Good Cooking Resources?

[mining_melancholy]

I'm from a Southern family: "home cooking" means rolling meat in flour, frying it in grease, and not thinking about the consequences. It's no excuse for bad habits, but it does mean I have little knowledge of cooking anything besides simple pastas and a slow cooker roast.

Any Mustachians have some good cooking resources they wouldn't mind sharing? All I know about "eating healthy" is that the greater consensus seems to change every three years, which tells me that my research is poor and my sources unreliable. So, some help would be nice. I mean, people have been eating for, what, at least six hundred years. Maybe seven. I'm sure by now someone's figured out "No, really, this is good for you, this is not. And it won't cause cancer. Really, it's fine."

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I try to keep Michael Pollan's Food Rules in mind: Eat (real) food. Mostly plants. Especially leaves.

Whenever expert opinion differs, I do what feels good/seems right to me. I love bread, so I eat whole wheat bread and lots of other whole carbs.

People here on the forum turned me on to the website Budget Bytes. It is not health-food focused, but it does use mostly real food and lots of plants and everything I've tried has been tasty. And obviously, it's meant to be cheap! Lots of main dishes for under a dollar a serving, maybe closer to two dollars if it has beef.

I don't find the advice to avoid the middle of the store to be very helpful. Yes, avoid packaged food, but the middle is where one buys flour, dried beans, brown rice, and lots of other key ingredients.

[DollarBill]

Eat well on $4 a day:
https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf

Pinterest food:
http://www.pinterest.com/all/food_drink/

And I just watch youtube for techniques but need to weed out the bad ones.

Most of all experiment! I once ate eggs for 3 days trying different types of omelets. I found out I really like classic French omelets. Like the second one in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57afEWn-QDg

[SailAway]

Honestly I learned most of my cooking techniques from watching Food Network but I'm not sure that's applicable any more, I think it's all faux reality competition shows. Maybe PBS?  I've always liked to cook though. The Cooks Illustrated books like The Best Recipe are great for understanding why things work in the kitchen and how to make things the best possible way. Great if you're a "nerd". I really like Pinterest for inspiration on WHAT to cook, which I often think is the hardest part.

Meal planning and a well stocked pantry really help immensely. Today I needed to make lunch and it felt too cold for salad. We had leftover pork chops in the fridge. I sliced them into thin rounds, layered ham, Dijon mustard, Swiss cheese, diced pickles and hot peppers on top and we had bread-less Cuban sandwiches.

That being said, gourmet cooking is not necessarily healthy cooking. Nutritional science is evolving, I think it can be hard to separate trends from science. I will tell you that two years ago I decided I was going to lose weight, be healthy and not get diabetes. I did pretty intensive nutrition research and we ended up paleo/primal, which I'm not going to lie, I thought was a ridiculous trend before. Much like religion or politics, though, I don't try to push my beliefs. :-)

[N]

At this point, Ive been into cooking for about 10-11 years.

I have a collection of recipes that Ive acquired from magazines, or online. Some are printed out and I save them in a binder, because I used them regularly. Some are kept in my collection on Pinterest, and I refer to them there.

 I often look over my Pinterest recipe boards. I have two, one is for recipes I havent tried yet and the other is ones Ive tried and approved.
If Im looking for inspiration, I like to look at http://www.tastespotting.com/ or on one of the food blogs I follow.

Budget Bytes, Smitten Kitchen, 101 Cookbooks, Pioneer Woman, Food In Jars are some others. I will also search by ingredient on Pinterest, or pin recipes that come down my Pinterest feed.

As far as cookbooks Id recommend for regular rotation:

I loved the cookbook How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Ive given it as housewarming gift to many of my family members! The How To Cook Everyting Vegetarian one is also very useful. (he has a few, and a new one how to cook everything fast)

I also recommend Love Soup by Anna Thomas. such good recipes in that book. Every soup Ive made has been fantastic, and Ive made quite a few of them!

Happy Cooking!

[horsepoor]

I try to keep Michael Pollan's Food Rules in mind: Eat (real) food. Mostly plants. Especially leaves.

