Cookbook Spotlight: How to Cook Everything...and a bonus recipe!!

So...a work deadline kept me from posting in here yesterday, so I'm going to have a "make good" so I don't get behind!! Today is Cookbook Corner day...and I have a GREAT cookbook to recommend. I have a LOT of cookbooks in my collection...I love to try new recipes, so I love to have a lot of resources at my fingertips. This week's recommended cookbook is How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. It's a FANTASTIC resource for both beginner cooks and those who are a bit more experienced in the kitchen.

As the title says, the book is about how to cook EVERYTHING!! Mr. Bittman is a food columnist for the New York Times, and he really know his stuff!! This book has 900+ pages and features a whopping 1,500 recipes. The thing that I love most about this cookbook is that you learn specific details about different foods, are shown proper cooking technique via detailed illustrations, AND you also get some amazing recipes.

When I wonder, for example, "How should I cook leeks?" this is the book that I always turn to as a reference point to get me started. I'll find the section about leeks and learn what exactly they are, how to buy and store them, and how to best prepare them. Then the book lays out several recipes featuring leeks as the starring ingredient.

This cookbook should be a standard part of any cook's kitchen. If you don't own it, run out and buy it!!

...and I owe you a lightened-up recipe for yesterday. I'll share a salad so good that even my veggie-averse hubby will eat it and ask for seconds. It's very versatile, and we eat it year-round.

Wendy's Salad (for two)

Combine:

• Organic field greens
  
• 4-5 sliced strawberries (we sub in dried cranberries in fall/winter)
  
• 1/3 cup chopped glazed pecans (or any glazed nut you have)
  
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
  
• Newman's Own Lighten Up Raspberry-Walnut vinaigrette
  

That's it...we have it on the side for dinner at least once a week. In summer, it also makes a great main dish salad with the addition of some diced grilled chicken breast.

Happy eating...and happy cooking!!