Okay, let’s talk cookbooks. I don’t just get all of my recipes from my impeccable palate and creative genius mind…anything that I don’t post a recipe blog about usually comes from a cookbook. And here are my three favorite cookbooks. I’m about to tell you why.

First up is this vegetarian cookbook. Now I’m not a vegetarian, but Michael Pollen did say to eat mostly plants, so I try to cook up a vegetarian dishes when I can. It’s a great way to add veggies to your life…

But I also love this cookbook because of the food knowledge within it. That’s one of the most important things you can do: educate yourself about the foods you eat. Now I say that from a place of privilege. I have time to research and be picky about the food I eat and I know not everyone has that time.

Now if you are really into learning more about food, this is a great resource and even better: it has a Netflix series that goes with it. Now this is a little more of a food cooking guide than it is a book of recipes. And it’s beautiful.

I mean just look at these diagrams. I’ve learned so much about different flavors, the use of heat, acid, salt, and dare I say fat.

If you want to become a better cook, you’ve got to put in the effort to get to know your likes and dislikes; flavor profiles; the art of cooking well; and how to make different things. You have to be willing to make mistakes, to admit that some of your meals aren’t great and be real about how you can make them better.

But then you also have to make cooking fun, and who else makes cooking look like so much fun?? Chrissy Teigen of course! This girl is as amazing in here cookbooks as she is on Twitter and Instagram.

I’ve made at least two recipes out of this book and Haris has made one. First up this Pad Thai Carbonara. It was soooooo good! The ingredients take a little hunting to find, but it’s really easy to make.

Now this dish got a little expensive because of the crab meat, but I really enjoyed it. I love a great fried rice and even better a crab fried rice. Sometimes cooking with new meats, sauces or flavors can be scary, but that’s the fun in cooking new meals. They don’t always look like the pictures… I should rephrase that… the food rarely looks like the pictures, but that’s okay. The more often you make a recipe, the better it gets. The most important part is to never give up.

Lastly here’s the dish Haris made and boy was it tasty! As you can see all of these recipes seem to have large ingredient lists which for some people I know can be very stressful and often deter them from wanting to try new recipes, but if you break it down, measure everything out and get it prepped before you start cooking, it’s really not all that hard.

If you head to your local Barnes and Nobles you can pick up a copy of any of these cookbooks. And remember, sometimes you have to take risks in life, you have to put in a little extra time and energy and step out of your comfort zone. Your cooking game, your eating game, and your hunger all require you to do so.