I think this is a good one.  Pinterest is great for finding recipes that fit what you have.  So if collard greens are on sale this week, buy them, bring them home and type "collards" into the Pinterest search box and get a plethora of recipes.  Of course Google works too, but it's handy to create a Pinterest board to keep your recipes in one place.

If you're going to watch Forks over Knives, check out Denise Minger's blog, Raw Food SOS, and if you're really into it, her worthwhile book "Death by Food Pyramid."

I lost over 50# a couple years ago, and have kept the weight off for going on two years, and have tried out a few different eating approaches in that time.  Overall, I've come to find that a paleo-style approach to eating works well, but more on a nutrient-density basis, rather than on a purely "Is this ingredient technically 'paleo' or not?" basis.  So lots of veggies, some fruits, healthy fats, moderate amounts of meat and eggs, and to keep it Mustachian, some rice, beans and potatoes when not in weight-loss mode.

[mining_melancholy]

Hmmm, thanks for the resources everyone! You've given me quite a bit to start on.

And a bit of a hunger for scrambled eggs. XD

[Zette]

I like Budget Bytes.  The food is flavorful and usually doesn't take a huge amount of time.

[Future Lazy]

My family has big trouble with diabetes and heart disease. We've mostly figured out that processed fats are what's responsible for the fat content in our bodies being inappropriately processed. That being said, as long as you're getting plenty of exercise, don't sweat the fat content of things as much as the sugar content. Or, at least, that's how I've been handling it.

I really like this website: http://www.ruled.me/

Some of his recipes call for expensive ingredients, so I would avoid those, but most of the rest are just eggs and leafy greens, etc.

[Unkempt Stash]

I received a subscription to Food Network magazine for Xmas a couple years back.

I recommend it. It has the calorie counts on many recipes and gives me lots of ideas for cooking. It's not focused on health though; you'll have to filter the recipes yourself :)

[Dee18]

Really fun website for healthy cooking:
thugkitchen.com    (but it has a lot of profanity)
I use Mark Bittman recipes a lot.  I have his cookbook, How to Cook Everything, in hardcopy ($2 at library sale) and on an app (it was free that week).  I have to  have his more recent book, Vegan Before 6, from the library.  I like it, except I am not a tofu fan which is big in this cookbook.

[southern granny]

depending on your age... eat what your grandmother (or great grandmother) ate.  Everything is homemade.  It still might include some fried meat, but it won't include any junk food and maybe one cola on saturday night.   There will be lots of vegetables.   A small breakfast, and two other meals.  Not much between meal snacking.  Reading labels on prepared packaged food should convince you that homemade is the way to go.   

[Fodder]

Try some blogs!

Some of my favourites have been listed already (Budget Bytes), but I'd also encourage you to check out SkinnyTaste (healthy recipes with calorie counts), Pinch of Yum (mostly healthy recipes) and Oh She Glows (vegan recipes).  Minimalist Baker is good for inspiration too (also vegan), but does skew to more baking recipes than meal recipes.

My best advice would be to try something new, one recipe at a time.  Don't overwhelm yourself with a whole slew of new things - just try one thing at a time.  Keep it simple.  Keep it mostly plants.  Less sugar, less salt, whole grains, and lots of fibre.

[4alpacas]

Really fun website for healthy cooking:
thugkitchen.com    (but it has a lot of profanity)

+1 I love Thug Kitchen.  I also think profanity+kale=hilarity

I'm also a big fan of Budget Bytes. 

Another one of my favorite resources is Allrecipes.com.  The comments section is amazing.  There are a ton of helpful comments and proposed tweaks to each recipe. 

[AllieVaulter]

I own a couple cookbooks, but to be honest, I get most of my recipes from the internet.  I save recipes in google docs.  I LOVE this approach.  After I make a recipe I can make a note at the bottom about how it went, and if I'd want to make any changes to it.  It also makes sharing recipes super easy. 

