If you are a meat lover there are two things that will make your live even better – buying Niman Ranch products and purchasing the Niman Ranch Cookbook. This fabulous book shares the history of Niman Ranch farms and how they went from a single family to over 500 independent farms all following the Niman Ranch philosophy. This book will teach you where their philosophy is – how they raise their cattle and why, to what they eat. All of these help produce some of the finest quality meat you will find on the market. The book has chapters on beef, pork, and lamb as well as a section on tips on how to prepare these meats. There is also pictures of each animal to show you where you get certain cuts from. These are the best pictures I have seen anywhere of this.
If this all wasn’t enough, there is also a ton of recipes for many delicious meals from Cider-Glazed Pork Chops to Grilled Leg of Lamb to Carne Asada Steak. Many of these recipes are from restaurants that use Niman Ranch meat.
I highly recommend buying this book for all it’s useful information and wonderful recipes. Anyone that likes to cook meat would benefit from this book.
Click here to check out one of my favorite Niman Ranch products – BACON!
Are you looking for some good cookbooks or food related books to purchase for your Amazon Kindle? If you have one it is a great way to rid your kitchen of the clutter of piles and piles of cookbooks. Some people think it can become a must have “kitchen appliance” like a toaster or a food processor. Below is list of some of the best books that I recommend that you can currently buy the Kindle version. Clicking on the title of book will bring you to it’s Amazon Kindle page.
will keep you busy for a long time. This book is a thick book, over 500 pages (if you count the index). The book has every kind of cookie imaginable. The book includes sections on chocolate chips cookies, sugar cookies, oatmeal cookies, molasses cookies, peanut butter cookies, shortbread, biscotti, brownies, bars, and squares, drop cookies, roll-out cookies, shaped cookies, batter cookies, and no-bake cookies. I don’t think they left any type of cookie out. This book is not just a book of recipes. It is a teaching tool. You learn how to bake cookies. And if something does it go right, this book might have the answer to why. Each recipes has a short introduction and the ingredients are easy to read and the instructions are well laid out. For the more difficult recipes you can find diagrams showing the steps you need to take. There is also a section of color photos in the middle of the book that will get your mouth watering. This is the book, that any baker or cooker love needs to have as part of their library.
by Ricki Carroll. This book contains 75 different recipes for cheese. A lot of them are challenging (in making and in finding the ingredients). But if you can pull it off and have fun doing it, then why not give it a try. The book contains everything from soft cheese like cream cheese and ricotta to hard cheese like cheddar and gouda. The recipes include cheese made from not only cow’s milk but goat’s milk as well. But before you get into those recipes you have a chance to dive into some cheese making history and a lesson on the ingredients and equipment you will need to create your own. I haven’t had the chance to try any myself but I am looking forward to doing so.
“. My first thought is how many brownies recipes could there be. Is there enough to fill an entire book? Apparently there was. The book is packed full of recipes for slightly different takes on the classic brownie, such as malt brownies, banana brownies, and sweet potato brownies. Those that love cakey brownies will find something for them as well as for the fudgy brownie lovers. What you won’t find is pictures, minus the one on the front cover, so if you need to have a picture to go long with your recipes, then you might want to move on to another book. The book also contains recipes for blondies, icings, frostings, and drizzles. 
.
” by Stephen Cresswell was the only book I could find on the market that was solely devoted to this subject. So thank goodness this is a good one. It is packed full of recipes from everything from root beer to lemon-lime soda to ginger ale. Many of the recipes contain ingredients that can be found at any grocery store. Some of the stuff for making root beer will be harder to come by, but if you can find it it’s well worth the effort (just for the fun of it!). 
by Molle Katzen is a book packed full of various mixed vegetable dishes. Although most of the recipes are not something that appeals to me, I still think people who like mixed vegetable dishes would get a lot of ideas from this book. Some of the recipes include sesame-braised cabbage with leeks, green beans w/crunchy peanut-lemon coating, portobello parmesan, and roasted butternut squash with roasted walnut oil and pomegranate seeds. The book uses a non-traditional font. It looks like someones writing, which makes the book fun. There are also hand drawn pictures at the bottom of the page of a lot of the recipes. I am sure a lot of vegetarians would enjoy this book.
, this is one of the first books I checked out at my local library. “
” by Mable & Gar Hoffman is a collection of more than 220 recipes that include ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbets, sherbets, granita, and gelato. The book is divided into sections based on the type of flavor. There are sections on vanilla, chocolate, citrus fruits, tropical fruits, etc. The book is good for getting a lot of recipes. I personally think there are other books on the market that do a better job of teaching the hows and whys of ice cream (in an earlier post I explained 
, “
“. I was first introduced to Shirley on Alton Brown’s Good Eats. She is a food scientist. This book is as good as her previous work. The book contains over 200 recipes, but it’s not just a recipe book. This book will teach you to cook and why some the common failures in baking take place. The book contains chapters on cakes, muffins, quick breads, leavening via steam, pies, cookies, and yeast breads. She also talks about baking equipment like pans, rolling pans, and more. What I like best about the book is that for each recipe, Shirley tells you why she is using certain ingredients. For anyone that wants to be a serious baker, this is a must have book for your cooking library.
” by Ari Weinzweig. Zingerman’s is a famous deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan (just a short drive from my house). They aren’t just a deli though, they have a creamery, bakehouse, roadhouse (a sit down restaurant), and a very popular mail order service. Ari Weinzweig is the founder of Zingerman’s and the author of this great book. This is one book I think every food lover should read. It truly is what it says it is, a guide to good eating. Ari is all about quality. He uses quality ingredients in everything he makes. That doesn’t mean cheap, so Zingerman’s is not the place to go with you are on a rice and beans budget (although he could tell you the best rice and beans to get!). The book itself is covers a wide range of topics from: oils, vinegars, cheeses, grains, rices, meat, fish, seasonings, honey, vanilla, chocolate, and tea. Ari tells you what it the best of each of these foods and how to shop for them. He also includes one hundred recipes, so you can utilize those quality ingredients. The book is truly a fun read, with color characters, background stories, and history.
