Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry by Cathy Barrow
I REALLY like the concept of this book. The author talks about how she grew up helping her family can food and how as an adult she came back to canning and how it transformed how she eats and cooks. The whole book is basically canning recipes and recipes that show meals you can make with canned ingredients. Canning is a great way to preserve seasonal foods - whether you grow them yourself or get them at the local farmer's market. Barrow also talks about curing and smoking meat and making cheese - which is a little more advanced than canning. Even though she goes through the basics of canning I would definitely recommend taking a class. I took one through my county's extension office and it was VERY reasonably priced and incredibly helpful and informative. Overall, this is a unique cookbook and I plan on checking out Barrow's blog now too.
Dinner: the Playbook by Jenny Rosenstrach
I loved Rosenstrach's first cookbook Dinner: a Love Story and her blog of the same name. So, I was excited to check this one out. It's different from Dinner: a Love Story in that the first half of the book is info about how to better plan and prep for weeknight meals. Also, tips and ideas for making family dinner work better and run smoother. The second half features plenty of easy meals and then a few "keep the spark alive" dinners which are more time consuming, but designed to inspire your cooking. Rosenstrach even provides templates for your own 30 day meal makeover like she described in Dinner: a Love Story. Even though this book is obviously geared toward parents, parts of it are still applicable for anyone. I didn't like the recipes in this one as much as the ones in Dinner: a Love Story, which is why I didn't rate it higher. I still like Rosenstrach and will definitely check out any future books by her.
Pimento Cheese: the Cookbook by Perre Coleman Magness
I love pimento cheese and when I found out how easy it is to make from scratch I started making it all the time. This book talks about various versions of pimento cheese and even the history of pimento peppers. Then there are lots of recipes inspired by pimento cheese and quite a few I'd like to try to make. This is a must read for any Southern food and pimento cheese fans!
The Wellness Kitchen by Paulette Lambert, RD, CDE
The Wellness Kitchen is a real place, a part of the California Health and Longevity Institute. Lambert is a registered dietician and has spent her career creating healthy and delicious recipes. This book not only has recipes, but also information on how diet can help prevent and help treat chronic health conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes. This would be a great book if you're trying to overhaul your diet and find some good healthy recipes.
Cooking with Pumpkin by Averie Sunshine
This is a great cookbook with tons of yummy sounding recipes all featuring pumpkin. There are breakfast recipes, cookies, cakes, and pies, but also savory recipes and drinks. There are quite a few recipes I'd like to try and it may be worth buying this one at some point. This was the first year we successfully grew pie pumpkins, but I've been baking with real pumpkin for a few years and you can really tell a difference. I'm looking forward to trying out a few of these recipes - especially the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies which are on the cover of the book.
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