On the Bookshelf - Feb 2016

One of my goals for this site this year is to share more books with everyone. One of my favorite things is learning what other people are reading. Each month, I am hoping to share what I am currently perusing. This month is mostly cookbooks. The next two months will probably be heavy on gardening books. I am always looking for recommendations so feel free to leave a comment about what you are reading.

Books I really love, I will do separate reviews on but for now, this is what I am currently checking out, in order of appearance above.

Make It Stick 

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. I even tried to read it last year before E2 was born but never really was able to get into it. I think I was just uncomfortable and was having trouble focusing in general, 8 months pregnant and it happens. Now that life is getting a little more predictable, I am looking forward to learning some new things, just for me... french perhaps or understanding body language. Plus we are planning on homeschooling for now and I am hoping this book might give me some insight into how to help myself and my children be more successful in learning things that aren't necessarily as interesting as others.

More than Happy: The Wisdom of Amish Parenting

I have a friend who hates anything that is considered a parenting book. I on the other hand, really enjoy certain books that are more about the experience and some philosophy. Not all books but some I really enjoy such as Bringing Up Bébé (read and love it), The Danish Way of Parenting (loved it), How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm (finished parts of it and tend to give this to people as a baby shower gift), Parenting Without Borders (on my to be read list), to name a few. I am 95% done with this and am loving it so far. It is mostly anecdotal with a few suggestions for parents that I have found to be interesting. This isn't a do this and your kids will be awesome. It is more about understanding certain ideas such as kindness, forgiveness, honesty, etc. and how Amish parents try to instill those values in their kids. Very interesting.

The Kitchen Ecosystem: 

Integrating Recipes to Create Delicious Meals

I stumbled upon this book while checking out some other books and the description was too good not to check out. Who doesn't want to be a smarter, more creative cook? The book is about using ingredients fresh, preserved and then using the scrapes. It is laid out by vegetable which makes it easy to read the section about a specific vegetable but harder with regards to eating in season. Here's hoping there are some great recipes for the vegetables in my last CSA pick up today.

The Food52 Cookbook, Volume 2: 

Seasonal Recipes from Our Kitchens to Yours

Another accidental find. I immediately checked out the winter section and wanted to try the biscuit recipe as well as a few of the desserts. This book might need to be borrowed each season so my library fines don't runneth over. The recipes look amazing. Since a lot use sugar, I am hoping to convert a few and share them with you.

Grow More With Less: Sustainable Garden Methods: 

Less Water - Less Work - Less Money

Ah, the first gardening book of the year. This book is short and supposedly full of field tested methods for sustainable gardening. I am not going to lie and ignore the fact that "Less Work" in the title didn't help to draw me in. It is, however, the first of the year only because it arrived first at the library.

I recently listened to The Third Plate on audio CD and loved it. It really made me think about varieties and the types of plants to plant. I loved the audio so much, I listened to it twice, bought a copy of the book so I can take notes in the margins (when I get the chance) and gave away three copies as Christmas gifts. Needless to say, I know that there is a better approach to agriculture out there and every year I am going to work on discovering a little more. It will be a long process but hopefully, since my kids are doing it along side me, they will take some of what we learn and apply it in the future.

Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook

I requested this book at the same time as the other Food52 cookbook. I am always looking for great ways to use the staples we make and buy. I have high hopes for this one after looking through the seasonal Volume 2.







A Bird in the Oven and Then Some: 20 Ways to Roast the Perfect Chicken Plus 80 Delectable Recipes

My sister bought me this for Christmas a few years back but I never really got around to reading it. Right now is a perfect time as we are deciding whether to get meat birds again this year or to only butcher our extra roosters. Right now I would like to can our rooster meat and skip having chicken but then I also recently tried cooking chicken in milk and it was delicious so it really can go either way.

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking: Using Traditional, Non-Industrial Methods and Raw Ingredients to Make the World's Best Cheeses
I have gotten part way through this book and am really excited. The author uses raw milk and uses kefir as one of the main culturing ingredients. We use/make kefir already so this is very exciting. The author also goes into a lot of detail as to why I don't need to purchase a bunch of starter cultures since I am using raw milk. Cha-ching.

Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix: More Than 700 Simple Recipes and Techniques to Mix and Match for Endless Possibilities

My last selection for the month is one of Mark Bittman's newer cook books. I currently own How to Cook Everything and it is the single most used cookbook hands down. I refer to it for pizza, for biscuits. It is where my cinnamon rolls started from. It is one of my favorite presents to people just moving out. I am looking forward to checking his new book out. If it is as good as the other one, I will end up buying and loving it.



So there you have it. February's book list. I realize that the month is half over but I have been reading and recovering! The only other book I didn't list, because it isn't in the picture, is:

Unprocessed
I bought this book as an ebook with some free credits I had from Amazon. Our library didn't have a copy in the system and I had the credits so I got it. I did miss the physical book but the Kindle version was a little easier while I was nursing. It has been so amazingly great that I can guarantee a review in the near future.





*note: this is not paid advertisement, however these are affiliated links. That means that should you choose to buy one of these books, I will get a small commission. There is no cost to you but the couple of cents here and there add up and help to keep this site running.