If you’ve been keeping up with me on Snapchat, you’d know that I’ve really been getting into cooking the past few months. Being able to work from home is a blessing, to say the least. Since I’ve been living in this apartment, I’ve skipped out on a lot of the way-past-midnight library sessions and that one-dim-desk-lamp all nighters (that I’m sure we’ve all experienced as a part of our dorm days), and been able to focus more on work during daylight hours and getting that adult time schedule together (just as I’m about to graduate… Better late than never, right? 😅)
To compliment my newfound I’m-an-adult attitude, I’m all about cooking easy meals that are delicious and healthy. Nothing feels better than to be able to quickly whip up a dinner feast after a long work day (and NOTHING feels better than knowing you have leftovers in the fridge for the next night) and it’s so 👏🏻 much 👏🏻 cheaper 👏🏻 than ordering takeout every other night.
I’m always looking in fun cookbooks (or on Pinterest!) for dinner inspiration. Even though I don’t have any dietary restrictions, I tend toward vegetarian/vegan/seasonal food cookbooks and recipes — I find that the flavors are delicious on their own and it’s very easy to incorporate a meat into the dish (because you can pretty much toss chicken into anything) and still feel like you’re getting your fill of veggies for the day.
1 – The Love & Lemons Cookbook by Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews
I’ve followed Jeanine’s and Jack’s food blog, Love & Lemons, for YEARS. So when they announced they were releasing a cookbook, you know I was on that Amazon pre-order list. My favorite recipes: vegan carrot waffles, grilled mexican corn salad, farm stand peach pizzas.
2 – Cravings by Chrissy Teigen
The tagline is all the food you want to eat and it’s seriously a book of all the food I want to eat. Chrissy gives recipes for all things breakfast, carbs and even includes a chapter just on thai food. I could live off this cookbook for the rest of my life and be extremely satisfied, I’m sure. My favorite recipes: lemony arugula spaghetti cacio e pepe (my go-to weeknight pasta to make), pounded papaya salad (s/o to bestie Hannah for making this my favorite thai dish to date), pineapple-grilled short ribs.
3 – The French Market Cookbook by Clotilde Dusoulier
I cook a lot of Chinese and Italian food, naturally. But I’ve always been so interested in French cuisine (mostly because it sounds so chef-y, hehe). This book is filled with the most delicious, healthy and easy French meals for each season. My favorite recipes: asparagus buckwheat tart, mushroom and chive quiche, savory pumpkin and cornmeal quick bread.
4 – The Forest Feast by Erin Gleeson
I bought this cookbook while strolling through Anthropologie and I fell in love with the simplicity of the recipes + the artfulness of the photography. This recipe book is a veggie dream! My favorite recipes: roasted vegetable gnocchi, sweet potato latkes, beer-battered artichoke hearts.
5 – The Big Book of Fabulous Food by Jane Kennedy
Another Anthropologie find and one for the meat-lovers (🙋🏻)! This book has recipes for poultry, beef, lamb, pork and seafood, and it’s where I usually look to cook a more experimental, more elegant meal. My favorite recipes: moroccan chicken tagine, spicy cumin lamb ribs, greek meatballs with beetroot tzatziki.
6 – The Newlywed Cookbook by Sarah Copeland
One of my faves because it focuses on meals for two. It’s really weird to cook a meal for six and have waaaay too much food left over, and it’s annoying to try to divide conventional serving sizes and wonder if we need more or less for each serving (has anybody ever made the correct amount of pasta? 🙄), so this book hits the spot. I’m also kind of in love with Sarah and András’ story, which they talk all about in the introduction of the cookbook. My favorite recipes: southern shrimp & grits, linguine with sausages and egg sauce, sticky-sweet rhubarb upside down cake.
I hope you try out some of these cookbooks and recipes, and make sure to leave a comment below if you do! 🙂 I’d love to do a Pinterest recipe round-up in the future, but definitely follow along with me on Pinterest to see some more dinner inspirations. Happy weekend! xo
Kimberly Hsieh says
I’ve been cooking at home a lot more too! Working from home is definitely a blessing 🙂 I love going on Pinterest for inspiration!
Kara Ng says
YAY! Your snapchats always look so delicious 😍😍😍 can’t wait to try some of these for myself!