Any cookbook ideas for a young couple getting married?

[guest^]

Was thinking I would get my niece a cookbook for her wedding present. She is 20 and her fiance is 22...both in college...and will be in college for advanced degrees...so won't have a lot of time or $ to put into meals. Neither of them are vegies. Any ideas????

TIA!!!

mamapoppins

[tabitha]

i know you said neither of them are vegetarians, but the best cookbook i have ever owned is :Vegetarian Cokking for Everyone. i am not a vegetarian, but this book is super quick and easy to use. part of its magic is that almost every vegetable is listed in alphabetical order, and then recipes and advice on how to prepare the vegetable are listed in order of complexity- everything from plain steamed beets to beet risotto.

i received this book as a baby shower present and use it almost every night, if not for myself then for my mother who calls to get advice from it.

good luck finding a great gift! tabitha

[mamatanya]

I recommend the joy of cooking

I have given the Joy of Cooking to everyone I have ever wanted to help learn how to cook. It has a well rounded variety of recipes AND complete idiot instructions and explanations of how things work on everything. How to make rice and why things work or don't, etc. There is now a new joy of cooking as well. I don't know if these are available as a set but the standard joy of cooking is more basic. The new is fine by itself but is missing some things that were really good to have in the old. If they really like fancy stuff, go with the new joy.

[tessamami]

My DH and I got a copy of The Kitchen Survival guide - author's last name: Brody

We've outgrown it but it still has basic recipes we still use - I just have them entered in my PC recipe file.

It was a wedding gift to us when I graduated college (21 years old).

[TigerTail]

I second 'joy' if they don't already have it. if time is the main issue, pierre franey's '60 minute gourmet' books taught me about wine sauces, how to use a shallot, etc. when i was a teen. i recommend them very much.

suse

[Joi]

I have a book called How to Cook Everything by Marc Bittman. It has good recipes written in such a way that it is really easy to follow. The recipes are simple and basic but by no means plain. AND it just won the James Beard and Julia Childs awards. Another book that is awesome and won those same awards is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I can't remember the name of the author but the recipes are wonderful.

[adventuregirl]

Another vote for the Joy. I've referred to it as the bible, its something you can always reference if you don't know how long to cook a turkey, convert some measurement, prepare dry beans among a million other things, just an awesome basic.

I received The Tao of Cooking as a gift while in college and still use it very often (10 yrs later). It's veggie (I'm not), but a really nice well-rounded collection of a lot of different ethnic dishes.

My rule for buying cookbooks is to flip through, look at a few recipes and if you see the words margarine, non-stick cooking spray or microwave, put the book down and keep on looking. I find that these try to be the "healthy" and "light" books, to which my reply is: NOT. (just ignore this if you don't agree)

[grumo]

My fav cookbook is Vegetarian Planet by Emmons. It has a variety of stuff and most all of it is easy to cook.

[Jude's Mama]

I vote for the Joy as well. I also have the Whole Foods cookbook which is great too.

[mamaya]

JOy of Cooking is a classic, but we've really been enjoying Jamie Oliver's cookbooks and another one called "Simple Vegetarian Pleasures" by Jeanne Limlin -- REALLY EXCELLENT!!!!

[MamaOui]

I've got that Joy Joy Joy in my kitchen. Where? In my kitchen to stay! Another vote for Joy of Cooking.

[cathe]

whole foods alternative to Joy of Cooking

My bible is Rodales "Basic Natural Foods Cookbook". It is a huge cookbook and has everything in it but all with whole foods rather than the white flour and sugar of Joy of Cooking.

[Levi's Mom]

I love teh Joy of Cooking, too. One idea I heard for newlyweds was to buy the Joy of Cooking and The Joy of Sex, wrap them together. Cute, eh?

[mirlee]

I have the Joy as well. I also like the Moosewood Restaurant's New Classics and it has veggie as well as meat and seafood recipes.

I liked the idea of wrapping the Joy of Cooking and the Joy of Sex together. Wish I had thought of that for my sister's wedding!

[Marlena]

Joy of Cooking, if you've not heard that often enough from everyone else. Also, The Classic Cookbook by Christopher Kimball is excellent if your friends have any genuine curiosity about cooking, as it tells you WHY the author proposes or suggests doing x, y or z (after telling you about how it worked for him doing it other ways).

[Ackermama]

All time favorite: Laurel's Kitchen.

Great recipes and a great source of basic cooking and nutritional information.

[guest^]

LOL!!!!

Thanks you guys....I will check all these out!

ILOVE the idea of Joy of Cooking wrapped with Joy of Sex! BUT! We're talking about my very innocent Mormon niece! SOOO...I think I'll stick with my cookbook and matching aprons idea!


Thanks!!

mamapoppins

[Beck]

I like my Whole Foods For the Whole Family cookbook. The recipes are all from scratch - no requests for cream'o something soup, but they do list a bunch of quickie recipes and ones that can be prepared before. This book was given to me as a wedding present, and introduced me to La Leche League. (Ya know, cause newlyweds sometimes have babies. )