I love to eat but I don't love to cook. And I know I'm not alone because there are many books to help those that are culinarily-challenged.
Thus, when searching for a good cookbook, I look for recipes with easy-to-follow instructions, enticing photographs and recognizable ingredients.
The Best of Bridge cookbooks fulfill these requirements. The authors are Canadian women who have sold 3.2 million copies of their books over the past 30 years. All of the Best of Bridge Cookbooks can now be found in two volumes. The recipes found in these books are easy to follow, with a clear list of ingredients that can be found in most grocery stores.
I know that many experienced bakers will cringe at the title of my next cookbook choice, The Cakemix Doctor, but Ann Byrn has created many delicious and easy recipes for cakes, cheesecakes, bars and cookies. Simply adding ingredients such as cocoa powder, yogurt and applesauce can vastly improve the nutritional content and taste of a cake mix. If you don't like the artificial ingredients that might be found in a regular cake mix, there are organic cake mixes available. You will no longer feel shame in admitting that the cake you just baked is "from a mix." You can tell friends and family that the recipe was created by Ms. Byrn, who took cooking classes from Julia Child and studied the culinary arts in France. I have tried a few good recipes from Byrn's latest book, entitled The Cakemix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free, and she also offers help to those who find it a challenge to make main meals in her book The Dinner Doctor.
I would like to use more superfoods and gluten-free ingredients in my meals, so I became interested in cooking with quinoa. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is not a grain - although it looks like one - but a seed, and a healthy one at that: One cup of cooked quinoa has eight grams of protein. The book Quinoa 365 makes it easy to incorporate quinoa into both meals and desserts. Authors Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming note that quinoa is "very easy to prepare regardless of your cooking ability." I love quinoa because it can be cooked in a rice cooker. I have made the recipe for Moist Chocolate Cake, which is delicious and contains no flour.
A good recipe book series for busy families is Cooking for the Rushed by Sandi Richard. This author and Food Network host has a wealth of knowledge about busy families as she has seven children. Richard has written six cookbooks for families that find it a challenge to prepare meals the whole family can enjoy together. In The Dinner Fix, Richard has arranged nine weeks of meal plans, with grocery lists included. The book also includes hints for making dinner preparation easier. Richard describes different spices and clarifies cooking terms for those who are new to the kitchen.
Real Simple is one of my favourite magazines and Easy, Delicious Meals is a collection of its best recipes. There are a variety of recipes, including one-pot, 30-minute, no-cook, freezable and kid-friendly meals. There are many easy recipes for salads, soups and desserts. The book has beautiful pictures of the recipes with easy-to-follow instructions.
I love using my slow cooker and I am always looking for fast and easy-to-make recipes. Make it Fast, Cook it Slow includes simple recipes that can also be made gluten-free. Author Stephanie O'Dea made a New Year's resolution to use her slow cooker every day for 365 days. Her favourite recipes are included in the book.
Cooking and meal-planning doesn't have to be a complicated process. There are numerous excellent cookbooks available to help the novice cook find and make delicious recipes. Your local library will have many cookbooks that will inspire all cooks - from the inexperienced to the master chef.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Lori Nick works at Terry Fox Library.
