cooking

… all the benefits of preserving your own food? If you’re like me, you’ve heard about the better flavor, the lower price, the more natural ingredients, the satisfaction of eating something you made yourself, and all of the other advantages. However, you wondered when you would have the time, where to get the fancy equipment and tons of fresh produce, and where to store umpteen jars of pickled beets (not to mention what to do when you discover that you hate pickled beets, even if you did make them yourself).

… all of your favorite Eagle Brand recipes in one book? Eagle Brand Best-Loved Desserts has sections for classics, kids, quick and easy, gifts, and the basics. Seventy-one of the recipes that cooks have been clipping from newspapers, magazines and can labels are gathered in one delicious cookbook.

… the cookbook that collects favorite foods from every state in the union? The Great American Cookbook by Clementine Paddleford has 500 time-tested recipes. Little stories throughout each state tell of how some of the recipes came to be. Ever hear of “Zimtsterne,” commonly known as Cinnamon Stars or Potato Kugel? Both are favorites in Illinois.

…the screaming lobsters? This food myth is debunked in Lobsters Scream when You Boil Them: And 100 Other Myths about Food and Cooking by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. Lobsters don’t have vocal cords.

… the Food Network’s great basic cookbook? If you are just learning to cook or want to learn how to cook more simply, How to Boil Water: Life beyond Takeout is the book for you. It really does teach you how to boil water! This book is a basic guide to cooking. It has how-to hints and tips worded in an easy-to-understand way (no big, fancy words).