My 6 Favorite Cookbooks

If you walked into my apartment one of the first things you’d notice is the amount of cookbooks I have. You’d realize very quickly my obsession with them. The gorgeous pictures bring me SO. MUCH. JOY. I’d probably even say that “flipping through cookbooks” makes it to the top of my list of favorite past times. Is that a little crazy? Maybe a little. It’s not just the food inspiration, the stories that go along with the recipes and the personal glimpse into other people’s kitchens make them feel intimate and special.

To be honest, when I’m cooking I rarely follow a recipe 100%. I actually feel like I’m almost incapable of doing that (something I got from my mom!). I’m always improvising with whatever we have in our pantry/fridge, but even still I believe in the power of a good cookbook. It provides an anchor and sometimes all we need is a little grounding to encourage us to spread our wings and experiment on our own.

Although it was really hard to narrow down my top cookbooks these are the six cookbooks I find myself turning to again and again. I hope by reading about the ones I love you can find some that peak your interest and add them to your own collection.

What are your go-to cookbooks? I’d love to hear!

My 6 favorite cookbooks

Pretty Simple Cooking by Sonia and Alex Overhiser - This cookbook shows its frequency of use at our house in grease stains and cocoa powder smears. All of the recipes in this book are vegetarian and truly simple. Like not the kind where people say “oh it’s so simple” and then they’re actually like not at all. It’s the perfect cookbook to pick up if you’re new to the kitchen and don’t want recipes that are overwhelming, but still want to impress your friends.

My Favorite recipes from this book:

• Strawberry Lime Chia Jam

• Red Lentil Curry with Cilantro Chutney

• Roasted Cauliflower and Black Bean Tacos with Chipotle Aioli

• Veggie Supreme Paella

• Bliss Bites

• Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake with Macerated Raspberries

Healthier Together by Liz Moody - Liz does such a great job of creating recipes that feel healthy, but are also fun and interesting without being too fussy. This book focuses on curating healthy relationships with food and connecting with others around the table — a message I certainly appreciate.

There are chapters in thsi book focused on recreating your favorite take-out recipes, curating a healthy happy hour, making fancy fare for hosting at home, and much more. All of the recipes in this book are portioned for two people which works out perfect for Josiah and I, but if you’re serving more than that you can easily scale up the recipes. We use this one ALL.THE.TIME. I struggled to even narrow down my favorite recipes in this book because we love so many of them!

My favorite recipes from this book:

• Way More Veggies Bolognese

• Zack’s Chicken Potpie

• Chicken and Butternut Squash Tikka Masala wth Cilantro Chutney

• Immune Boosting Turmeric Golden Milk Daal

• Roasted Cauliflower and Crispy Chickpeas with Golden Ghee Dressing

• Charred Chipotle Poblanos and Butternut Squash Taquitos

• Persian Spiced Herb and Walnut Omelet

Flour Power by Tara Jensen - If you’re looking for a confidence boost in your bread-baking abilities, this is the book for you. Tara gently walks you through the how-tos of bread making with just enough science to make the concepts stick without leaving you scratching your head. Be prepared though, most of the recipes are not something you can just decide to whip together on a whim. The process of bread baking is a practice in patience and care so be prepared to have some delayed satisfaction, but I promise it’s worth the wait. I have a lot more recipes to try from this book, but the lessons she provides in the book have stuck with me and for that reason it makes it into my top six.

My favorite recipes from this book:

• Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Overnight Waffles

• Workweek Bread

Whole Food Cooking Every Day by Amy Chaplin - This book is HUGE. It includes 250 recipes that are all vegetarian and free of gluten, dairy, and refined sugars. As the name implies this book focuses on using whole foods. For this reason you might expect the recipes to feel over complicated and overwhelming, but Amy does such a great job of making them feel approachable and simple. The recipes are very vegetable forward and super delicious. Everything in this book screams “nourishment.”

My favorite thing about this book though is that she presents a simple base recipe and then presents variations of that base recipes so that you can learn to cook with whatever you have on hand. For example she has a Winter Butternut Squash Soup as a base recipe, but then presents a variation that includes miso and another that includes hazelnut milk. She inspires you to adapt when you’re cooking in the real world where you can’t always find the ingredients you’re after. And as an added bonus instead of feeling like you just learned one recipe, it feels like you learned many! With just a few tweeks you can take that base recipe and turn it into a completely new meal.

My favorite recipes from this book:

• Strawberry Coconut Butter

• Curried Cauliflower Soup

• Sweet Potato Soup with Coriander, Chili, and Ginger

• Creamy Carrot Dressing

• Green Pea Pasta using the Easy Pine Nut Pasta Sauce

• Leek and Greens Cauliflower Bake

Green Kitchen At Home by David Frenkiel and Luis Vindahl - Whenever I flip through this book I instantly feel transported to Stockholm. I feel like I’m hanging out with David and Luis in their adorable kitchen chatting about all things food and life. The colors in this book make me very happy. The photos are so bright and inspiring.

