I think it was my Juice & Smoothie Video where you guys got a peek at my kitchen residing cookbook stash and a few of you asked for a closer look. I actually own way more cookbooks than what you see here; Mark and I have a rather large bookcase in the front room and a bit of an obsession for buying books – Waterstones, what a place. Beauty and fashion coffee-table style books are my favourite, but they’re closely followed by recipe books and reads on healthy eating (along with the odd picture book of Ryan Gosling – true story). To contain myself from rambling on for essay-length proportions I’ve narrowed it down to my five most used and perused…
The Quickie Cookbook – Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver. When Mark and I first moved in together, we used this cookbook religiously. On the whole the recipes are pretty simple to make and are good for when you’re trying to work out some staples that you’ll later be able to rustle up with your eyes closed. Be warned though, we dilly dally around and each meal probably takes more like an hour-ish. Pfft, amateurs – eh?
The Straight-Up Healthy Cookbook – Clean & Lean Diet Cookbook by James Duigan. I was first introduced to the Clean & Lean philosophy through a lovely colleague and friend of mine a fair few years back now and it’s one of those books that really altered my attitude on healthy eating (I read most of it while on a train eating a Burger King and I don’t think I’ve had one since – McDonald’s Apple Pies on the other hand…). The recipes are superduper healthy whilst also packing in the flavour and don’t have too many tough to source ingredients.
The Hearty Cookbook – Hemsley + Hemsley The Art of Eating Well by Jasmine & Melissa Hemsley. This is one of those recipe books where you turn each page and go ‘OMG I’m making this tonight‘ before turning another and thinking ‘Nope, scrap that – this is the one I’m going to rustle up‘ and repeat, etc etc. It’s heathy, but in such a tasty way that you almost don’t realise – no stripped back watery salads to be seen here. It will however make you wish to buy a spiraliser, like, yesterday.
The Sweet Treats Cookbook – Nordic Bakery Cookbook by Missa Mink. Most of the sweet treats that I make are from things I’ve seen online or my Grandma’s handwritten recipe book that she made for me when I moved out (what a BABE!), but if it’s not from either of those sources that I’m getting inspiration from then it’s this cookbook. Featuring bread, buns, cookies, tarts and cakes there’s not one recipe that I don’t like the look of. The Blueberry Tart from the cover is a personal favourite.
The Delicious, Mind-Altering Cookbook – Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward. I’ll whizz through this one quickly because I’ve spoken about it on a practically a weekly basis since I got it. This book is not only full of recipes but full of information on nutrition, how to store and cook ingredients, seasons and flavourings to spice dishes up and just generally titbits of information that cause you to have a long, hard think about what you’re eating. If you want to clean up your act, then this is a great place to start.
Next on my list is Amanda Freer’s Eat. Nourish. Glow. Anything else I need to add to the kitchen worktop?
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