My Favorite Cookbooks for Answering the “What’s For Dinner?” Question

January 25th, 2016

I LOVE cookbooks!  I especially love when the author shares the stories behind the recipe, the traditions around their table, how they enjoy the meal, etc.

Some of my favorites for this have been Pioneer Woman’s and Shauna Niequists‘ cookbooks. It’s so much more than just ingredients, it’s like sharing the table with them.

On my continued quest to feed my {growing in size and number} family with healthy meals, I’ve invested in a few cookbooks over the past few months that I have absolutely LOVED!  They are new, but they are already getting creased, drip marks, and flagged with post-its.

Here are three that are becoming some of my most loved in my collection:

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime

This is my favorite PDub Cookbook so far! I love that it’s practical meals and ideas for what I struggle with most: “Whats for Dinner????” I also like that she included lots of 16 Minute Meals and Freezer Meals recipes too! My favorites so far that I’ve tried: Classic Pulled Pork, Potato Soup, and Fudge (what Fudge is TOTALLY dinner food!).

100 Days of Real Food

I’ve found recipes on this blog in the past, but I really enjoyed it in cookbook form. Although we are already on board with a lot of the real food movement, it furthered my understanding and how to navigate making healthy choices for our family. I like that the recipes aren’t difficult or made with crazy ingredients just because they are healthy. Favorites so far: Cinnamon Apple Chips, Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, and Homemade Chicken Nuggets.

Great Food Fast

I became an Instant-Pot Head this month. Have you heard of an Instant Pot? I hadn’t either until several friends started posting about their obsession with theirs and all of these recipes they had made in 1/2 the time. You can make hard boiled eggs in 6 minutes that peel perfectly!

It’s not your grandma’s pressure cooker, plus it holds in the flavor much better than a slow-cooker. It’s super simple to operate. Here’s what mine looks like:

I’m still definitely still an Instant-Newbie, but I’m looking forward to this cookbook to help me figure out some weekly dinner favorites that I can make quickly! Ones I’ve heard great things about and can’t wait to try: Perfect Pot Roast, Best Ever Macaroni and Cheese, and Real-Steel Cut Oatmeal.

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How about YOU? Any cookbooks you can’t live without? Do you have these three? What’s for dinner at your house this week? 

*The above has links to Amazon affiliates. If I make any loose change off of your purchases, it will go into the diaper fund, so thank you!