I also highly recommend their Green Kitchen Travels cookbook. Warning: It will have your wanderlust going wild. I have all of their books and truly love them. If you are only going to buy one though I like this one because it provides a well rounded set of recipes that are sure to influence your next weeknight menu. All the recipes are vegetarian, but are ones that I as a meat eater still find myself falling in love with again and again.

My favorite recipes from this book:

• Spinach and Feta Quiche with Oat Crust

• Mediterranean Tray-bake with Halloumi Chunks

• Daily Dahl

• Fifty Shades of Green.

Half Baked Harvest Every Day by Tieghen Gerard - I’ve been in love with Half Baked Harvests blog forever. Her photography draws you in, but her unique take on food brings you back again and again. I’ve cooked from all three of her cookbooks, but find this one to be the one I keep coming back to the most. Tieghen lives in the mountains of Colorado and as you’re flipping through her book you can almost imagine yourself walking around her gorgeous property sipping on a cranberry moscow mule and taking in the incredible views.

My favorite recipes from this book:

• Blueberry Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

• Zuppa Toscana with Cauliflower Gnocchi

• Spiced Lentil Soup with Curried Acorn Squash

• Chipotle Cheddar Corn Chowder

• Brussel Sprouts and Gnocchi in Rosemary Butter Sauce

• Saucy Garlic Peanut Noodles

• Spicy chicken madras

The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich

When I say this is the ultimate breakfast sandwich, I mean it.

It’s not complicated. It’s not flashy. BUT it is so delicious.

It has that perfect salty/sweet/crunchy/cheesy combo that I crave and it uses ingredients I almost always have on hand. You can vary this recipe to include sausage instead of bacon or use whatever type of jam you prefer. I’ve used raspberry before and that was really yummy. Use this as your base and get creative!

I usually am making two of these sandwiches at a time, but I wrote the recipe for one and it can be scaled to fit whatever crowd you’re feeding.

THE ULTIMATE BREAKFAST SANDWICH

Serves: 1

• 2 Slices bread of your choice - I like to use this bread because it’s super hearty, but I’ve also made this with English Muffins and it was super good too.

• 1 Slice Cheddar Cheese, I like this brand best.

• 2 Slices thick cut bacon

• 1 Egg

• 1 Tablespoon Peanut butter

• 1 Tablespoon Strawberry Jelly

Cook the Bacon: Place bacon on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Turn oven on to 350 degrees and let bacon cook for 25 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan then transfer to a couple pieces of paper towel folder over to allow the grease

Cook the Egg: While the bread is toasting heat a medium sized non-stick pan to medium heat, add a little olive oil to the pan, allow the oil to heat and then crack the egg onto the pan. Using a spatula, break the egg yolk so that it can cook more evenly. This will prevent the yolk from dripping all over once you put in on the sandwich. Salt and pepper the egg. Place the slice of cheddar on top of the egg once you’ve broken the yolk. Cover it with a lid and allow the egg to cook until set and the cheese has melted.

Toast the bread: Place the bread in the toaster and toast to you liking.

Assemble the Sandwich: Spread the peanut butter and jelly on the toast. Add the bacon, top with the cheesy egg, and enjoy!

Homemade Naan

Up until I made homemade naan for the first time I thought the benefits of homemade vs. store-bought was mainly the pride that came with doing something with your hands. I figured that Trader Joe’s has some pretty good naan so although it was fun to make homemade, I’d definitely go back to buying it from the store. Boy, was I wrong.

Although that pride in the accomplishment is great, there is no comparison to fresh, homemade naan. The texture is better, the flavor is better —it’s just BETTER. And believe me when I say it’s truly not that hard. If you can spare 1.5 to 2 hours (an hour of that being down time) — you can make some at home and feel both the pride of accomplishment and have superior tasting naan.

For this recipe I used Sunrise Flour Mill Bread Flour. It has been my go-to for my sourdough so I figured why not use it for my naan. This specific flour is milled in Minneapolis, MN using heritage wheat that is more easily digestible. The founders, who had struggled with a gluten-intolerance found that they were able to bake the things they once loved using heritage grains without the consequences commercialized flours bring.

The possibilities are really endless with this naan. You can turn it into pizzas, use it to scoop up your favorite hummus, cover it in garlic butter and eat it straight up, use it as a base for a veggie sandwich, or turn it into a grilled cheese. Get creative and feel empowered at what you can whip together with just a few simple ingredients. Happy Baking!

