I have a confession: I am a cookbook addict. I don’t know what
it is, but whenever I see a beautiful cookbook on a store shelf, I just have to
have it! Each Christmas I give my husband some not-so-subtle hints about
cookbooks I’d love to own, and I usually find one waiting for me under the
tree. A cookbook might be a risky gift for some husbands, kind of like buying
your wife a personal clothing shopper (yes, we know a guy who did that!). It
might not send the right message. But to me, a thick cookbook with a beautiful
cover doesn’t tell me I need to cook more or better, it inspires me to try new
things in the kitchen and incorporate even healthier foods into our every day
diet.
When friends come
over they often see what cookbook I have on display (yes, I have a display) and
thumb through it. They are always a talking point in our home. The other day one
of these friends asked for a list of my favourite cookbooks for healthy family
cooking, leading me to write this post.
Busy moms like us want to cook healthy, affordable meals for our
families, but we don’t have the time to pour over new recipes and figure which
one will work. Cooking can be a bit of gamble like that. So to take out the
guess work, here are the top five cookbooks for families that I rely on most to
serve up delicious, healthy and affordable meals each evening. If you’re really
out to save money, check out this post on meal planning.
#1 – Looneyspoons by Janet and Greta Podleski. – This
is a VERY popular cookbook in Canada, and for good reason (which I’ll explain
in second). I’m serious when I write this -- If you don’t have this cookbook,
you need to stop reading, go to your local bookstore and pick it up right NOW.
Yup, stop reading. Go to the mall.
What I love about this cookbook is its premise. Two sisters
decided that they wanted to eat healthier, but still enjoy all their favourite
foods. They made minor adjustments to recipes that decreased the fat, sugar and
sodium, while retaining (and even amping up!) all the flavour.
I do probably 80% of my cooking out of this cookbook. The
recipes are easy to make and don’t use any fancy shmancy ingredients that you
can’t pronounce. I love all the photos so you can visualize exactly what you
are going to cook--something I look for whenever I purchase a new cookbook. Don’t
be turned off by the “loony” play-on-words titles for each recipe. Although they
are actually kinda funny, I always have to read the sub-title to know exactly what
I’m making! A huge plus to this cookbook is that it includes all the nutritional
information such as calories, fat, sodium, etc for each recipe.
There are hundreds of recipes in this cookbook, and I’ve
cooked a lot of them. Some favourites are: Maui Wowie Chicken (chicken with
pineapples, peppers and carrots), The Nutcrocker (slow-cooked peanut-ginger
chicken thighs), The Six-Million-Dollar Manicotti (chicken and vegetable
stuffed manicotti), The Yellow Bows of Texas (turkey and bean chilli on top of
pasta), FULLafel Patties (their twist on the mid-Eastern falafel), Lasagne with
Mex Appeal (Mexican Lasagne), and the list could go on.
Tonight I made Indian Appleous 500 (coconut-curry chicken
with apples). It was a hit with the hubs and the toddler. A home run in my
books.
I could go on about this cookbook forever, but to keep it
short, if you buy one cookbook from this list, Looneyspoons is the one to go
with.
#2 – Jamie’s Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver – When I
was first married, I cooked from this book A LOT. At the time we were really
into watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution
tv show and I found this cookbook, inspired by the show, at Chapters. Since it
was the first time in my life I really had to cook for someone else day in and
day out, I pretty much relied on this cookbook for meal ideas each week.
The meals are packed full of flavour and are healthy,
although no nutritional information is given (sad face). And you might think
that recipes by a celebrity chef would be tough, but these truly are
straightforward. He includes pictures of each step, so its pretty hard to mess
up! My favourite part of the cookbook is the “Twenty Minute Meals” section. These
are perfect when you need to whip up a quick meal after work. Matt’s favourite
is the Quick Salmon Tikka with Cucumber Yogurt and my favourite is the Classic
Tomato Spaghetti. And if you love curry dishes, there is a “Quick Curries”
section that gets a lot of use in our household (Gemma eats it too!).
#3 – Quinoa 365 by Patricia Green & Carolyn Hemming
– I picked up this beautiful cookbook after I decided that I wanted to cook
more with quinoa (a super-food you should definitely incorporate into your
family’s diet) but I was really lost as to how to use it. After thumbing through
the book and stumbling on its baby-food section, the new mom in me was sold. In
Quinoa 365 are some of the most yummy baby food recipes that Gemma loved,
like Chicken Veggie Mélange; Chicken, Quinoa and Apple Puree; and her absolute
favourite, Blueberry Banana Mash.
But there’s much more than baby food in this cookbook. There’s
a great introduction section that explains all you need to know about quinoa,
its different types and a variety of ways to cook it. I have a tab on the
cooking instructions page so that its easily accessible, especially when a
recipe in a different cookbook calls for cooked quinoa.
Some favourite recipes are the Black Bean Quinoa Quesadillas,
Black Bean Soup, and a recipe that I make and freeze for every new mom, Cheese
and Spinach Frittata.
There aren’t as many pictures as I’d like in a cookbook,
which is why sometimes I veer towards other cookbooks more, but every recipe I
try is awesome and a ‘make-again’. There is no nutiritional information but you
can tell the recipes are very healthy, and each recipe is labelled whether it
is gluten-free, vegetarian or “kid-approved”, which is really handy!
#4 – The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon –
When I first saw this cookbook, I wanted it purely for its gorgeous cover and
how nice it would look on my counter. But it’s a vegan cookbook and we are a
meat & dairy loving family -- I doubted we’d like it. Then through the
power of instagram I saw all these people hash-tagging pictures of these
awesome looking meals they’d made with #osg. I did a little digging and saw
that it was referring to Oh She Glows! Since other meat & dairy
loving friends were cooking from it, I thought I’d give it a chance too!
Besides its beauty, this cookbook has so many awesome features: easy
ingredients you can find at your local grocery store or costco, a list of what
each recipe is free from (i.e. gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, oil-free,
etc.), and lots of photos.
At a recent party I made the “glowing strawberry-mango guacamole”
which was a huge hit. For breakfast I love to make the cover recipe, “effortless
vegan overnight oats” that had me fall in love with this cookbook in the first
place.
#5 – The Family Cooks by Laurie David and Kirstin
Uhrenholdt – This is my newest cookbook (a recent birthday gift) so I haven’t
had a lot of opportunity to cook from it. It totally meets my beautiful
cookbook requirements and everything I have made has been awesome! This book is
all about healthy eating for the whole family, and teaching your family to stop
relying on sugar and other detrimental additives to our food. There’s a great
smoothie section that I’ve frequented lately and Gemma and I recently made “seedy
crackers”, the author’s alternative to goldfish crackers (aka baby crack
cocaine) to take on our family holiday to Kelowna (a 10 hour drive!).
I hope one of these cookbooks finds its way into your
kitchen soon and inspires you to keep cooking wholesome meals for your whole
family!
To cookbook addictions,
♥ Dion
P.S. - Help further my cookbook addiction by commenting on
your favourite healthy cookbook for the fam.
