With cold weather and winter holidays approaching, our food needs turn from something cool, crisp, and refreshing to meals that are warm, cozy, and comforting, filled with memories and traditions.
Stop by The Cozy Apron for some easy and delicious recipes. There is everything from Oktoberfest potato stacks complete with sausage and beer to wonderful soups, including chili cheesesteak stew, rigatoni meatball soup, and chicken tortilla soup.
The Cozy Cook is another website that offers simple and delicious recipes for busy cooks. It contains ciabatta bread for dipping, copycat Texas Roadhouse rolls, and numerous Instant Pot recipes such as homemade Hamburger Helper, mashed potatoes, and broccoli cheddar soup. If you still love your crockpot, there are plenty of slow cooker recipes, including Mississippi pot roast and macaroni and cheese.
KHCPL is rich in cooking magazines from old favorites like Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day to modern classics like Cook’s Illustrated, Bon Appétit, and Food and Wine. Special dietary concerns don’t need to keep you from enjoying fall treats. Checkout Weight Watchers Magazine, Veg News, Clean Eating, Gluten-Free Living, Diabetic Living, and MaryJanesFarm, which features the article “The Secret to Perfect Pumpkin Pie” in the October/November issue.
For this busy time of year, be sure to make use of time-saving kitchen appliances! Pick up a slow cooker cookbook such as Fix-it and Forget-it Lazy and Slow Cookbook: 365 Days of Slow Cooker Recipes by Hope Comerford or Taste of Home Slow Cooker Throughout the Year: 495 Family Favorite Recipes: Simmering for Every Season!
Instant Pots are really popular, and KHCPL has the cookbooks! Try How to Instant Pot Book: Mastering All the Functions of the One Pot That Will Change the Way You Cook by Daniel Shumski or The Instant Pot Bible: More Than 350 Recipes and Strategies: The Only Book You Need for Every Model of Instant Pot by Bruce Weinstein.
For cookbooks that are seasonal, try Purely Pumpkin: More Than 100 Wholesome Recipes to Share, Savor, and Warm Your Kitchen by Allison Day or Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes by Andrea Reusing.
Sometimes cooking connects to our lives in deep ways. My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Changed My Life by Ruth Reichl follows Ruth as she heals through the simple pleasures of cooking after the abrupt closing of Gourmet Magazine. Each dish Reichl prepares for herself -- and for her family and friends -- represents her lifelong passion for food.
Food is also a profound reflection of a person's life. One of our top Howard County Reads titles for 2018 is What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories by Laura Shapiro, which is not a cookbook but a fascinating study of food in the lives of six prominent women.
Enjoy the season with food that makes you happy!