Homemade NAAN

• 1 cup warm water (about 100-110°F)

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

• 3 1/2 cups Sunrise Flour Mill Bread Flour

• 1/4 cup plain yogurt

• 2 teaspoons fine sea salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 large egg

  Briefly stir together the warm water and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and give it a quick stir, then let the mixture rest for 5-10 minutes until the yeast is foamy.

  Add the flour, yogurt, salt, baking powder, and egg.  Using the dough attachment, mix the dough on medium-low speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth.  (The dough will still be slightly sticky, but should form into a ball that pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl.  If it’s too sticky, add a bit more flour.)

  Remove dough from the mixing bowl and use your hands to shape it into a ball.  Grease a separate mixing bowl lightly with cooking spray, then place the dough ball in the bowl and cover it with a damp towel.  Place the bowl in a warm location (I set mine on top of the fridge) and let it rise for 1 hour until the dough has nearly doubled in size.

  Once the dough is ready to go, transfer it to a floured work surface and shape it into a circle.  Cut the dough into 8 equally-sized wedges and roll each wedge into a ball with your hands.  Then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough ball until it forms an oval about 1/4-inch thick.  (I recommend multi-tasking this process — rolling out the next dough ball while you cook one on the stove.)

  Heat a large cast-iron skillet or non-stick sauté pan over medium-high heat until it is nice and hot.  Add a piece of the rolled-out dough to the pan and cook for 1 minute, or until the top of the dough begins to bubble and the bottom turns lightly golden.  Flip the dough and cook on the second side for 30-60 seconds, or until the bottom is golden as well, then transfer the dough to a clean plate. Sprinkle the naan with a pinch of flaky sea salt, if desired. Then lightly cover the naan with a clean towel so that it stays warm.  Repeat with remaining dough until all of the naan pieces are cooked, adjusting the heat of the pan if needed to keep it hot (but not overly-hot so that it burns the bread). Serve warm and enjoy!

  If you don’t eat all of the naan or prefer to make a large batch to stock up, it will freeze wonderfully for up to a month in a freezer safe ziplock bag.

Our Favorite Simple Camping Meals

We’re relatively new to the camping game. We didn’t start camping until COVID forced us to delay an international trip we had planned in 2020. Since we both had the time off we decided to take the two weeks and do a camping trip in Colorado instead. Gutsy, I know. We did one trial run camp before we left just to make sure we didn’t hate it and turns out — we LOVE camping. On our first trip though, I remember being really stressed about the food. I didn’t know what we should make and although I wanted some interesting meals I didn’t have the inspiration and felt easily frazzled at the prospect of cooking at a campsite without my usual resources. We repeated a lot of the same meals that trip and it got a bit repetitive.

Fortunately, We’ve learned a lot since that first camping trip and I’m happy to report that our meals have gotten better! We’re not always eating the most exotic things while camping, but we learned to bring a little more variety and have a lot more fun with it. Most importantly, I feel a lot less stressed about it!

When we camp I try to strike a balance between practical and fun. I absolutely love being creative when cooking — it brings me a lot of joy — BUT when we’re getting back from a long hike I might feel a little less ambitious about what I feel like making. In that moment I might be totally okay with a box of mac and cheese for dinner. In those moments I try to think of ways I can make that simple meal a bit more exciting. My favorite way to elevate that mac and cheese is to add a can of tuna or chicken to make it feel a bit more filling (or even some frozen broccoli!). My goal with our food is to make meals that make us feel good, but are also still fun.

This list isn’t necessarily meant to be a step-by-step, but rather a collection of ideas that will inspire your own camping menu. Enjoy!

Our camp kitchen setup

I want to first give you insight into what we have to cook with while camping. Spoiler, it’s not fancy. Like I said, we’re still pretty new to camping so our setup is relatively basic. I hope that encourages you that some fun and filling camping meals are within reach — no matter how minimal your setup.

• Coleman One Burner Stove - We paid $30 for this stove and have used the heck out of it! It’s very basic, but does the trick. The biggest drawback to it is that the fuel can be kind of difficult to find. We just stock up whenever we see some. We actually even use this on roadtrips sometimes just to whip up a quick meal in the back of the car.

• Cast Iron Skillet - We use this all the time at home so it was a no brainer to bring it camping — It’s so versatile! I have yet to purchase one, but I do think a lid for the skillet would come in handy.

• Enamel Dutch Oven - This is perfect for making soups!

• JetBoil Stove - Admittedly this was a recent upgrade and its ability to boil water at an incredibly fast rate is remarkable, but all these meals can be made without it.

• Cooking Utensil set - This set has everything you would need and it includes a bag to store everything in. Note that the knives in this set are not great so we usually bring one of our regular kitchen knives.

• Barebones Enamelware Set - This was another splurge that you 100% don’t need, BUT gives an asthetic that makes me very happy.

• Eatin’ tool - This deserves a shoutout because we use it all the time and they’re fun.

