Best [Real Food] Cookbooks [top ten tuesday]

We do a lot of cooking here at the Soul Munchies headquarters. Before baby girl came, it was one of our favorite things to do together. Now that baby girl is here and I stay at home all week, it becomes a great way for me to be creative and productive. Plus, I want her to learn that homemade food is so much better (and healthier) than anything you get anywhere else. I can’t wait until she can help me cook!

We have found some amazing resources to help us eat real food. Here’s our top ten go-to places for real food recipes!

Local Flavors
This book was recommended to me by a friend when I asked for advice about a CSA. Because it wasn’t available from Paperbackswap and I didn’t really want to spend money on it, I decided to check it out from the library. Boy am I glad I did. We soon discovered this was a MUST HAVE book for anyone who likes to eat locally and seasonally. So, we found a used copy and added it to our bookshelf. It’s one of my newest favorite books to cook from.

Cooking from the Farmer’s Market
Right now I only have this book on my Kindle … but I think I may be purchasing the “in the flesh” version very soon. It’s got so many great recipes for creative ways to eat fruits and veggies. I haven’t tried near enough recipes in this book, but it’s one I really like.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
This is another one that we checked out from the library and then decided we had to find our own copy. It’s brilliant … tons and tons of excellent recipes for any kind of vegetable you can think of. And it looks great on our bookshelf!

Cooking for Baby
This one was recommended to me by a sorority sister who made all her own food for her baby boy. Now that we’ve added the littlest one to our clan, we have to think about real food for baby too. This one is so fantastic … with recipes for ages 6 months all the way through 18 months and beyond. And the recipes are so delicious that we may just add them to our grown-up plates as well!

The Naked Foods Cookbook
Since I first posted the review of this book, I’ve discovered I like it a lot more than I originally thought. I really like the vegetable stock recipe, and the helpful hints on cultured products. How to make your own cream cheese, cultured butter, etc. And the info about soaking beans and grains is super helpful too. All in all, this is a great resource for real food eating.

Betty Crocker
We have the bridal edition of this cookbook and let me tell you, it has been a lifesaver. We don’t use it much for the recipes, but we go to it regularly for the simple stuff … like how long to bake a sweet potato and at what temperature. Or how to boil eggs. I couldn’t make half the things I make without good ole’ Betty.

100daysofrealfood.com
Yeah I know … this isn’t a “cookbook” per se … but this blog is chock full of incredible real food recipes. We use it at least once a week for something or other. Just last week I made the cheddar buttermilk biscuits. This weekend, we made a version of the breakfast bites. And today the refried beans are in the crockpot.

Weelicious
Okay this is cheating a little bit … because this cookbook just came out last month and I don’t have a copy yet. But have you seen the website? Amazing. I’ll be ordering this cookbook soon. And I’m sure it will be one of my faves. As our littlest eats more and more food, it becomes more and more important for us to have well balanced meals together – as a family. This site (and book) helps us do just that.

Allrecipes
This site is amazing … BUT … you have to do some searching (or some substituting) to find real food recipes. We use it a lot for inspiration. We like to find highly rated recipes and tweak them to make them even better. We have found quite a few winners over the years … including our award winning chili recipe and slow cooker spaghetti sauce. It’s sort of like a big community cookbook … where everyone’s best (and worst) recipes are included. All in all, we love it.

Cooking Light
I discovered this magazine years ago when on Weight Watchers. I went through a time where I didn’t use it much … but D and I discovered it really helps us eat seasonally. Most of the recipes are real food recipes … and the ones that aren’t can easily be tweaked. It’s also great for those occasional treats (like my upcoming birthday cake!)

So there you have it … our favorite real food cookbooks. What’s your favorite real food inspiration?

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday over at Many Little Blessings. Come join the fun!