I wanna@ Cook Book

RickHoughton

Not just any cook book though, its for my wife, and she wants simple recipes, that use everyday ingredients. That she can cook up in 30 minutes or so.
We bought one today, but its full of ingredients we've never heard of, let alone tasted.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Lord_Gardener

Might be worth checking out Delia's site for suggestions!

http://www.deliaonline.com/shop/books/

Bargain_Rzl

I was in WH Smith's on Saturday and they had Gary Rhodes's "Keeping it Simple" reduced from £25 to £6.25 - I would imagine they still do.

The recipes look delicious, there's a lot of advice on shopping for ingredients, and what's more it's a beautifully presented book. I bought myself a copy, and though I haven't used it yet, I am sure I will get tons of use out of it.

shaileytuff

ias a busy mum of 2 kids under 5 and have just brought tana ramseys family cook book - it has some great bits in there from snack ideas to party food to evening basics i will definitly be making

Have delias complete cookery book and is good for simple things (like how to poach an egg - which i do now!)

jamie oliver is too poncy you need to many ingriedients that i just don't have in my cupboard

In sainsburys the tana ramsey one in £8.99 at the moment

kay41_2

I have certain cookery books that I go back to time and time again. Rose Ellliott's Supreme Vegetarian Cookbook (not just for veggies...) is brilliant, I do like Delia Smith's original Complete Illustrated Cookbook for how to do good basic food, plus I like her 'how to cook' books as they simplify everything too.

I do like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, but agree about the fancy ingredients.

You could try a good basic children's cookbook as these often have really good ideas.

I'm am a fairly competent cook and can do most things, but am not a great one for meat so we don't eat much beyond sausages, bacon, chicken and mince.

Have a look in your local library as there are loads of books on feeding families etc. That way you can experiment without cluttering up your house with loads of books you don't use. There are probably loads of books of quick simple supper recipes and of course if you fancy a book that the library don't have you can always order it in for 90p! I've just ordered a vegetarian slow cooker recipe book through inter-library loan. If the book isn't in great demand you can renew it up to 3 times too, thus you could use the book for nearly 3 months and see if you get on with it.

I have some basic recipes that don't take very long which are staple mid week meals for us such as jacket potatoes with cottage cheese, parmesan and bacon; pasta with mushroom soup (Campbells condensed), mushrooms, smoked sausage and parmesan; filled pasta tossed in pesto, spaghetti carbonara made without cream, just eggs, bacon, milk and cheese. I refuse to spend any more than 30 minutes cooking in the week, but prepare most meals from scratch. Something like chilli con carne takes about 10 minutes to prepare, but at least an hour to cook, so if you do it as soon as you get home, then all you have to do is put the rice on when you want to eat. Or you could do it the night before.

It might be worth looking at the slow cooker thread as many people swear by these.