Three New Cookbooks I Love

You know that awesome feeling you get when you talk to another parent, and they just get you?  They just get what it is to be harried and hurried and run off your feet?  Well, Madhouse Cookbook is that, with recipes!  Recipes for cocktails!  Recipes you can make with the kids!  It even has recipes that you can make in less than 30 minutes!  It’s week-night salvation, people!  (Full disclosure: a copy of this book was sent to us by the publisher.)

This is a recipe book that recognizes that parents wear many hats.  There are sections for kid-friendly meals, hurried week night meals, relaxed family weekend brunches and, best of all, adults-only entertaining.  This is a cookbook that encourages you to put yourself first sometimes, and get creative in the kitchen.  I loved that push to get us to push the kids out of the limelight.  Elderflower martini, anyone?

Oh She Glows is another recent acquisition, named for Angela Liddon’s blog of the same name.  I cannot begin to tell you what a joy it has been to cook from this book.  The fun!  The flavour!  The guilt-free healthy goodness!  The recipe for the roasted rainbow carrots was a huge hit at our family Easter dinner, as was the lentil walnut loaf.  The non-vegetarians among us looked longingly at it, and I confess I love it when that happens.  What I especially love is that I can make the flavourful, interesting recipes from this book, and still serve my kids the plain steamed veggies and simple food that they like by simplifying the recipe for them as I go along.  I get food bursting with flavour, they have to abide by the one-bite rule, and if they don’t like it, they can still have the simple version.  Win win.

Finally, I have had had great success with Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good, a gift from my sister-in-law who has gifted multiple copies, all to rave reviews.  Some of the recipes are crazy, and I will never attempt them.  (Salted fish, I’m looking at you.)

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