On Monday I talked about one of the things I wish I had known going into being a wife and how horrible of a cook I was.  Starting today, Fridays will be devoted to food, recipes, cookbooks, and everything kitchen related.  For our first installment of Foodie Fridays, we are going to look at a few cookbooks.  They were what I used to start learning how to not serve burnt toast at every meal.

When Jason left for 15 months, I turned to cookbooks and the internet as my frontline to becoming a better cook.  I was also blessed with a second wave of support which we will get into next Friday.  I knew that the recipes we had used from J’s favorite Foodnetwork chefs were a good starting place as not all recipes and cookbooks are created equal.  I quickly found that some books would often leave out key steps or ingredients which left me back at square one and more than a little frustrated.  Since I was the only one in the house at the time, I was the only one really having to eat my burnt messes (thank goodness for takeout!).

So how you ask, did I go from burnt mess to being able to follow a recipe?  I picked two recipes a week that were completely new and made them.  I kept making mistakes and learning from them.  The more I practiced, the better I got.  I think I was more driven because I felt like he deserved great home cooked meals when he came home from war.  Good food is one of his love languages and I felt like it was just one more way to tell him everyday how much he meant to me.

So here is a list of a few of my current favorite cookbooks to get you started:

1. Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen
2. Better Home and Gardens Cookies for Christmas
3. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook – she also has an AH-mazing food blog!
4. The Barefoot Contessa Foolproof

Check back next Friday to learn more about who my second wave of support was and how I still am using that today! If you are just jumping into this series on cooking for the new bride then check out the start of this series here.  Have a favorite recipe as a new bride or simply have a question about cooking for two.  Leave me a comment below!