The Buzz...About Books

I love to cook. I don't always have time to cook from scratch every day, but I try to make a new recipe at least twice a week. 

Despite owning a lot of cookbooks, I always turn to the library's extensive cookbook collection for inspiration. Sometimes after borrowing the library's cookbooks, I will decide they are good enough to warrant purchasing a copy for my personal cookbook collection at home.

I've added so many cookbooks to my collection that they often just languish on my bookshelf – I usually forget to cook from them. The past few months I've made more of an effort to cook from my cookbook collection. I've also refrained from buying them for myself – I can always borrow the book again if I really need to.  

Here is a list of cookbooks that I really enjoy and cook from on a regular basis.  

Toronto Star Cookbook, by Jennifer Bain

I like reading the food section of the Toronto Star, but often I don't cook the recipes that are in the newspaper. This book came out a couple of years ago, and I decided to buy it after reading an interesting article about the making of this cookbook. The dishes in this cookbook definitely reflect the amazing diversity of Toronto. A lot of recipes can be made with using grocery  store ingredients, but some will require trips to certain parts of this city to find them. All of the recipes I've made were excellent: Pad Thai (Pg. 169),  Carrot Pie (Pg. 144), and Parsnip Soup (Pg. 76).

Looneyspoons Collection, by Janet and Greta Podleski

The food in this book is mostly low fat and healthy, made using grocery store ingredients. Every recipe I've made tastes really good. If you can get past the cheesy humourous recipe titles, the recipes are excellent and very simple to follow. I'm embarrassed to admit, but I've made Smackaroni and Cheese (Pg. 131) so often, that I have the recipe memorized!  

Family Meals, by Michael Smith

This is one of my newer acquisitions, but I think it's fantastic. I've watched Michael Smith's shows on the Food Network for a long time, and I really like how his recipes are made using simple wholesome ingredients, but they aren't overly pretentious or complicated. The House Red Sauce recipe (Pg. 84) for tomato sauce, is my new standby recipe. His Just-add-water Noodle Jar recipe (Pg. 44) is really good and simple to make. All of the recipes have beautiful pictures to accompany them – there isn't a recipe in this book that I don't plan on cooking.

Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes, by Anupy Singala

I absolutely love Indian food, but I find that sometimes the Indian food in restaurants can be greasy. What's great about this cookbook is that her recipes are made in the slow cooker and usually with very little oil.  I've easily found all of the spices for the recipes at any Indian grocery store.  very single recipe from this book has been fantastic. Some of my favourite recipes are Chicken Tikka Masala (Pg. 109) and Lamb Keema (Pg. 115). The first part of the book is dedicated to some delicious (and cheap!) dried bean and lentil recipes. Most of these recipes are very easy to make, and after cooking all day in the slow cooker they taste amazing.

Tofu Cookery, by Louise Hagler

A vegan oldie but goodie; it is without a doubt the best vegan/vegetarian cookbook I've ever used. This is a reprint of the same book that was published in the 1980s – long before vegan food was considered a cuisine. The picture quality isn't great – food photography has definitely improved in the past thirty years! But if you can get beyond the pictures, the recipes themselves are fantastic. BBQ Tofu (Pg. 55) is quite possibly the best tofu I've ever had. Tofu Foo Yong (Pg. 97) actually tastes exactly like egg foo young, but without the eggs. If you are vegan, vegetarian or just interested in tofu, I think this is one of the best cookbooks to try.

The library has an amazing cookbook collection, they can be a great resource for inspiration for your next culinary adventure. What are some of your favourite cookbooks?