Thursday 7 June 2012

A Few Of My Favourites

In today's post I want to share with you some of my favourite books and recipes.

I have a cupboard full of cookbooks and I love them all but there are obviously some I use more than others, some are seasonal and some are for specific occasions. All very useful and I could never part with them, I know this because I have tried! They get on my husbands nerves at times I think because they're aren't in any kind of order (yet) and they do take up almost whole corner cupboard as you can see. 

There's another stack of these behind this pile. I've got to tell you that organizing them is high on my to-do list but as yet I just haven't gotten around to it. Trying to find a certain book in this mess is tricky and starting to frustrate me to say the least!


The image below shows my three most useful all year round books. 
- Cupcakes and Muffins
- Grandma's Best Recipes
- 1 Mince Mix, 50 Dinners.

I'm sorry but I couldn't resist including a bit of Disney in the picture. That's my biscuit tin that we purchased from Disneyland Paris back in March, the tall book in the background is from my childhood and so is about 20 years old. I remember when my Mum bought the set for me, I treasured it! 

There are four in their own little folder: Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast (pictured), Snow White and The Seven Dwarves and lastly there's Sleepy Beauty. 
They belong to my little girl now and she reads one of them every night, just like I used to.


First up we have '1 Mince Mix, 50 Dinners'. Such a useful book and rescues me from cooking chicken nuggets and pot noodles for tea when I'm uninspired. The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are very easily found. We're not a fan of fancy foods here and this book works incredibly well for us.


Below is by far the most used recipe, I don't need to refer to the book now as I've cooked it so many times. I always use frozen mince whenever I'm using this book, it's something I always make sure I have in the freezer. Something I've found with the majority of the recipes in this book is it's easy to omit the ingredients you don't like, or substitute them. Garlic puree instead of cloves for example, none of us like mushrooms so we don't ever use them.


I suppose my point is, the recipes don't depend on many of the listed ingredients, and it's obvious which ones you will need. For the one below I would only use potatoes, mince, onion, carrots, peas, gravy/stock and sometimes some cheese sprinkled over the top. NOTHING else.


Mmmmm, banana cream pie. Heavenly! This book, Grandma's Best Recipe's is simply fantastic! Proper homemade comfort food, I feel comforted just flicking through this books pages, with recipe's like the one below you know it's a keeper! I really like how there are bubbles containing "Grandma's Tips" throughout the book. There are both savoury and sweet ideas in here and I find them all inspiring, you know it's a keeper.


Aaah, this one below "Cupcakes and Muffins," is a new one that my husband purchased for me. I've only had it about 3 weeks, I haven't even flicked through all the pages yet! From what I have seen up to now it seems it has the potential to be an everyday reference - it even has savoury recipes in here! Although it does seem a little strange seeing vegetables included in a cupcake recipe. The jam and almond recipe I posted yesterday was very loosely based on a recipe in this very book. 


One of my favourite things about this book is when listing the ingredients and measurements, supplies the conversion for you so no need to zip off and google it! If it makes baking easier surely everybody needs a copy? I'm afraid I can't share mine. :)




So there you have it. My three most referenced books as of late, this changes by the week however so I have different favourites all the time. If I see anything else I think you should know about I will write about it. Likewise, if there's any book or websites you highly recommend, please tell me about it - I don't think you can ever be too inspired.


Thank you for reading today.

Love,
Kaye xx

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