February 2019 Cookbooks

Cook90: the 30-day plan for faster, healthier, happier meals by David Tamarkin

I really like the premise of the Cook90 - cook every meal for 30 days to expand your cooking skills and try new recipes. I did think some of the rules were a little strict - you can't eat the same meal more than twice (except breakfast), eat leftovers no more than twice, and it doesn't count if someone else in your household cooks - you HAVE to cook part of the meal. But, I definitely think doing this would push you out of your comfort zone with cooking. I am a creature of habit, so it would be very hard for me to not have the same meal more than twice in a month. The first section of the book explains the Cook 90 plan and then the second section goes over how to plan this out and the importance of having a meal plan and creating "nextovers" parts of a meal that you purposely plan to use in another meal that week to cut down on prep work. The final section is the recipes and many of them give tips on how to best use all your ingredients for multiple meals. While I didn't see a ton of recipes I wanted to try, I do like the premise and will think about possibly doing my own Cook 90 in the future.

Damn Delicious Meal Prep by Chungah Rhee

I already really liked the Damn Delicious blog and had found lots of recipes I've tried and want to try. In this book she focuses on meal prep which helps create quick meals with whole foods. I really liked her meal prepping ideas and tools and she gives several examples of how to use one ingredient many ways for many different meals. That way you're not getting burned out eating the same meal over and over for several days. There were definitely lots of recipes I want to try in this one. If you're already a fan of Damn Delicious or just want some quick, good recipe ideas this is one to check out.