and they kind of range from anywhere from like an hour and 20 minutes to about like 35 minutes so they're even the longest recipes really don't take that long to prepare but the shorter recipes really only take about 35 to 40 minutes which is really nice. 

because you're getting really dynamic flavorful dishes that don't take very long to make so for us I think the recipe that we probably make the most often is the orchestra pasta recipe so this utilizes some horchata noodles and it has a kind of garlic olive oil drizzle with some chard and jarred bell pepper but during the summer we've been kind of subbing the jarred bell pepper with roasted tomatoes and it is so good it's a really great meal that you kind of get some greens it's really light. 

but it's still really homey another recipe that we really like are the parmesan herb burgers those are really really good too they're a turkey burger so like I said there's a lot of different variety for everyone and I just think these recipes are so simple to make but are not basic or bland by any means.

the next book I want to talk about is dinner for everyone by mark Bittman this is another clever and really practical cookbook that uh does kind of a bunch of different iconic dishes but it does them in three different ways so it's going to be kind of a weeknight recipe a vegan recipe and an elevated kind for the entertaining recipe. 

so this takes recipes like beef stroganoff and provides a recipe that you can make on a Tuesday night it provides a recipe that is vegan friendly and then one that takes a little bit more time to create so you might have to simmer something for you know three to four hours and so it kind of tries to meet you wherever you're at in your cooking journey and you were never bored with this book. 

because you're basically getting a hundred recipes done three different ways I also really like this cookbook because it also encourages you to cook vegan dishes without really having to invest in a full cookbook dedicated to vegan recipes I think this is a great option if you do want to incorporate more kind of meat-free recipes into your diet but you don't really know where to start. 

I think this is a great cookbook because it takes already familiar recipes but does them uh with a vegan twist I think the recipe that we make the most from this book is this skillet chicken pot pie recipe is so good and so easy to make another one is sweet and salty coconut rice I sub the lime of beans for red beans and I usually do it with a jerk chicken that's actually in the milk street cookbook.

if you are looking to incorporate more vegetables into your cooking I definitely recommend Joshua McFadden's. six seasons cookbook not only is this cookbook absolutely gorgeous but it gives you a lot of really delicious vegetable recipes so when we cook our meals during the week we really try to have a protein starch and then a vegetable and a lot of our vegetable dishes. 

and so this book has really elevated and kind of challenged the way that we cook and kind of perceive vegetables the cookbook is organized by the season too so you are getting kind of an education on what vegetables are seasonal for you and so you're also kind of having this extra element of being connected to uh the ingredients that you're using when you cook which I think is really beautiful.

I think my favorite recipe from this book is a beet couscous recipe so this is I believe for the fall and winter season but you're using different kinds of beets so I think you could use you know red beets kind of yellow beets uh and then rainbow carrots you use a variety of onions and then you have a lemon olive oil sauce that kind of goes on top of it all with some couscous and I think it is such an earthy but still bright dish that really makes a like a fish dish tastes so good during the winter I think. 

it also really pairs well with kind of a roast chicken and you're getting your vegetables in as well as a starch so it's kind of like an all-in-one side which is sometimes really nice to do this recipe book definitely requires a little bit more preparation and planning and I wouldn't say skill but there are a lot of specialized ingredients in here that you might not normally use like stinging nettles which require special preparation.

so I think this is really good if you want a challenge and to really elevate your vegetable sides it's not only beautiful it has a really good message it helps you think more seasonally which is also kind of good for your budget as well um but I think this is just such a beautiful cookbook it also makes a really great gift so kind of going off of that cozy direction.

the next cookbook I'm going to talk about is easy soups from scratch with quick bread to match by ivy manning. I love this cookbook and I totally recommend it if you live somewhere that gets cold this is a beautiful soup cookbook that's organized by different ingredients that you put into it so it's organized by kind of what the staple is so you have grains and beans section you have a poultry section seafood beef pork so it's kind of organized by protein I guess which I think is really great. 

when you're kind of trying to pick a protein to put in your soup the soups themselves also are very very varied you have like a Thai chicken soup and then there's a chicken dumpling soup or a minestrone soup with sausage you get a lot of different types of soups with a lot of different flavors you have some creamy soups more brothy soups which I think is really fantastic for a soup book. 

because when you think of soup you don't really think of having that much to choose from and I think this will really challenge your soup-making skills but this book gets better because it also incorporates bread recipes in this book as well and there are some gluten-free options for the bread in this book that pair with each individual soup recipe. 

so my favorite is a tapioca cheese biscuit they're so good and they go with a couple of different recipes I've had it with the sausage gumbo recipe that's in this book and it's just so delicious there's another biscuit a pimento cheese drop biscuit that's also really easy to make that tastes really good with the gumbo I think that's my favorite soup recipe. 

I also like the minestrone soup as well I think that's really comforting but it's still hearty because there are some lentils and grains and a lot of veggies it also stores really well and so you can have that for lunch throughout the week. 

I definitely recommend this book for this upcoming fall and winter season you're going to have so many cozy soups to choose from that will keep not only your belly warm but your heart warm.

speaking of bread I would be remiss if I did not recommend bread baking for beginners by bonnie O'Hara. this is an invaluable resource if you want to get started on a bread baking journey I think O'Hara does an excellent job at introducing kind of the science behind bread baking but also giving you practical tips and troubleshooting kind of question answers to kind help guide you through possible mistakes you might make with the different types of recipes that are in this book. 

she also gives you a nice list of kinds of equipment that you might need to start baking bread at home which I also think is a great resource as well because it can be overwhelming when you're researching what you need exactly to bake bread and you don't really need that much but there are some things that make your cooking experience a lot better like a scale if you do not bake with a scale I definitely recommend that you start. 

but this book is organized by different types of bread so you have some no-need recipes you have needed recipes you have enriched doughs and then she also has a section on sourdough which she also teaches you how to make and maintain a sourdough starter which I'm still not very skilled at. 

I love this book my favorite recipes are for sure the enriched dough so making brioche there's a good cinnamon roll recipe and a chocolate bobcat recipe once you get started on enriched doughs you need to make the chocolate vodka because it is a braided loaf and so it looks really gorgeous and very impressive when you make it and it's so delicious too.

so yes definitely get bread baking for beginners it will be a very nice cookbook to complement your other cookbooks for the fall and winter season because fresh bread during the fall there's just nothing like it if you make the there's an oatmeal cinnamon loaf in this book that I just love putting with some cinnamon butter or some apple butter as well it's just so homey and it's so simple to do once you invest some time in learning how to do it properly.