I'm thinking about getting my sister a cookbook for Christmas and was wondering if any of you had any good suggestions.
My sister is 29. She lives by herself, but has a boyfriend that I know she likes to cook for. Her favorite cooking show is Barefoot Contessa. I would get her an Ina Garten cookbook, but I think the majority of her recipes call for too many ingredients. So, I'm looking for something with pictures, not too many ingredients or too complicated, but not Semi-Homemade style (that is more my style :-) ). She does love to cook fancy meals, but I'm hoping she could use the cookbook for both fancy meals and meals for just herself. I am going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow to browse but I thought it would be great to have some ideas of tried and true cookbooks!
Thanks!
What about, a magazine subscription, for Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" magazine????
It is good. It is simple. It does not use a ton of ingredients. Recipes are made for quick but good recipes.
I have had that magazine. I like it. I just don't have it anymore because I can't do the extra expense of it right now.
But it is a good, magazine.
Easy... recipes anyone can do.
My go to cookbook is my better homes and gardens cookbook. I actually have two of them LOL One I've had for 20 years and then a couple years ago I got a spiffy new 75th anniversary edition of it :) LOVE those babies :) I really like the newer edition because it has crock pot and microwave recipes in it.
I might have to look for that 4 ingredients book myself ... and give it to my hubby as a Christmas gift LOL
Better Homes and Gardens cook book (The checker board cover)....the very, very best. I love the Barefoot Contessa too, but you can find all her stuff on line...free
Blessings...
If the Barefoot Contessa is her favorite show your sister already knows she uses a lot of ingredients in some of her recipes, but not all of them are overly fussy. Since it's for your sister I would give her a cookbook by Ina Garten.
My favorite? "Cooking at My House" by John Bishop. He is the owner of an amazing little upscale restaurant in Vancouver, and this book is full of his favorites - delicious recipes that use fresh, natural ingredients. I find the recipes to be company friendly, but not so complex that they will take all day to make. So many of these recipes have become favorites at MY house, too. Available online... Happy holidays - what a thoughtful sister you are!
Recently I made several types of candies and cakes and gave them as gifts. I got rave reviews and several people asked me for my recipes. They all came out of my copy of "Betty Crockers everything you need to know about cooking cookbook". I have had it for years and it is the best I have found, and the only one I have gotten that I have kept and used throughout my life.
I see you are from Texas. My mom has a cookbook that they keep reprinting, actually 2. Southern cookbooks. Celebrations on the Bayou and Cotton Country. She has gone through the cotton country one several times, and my copy is needing to be replaced!
i have one called "cooking with 4 ingredients"....my MIL got it for me when my hubby and i first got together, before kids, and we used it quite a bit. more than most other cookbooks, except my family one.
it's especially nice because you can go to your cupboard and see what ingredients you have and it's pretty easy to find something in the cookbook.
The Silver Spoon.
Hands down.
It's the Italian "Bible"... and FINALLY the english translation is available for under $100-150!!! It now sells for $30-40. Yayayayayayayayayay!!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-Phaidon-Press/dp/B000J...
Hundreds of recipes... most with only 3-5 ingredients. Beautiful. Lovely. Molto bene!!!
I agree with what someone else said, a magazine subscription might be better for her as they always have pictures and it might inspire her to cook more variety more often. I personally like the Taste of Home publications (the one with that name but also their spin offs--Simple & Delicious and Healthy Cooking). I also love the Southern Living magazine and cookbooks (they have all varieties of cookbooks). I have a meal planning blog and do lots of cookbook reviews there if you'd like to check it out. It's at www.mealplanningmagic.com. Good luck!
"The Best Recipe"
Great all around cookbook!
Ha! I just ordered Alton Brown's Good Eats 3 for my sister. From Amazon for 19.90. Ann Burrell also has a new cookbook out that I am wanting to get for me. Um, yeah, we are Food Network obsessed.
On of my favorite cookbooks is still by the Frugal Gourmet - Jeff Smith. I think it is titled Our Immigrant Ancestors. I have made recipes from around the world from it - ingredients are not too hard to find and instructions are simple to follow.
Happy shopping.
I love love love my cookbook from America's Test Kitchen. My husband got it for me last year for my birthday, and I look to it several times a week for all kinds of recipes. I have the one that includes all the recipes from the past 11 seasons, which I think they have now updated to include the twelfth season as well. ATK recipes always turn out spectacular because they have been tested hundreds of times to ensure that they do. Most of the recipes have pictures, and there are lots of technique tutorials and helpful hints sprinkled throughout the book. Plus, I love that they tell you specific brands of ingredients that taste the best and give you advice on the best kitchen equipment to use. They have also published a book that has many of their recipes scaled down to 2 servings, and that might be more for her since she lives alone. I'm not sure if you can find them at the bookstore, but you can order them online through the website.
If she loves Ina Garten go with that! I have used some of her recipes and they are great.
I love Everyday Italian by Giada Laurentis... Great book!
I usually look a recipes that are similar then combine and make what my family likes. I don't think I've ever followed 1 recipe. I always take ideas from 2-3 and then do my own. Works for me. No complaining at my house as yet!
