A Great Bridal Shower Gift: Cookbooks for Newlyweds
As we began to tire of take out, as eating out began to strain our wallets, and as the food we cooked started to become too repetitive, we realized we needed to beef up our culinary skills in order to adequately prepare and cook a larger variety of meals, and more importantly, healthier meals.
Salvation came in the form of a wonderful cookbook designed for the newly married couple, and my wife and I have since risen from microwave mavens to professional kitchen contenders. Any book of this sort in which both husband and wife can share in the exciting adventures of creating and cooking your own meals, and then enjoying them with content satisfaction, is a great gift to be treasured. There are in fact several newlywed-geared cookbooks available, some designed for those with little or no cooking experience, others toward those who wish to expand their culinary boundaries.
A wonderful book for cooking novices is the Betty Crocker Cookbook: Bridal Edition, and it makes a welcome addition on the bookshelf for any newlyweds who wish to enjoy continuous well-cooked meals. You’ll find thousands of common and not so common recipes, just like your mother used to make.
More than a simple compendium of recipes, the magic contained within its pages holds a plethora of useful tips, menu ideas, sections on holidays and special occasions, and other useful guides to food and kitchen equipment. Being a cookbook by the baking master Betty Crocker, the book shines in the areas of baking and desserts, but is equally balanced by a bevy of nutritious, healthy recipes.
With easy-to-follow recipes resulting in deliciously simple meals, ranging from health-conscious low-fat recipes, to the delectably sinful, the Betty Crocker Cookbook: Bridal Edition, will keep you entirely satisfied at the dinner table night after night.
If you already possess a particular flair in the kitchen but wish to increase your creative experience and try some recipes with a little more bite, then perhaps the Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook is more suitable for you.
While the recipes in the Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook can be more adventurous, they are still presented in a basic style, allowing inexperienced cooks to feel like professional chefs. The first few chapters of the book sufficiently covers kitchen and cooking basics to help get any novices up to speed.
Aside from the quality meals you will learn to cook, such as Pork with Blackberry Sauce and Mango Salsa, or a simple yet delicious Chicken Pot Pie, you’ll also find many useful tips and techniques for common kitchen problems such as how to carve a turkey, or what type of menu to plan for specific holidays. And never fear, timeless recipes such as Chocolate Chip Cookies or Meatloaf are not forgotten, and the book also devotes a rather large section to nutritious, healthy meals.
For the very health-conscious, there’s a book for just you. It’s goes by the descriptively long name Healthy Cooking for Two (or Just You): Low-Fat Recipes with Half the Fuss and Double the Taste. You’ll find a few hundred effortless yet delicious recipes for health-oriented families, tips on shopping, and important nutrient information for the meals detailed therein.
Also of note is how the recipes can be easily adjusted for either one or two people, and the section with 30-minute recipes is a bonus for those who have a shortage of time and need to eat and run. Don’t let the fact the the recipes are healthy and nutritious fool you into believing that blandness is also a factor. With such mouth-watering fare as Maryland Crabcakes and Apple-Stuffed Acorn Squash, you’ll find that you’ll rarely have any leftovers, as meals will easily be devoured shortly after being served.
So instead of getting the bride another space-consuming kitchen appliance or home decor dust-collector, try a newlywed cookbook instead, something both the bride and the groom can use and appreciate, not once, but nearly everyday.
