8 Best Cookbooks for the Chefs on Your List!

If you know someone who loves food, a cookbook can make a fantastic gift.  These are some of my very favorites of the year, each with a unique approach and featuring gorgeous photos that make you want to jump right into the kitchen and start enjoying!

The Healthy Mind Cookbook

Did you know that eating broccoli can help boost verbal recall?  Or that avocado may keep depression at bay? 

Moroccan Chickpea and Vegetable Soup

Soups are great all year round, and this Moroccan Chickpea and Vegetable Soup is the perfect example of a soup that is crave-worthy in all the seasons.

Measure or Weigh - Which is Better?

The idea that one miss-scooped cup of flour will ruin a baking attempt is a scary one, and makes baking seem intimidating.  Why deal with all that risk when a boxed mix is a sure bet?

One way to ensure correct proportions, especially in a new recipe, is to use a kitchen scale.  Instead of measuring ingredients using cups and spoons, a kitchen scale gives accurate measurements in grams.  This helps alleviate the question of how firmly packed the brown sugar should be, or if the cups of flour are sifted or not.

The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table Recipes

"Emphasizing whole and minimally processed foods, the traditional foods movement calls you back to the kitchen, to real home cooking, and offers you an opportunity to weave the connections between the food on your table, the time you take to prepare it, and the farms that produce it."  Bringing the farm to the table, with make at home recipes, is the goal of The Nourished Kitchen.

Farm to Table Organic Cheese

I'm always looking to learn more about what we eat.  What are the ingredients?  What vitamins are in it?  Where is it grown?  How is it made?  What are the health benefits...or side-effects...to it?

I have visited a LOT of Dairies and Cheese Producers across the country for exactly that reason.  It is so interesting to learn how all our dairy products are made!  I especially love to learn about the families and farms that are behind the products in our refrigerators and pantries -- One glance at my humble little vegetable garden reminds me just how much work family farmers invest into stocking our shelves every day.

Amazingly Simple Homemade Ricotta

I absolutely love making foods from scratch in the kitchen that I'd previously thought could only be bought at the store.  Especially when it is ridiculously easy, like this Ricotta, and amazingly tasty. 

People are always so impressed when they find out it is not from the gourmet grocery, but is actually DIY...I get such a thrill out of the inevitable, "Wait, you MADE this??"

Extra Virgin: A Tuscan Cookbook

White Bean and Pancetta Bruschetta, Tuscan Bread and Tomato Soup, Chestnut Flour Cake...my mouth is watering just thinking of them all!

Vegan Walnut Banana Bread

Flipping through the VB6 Cookbook I was drawn to the photo on page 87 of a nutty breakfast loaf:  Walnut Banana Bread.  Reading the caption, thinking about the browning bananas on my counter and last night's leftover rice...it was clear that this one was meant to be!

VB6: What is a Flexitarian Vegan?

"Oh! Are you a vegetarian?"  It is amazing how often I get asked this question at restaurants, and the answer is a simple "No".  I just really enjoy vegetables!  When did vegetables become exclusive to vegetarians?

Plant-based diets, filled with delicious vegetable dishes, are a great option and entirely accessible to everyone looking for a more sustainable lifestyle.