I love, love, love flipping through a good cookbook. I mean, I’ll sit down with a cookbook the way some might a juicy novel and flip through page by page to take it all in. I like reading the author’s notes, their commentary on the meal or the night they made it and how it reminded them of their father and how he used to dance in the kitchen to Ella Fitzgerald while he made his famous ratatouille. I just like good stories, and I find that when food is the central focus, the storytelling is really good. 
So without further adieu, here are five of my favorite cookbooks.
01. Dinner: A Love Story. I like Jenny and I like how she keeps a food journal. Who has a food journal? So interesting and quirky. Also, her kitchen is not overly fancy or perfect. I like that too. Her recipes are not fussy and are mostly family-friendly. What to make first: Pork Shoulder Ragu or Orecchiette with Sausage and Crispy Broccoli (though, I preferred the latter with everything, minus the pasta, doubled)
02. Barefoot Contessa Family Style. This was probably one of the earliest cookbooks I purchased into my marriage and was super excited about. I guess you could say it’s where I first met Ina. It would be very hard for me to land on one recipe to tell you to begin with. They are all so good! What always is remarkable to me about Ina, and is probably true for many chefs, is how much magic can be made with so few ingredients. What to make first: Parmesan Chicken or Linguine with Shrimp Scampi
03. Fix It and Forget It. This is one of my least “cool” cookbooks, to be sure. No pictures, no amazing aesthetics, but full to-the-absolute-brim with recipes from tried and true slow cooker aficionados. Like Shirley from IL’s Pork Chops in Bean Sauce, or Sue from Gulfport MS with her Herbed Roast with Gravy. I’ve made lots of things from it but still scratched the mere surface of this one. If you love your crockpot, this is a good one to add to the shelf. What to make first: Italian Chops
04. How to Cook Everything. This is a really good reference book for so many things. Mark Bittman was a former columnist for NYTimes, and is a food journalist with a wealth of knowledge. I don’t reference this enough, but it is chockfull of recipes. A great primer for newlyweds! Everything from pesto to pan-grilled salmon fillets with lemon. Even if you build on some of these recipes, they’re great jumping off points. How to shape pizza, the basics of grilling one, how to filet a salmon, etc. You’ll find all of that and more in this book. I can’t even tell you what to make first!
I’d be hard pressed to do a post like this and not include food blogs since that is where I get so many of my recipes these days.
01. Smitten Kitchen. I don’t have her cookbook, but I love everything I’ve tried from her site (full disclosure: much of it was not made by my own two hands, as my friend Caroline is a big Deb fan and I’ve eaten several of her recipes that way too. Really, that’s my favorite way to eat. Food that I didn’t actually have to make.) Bonus–I love Deb’s storytelling. What to make first: My Favorite Brownies or Broccoli Cheddar Soup
02. Pinch of Yum. I like following Lindsay on Instagram and I really like a lot of her recipes. What to make first: Chicken Tettrazini
03. Gimme Some Oven. Her enchilada sauce is so much better than any sort of store bought powder/canned version. So, I’d say–make enchiladas… with ample amounts of her sauce!
04. Damn Delicious. More great recipes, and her cauliflower chowder is a favorite!
I also have a subscription–$5 a month I think?–to NYTimes Food. I am not using it enough to justify the subscription but I do love browsing it. I just need to utilize it more.
Please share with me your favorite cookbooks, food blogs, or recipes! Especially those ones that make the kids happy too.
P.S. Some family favorites: Minestrone Soup, Sweet Potato Burritos, and Chicken Divan. 
*Note: I am linking to Amazon as they are so commonly used, and how so many of us get our books. But I encourage you (as well as myself) to shop local whenever possible, swap cookbooks with friends, or to borrow books from the library!
I love reading food blogs! I don’t know why because I’m not much of a chef myself, but then again, who wouldn’t be interested in food? I gotta check out your recommendations! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
so, coming off of your ig posts about waste, one of the things i’ve learned (the hard way) is that the exposure to so many recipes, ie pinterest, isn’t always a good thing. i have far too often chosen a recipe with such random ingredients that i use once and then throw away a year later. or i plan to make a recipe thinking it sounds good in the moment i read it, and then never get around to cooking it because it’s no longer appealing, or takes too much effort. so i throw ingredients away. MORE WASTE! not too much, i’m not being a good steward of our money. so, i’ve had to back on pinterest and ig for recipes. i follow a few (poy and smitten kitchen too!) but that’s it. i also reference my better homes and garden cookbook for a base recipe, and then tweak it to make it healthier. i so much enjoy ina’s thought process behind cooking (she mentions this in almost all of her cookbooks i think), that quality over quantity in ingredients is better! simple ingredients and recipes can make the most delightful food! and then i haven’t spent so much time in the kitchen that when it comes time to actually EAT the food, i’m burnt out, and not looking forward to cleaning up the kitchen.
