Favorite cookbooks - easy, fast, family friendly

[babyjonesmama]

What do people recommend? I would like to weed out some cookbooks that I never use and get a hold a few solid reliable staples. We like Moosewood but find it somewhat hit or miss. I recently checked out Nigella Express from the library and have had a lot of luck with that. Any other recommendations from people? Anything new that has come out that people like?

[mamadelbosque]

I have and love both the Bon Appettit' cookbooks, but if I could only have one it'd be there "Fast, Easy, Fresh". So many good, and truly easy and quick recipes. Almost all are done in an hour and many in just half!

I'm also a long-time Mark Bittman fan - both How to Cook Everything and HTCE: Vegetarian are very high on my list of most-used cookbooks. Honestly if I could only have 5 cookbooks, it'd be the above 4 and an old copy of Betty Crocker's cookbook (my dad has one from either 69 or 72 thats wonderful... I plan on nabbing my grandmothers old copy from 51 which I'm sure is even better!!

[cocobean]

Jamie Oliver has some awesome and super healthy cookbooks. LOVE HIM!!

[marsmom]

I like "The Moms’ Guide to Meal Makeovers: Improving the Way Your Family Eats, One Meal at a Time!" - it's not what I would cook for myself necessarily, but it has really helped me deal with DD2 who is very fussy eater.

[MAMom]

I second the Mark Bittman cookbooks - a wealth of knowledge. You can check out some of the recipes on his website to see if you're happy with them.

I also like the Laurel's Kitchen cookbook, though I tend to use it more for baking.

My old copies of The New New Basics and The Silver Palate still get a lot of mileage after all these years (since the 80's).

Honestly, more than anything else I use epicurious.com for recipes these days. I love to read the reviews and tweaks other people have written, and find the number of stars people give to be quite accurate.