Peanut Butter and Chocolate

Why is that combination just so good? My husband loves peanut butter M&Ms and I have mentioned how I like this dessert. Matilda has repeatedly posted links to Puppy Chow and every time I click on it I think, "Yum! I need to try that." Peanut butter and chocolate make such a great couple, someone should right a cookbook devoted to them. Maybe someone already has, but I haven't been able to find it.

A Man's Cookbook

When we got married a friend gave us How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. The friend's mother was a chef and highly recommended the book. Since both my husband and I enjoy cooking, we looked forward to trying the book out.

I like the book but my husband loves this book. It is always the first book he goes to when he is hunting down a new recipe. I have since found a couple other men who really enjoy this cookbook, and yet I have never heard a woman praise it as highly.

The only reason I can think of for this is that because Mark Bittman taught himself to cook, he knows and explains the basics in a way that men find appealing. He doesn't bog the book down in culinary profundity, but tells it like it is with a cut-and-dry-no-frills kind of way. This is pure speculation, so if there are any other theories I would love to hear them.

Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

As I have mentioned before, my husband and I don't eat meat every day. This is for two reasons: 1) Meat is expensive but for the most part vegetables, beans, and pasta are not, and 2) I have a very strong family history of heart disease and my husband has also had some heart problems in his family, so we want to do what we can to counteract this.

Because our meals are often meatless, I am always on the lookout for good (and usable, which is hard in this household) vegetarian recipes. One great resource I have found is Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. It was created by chefs at the famous vegetarian Moosewood Restaurant specifically for people cooking at home who don't have the time or the access to ingredients that a full-time chef would have.

I haven't used it as much as I would like because it is a library book. Every time I go to check it out again someone else has it. That is a good indication of how popular that book is.

Joy of Cooking

This cookbook is one of the most comprehensive cookbooks available. Often it is called the "Bible" of cooking. Although it includes an extremely wide variety of recipes, what makes this book so good is its explanation of cooking techniques. It also explains the background of the recipes and the proper way to follow it. For example, rather than listing all the ingredients and then telling the reader the instructions, it says first to bring all ingredients to room temperature, then beat two eggs, cream with a cup of butter, etc. For some recipes this can be pedantic, but for more difficult ones it makes the difference between a mediocre and a fantastic dish.

Wikipedia also has a brief, but interesting article on Joy of Cooking. You can get the classic Joy or the new version at Amazon.