This post by Jennifer Flaten
As much as I like a good mystery (of fiction, or suspense), sometimes there is nothing I want to do more than curl up with a cookbook, or brand new cooking magazine.
To me there is nothing more relaxing then paging through a cookbook. Baking, one-dish wonders, Betty Crocker or the local ladies’ auxiliary, it doesn’t matter, I love them all.
I can happily spend an entire evening leafing through the book’s glossy pages marking every recipe I think sounds good with a little sticky note. Most of the time, I make only one or two of the recipes I mark and end up peeling off about 50 sticky notes before I return the book from the library, but it’s the thought that counts.
Since, my budget prevents me from having an extensive collection of cookbooks at home, so I rely on our weekly trips to the library. When I am done combing through the new fiction releases, I head over to the new cookbooks. If there are no new releases, I head back into the stacks.
I love stumbling across fun cookbooks like the one put out by our community. This particular cookbook featured the favorite recipes of our local celebrity groundhog, Jimmy. Yes, it was a bit tongue in cheek, but still had some recipes you might consider making.
I have a soft spot for cookbooks that give a peek into the tastes and methods from years past. The Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbook was packed full on interesting tidbits from Laura’s frontier life. No, I couldn’t get her recipe for breakfast bread to work out, but I had a good time trying it out.
I also like cookbooks that tie into a book series, like Joanne Fluke’s Lake Eden Cookbook or Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Grove Cookbook. Now, I’ve only read a few of Fluke’s books and non of Macomber’s but the cookbooks made for a good read…and who can’t doesn’t like a recipe that comes with a little story…even if it’s fiction.
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Jennifer, like you I love cookbooks. They are almost always a part of the research I’m doing. I also enjoy trying the recipes, even if I do add my own spin on them.
Here is to the joy of reading the cookbook, may they always provide a great read…and good food. Doris
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Thanks for a wonderful post Jennifer. I have a thing about cookbooks too. I have an extensive collectons of Betty Crocker Cookbooks found over the years at garage sales and thrift stores. I also have located cookbooks my mother used while we were growing up, again at sales and thrift stores. Since I make aprons to sell, the cookbooks fit right in and I love to look through them when I’m looking for something special to make.
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I’m also a Debbie Macomber fan. I’ve never read the cookbook because I’m not much of a cook now that there’s only me, but I don’t mind recipes mixed with a novel or collection of short stories. Happy cooking.
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I like cookbooks or reading recipes in magazines too, Jennifer. I haven’t been doing as much cooking lately as I sometimes do, but it’s always fun trying new recipes.
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I had one of my paintings put on the state cookbook once, but they didn’t even give me a copy, and I never caught one when it was being sold. LOL Stamp Out Murder has several recipes, one for apple dumplin’s, one of my favorite recipes. Mmm-May need to make some. Fun post. Cher’ley
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The best cookbook I’ve ever come across was a Betty Crocker cookbook for kids my mother gave me for Christmas when I was eight years old. I used the gingerbread recipe goodness knows how many times. Unfortunately, the book disappeared–how that happened is still a mystery–and I still wish I could read through it just one more time. Thanks for triggering a happy memory with youf post.
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I also love cookbooks. I also have my great grandmother’s recipe box. She wrote on the back of the cards the dates she made the dish and who was there so she wouldn’t accidentally serve the same meal to guests twice. It is a real treasure.
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My husband does a lot of our cooking and picks up ‘good read’ cookbooks at the supermarket, but I’ve not really read any associated with anovel. It’s a neat idea, Jennifer, that I might pinch if I find time since a couple of my blog tour posts for my latest book launch were Ancient Roman recipes that I tried out at home. 🙂
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Our household has lots of cookbooks but few cooks! LOL My husband enjoys cooking and likes to try new things, but time, especially lately, has been limited so there’s little “experimenting” going on these days. I always “relished” the idea of cooking, and therefore, purchased lots of different cookbooks, but alas, I am not a cook so those books just sit vigilantly on my shelves. Perhaps when we retire they will get used more. Happy cooking, Jennifer, and thanks for a fun post to read … and savor!
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Jennifer, give me an article about cooking, and I’m there. I love going through cookbooks, picking out recipes, jotting down ideas that might add taste to other recipes. I’m known for taking parts of one recipe and adding them another recipe. I’m a bit of a Dr. Frankenstein in the kitchen, meaning that there are times when the recipe comes out a bit freakish and loses sight of the original intent. Thanks Jennifer for this lovely post.
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