I started out as a very timid cook (mostly variations on pasta).  But with practice and experimenting I've expanded to cooking all sorts of foods.  One good way to start out experimenting is to try and recreate a favorite restaurant meal.  I love cashew chicken from Thai restaurants.  Now my husband and I are experts at making our own.  The bonus?  I can add as many cashews as I want to! 

[No Name Guy]

Good Eats, by Alton Brown! I've struggled to teach my husband how to cook, because my mother is an excellent cook and I can't remember ever having to learn. Alton explains a lot about food chemistry, which gives you the confidence to invent recipes on your own and understand why you do certain things. If you want to get a feel for his style, there's a season of his show on Netflix.

I'll second Alton Brown. I like to know why things are done a certain way - Alton is the one who explains it.  Lots of his stuff is on You Tube as well.  I used his turkey brine recipe for the first turkey I made for Thanksgiving and it turned out perfect.

In addition to Alton I'll add Rachel Ray and the 30 minute meal theme.  Not everything she does is "healthy" but it's generally all basic ingredients.

Another source on the "why" is America's Test Kitchen from PBS.  They'd do a lot of variations around a basic recipe and report the pros and cons.  One good tidbit, for example, is to not use already shredded cheese for Mac n cheese as the anti-caking agent gives a gritty, flour taste to the finished product.

Once you get ideas, The Google is your friend.  For example, last night was chicken chili.  I just used The Google, picked something that gets high ratings and whipped it out.  Allrecipies and Food Network have lots of good ideas.

[minimustache1985]

I mostly use allrecipes.com now, but like another poster I like Pioneer Woman if you're learning- the step by step is very handy for a novice and was helpful to me my first year out of college.

Health wise I just try to stay away from too many chemicals in packaged food and keep the "unhealthy" things like butter, cream, etc in moderation.

[Mrs. PoP]

I've been exploring pressure cooking this year as both a time and effort saver and really like the site hippressurecooking.com.  It's a great reference for learning about pressure cooking as well as a source of recipes.

[Goldielocks]

I guess that you have the very basics down.  Even though my husband is a SAHD, he never learned at home, he does not want instruction from his wife, so it is hard to sit back.  :-) 
I have not found a good resource for the basics (although he enjoys Alton Brown science background).

To hijack your thread for my own interests, and provide a light hearted funny rant at the same time: ....

Examples
 I finally had to tell him that he needs to wash the "dirt" off the mushrooms, vegetables need to be trimmed for any back spots / stems / roots, take the outer leaves off of brussels and cabbage to ensure no bugs under the first layer, etc.

"Trial and Error Cooking Method"

Yes, he has made my daughter "Jam, sprout and ham" sandwiches for school,
-has cooked cucumber into the spaghetti sauce because he thought it was the same as zuchinni that I sometimes use,
-has mixed up baking soda with powder in home made waffles (ok that one is easy) but what a shock, and
-loves uncooked onions, chopped up and adding to the sauce / dish about 20 seconds before removing it from the stove.   
-Oh yes, and bottled jerk sauce.  Lots of bottled jerk sauce.

Most problems, and angst however are related to timing.  (He rarely gets hungry himself and loses track of time)
Classic (worst case) example is starting dinner at 7 pm, when I arrive home from work and the kids start in by mentioning they are hungry,  -- then choosing to make meat loaf, for the first time ever, by looking for a recipe before taking the meat out of the freezer, we ate at 10 pm that night, on a school night.  Kids went to bed at least 2 hrs after their bedtime.

If anyone knows of "cooking basics" that a science guy may enjoy, so his wife does not have to mention anything - please please add your thoughts to this.
At this point, I choose my commentary to him, and try to remain happy that he is not choosing take out or heat and eat meals.   
He does have a few meals that are good, and cost effective, that I compliment him on.

[Fodder]

Keys to Good Cooking from Harold McGee is an amazing book, in terms of explaining the science behind what works and what doesn't.  I was fortunate to be sent a promo copy by the publisher, because it's not the type of book I would normally purchase.  I learned a lot from it and would recommend it to anyone who is serious about cooking.  You may be able to find it at a library too.