Weekend Cooking: Books to Support New Year’s Resolutions

Last week for Weekend Cooking I asked for suggestions of books to support food-related New Year’s Resolutions. I’m running The New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge, a challenge to read books as a way to focus energy on the goals we set for the New Year: read a book; keep a resolution.

The Weekend Cooking crowd responded with a terrific list of books. Whether your food-related resolution is eat healthier or cook more, there is plenty of inspiration among these books.

Meryl of My Bit of Earth recommended anything by Jamie Oliver, but particularly Cook with Jamie and Jamie at Home, for meals that can be made on a weeknight.

Beth of Too Fond was impressed by two books by Margaret Floyd, Eat Naked and an accompanying cookbook co-written with James Barry, The Naked Foods Cookbook (linked to Beth’s review). She said these books offer “a great approach to eating naturally, with lots of support. Recommended!”

Janel Gradowski suggested anything by Nigella Lawson because her cookbooks inspire with beautifully written descriptions. Janel also loved a recent cookbook find, Saltie by Caroline Fidanza, the owner of Saltie, a sandwich shop in New York. “Full of homemade condiments and unique sandwiches, along with drinks and some entrees. I love it.”

Tanya Patrice of Girlxoxo.com suggested Cooking Light magazine for a regular input of healthy recipes.

Beth F of Beth Fish Reads said The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman and Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach (linked to her reviews) would both help with a resolution to cook more, and she seconded Tanya’s recommendation of Cooking Light magazine.  To take your cooking to the next level, look for the cookbooks by America’s Test Kitchen / Cook’s Illustrated and, for baking, anything by King Arthur’s Flour. Beth F pointed out that there are King Arthur recipes for gluten-free baking, as well.

Sprung At Last found weight loss success with Eat to Live by Joel Furhman, with the added benefit of improvements in the senses of taste and smell.

And, for something completely different from Furhman’s vegetarian approach, Ann of Books on the Nightstand said this: “the book that changed my life (not hyperbole) was Gary Taubes’ Why We Get Fat.” To support the kind of cooking recommended by Taubes’ no-carb approach, Ann recommended The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf and It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. If that all seems daunting, Ann also had a recommendation for a “kinder, gentler” approach to paleo-eating: The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson.

Andrea recommended the cookbooks by Jacques Pepin. “He also had many fast and fresh recipes that are light and healthy.”

Diane of bookchickdi suggested Eat More of What You Love by Marlene Koch (linked to her review). “Her recipes sacrifice calories and fat but not taste.”

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz liked James Peterson’s Baking which she has as an e-book, finding it very convenient to search. She used it twice for her Paris in July posts, once for pie crust (readerbuzz: Weekend Cooking: Paris in July) and once for bread (readerbuzz: Weekend Cooking: Pain Français).

If you read any of these, or other books, to support your New Year’s Resolutions, please join the New Year’s Resolution Reading Challenge. Among other things, we’re doing a group-read of The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Since much of how we eat boils down to habit, that might be an excellent starting point: The Power of Habit — A New Year Group Read.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads each week. In her post today, she did a round-up of the cookbooks that she enjoyed most in 2012 — another great resource for a resolution to cook more.