A Cookbook Fan Forever (Part 1)

I guess I am hungry right now because I am in the mood to talk about old-school cookbooks and why I love using them. Now don’t get me wrong, Pinterest is great, but as my diet changed it became harder and harder to find what I needed on there without searching through a bunch of recipes that either claimed to not have things they did, or did not end up tasting good. (For the record, I still use Pinterest plenty but not as my main source of inspiration). Back to cookbooks, I LOVE cookbooks. Partially because I am a paper person (so much so that if I do find an online recipe I love, I print it out and put it in my recipe binder instead of using the digital version), and partially because there is something so fun to me about finding an amazing cookbook; one with delicious recipes and pretty pictures that makes me want to eat the food right out of the photos.

I really enjoy being able to add more options to my plate (pun completely intended) and the feeling it gives of having more and more things available to me. I now have a couple authors I love and trust, a few food genres I know I like (Mediterranean food anyone?), and have slowly added quite a few books to my collection. I like that I don’t have to think of what to type into a search bar, but rather I can just sift through the pages and see what catches my eye when making my weekly meal plans.

The key is to do a lot of searching (sensing a theme with my life discoveries?) and flip through the available pages online to see how complicated the recipes are. I refuse to buy a cookbook with two pages of ingredients per recipe, or one that uses many obscure, expensive ingredients I will never find or buy. Find someone who creates food that mirrors how you want to eat instead of forcing yourself to eat things you don’t like or don’t naturally fit in your lifestyle. A good cookbook is one where you will never be scared to try a recipe from it because you know they will all be good (okay maybe like 95% of them will be good, but close enough!)

Now I know not everyone will like cookbooks, or enjoy using them, but its definitely worth trying one if you never have. You might just find a new way of cooking and eating that you really enjoy! 

** See “A Cookbook Fan Forever Part 2” for my favorite cookbooks! **

** Quick side-note: I have really good luck searching discounted book stores for cookbooks, and it is so convenient because you can look through all the recipes in person and they are usually much cheaper than buying online. Recently I stumbled across a cookbook that is no longer being printed or sold online and found it at one of these stores for under $20! **