My Most Used Cookbooks

While reading all the lovely blogs I enjoy, I saw that Kristan of Confessions of a Cookbook Queen was asking what our four favorite cookbooks are after listing her own. If you haven't seen her hilarious, truthful, full of recipe goodness blog, you are so missing out. 

Of the four she listed, I've only cooked from one: The Pioneer Woman Cooks, which is an amazing book of fantastic photography, great stories about ranch life and, of course, delicious recipes. Although we didn't get to meet her, my youngest daughter and I went to her book signing at Changing Hands Bookstore a few years ago. We stayed over 5 hours and didn't even get close to her but she signed our books and left them for pick up.

My favorite PW recipe is Comfort Meatballs ... and they're going on my To Make List ... yum!
It's just plain impossible to choose my four "favorite" cookbooks. I have over 200 - on a bookshelf in the garage and on the bottom shelf of my kitchen baker's rack. Whatever I'm cooking from most frequently of late is rotated through to my baker's rack. While I can't choose absolute favorites, I figured the books with the most bookmarks/sticky notes were the winners today …

Pictured from top to bottom, they are:

Happy Holidays from the Diva of Do-Ahead by Diane Phillips ~ Exactly what it says, recipes that can, all or in part, be prepared ahead of the meal so you can enjoy time with your family and friends. Love the Roasted Red Smashed Potatoes with Olive Oil and Rosemary and all the compound butters.

The Mac + Cheese Cookbook by Allison Arevalo + Erin Wade ~ One of the newer books on my shelf, this one features a basic béchamel sauce that is the start for 50 mac and cheese recipes from the Homeroom restaurant in Oakland, California. The Spicy Mac recipe is ridiculously good!

The Cake Doctor by Anne Byrne ~ Over 150 dessert recipes that begin with a mix. So many great recipes, but I've made the Peanut Butter Frosting to ice chocolate cake many times.

The White House Cook Book by Hugo Zieman (Steward of the White House) and Mrs. F. L. Gillette ~ Published in 1907, I may never make a single recipe from this book but for sheer entertainment value, it can't be beat. Gifted to me by my baby sister, my copy is full of handwritten notes from a previous owner on yellowed pages. This one may be hard to find, but would be well worth the search.

Thanks for stopping by!