*not to mention* not “not too much”
TOTALLY.
Anything from Jamie Oliver !! My favorites might be: 5 ingredients, Everyday Superfood and Comfort food 😉
Small Victories by Julia Turshen is amazing! The recipes are great, and after each one she gives a few more suggestions about how to tweak them (for example, Italian chicken meatballs become Mediterranean lamb meatballs). It’s like getting four cookbooks in one. Her writing is down to earth and funny, and her love of food and cooking is infectious. Also, Ina wrote the forward, so obviously anything approved by my Queen is to be revered.
I have that one! Just haven’t used it enough! Also, your last line. Lol.
Simply in Season is my favorite cookbook! Divided out by each season. Love the recipes and a good reminder to cook with what is in season!
http://www.heraldpress.com/titles/simplyinseason/
I really recommend Smitten Kitchen’s cookbooks too — I have both of them and use them all the time, in addition to her blog recipes. Other cookbooks I like are Alison Roman’s “Dining In”, Molly Yeh’s “Molly on the Range”, and anything from Nigella. Siri Daly has a new cookbook out and it looks fun. I have also had good luck with recipes from the Half-Baked Harvest blog, and Recipe Tin Eats. My favorite pulled pork recipe I got from your blog!
For the best cookies I love ambitious kitchen. Brown butter snickerdoodles are amazing and soft. And Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies? I mean what more can you ask for?
Feeding a Family by Sarah Waldman is wonderful. Totally worth checking out.
I love that one too!
Keepers and The Dinner Plan! They’re both in the same vein as Dinner: A Love Story and one of the authors is an acquaintance from our town who’s always making delicious food on her Instagram account (devilandegg).
Another to add to the mix – I love all the books and the online content from “Our best bites”. They are self proclaimed “home cooks” so I appreciate the number of recipes that are made with things you already have on hand. I also love that the cookbooks (at least some) have a “rollover ingredient” index so if you have a ton of something leftover you can search for that ingredient in the index and it will point you to recipes to use it in. I try very hard not to waste food so this is a big help for me.
Long time reader and fan of yours, Bridget! Thanks for making the web a little brighter!!
Thanks Courtney!
You should check out Summer Harms blog…she not super active on it or on Instagram anymore (3 kiddos and I’m assuming a conviction of tech addiction…you’ve talked about that and can support that I’m sure?) but she has such a heart warming blog that always gives me great ideas about many areas of life but mostly healthy eating…her recipes are ALL awesome! I haven’t tried one that was immediately put into rotation at my house! I especially love her maple corn bread and chicken fajita marinade!
Used to love Summer Harms!!! Thanks for the reminder!
Have you read My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl? It’s a great read. I have cooked nothing from it. I digitally borrowed it from the local library and read it using my kindle app. Super Green way to endulge in book binges.
I feel the same way about cookbooks! I just got half-baked harvest and am loving it. Just made the blueberry muffins (so easy, one bowl and my two year old assisted) and, so good + very little sugar.
One of my favorite recipe websites is wellplated – no recipe has ever failed me and even my mom (amazing cook in her own right) has been impressed.
I love cooking for my family and while always chaotic, it’s fun to get my boys to help. They have great-grandfathers on both sides who were great cooks so I hope they inherited some of that (my husband knows how to make sandwiches and pancakes and how to order food). 🙂
I found out about smitten kitchen through you and love that one (the family still talks about the kale stuffing I made for Thanksgiving and demands I make it again next year)! Also, your chocolate chicken chili is my go to when making a meal for a post-partum friend (with TJ’s cornbread) and it really is the best. It’s the go-to comfort food.
Thanks for sharing all of the great recipes!
the idea that my chocolate chili is a go to for postpartum friends makes me so happy. and gotta try that kale stuffing!
