I love cookbooks!

I love cookbooks. Love them. I really love cookbooks with great photos that actually show what the food is suppose to look like when it's done. Of course, some of these cookbooks that i have aren't exactly 'every-day-kinda-cookbooks" meaning that the recipe would take a lot longer than a Mommy of a one year old has time to do. My love of cookbooks goes back to my Mother; we would trade cookbooks and flip though new ones together. When she was sick and bed ridden, we would often watch the Food Channel together. It was a way to for us to be together and i think watching the Food Channel gave us a chance to talk at times as if nothing was wrong and that cancer wouldn't take her life. She was like me in her tastes in cookbooks-the more photos, lol, the better. She was a MUCH better cook than i ever hope to be....she would try recipes often and they usually came out wonderful. She had many Spanish cookbooks that i now have along with her favorite recipes. I have many happy memories of her and i in the kitchen....the kitchen was "the" gathering room for us for holidays, get-togethers and just were we would gather on a daily basis. I hope to make a cookbook for Emma one day of all of the recipes that i've come to love and the cookies that i plan to bake with her. Cooking can be fun and it's a great way to stay healthy as you have control over what you make!

I'm more of a baker than a cook so i lean towards cake and cupcakes-hmm, i guess that's one of my downfalls! I love cupcakes-a cupcake can bring out the kid in anyone. I do love to bake, but one of my new rules this year is if i bake it, i keep a serving here for Robert and i and the rest is given to friends or neighbors. I know myself well enough to know that i can't keep stray cupcakes in our home!! My attempts at some cake and cupcake recipes end up looking like a science experiment that one did in high school but that hasn't stopped me from trying because no matter how they've looked, most of them were really tasty!

My favorite new cookbook is the Hungry Girl Cookbook. I get the "Hungry Girl Newsletter" in my email box each morning and it is a truly fun read. If you don't get the newsletter, you should! Lots of great advice, recipes, new items to try...it's just a fun newsletter. The cookbook is a lot different from my other cookbooks-it has 8 pages of color photos, it's paperback and has lots of cool drawings. But it's a cookbook that i feel that "I" can use often and it has all of the nutritional information for all of the recipes. It also gives you info on the types of products used but cautions that the nutritional value may change if you indeed substitute. There is also a fun "survival guide" in the book that's a great read and there is a list of recommended products. (She is paid NO endorsement fees from companies, it's just a list of food that she's put together that she and her staff love.) It's a keeper of a cookbook and i can see myself using this cookbook often....and it's not only because the recipes are good but also because they are EASY! (That's a Mommy-Favorite Word right now!)

Here is a recipe that i've tried and loved:

Yum Yum Brownies Muffins

~Ingredients:

1 box of devil's food cake mix (about 18 oz)

1 can 15-ounce can pure pumpkin

~Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix the two ingredients together. DON'T add anything else that may be mentioned on the box like eggs, oil or water. The mixture will be very thick, so you might be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS! :) Place batter into 12 muffin pan lined with baking cups or sprayed with non stick spray. (i do the non-stick spray and they come out great!) Place pan in over and bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 12 servings. ~Per serving: (1 muffin) 181 calories, 3.5 g fat, 357 sodium, 37 carbs, 2g fiber, 20g sugars, 2g protein. WW POINTS: 3

A note about the WW points: all of the recipes in the book are listed on her site WITH the WW points values. She is a huge fan of WW and supports them.

I also have one for Dreamy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge that is in this book, too....if you want the recipe, let me know and i'll be sure to pass it along. It's an easy one, too....and no one who i've given it to has any idea that it's not a "real" piece of fudge. :) It's good to have these types of recipes handy as you can bring them to the office or a cookout and know that you are staying on track. And of course, lol, i'm always on the lookout for favorite recipes...so if you have any, please share with me!!!