Cookery books

[zuludog]

I'm spending a couple of days sorting & tidying my books & shelves, which also gives me the chance to give them a thorough dust & clean

I have a total of 31 cookery books, of which 20 are on diabetes/weight loss/healthy living; plus a box file of leaflets & cuttings

Have I made any of the recipes? -- hardly ever!

Also I've found 17 or 18 unread books on various subjects

Just like the old school reports -- Must try harder!

I tend to just cruise around a supermarket and make it up as I go along, and I have enough fresh food in for about 3 days, but for my next shopping trip I'll pick out a few recipes and make a proper shopping list ...... honest!

 

[saffron15]

My sister uses home delivery and works out her recipes then makes a shopping list. My favourite cookbooks used to be Delia [ good recipes as doesn't just say cook til tender gives timings] Nigel Slater and Nigellas first book plus Sophie Grigson. Of course I have a lot more. Nowadays I often use the Internet, I check what's cooking on Saturday kitchen and supermarket sites are good.Nigella on bluesky has a daily recipe though only a third are suitable for me.Having said that I bought 3 cook books last week. A local department store is shutting their book department Your Daily Veg by Joe Woodhouse, a lovely book with recipes from Barcelona and the Diabetes Air Fryer Cookbook by Katie Caldesi. The offer was 40% of each book and buy 3 for 2 .Some of my older cookbooks are a bit carb heavy. I am enjoying reading the Caldesi one.
I often just use my microwave for example I had hake, runner beans broccoli and shallots in the microwave. Today I have samphire green beans and courgette with sea trout.

 

[JITR]

@zuludog
Why not make a list of your top picks and post it here?

 

[zuludog]

@zuludog
Why not make a list of your top picks and post it here?

Yes, but give me half a day or so to think about it

 

[helli]

A habit we started during the pandemic was to create a menu for the week and use this for the shopping list.
I have been getting a veg box every week for about 10 years which provides a variety of veg. This drives my inspiration for the next week's menu. Sometimes I cook from memory. Sometimes I use tried and tested recipes and sometimes I search for something new.
I have an old iPad in the kitchen which is mostly used to store tried and tested recipes. Some Mondays I spend going through these recipes to find something we haven't had for ages.

 

[silver minion]

We have a lot of cookery books. Some bought by us but mostly gifts.
When we were a young married couple I bought a Good Housekeeping cookbook. Each month we took turns producing a 3 course meal at the weekend. It had to include recipes and food we hadn't cooked or eaten before. We had a mix of amazing meals and some disgusting disasters, but it did encourage us to be more adventurous.
Now I will try any new food or recipe. Sometimes only once.😱

 

[zuludog]

OK, a few comments on my cookery books, but don't expect anything much, because as I mentioned, I've hardly made any of the recipes

Months ago I made an effort to lose some weight
This was about the time that Michael Mosely's book & report on losing weight and controlling diabetes with a strict diet and meal substitute powders had been announced, so I followed that and lost about 15kg
I'll do a Thread about that in the Weight Loss section soon, but the books I used were -

The Fast 800 by Dr Michael Moseley
Life Without Diabetes by Professor Roy Taylor
I used the recipes from these more or less interchangeably

You Are What You Eat by Dr Gillian McKeith
This is based on a TV Series, I bought it in a charity shop
I used some of these recipes when I wanted something a bit more substantial than the strict diet meals & shakes
It's not specifically diabetic so I missed out or reduced the carbs; I also missed out or substituted some of the more obscure ingredients

Now for other books, but I must stress that I've hardly made any of the recipes, mostly I've made up my meals from the general principles of fresh/healthy/low carb
It seems to work fairly well as my DSN is both surprised and impressed that I've come off medication for both cholesterol level & BP, which are acceptable without medication
My weight and HbA1c are OK, but I would like to lower them a bit more, so I thought it was about time that I started to use these cookery books that have been gathering dust for years
Here are some books that I have used slightly, or fully intend using in the future -

101 Mediterranean Dishes by Good Food Magazine & BBC Books
The Fast 800 Keto Recipe Book by Dr Claire Bailey

Mediterranean Cooking for Diabetics by Robin Ellis
The Diabetes Weight Loss Cookbook by Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi
These two are proper cookery books with proper recipes, rather than summat yer've cobbled together yerself
I really must find the enthusiasm to follow them seriously

The Diabetes Cooking Book by Fiona Hunter & Heather Whinney : Dorling Kindersley
This is well produced with a brief background on diabetes; meal plans; recipes
For my new regime I'll start with some recipes from this book

Besides books I've been using YouTube a lot - yes, I know you have to treat t'Net & YT with a bit of caution, but it can be useful
I've played around with the Search Box for things like diabetic meals, low carb salads, Mediterranean recipes, low carb Mediterranean, and so on
And also the DUK website

Without making much of a conscious decision, I find that I'm now following a mostly Mediterranean & Middle Eastern style diet, but reducing or substituting carbs & other ingredients here & there
With that in mind, I can mention these two books which were presents -

Mediterranean Food of the Sun by Jaqueline Clark & Joanna Farrow
The Jewelled Kitchen by Bethany Kehdy

These have loads of Mediterranean & Middle Eastern recipes - not specifically diabetic but it would be easy to modify
Hmmmm ....... as you've probably gathered by now, I'm a lot better at daydreaming than actually doing!

Also I see that animal fats & cholesterol are no longer considered to be the demons they once were, so I've stopped eating low fat products & seed oils. Now the only fats I eat are olive oil and naturally occurring in meat, fish, dairy.

 

[JITR]

@zuludog, great post !!!

By coincidence, one of Dr Michael Moseley's books introduced me to Professor Roy Taylor and Life Without Diabetes. I based my diet on the list of foods in his (RT) Newcastle Diet leaflet.

If I were starting again I might get The Diabetes Weight Loss Cookbook by Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi you mention. In the end I'd probably still wind up doing what you seem to doing; eating nutritious foods with recipes and cookbooks for inspiration.

Last week I passed by Rafi's original Spicebox shop in Subury, Suffolk, and thought I really must get to grips with Asian herbs and spices. Lo and behold a mint copy of her sons' Spicebox Cookbook in a charity shop across the street - starting with "tomatoes on toast".

 

[AleGna68]

My sister uses home delivery and works out her recipes then makes a shopping list. My favourite cookbooks used to be Delia [ good recipes as doesn't just say cook til tender gives timings] Nigel Slater and Nigellas first book plus Sophie Grigson. Of course I have a lot more. Nowadays I often use the Internet, I check what's cooking on Saturday kitchen and supermarket sites are good.Nigella on bluesky has a daily recipe though only a third are suitable for me.Having said that I bought 3 cook books last week. A local department store is shutting their book department Your Daily Veg by Joe Woodhouse, a lovely book with recipes from Barcelona and the Diabetes Air Fryer Cookbook by Katie Caldesi. The offer was 40% of each book and buy 3 for 2 .Some of my older cookbooks are a bit carb heavy. I am enjoying reading the Caldesi one.
I often just use my microwave for example I had hake, runner beans broccoli and shallots in the microwave. Today I have samphire green beans and courgette with sea trout.

I’ve several books by Katie Caldesi and Carlo, not made anything yet but…… I want to go to their restaurant, is not that far from me.