Comments on: 5 Cookbooks I LOVE

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:37:12 +0000

I have some of these books and thoroughly enjoy them. The book More with Less was recommended to me many years ago by some missionaries. I LOVE the book, but as Kristen mentioned, many of the recipes use antiquated data on “healthy” foods. If you sub healthy flours and fats, it is really a great book. One thing that helped me was the idea that I could take a simple meal to a family in need. I used to shy away from taking meals to families who needed one because it took me all day to put together a fancy meal, complete with salad and dessert…and then my family needed a meal as well. Now, I’m not embarrassed to take a one pot meal of oven baked chicken pieces with green beans and potatoes. Rather than baking time consuming desserts, I now instead include a bag of clementines or a baggie of washed strawberries. Done.

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:50:48 +0000

Wild Fermentation is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Even if you don’t use many–or most–of the recipes he has, he certainly gives you a wider knowledge of the process. And certainly helps you adapt wine recipes calling for all sorts of chemicals to a more natural, if less shelf-stable, product.

By: Andew

Andew — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:27:44 +0000

A really interesting idea will be grtting out some really old cookbooks and offering peoples to actually cook something from them. Not all of them contain something very attractive but something new as well.

By: Cathleen

Cathleen — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 17:04:28 +0000

Fabulous list of books from everyone. Several I haven’t discovered before but will now check into. thanks. I have one to add to the list. “Nourishing Connections: The Healing Power of Food and Community” from http://www.CeresProject.org. originally written for those who have little to no energy due to major illnesses like cancer, chronic fatigue, etc. Each recipe is loaded with nourishing ingredients and broken down into small steps so they can be made over several days if necessary. Seafood, poultry, vegetarian dishes and lots of info re healing ingredients like mushrooms, seaweed, goji berries, miso, etc. Origins of the cookbook are from a community project to feed community members with life-threatening illnesses. Great story, great idea for all communities to follow and great food!

By: Mikki

Mikki — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 14:38:53 +0000

“So many cookbooks, so little time!” I’ve been a foodie for years. Nothing is a better read than a good cookbook! I discovered Nourishing Traditions about two years ago and am having the best time learning about and making these foods especially the fermented veggies and fruits, lacto fermented tonics and beverages and cultured dairy. Soon I will purchase Wild Fermentations. Many of my other cookbooks adapt so well to WAPF principles and here are several of my “go to” books. These, unlike NT, seem not to contain any errors. I’ve found not only many spelling mistakes in NT, but errors in the recipes. Because I am in my sixth decade of Life and have cooked for five of those decades, can spot when something isn’t correct. So, here are some of my other favorite cookbooks and reads. Adapt them to NT and you’ll have some terrific nutrient dense gourmet foods. Read, My Life in France then if you have not then read Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, get a copy. Her mayo with the addition of whey is sublime! Her chicken liver mousse will get anyone eating liver! The Victory Garden Cookbook. This has been my cookbook bible since I read it back in the early 1980′s. Not one dud recipe out of it yet. I am not a vegetarian, but Debra Madison’s cookbooks are excellent reads and the recipes oh, so good! Bon appetit!

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 15:59:30 +0000

I love these! I just got Nourishing Traditions and so far it’s great!

By: Melody

Melody — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:09:49 +0000

Thank you for all of your interesting posts! I am learning a lot as I strive to cook better for my family!

By: Rosanna

Rosanna — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:07:41 +0000

I’m a Mennonite who grew up cooking from More-With-Less, and I still love it — but you’re right! All that margarine makes my skin crawl. Now I read it through a real food lens, using real fats instead of margarine or vegetable oil. Many of these family recipes were originally made with butter and lard. During the seventies and eighties, a lot of health-conscious Mennonites (like most everyone else) believed that margarine was a healthy and frugal alternative to butter, so they went back and changed their old recipes.

Some of my favorite recipes in More-With-Less just happen to be my own grandmother’s recipes. She and my grandfather lived in northern Alberta, so it wasn’t uncommon for her to cook “economy” meat like moose, mutton, and elk. Check out her “Wild Game Braise” on page 175 and her “Russian Borsch” on page 207!

By: The Local Cook

The Local Cook — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:45:09 +0000

While I love More with Less, I love Simply in Season even more
.-= The Local Cook´s last blog post …The Mennonite Trilogy =-.

By: Mason

Mason — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:58:37 +0000

I would like to add “Lutece” by Andre Soltner to the list. He cooks in the style of Alsace, in eastern France, and his recipes are full of eggs, cream, wild/game meats, some offal, and underappreciated produce like greengage plums, rhubarb, figs, sour cherries, etc. This was a seminal read in my progression as a cook; it is detail-oriented, yet accessible to the home cook, and really evokes a European sensibility to food. Unlike Jacques Pepin, he never bought into the “30-minute low-fat meal” that characterizes much of American home cooking today.