• AeroPress Coffee Maker - We used to bring our Chemex and then decided something less breakable was maybe a better option.

BREAKFAST

• Oats with freeze dried berries from Trader Joe’s with maple syrup, peanut butter, and whatever other toppings we are feeling (coconut flakes, pumpkin seeds, etc.). I like these oats the best.

• Breakfast burritos - I like to roast the potatoes, onions, peppers, and bacon ahead of time and then roll them individually into tortillas with cheese at the campsite. I then wrap them in foil and place them on the grate over the fire until the cheese is melted and they are warm. You can also make them fully ahead of time and just throw them on the grate to heat up if you prefer.

• Pancakes - For convenience, I gravitate more toward the mixes that only require water. I love this brand and this brand.

• Baked Oatmeal - This is a nice option if you don’t want to dirty a pan in the morning. The flavor combinations are endless too.

• Chia puddings with fruit and nut butters - Make a batch of chia pudding ahead of time and put them in individual jars to grab on the go.

• Eggs - Scrambled, fried — however you fancy them! You could also make some hard boiled eggs ahead of time and bring those.

• Potato Hash over the campfire (or on your camp stove if you don’t want to get a fire going) - There really are few things better than onions, peppers, and potatoes cooked on the fire. Once those potatoes are tender feel free to scramble in some eggs to make it a full breakfast.

Lunch / Dinner

For us these meals are pretty interchangeable depending on what time we are coming back from a hike. Sometimes we need something quick and sometimes we feel like lingering around the campsite and making something that takes a bit longer. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are some of the meals we’ve had that we find ourselves making again.

• Cheese and crackers - Basic, I know, but this has become our number one lunch for when we roll in from a hike and are ravenous. We like to also serve it with veggies and hummus or ranch to round it out. My favorite cracker options: pretzel crisps, Simple Mill’s Crackers, and Mary’s Gone Crackers.

• Sautéed cabbage with chicken sausage and chickpeas - This is a super simple one that provides protein, fiber, and veggies but comes together in 10 minutes. I buy shredded cabbage to save myself from even having to chop it at the campsite. I heat the cast iron and just cook everything in one pan.

• Mac and cheese - This might sound childish, but adding some canned chicken, canned tuna, frozen broccoli, or frozen peas can elevate this dish and make it feel like a more nutritious meal that can be ready in 10 minutes. This and this are our two favorite mac and cheese brands.

• Salad kits - These were a great, fresh addition to a lot of our meals. It’s so nice to just have everything in a convenient package ready to go. Trader Joe’s has some really great salad kit options.

• Curry - I don’t have a specific recipe to share for this, but curry of any kind with rice or naan is a great cozy campfire meal idea.

• Charcuterie dinner - This is one of my favorites because it feels fancy, but it’s for sure not. Literally just bring all the meats, cheese, fruits, veggies, and fixin’s that you want and have a feast — no cooking required.

• Foil packet dinners - My usual combo is potatoes, onions, peppers, squash, and chicken sausage, but the possibilities are really endless. All you do is chop up the ingredients, drizzle some olive oil, salt and garlic on them and wrap them up individually (use more foil than you think you need to make sure they are really seeled). Then stick them in the fire and let them cook until the potatoes are tender.

• Soups - When the temperatures are just right soup is the perfect camping meal. It only requires one pot and has a lot of flexibility.

• Campfire pizza - This one is super fun. When I did this most recently I just used a pre-made dough from Trader Joe’s, but if you’re feeling ambitious you could make it homemade.

• Campfire Nachos - I like to use an 8x8 disposable pan, place a bunch of chips with cheese and beans (or whatever your protein of choice is), cover the top with foil, and place it on the fire grate until the cheese is melted (be careful the bottom can burn if it’s too close to the fire so check on it periodically). Once the cheese is melted pull it off and top it with sour cream, salsa, cilantro, avocado, etc.

Snacks

• Trail mix - Costco has great options or feel free to make your own.

• Cheese Crackers

• Popcorn - This is my all time favorite store-bought popcorn brand.

• Meat sticks - This brand is great!

• Nuts - Costco has great deals on a wide variety of nuts. I usually reach for pistachios and almonds!

• Fruits

• Veggies - Carrots and celery are great for dipping in peanut butter or hummus.

Beverages

Coffee - When we’re backpacking we do instant coffee (this brand does the trick). For car camping we usually use our aeropress or just make cold brew ahead of time and heat it up.

Sparkling Waters - We love our sparkling water so it would be a shame to head off on a camping trip without at least a few in tow.

Kombucha - It’s nice to have variety and since we aren’t huge alcohol drinkers, kombucha is a really nice option. This is our favorite brand.

Tea - Sometimes it’s nice to have a little tea nightcap so I like to bring a variety of options.