Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Cookbooks

I used to participate in Top Ten Tuesday when I first started blogging and it was a wonderful way to meet fellow bloggers! I thought with coming back from a hiatus, and a bit of a lack of inspiration on my part, participating again would be a great idea. So, every Tuesday (if the topic interests me) I’ll be sharing a Top Ten Tuesday post. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl! Make sure to check out her page explaining everything you need to know, including future topics. 

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It’s Valentine’s Day! Today’s topic is a Valentine’s Day freebie and at the risk of setting women back 50 years, I’ll be sharing my favorite cookbooks 😆 I’ll be honest, I don’t care for this holiday. My husband and I have never celebrated it, even when we were dating. To me, if you want to celebrate your love, do it literally any day you feel like it. I also don’t have any fiction books to share here because I don’t read a lot of specifically romance books, and I don’t really “ship” people (though I do love romance in the books I read. I know, it’s a conundrum).  But I will say that I often like to cook a favorite meal for my family on the day of. In fact, cooking for people could be a sign/act of love. So, I thought I’d share some of my favorite cookbooks and websites that I collect my recipes from!

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THE PIONEER WOMAN – The Pioneer Woman is probably the first food blogger I ever followed. I loved all of her simple, hearty meals that my husband would actually eat. She also had a Chicken Pot Pie recipe that I used when I made my husband his first one ever (I added some of my own things to it, though, like sage). Yes, he had never had a chicken pot pie before because he’s allergic to carrots. So, no store bought, or restaurant made pot pies for him! Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to check out her cookbooks. I want to someday, but her website has plenty of recipes to choose from!

EATING ON A DIME – Eating on a Dime has a lot of crock pot/slow cooker meals. This came in handy when I started making slow cooker dinners every Thursday due to my schedule. They’re simple recipes with ingredients you probably already have. 

Screenshot from Love Sweat Fitness

LOVE SWEAT FITNESS – Love Sweat Fitness is less of a cookbook/food blog and more of a fitness blog. However, I think her guides are super helpful if you’re looking to change up your eating habits. While she does have quite a few recipes, I follow the guidelines within her meal plans. For example, instead of a recipe for dinner it will say 4oz of chicken, asparagus, and sweet potato. You can refer to her suggested recipes but it’s up to you to figure out how you want to cook it. So, it’s more customized meal guided by her serving suggestions. I also love the supplements she has. I’m not a huge supplement person, but hers are easy to add to my routine and I feel they have genuinely made a difference – especially Slumber Party Sleep Boost, I feel I actually sleep better when I drink it.

THE DEFINED DISH – Alex Snodgrass is the woman behind The Defined Dish. She currently has two cookbooks: The Defined Dish and The Comfortable Kitchen. She’s a little bit more high class than me with some of the ingredients, but I’ve been able to customize most of them with the normal stuff most of us have in our kitchens. Either way, it always comes out great! Her first cookbook, The Defined Dish, is Whole 30 approved so if you’re looking for a lot of healthy options, that’s a go-to! I also love following her on Instagram – her family is adorable. Bonus: she now has her own line of side dressings/marinades called Side Dish. I haven’t tried them yet, but they sound delicious!

MAGNOLIA – Who doesn’t know who Joanna Gaines is? Right? Even if you don’t like her or are sick of seeing her, her cookbooks are legit. I own both of these cookbooks and they’re so easy to follow for beginners. Nothing is too fancy, no crazy ingredients, and nearly everything is going to be approved by any sweet-hating critic you might have in your house (like my husband, who will not touch anything sweet unless it’s specifically dessert). They also have a lot of basic skills, like making bread – those are mostly in Volume 1.

Screenshot from Half-Baked Harvest

HALF-BAKED HARVEST – I discovered Half-Baked Harvest on Instagram and knew I needed her cookbooks. I got both of them for Christmas and I have been cooking up a storm with them. Especially the second one – it contains a lot more of the savory recipes that I know my husband will love. So far, everything I’ve made in it has been a hit from the lemon-rosemary roasted chicken to the crispy carnitas taquitos. It’s all super simple, with mostly pantry staples. I have left out some ingredients because I can’t justify paying for things like cognac when I will use it in one recipe or if I think it will make it too sweet – but I don’t think doing this has every made a huge difference.

MAGAZINES – I’m an old school person that still subscribes to magazines. I love ripping out recipes from them – especially around the holidays. Some of my favorite magazines are Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living (though she’s a little fancy-pants for me), Better Homes and Gardens, and Southern Living. They usually have some great recipes in them!

Do you have any favorite cookbooks, food blogs, recipes, etc?

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