Cookbooks

In 1968 I received as wedding gifts two cookbooks--The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and the McCalls Cookbook. The pages of these books are stained and yellowed but they are still my favorite cookbooks. I learned how to cook with these books. I have quite a few other cookbooks acquired over the years and most have one or two recipes that have become part of my repertoire standard meals. Mother's in the Kitchen from the La Leche League has the best Banana Nut Bread recipe. I have Laurel's Kitchen and while I love the philosophy expressed, there isn't anything in it that my family would actually eat. Then there is Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease Cook Book which after reading, I decided that I would just as soon die young. Several years ago I went through my cookbooks and made a computer file of the recipes that I use most often; I printed some of them and put them in plastic sheet protectors for quick use. I have some new cookbooks and like to try something new occassionally. For example, I was going to make one of the cupcake recipes in Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess but found that I really liked the recipe for cupcakes in my tried and true McCalls better. (I am, however, using Nigella's cream cheese and powdered sugar icing.) I have had Mastering the Art of French Cooking now for several years but have yet to work up the nerve to try anything from it. I am not, as Julia would have me, fearless in the kitchen. I must say though that I am looking forward to getting Pioneer Woman Cooks; her recipes tend to have ingredients that are in my grocery store and produce food that my family will eat.
So for dinner tonight we are having cutlets and gravy, salad, mashed potatoes, and corn. None of which needs a recipe from a cookbook.