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My STBX did nearly all the cooking after ds was born and now I’m working to feel competent in the kitchen again (I’m a good cook, but slow). I know everyone seems to use blogs these days, but are there cookbooks out there folks recommend? I don’t need super fast/easy, but manageable and flavorful (David Tanis is one of my favorite chefs/cookbook authors). Thanks!

Not a cookbook but a website I use to find new things to make, or to learn how to do something I want to try is allrecipes.com . you can search by ingredients or by dish name. I've found a couple of new dishes on there I like.

"Fix it and Forget it" is great if you have a slow cooker (Crock Pot).

Can't go wrong with Pinterest, either.

I'm a fan of Rachel Rey.

I'm also a fan of allrecipes.com, great site! You can find very simple/easy recipes or more complicated ones if you're feeling brave!

As for an actual cookbook, I love the "Looney Spoons" series. Recipes are easy, no crazy ingredients and my kids loved most of them!

When I got single after twenty years of marriage my cooking skills were, um, minimal? at best. I got a few cookbooks because all of the websites were just so confusing, you know?

I got these:

Cooking for Dummies. I like it. There are some mistakes like a references from one reference to another where the page number was wrong, so I just wrote over it. I still use techniques and recipes from that book. This is not a "can o' this, can o' that, heat and eat" style of book.

The Joy of Cooking, 7th Edition. Here's a brief quote about it "The most controversial edition, the 7th edition published in 1997, was ghost-written by a team of chefs, dropped the first-person folksy style, and introduced a lot of international cuisine and more sophisticated cooking." That said, I like this, too. If I want to know how to formally set a table this is a go-to. I personally like the style of book that has me cook almost everything included in the meal, barring tomato paste, etc., and this book is like that.

I've got a lot of pieces of paper stuck between pages in both of these that mark particular recipes that I like. There's a wonderful stew in one of them where the liquid is 1/2 wine, 1/2 broth. That is one excellent stew made just a bit better by substituting potatoes for the called-for turnips.

Hey ninon, I looked up David Tanis and saw he's big on the art of non-menu meals, simple but flavorful. I searched Amazon for "bowl cookbooks" and there are several, depending on your tastes and needs. I like the concept of a bowl meal - just add a bunch of healthy, tasty things together and make a meal out of that. I make my own version that's not quite as refined as you'd find in a cookbook, but it does the trick. Switch up the ingredients and it never gets boring. Can go seasonal, too.

No need to buy a cookbook anymore because the internet can be a cookbook . I like Budget Bytes and Skinny Taste as well as All Recipes. Plus google is your friend.

[This message edited by Chrysalis123 at 9:54 PM, May 13th (Sunday)]

I love Taste of Home. Their website is easy to use and there are cookbooks of all sorts from them as well. They even have cooking for two recipes. Everything I've made from their cookbooks and site have been delicious (except Borscht - but what do you expect of a beet soup?)....

I'm a big fan of Mark Bittman's cookbooks. He really teaches you how to cook; giving recipes with tons of different substitutions.

When my brother went through a breakup (his live-in boyfriend had done all the cooking, and my brother's idea of cooking was frozen pizzas), I ordered him a bunch of kitchen supplies on Amazon, and threw in a copy of "How to Cook Everything: the Basics." My brother couldn't even boil water, and this book had him ultimately making all sorts of delicious dishes. He told me this book changed his life and it was the best gift he'd ever received.

That being said, I am a cookbook junkie, yet when I'm remiss on grocery shopping and need a recipe (pancakes, no eggs) I do turn to the internet, and have had great success!

Also, highly recommend checking out the instant pot. For example, I made a pea risotto in about 30 min and it was so delicious!

You cannot go wrong with Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals cook book. Actually, any cook book Rachel has written is true to recipe and taste great. I have a number of her cook books. Happy cooking.

Addendum to previous:

You can also go to RachelRay.com She has videos and recipes. Yes, I'm a fan of hers.

If you really want to broaden your cooking skills. Try the Foodnetwork.com. You'll find recipes from any of the network celebrity chefs. You can see the different levels of easy to difficult listed before you start.

I live the magazine and website for Cook’s Illustrated. Great product reviews too. And Skinny Taste-

There are enternet web sites that you enter the ingredients you have and it gives you recipes for those particular ingredients.

You can add a little oatmeal and water to things like sloppy joes to help make more with out the extra expense.

[This message edited by Emotionalhell at 6:27 AM, July 17th (Tuesday)]

Rachael Ray has a great recipe for Shrimp and Scallops from years ago and it's the best seafood dish I ever made. Rachael Ray's anodized non stick frying pans are really nice. You can cook without any oil or butter and nothing sticks. I used one in a house we rented on a short vacation and loved them. As soon as I got home I ordered a couple.

Get an Instant Pot. There are lots of cookbooks out there for them, but the internet is also your friend. If you have a smartphone, buy and download the app "Paprika" - or any of several other recipe-storing apps - which will let you save recipes you like.

There are some terrific FB groups to help with recipe sharing, too - not only for instant pot, but for so many specific meal types you might be interested in (paleo, WFPB, etc.). I also belong to a FB group called Cooking From Scratch on Debbie's Back Porch, where she and others share and answer questions about cooking basics and beyond.

The only cookbook I use lately is a vegan cookbook (Vegan Under Pressure) for my instant pot, and sometimes Melissa Joulwan's Well Fed (1 and 2) cookbooks which are paleo/Whole 30. For more traditional omni foods, I've heard good things about Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) cookbooks.

I started doing a lot more cooking when I realized I might be on my own.

Those mentioning the Internet have it right. I have a number of cookbooks, but they are themed.

I would recommend laying out five easy simple things you would like to make and just giving it a shot again and again. Make a spreadsheet for yourself and track what you did, what happened, and what you would do next time and consult it.

Once you are an expert at those five things, try another, and then keep branching out. My friends and family are completely shocked at what I can cook (and what I am willing to cook) now. It is stressful at first, but once you get consistent and have a few means you can make confidently with no stress, the sky is the limit.

Before you know it, this will be easy. You've got it, you just have to start!

If you want to become a cook, and not a dabbler in a dish of the week, buy an all inclusive cookbook that teaches you skills that translate to multiple dishes.

I recommend "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman, it made me the cook I am today

I highly suggest Skinnytaste.com and her cookbooks. She has a Fast and Slow cookbook that uses Instapot or Slowcooker, but she modifies everything so you can do it on the stove too. Her newest cookbook comes out next week is called One and Done and focuses on one pot meal.

I successfully lost 75lbs using her recipes and they are really delicious!

I second Mark Bittman, Rachel Ray, and Allrecipes ... The only problem with Rachel Ray is her 30 minute meal recipes often take longer than that to prepare ... maybe if you had a sous chef at your disposal to chop and peel everything they would, but don't count on them being that quick.