#2014BloggerChallenge: My Favourite Cookbooks

I love cooking and baking so when I heard that the next blogger challenge would be about food I was really excited. Instead of doing a recipe (there's one coming soon though), I decided to tell you about my favourite cookbooks which have been my partners in crime since I started cooking. (I'm still a teenager so it's only been a few years. That said I did receive one of these books when I was rather young.)

Teens Cook and Teens Cook Dessert by Megan and Jill Carle are my absolute favourite cookbooks in the entire world. I'm sure I will hold onto these until the day I die. They are a little older (published 2004 and 2006) but they are so good. The reason I love them so much is that they include everything I look for in a cookbook: variety, stuff to learn from, tips, stories and comments about each recipe and are filled with good recipes. They are written by two sisters who were in their late teens when these were published. One of the sisters is a vegetarian who has traveled extensively while the other is an All-American meat lover. This provides an amazing variety of food and they also include good meat or veggie substitutes to suit one's personal needs. Plus, they have a wide range of food from easy souffles to taco salads to Christmas cookies and salmon. I also really like that they add personal touches, memories and stories to each recipe as some of the recipes are family ones while others have caused arguments in their household.

I haven't tried every recipe, but I've tried many. In Teens Cook I love their Crepes, German Apple Puff Pancake, Chicken Empanadas, Chili Cheese Dip and Steak Cobb Salad. Their crepes are foolproof and the German Apple Puff Pancake is like apple pie filling put on top of a baked crepe. (Who wouldn't want that?) The Chicken Empanadas are great for parties and the Chili Cheese Dip is the easiest and best dip you will ever make. The Steak Cobb Salad has become a staple in my house as well. In Teens Cook Dessert I love their chocolate chip cookies, triple chocolate biscotti, chocolate dipped shortbread and white chocolate macadamia nut blondies. And their peanut butter balls and molten-center chocolate cakes have become staples within my household as well.

I highly suggest purchasing these cookbooks as they are wonderful additions to your collection or for starting your collection if you're young or are just learning how to cook.

Happy Cooking!