Growing up, I always wondered why mom had so many cookbooks, yet another one would always show up on her Christmas and birthday wishlists. She’s such a good cook and she doesn’t always use a cookbook when she’s making dishes. Sometimes what she’s making is so simple or she’s made it so many times, that no recipe at all is required. Or, a lot of times she will pull out one of her recipe binders with tattered papers of various sizes — cut outs from magazines and newspapers, notebook paper with handwritten recipes from close friends and printouts of emails from family members.
Now I get the obsession, if you will. It’s not about wanting to cook every single thing in a cookbook, but rather getting inspiration from a variety of talented people with different interests and specialties.
I guess what it comes down to is that when you’re into cooking like my mom is, and I have become, you want to use every available resource to get good food on the table for your family.
Here are the cookbooks in my current collection:
Baking
Fast & Simple
Cookshelf Chinese
The Cookbook of the United Nations
The Portlandia Cookbook
The Everything College Cookbook
Shoutout to my friend Mina who got me the first two on this list. :) The cookbooks “Meatless Dishes in Twenty Minutes” and “Cheap. Fast. Good!” shown in the photo are actually my mom’s and I’m just borrowing. Also, as you can probably tell from the title, The 12 Bottle Bar is a cocktail book and that doesn’t count as a cookbook.
And here’s what’s on my cookbook wishlist:
Huckleberry: Stories, Secrets, and Recipes From Our Kitchen
The Kitchn Cookbook: Recipes and Kitchens from Apartment Therapy
Do you have cookbooks and use them regularly or do you find yourself more often searching the internet for recipes? A bit of both? Are there any cookbooks on your wishlist? I’d love to hear!
Modern Notebook 
I mostly use Pinterest to get inspiration for recipes. However, this post has inspired me to get some cookbooks, especially since I’m trying to spend more time away from my computer screen. The Portlandia Cookbook sounds like something I would like, since I’m such a fan of the show. I’m curious to know what you think of it.
-Helen
http://www.sweethelengrace.com
Hi Helen Grace! I totally get you on wanting to spend less time in front of the computer (and phones and tablets). I do too!
I’m a fan of Portlandia too, which is why I wanted the book. It’s funny and is full of references to the show. Each recipe is supposed to have come from a character on the show.
Some of the main dishes are things I wouldn’t normally cook at home such as salmon, shrimp or steak. But I suppose that’s the case with most cookbooks. It has plenty of recipes that are easy to make and low cost too, which I like. So far the only thing I’ve made from it is wings and they turned out to be very delicious!