Over covid my friend and I cooked our way through the original Moosewood cookbook. We are both vegetarians but neither of us had ever used it. It was fun, we’d get on zoom and cook together a couple times a week, and then also pick other things to do on our own. I’m not sure I’d have it in me to do it now but I will say I leaned some new things and there are a few things that have become staples for us from that experience.

I was just contemplating this with Dinner by Melissa Clark and The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook by Jaden Heir as everything I have made out of them has been good.

Anonymous wrote:Like the movie Julie & Julia. I need a new hobby and thought this would be fun for my DH and I to do together. I'm vegetarian and DH is meat eater. I'm thinking of cooking Indian or some other mostly plant-based meals. Is this realistic? Any ideas for a good cookbook to try?

So just for fun, we had our personal chef cook through "The Ultimate Kids’ Baking Book: 60 Easy and Fun Dessert Recipes for Every Holiday, Birthday, Milestone and More" with our children on the weekends. They would do a recipe from it every Saturday.

I’m too picky about food— and not invested enough — to do an entire cookbook.

Several years ago, I did a lot of the Good and Cheap recipes, and found several that I really like. It’s not a huge cookbook, so getting through the whole thing is doable.

I’ve enjoyed making recipes from the Made With Lau site. Doing all of the recipes would be ambitious, but it could also be approached by doing a few themes.

Have fun with it! I’d be interested in reading your updates with your project.


https://www.madewithlau.com/
https://leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap-2/

I’m a huge fan of America’s Test Kitchen recipes/cookbooks but most of them would be too big/comprehensive for this kind of project. I would, though, recommend these two:

Food Processor Perfection, and
Toaster Oven Perfection.

Yes, they focus on a particular piece of cooking equipment but something most of us have or can purchase for a quite reasonable price. And, in “non” ATK fashion, they’re normally not nearly as complicated or use weird ingredients or techniques.

Another one, The Complete Cookbook for Two is much larger but has a great collection of smaller recipes.

Check your local library first, as that’s where I got my first look at all three. I checked them out so many times, I finally broke down and bought them. I’ve used the toaster oven one so much that the back is broken and the pages are falling out.

Good luck and I envy you. No way my DH would embark on such a project….although he seems to have no trouble eating my efforts!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like the movie Julie & Julia. I need a new hobby and thought this would be fun for my DH and I to do together. I'm vegetarian and DH is meat eater. I'm thinking of cooking Indian or some other mostly plant-based meals. Is this realistic? Any ideas for a good cookbook to try?

For vegetarian meals, I love Deborah Madison's The Savory Way. I could see myself cooking my way through that. I've always meant to buy her Greens cookbook but haven't ever gotten around to it.

Yes, I was going to suggest her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, my absolute favorite cookbook.

I'm not even vegetarian, but everything I've tried has been a hit.

I love vegetarian cooking for everyone!

But I wouldn't start there cover to cover because that book is enormous. What's the best Deborah Madison shorter book?

My mom has an old Moosewood Diner cookbook that could be fun to cook through.

Lol, agree it’s too big for this purpose. But I love that thing!

Anonymous wrote:So many fun cookbooks to try. The biggest hurdle will the the cost and space of buying ingredients that you may not use that often (e.g., Ottolenghi and pomegranate molasses).
With that in mind, I'd try this project with a cookbook from someone like Melissa Clark, who tries to stick to ingredients that are not too unusual. Or Ina Garten.

Or one focused on a particular cuisine would work too, with lots of overlap in ingredients.

Fun idea!

One summer after grad school without work or school I was living with my parents and I cooked most of the recipes from a cookbook called The California Heritage Cookbook that my sister had given me. It was fun and I made them some remarkable meals.

I have never done it in order because how does it work if the book is structured with dressings, sauces, etc and ending with desserts? Do you make salad dressings for several days and desserts for several days?

I think you shoukd try it.

Anonymous wrote:If it appeals to you, it’s realistic. Let us know how it goes!

This. I never had any desire to cook through a cookbook.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like the movie Julie & Julia. I need a new hobby and thought this would be fun for my DH and I to do together. I'm vegetarian and DH is meat eater. I'm thinking of cooking Indian or some other mostly plant-based meals. Is this realistic? Any ideas for a good cookbook to try?

For vegetarian meals, I love Deborah Madison's The Savory Way. I could see myself cooking my way through that. I've always meant to buy her Greens cookbook but haven't ever gotten around to it.

Yes, I was going to suggest her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, my absolute favorite cookbook.

I'm not even vegetarian, but everything I've tried has been a hit.

I love vegetarian cooking for everyone!

But I wouldn't start there cover to cover because that book is enormous. What's the best Deborah Madison shorter book?

My mom has an old Moosewood Diner cookbook that could be fun to cook through.

So many fun cookbooks to try. The biggest hurdle will the the cost and space of buying ingredients that you may not use that often (e.g., Ottolenghi and pomegranate molasses).
With that in mind, I'd try this project with a cookbook from someone like Melissa Clark, who tries to stick to ingredients that are not too unusual. Or Ina Garten.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you learn to cook you won't even need to use cook books or recepies.

You can make your own cookbook then.

I "learned" how to cook 35 years ago and still almost exclusively cook from cookbooks / memories of recipes.

Currently working my way through Woks of Life though I find the blog recipes much more interesting (cookbook is more geared towards Chinese-American restaurant faves, which is fine but I do prefer the more original and less rich recipes on the blog). Love reading the book, however.

I love the Woks of Life family and their recipes so much! I made Thai-style fried rice from their blog earlier this week, and it was a big hit with DH and DS.

+2, love their YouTube channel as well

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you learn to cook you won't even need to use cook books or recepies.

You can make your own cookbook then.

I "learned" how to cook 35 years ago and still almost exclusively cook from cookbooks / memories of recipes.

Currently working my way through Woks of Life though I find the blog recipes much more interesting (cookbook is more geared towards Chinese-American restaurant faves, which is fine but I do prefer the more original and less rich recipes on the blog). Love reading the book, however.

I love the Woks of Life family and their recipes so much! I made Thai-style fried rice from their blog earlier this week, and it was a big hit with DH and DS.

Anonymous wrote:Once you learn to cook you won't even need to use cook books or recepies.

You can make your own cookbook then.

I "learned" how to cook 35 years ago and still almost exclusively cook from cookbooks / memories of recipes.

Currently working my way through Woks of Life though I find the blog recipes much more interesting (cookbook is more geared towards Chinese-American restaurant faves, which is fine but I do prefer the more original and less rich recipes on the blog). Love reading the book, however.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once you learn to cook you won't even need to use cook books or recepies.

You can make your own cookbook then.

Sure, if you’re the sort of person who dislikes learning interesting new things.

Apparently you dislike learning reading comprehension?