Woof, the cooking fatigue is REAL. Especially now that we live in the mountains. I literally cook every single meal every single day. It’s a LOT. It got to the point where I felt like I was making the same thing day in and day out… so I went in a mini cookbook buying spree recently. In case you’re also in a cooking rut, I wanted to share a few cookbook recommendations I’ve loving these days! I hope they help to inspire you to try something different. Here are my current favorite cookbooks + the recipes I’ve been making the most from them.
Get Out of Your Cooking Rut With These Cookbook Recommendations
Simply Julia by Julia Turshen
If you buy one cookbook from this post, please make it this one. Julia Turshen’s recipes always turn out for me, every single time. I love her first cookbook and this one is just as good IMO. She literally just shares recipes for things you actually want to eat… and probably already have all the ingredients on hand.
Recipes I recommend checking out:
- Stewed chicken with sour cream & chive dumplings — this is my faaave rainy, cold day meal
- Doug’s Tex-Mex turkey meatballs
- Shredded pork in the spirit of Cochinita Pibil
- Buffalo brussels sprouts
101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die by Jet Tila
Part of living in the middle of nowhere is having a well-stocked pantry (my fave pantry staples are in this post). So as soon as I got this book, I made sure to stock up on Asian cooking essentials. I chose 101 Asian Dishes because it felt like a good starting place for me to attempt re-creating dishes we’d typically order at restaurants since we no longer have access to said restaurants!
Recipes I recommend checking out:
- Chicken Larb – Thai minced chicken salad
- Spicy ground pork noodles (Dan Dan Mian) — seriously soooooo good
- Tofu salad with tangy sesame dressing
- Panang chicken curry
Cooking Solo by Klancy Miller
Since Sean isn’t here during the week, I needed to figure out a few recipes that are scaled down to feed one. I’m surprisingly really bad at converting my existing favorite recipes into smaller portions… so I picked up Cooking Solo and it’s been good so far! Since I work from home, I really like that there’s a lunch section, too.
Recipes I recommend checking out:
- Poached egg with frisée and arugula salad
- Tina Fey sandwich
- Pasta with tuna
- Polenta with shiitake mushrooms
Super Natural Simple by Heidi Swanson
Because I’m in the process of putting in a massive vegetable garden, I felt like I needed to invest in a few cookbooks that are dedicated to vegetarian recipes. Super Natural Simple was released recently and has been a very welcome addition to my collection. not only is it a beautiful book, but the recipes are actually simple. This is also really random, but I love the physical size of this cookbook. It just makes me happy.
Recipes I recommend checking out:
- French onion breakfast strata
- Asparagus salad with lemony toasted pine nuts
- Five-minute bean salad — pretty sure this will be my summertime side dish staple
- Ditalini “risotto” with broccoli and pine nuts
- Big green fried rice
- Jasmine tea sparkler
The New Heirloom Garden by Ellen Ecker Ogden
Speaking of my garden… The New Heirloom Garden has inspired me SO MUCH and gotten me SO EXCITED for my new garden. The premise behind this book is awesome because it’s one part gardening and permaculture book and one part cookbook. Because those two topics are so intertwined, especially for us living out here and trying to be less reliant on distant grocery stores, I simply had to have it in my collection. Keep in mind that my garden is still very much a work-in-progress, so I’ve made only a handful of recipes with store-bought produce for now.
Recipes I recommend checking out:
- Roasted balsamic beet and walnut salad
- Brussels sprouts slaw
Old World Italian by Mimi Thorisson
By now, I’m pretty sure you all know how obsessed I am with anything Italian. So I was delighted when Sean gave me this book for Christmas! This book is definitely the fussiest of this list and one I reach for when it’s a special occasion. But the photos are stunning and it really does make me feel a littttle bit like I’m in Italy, so I had to include it on this list.
Recipes I recommend checking out:
- Prampolini
- Pesto alla Genovese
- Sardinian ragù
- Roast pork with balsamic vinegar and red wine
Have you tried any of these cookbook recommendations? I’d love to know what you think of them & if you love them as much as I do!
