Bookshelf

Reading List

Anyone who knows me in person knows that I love books, and I love to read. Click on the photo to buy through my affiliate link and support my blog. These are my favorites:


Cooking

Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll; I have the old 1970's version and also the new one. Most of the cheese recipes I use come from this book. Simple and easy to understand.











Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop by Stephen Cresswell; This is how I learned to make root beer and soda pop when I was 19. An excellent read.








The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery; My go-to guide for gardening and many other DIY topics.







Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier; This is my primary foraging manual. Includes illustrations and descriptions, but also cooking instructions and nutritional information, tidbits of history and other cool facts.










Chocolates & Confections by Peter P. Greweling; an excellent technical book on tempering and making chocolates and other candies. This is something I've been working on for the last year or so- not mastered yet, but when I do there will definitely be a tutorial. :)







 The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America; if you want to do things right, this is the book for you. It has a ton of great photos and gives a broad overview of everything food-related. I try to keep as few cook books as possible, and this blows many others off the shelf.





Garde Manger; the Art & Craft of the Cold Kitchen by Culinary Institute of America; basically a sub-category of the Professional Chef that goes into detail on soups, sandwiches, sauces, salads, cured & smoked foods, condiments, and other out-of-the-ordinary cooking arts.






Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon; the one that started it all! I read this one cover to cover in my early teens. Some of my favorite recipes are lacto-fermented carrots and vanilla ice cream.

Foraging

Wildflowers of Michigan Field Guide by Stan Tekiela; I find that I'm using this constantly to identify plants. A fabulous book! Read my review here.

Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier: What I love about this book is that it gives information on how to prepare wild foods and also nutritional content. Don't want to eat it yourself? Learn which birds and wild animals like it!

Thriftiness & Frugality

 The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn; a thrifty classic! Some of the numbers are outdated, but still includes a ton of great ideas for frugal people. If nothing else, read it for laughs- the extreme examples of thrift, like re-melting deodorant or smashing toilet paper rolls.

 Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robins & Joe Domingez; this one will really get you thinking about your job. Is it worth it? Where is all the money going anyway? When I worked an office job, I got stuck in the cycle of earning money and then spending it all. This book helped me figure out where the leaks were and encouraged me to make use of what I already have instead of buying more and more and more.