I’m someone who hasn’t typically loved to cook but am obsessed with Bon Appétit! I ended up getting a free subscription last year after making a donation for an event and thought I’d give most of them to my dad but nope, it’s one I’ve loved so much that I sit down with it the second I get it in the mail and browse. I always find at least one recipe to try, but then think there’s something to the story telling aspect too like you referenced. I can’t get enough!
Every recipe I’ve tried from them (via Epicurious) has been great!
BRIDGET! How in the world is none of Heidi Swanson’s content included on this list? One, her website (101 Cookbooks) is legit in the food blog-sphere, but two, her books are go-tos in my house and the recipes seem right up your alley: healthy, delicious, easy and with minimal ingredients for the most part. I own Super Natural Every Day and Super Natural Cooking, but upon a Google search, I just realized she has a 3rd book called Near & Far. Buying it!
I don’t know! I’m in the dark ages over here! Noting her name!!!
I all of Ina’s cookbooks but my favorite Barefoot Contessa Cookbook is Back to Basics. SO many good recipes in that one! Smitten Kitchen is my favorite food blog and I also love Alexandra’s Kitchen! https://alexandracooks.com/
I second Alexandra’s Kitchen! I find her recipes really simple and delicious and very reliable. We make her sandwich bread weekly.
I love curling up with a cookbook too. Our local librarians just laugh when they see my reserved stack of the latest cookbooks.
A new favorite is One Pan & Done by Molly Gilbert. I had borrowed from the library and decided it was a keeper and bought one for myself. Made the honey orange salmon with broccolini tonight and it was delicious. Also, the thai turkey with carrot noodles was good as were the zucchini cakes AND the lemon lavender pull apart loaf using store bought biscuit dough. It was already mentioned, but Feeding A Family gets a lot of use in our house too. Love the falaffel recipe, black bean veggie burgers, cilantro lime grilled fish, apple loaf cake and the 4 ingredient peanut butter cookies (but with almond butter!). yum.
Ditto for Heidi Swanson and her blog/cookbooks. She is so great. I have been making her granola, baked oatmeal, simple carrot soup with curry and coconut milk for years AND the Macaroon Tart with blackberries is to die for—I look forward to making it every summer.
ok that’s it! heidi swanson is next for me!!
America’s Test Kitchen!! They go through different recipes until they get it just right and explain why it works. I’ve liked pretty mich every recipe I’ve tried from there. They also have product and equipment reciews. A definite must add to your collection!
I love Ina as well…i don’t jave her cookbook but have found some of her recipes on food network’s website and really liked them. The butternut squash and arugula salad with cider dressing is one of my favorites!
Love Pinch of Yum. We recently made her firecracker vegan lettuce wraps and the sauce is something I dream about (and I’m about as far from a vegan as you can get!). Leave out the Sriracha and it’s good for kids too!
https://pinchofyum.com/vegan-lettuce-wraps
I should also note that my husband had no idea these had tofu in them! He thought the”shredded chicken” looked a little different. ?
I’m also a huge fan of Heidi Swanson – her posts convinced me to get an instant pot and i’m so pleased with that choice – i use it all the time and her iPot instructions are perfection.. the cookbook that i read and fell in love with the most was At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin… love love love. so beautiful and smart. Also love Pinch of Yum – as a veganish eater – she provides a lot of great recipes that either are vegan or can be easily adapted which is super cool. I also just checked out from the library: Simply Vibrant – All-day Vegetarian Recipes for Colorful Plant-based Cooking by Kassoff, Anya of golubkakitchen,com and it is incredibly beautiful and inspiring. Love your blog! 🙂
ok Finally getting back to you on this one, as I mentioned Magnolia Table surpasses my expectations. Just made two more recipes from there last night and they were both a hit! Another “celeb” one I looove but usually am to embarrassed to admit or share is “Fabulicious” by that Real Housewife of NJ Teresa. OMG every single recipe I have tried from there I have loved! From the homemade baked chicken tenders and meatballs to Calabrian Pork Chops with Peppers and Potatoes all so dang good. I also have a cookbook my Mother made me as a wedding gift that has family recipes in it that I love. Each recipe is handwritten by a family member with a story behind a memory with the food or how the recipe came about, such a treasure to me. Otherwise than that there is a lot of pintrest trial and error, a lot of ” let’s see what’s in the cupboard…will this go together? lol Oh I also have this book called “One Pot French” that is great!