Top 10 Week: My Favorite Cookbooks

I'm going to throw many of you off a bit here with today's Top 10 list!  However, some of you may know that I actually do love to cook (and grill), so much so that I keep an entire social media account dedicated to my food exploits.  

Note:  I am provided Amazon.com links to the cookbooks (if possible).  If you do plan to shop on Amazon, clicking through any one of my links (even if you don't buy that particular cookbook) is much appreciated!  Every sale will net me a tiny amount of money and it won't cost you a single extra penny.

Without further ado, let's get to it:

Top 10 Favorite Cookbooks of Mine

#10:  Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook (link)

The actual edition of the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook isn't important, what is important is to have at least one cookbook dedicated to the "basics" of food prep.  You won't find anything terribly flashy or overly exciting in this cookbook but what you will find are hundreds of tried and true recipes that (mostly) won't take you too long to prepare.  For those who aren't adventurous (in a culinary sense), this cookbook could very well be the only one you need in your collection!

#9:  The Foods of the Greek Island (link)

This book makes the list because of one recipe alone - that being Garides Sagnaki (Shrimp Baked in Tomato Sauce with Feta).  I made this particular recipe twice within the same week this past summer, that's how good it is.  Serve it with some fresh crusty bread and I guarantee you have a winning meal that will impress all of your guests. 

#8:  Healthyish (link)

A couple of years ago, I finally went to the doctor for a standard check-up.  Since I hadn't been to a doctor in a number of years, I had full bloodwork done which came back with me having way-too-high cholesterol.  For the next five months, I quit every sort of food that contributes to cholesterol (cheese, fried foods, etc.).  Of course, as a food lover that was a painful number of months but it was worth it in that I was able to get my numbers back down to a reasonable level (a level that I'm proud to say that still sit at today, over two years later).   During my time of trying to eat super healthy, I did buy a few super healthy cookbooks but I found almost all of the dishes to be uninspiring.  I then tried Healthyish which seemed to be more what I was looking for - both in terms of the book's title and the book's recipes.  

A few of the highlights in this particular cookbook are the Single-Serving Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookie and Sausage, Potato, White Bean, & Kale Soup (trust me on that one, even if you generally avoid kale)!

#7:  The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook (link)

Based on my list thus far, you'd probably think that I'm a fan of Italian and Greek food...and you'd be correct!  This particular cookbook is nice because not only does it have a lot of recipes but it also teaches you a bunch of different cooking techniques.  Some favorites here include the Shrimp with White Beans and Lemon-Herb Hake Fillets with Garlic Potatoes.

#6:  Grilling with Gas (link)

My love of cooking definitely started with grilling - and so it's probably no surprise that I have a lot of favorite grilling cookbooks!  This particular book includes highlights such as New York Strip Steak with Blue Cheese Butter and Roasted Potato Salad with Rosemary and Asiago Cheese. 

#5:  Weber's New Real Grilling (link)

The Toasted Bruschetta with Sausage and Tomato is probably worth the price of this book by itself.  That being said, there are a bunch of recipes in this book that I'd recommend including the Korean-Style Beef Burgers and Roasted Pork Loin with Maple-Mustard Cream Sauce.  Another great thing about this particular cookbook is that virtually every recipe comes with a full color photograph of the finished product.  It's great fun to leaf through cookbooks and pick out a meal to make based on pictures!

#4:  Bobby at Home (link)

I don't watch a ton of TV but you can find me watching the show Beat Bobby Flay every now and then.  Bobby Flay is a celebrity chef with a ton of different cookbooks (I own a few of them) but I think that the Bobby at Home book is the best of the bunch for the average at-home chef.  This is one of the newer cookbooks in my collection but the recipes that I've tried so far definitely move the book up the rankings!  For example, I'd highly recommend trying Bobby's Chicken Parmesan - so good that I've made it twice this year already!  Another new favorite (that surprised me in a good way) is Flay's Brussels Sprout Nachos with Pickled Chiles - so good and the pickled veggies are definitely the star of the show on this one.  

#3:  Williams-Sonoma Grill Master (link)

As you might expect from the Williams-Sonoma brand, this is a slightly more "upscale" grilling cookbook.  Still, don't let that notion scare you off...it basically means you can create some more sophisticated dishes which will have all of the "flavor pops" you'd expect from a 5-star restaurant...but from the comfort of your own deck!  Highlights in this book include Hanger Steak Sliders with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onions, Honey-Sesame Glazed Chicken Wings, and Pesto Chicken Sandwiches.

#2:  Weber's Greatest Hits (link)

This book has a little bit of everything for the grill - from appetizers to deserts.  I'd recommend almost everything I've tried from the book but some of the highlights that I've done include grilled Skillet Blueberry Cobbler and Lemon-Dill Shrimp with Orzo Salad.  This is another cookbook with wonderful, HUGE photographs of most of the meals.  If nothing else, I promise you'll be hungry by the time you are done leafing through the pages of the cookbook!  

#1:  Tasting Italy (link)

When I decided to create this Top 10 list, there was only one book that I was sure was going to make the cut...and I knew it was going to be #1 on the list.  Tasty Italy is a cookbook, a travel guide, and a food history lesson all in one.  The book divides up Italian cooking by the different regions of Italy - and along with tons of tasty recipes you also get gorgeous National Geographic photos and a bit of a history lesson of each region.  

This book is so good that I think my wife would be super happy if I only ever cooked recipes from this one book!  Highlights from this book include Spaghetti with Shrimp (shown above) and Spaghetti Carbonara (a recipe that I wanted to master ever since visiting Rome the first time)! 

Other tasty meals from this book that I've done include Tuscan Tomato and Bread Soup, Orecchiette with Sausage and Cream, and Eggplant Parmesan. 

So there you have it, my ten favorite cookbooks (and some photos of the finished product from some of the books).  

Do you have any favorite cookbooks?  If so, I'd love to hear about them...and bonus points for photos of food you've cooked from the cookbook!