about 66 cookbooks left

 i sorted all the "keeper" cookbooks together, and here they are - 

 that is 17 books, and my running tally in posts was at 19, but i must have donated a couple after they were reviewed.  i also discovered that i had 2 copies of Aces!  I am thinking that one was mine and one was my moms.  So I donated one.

 this is leaving me with approximately 66 cookbooks left to decide if I should keep them or not.  And this does not include all the bread books that the Mister has quietly stolen from me over the years.  He keeps them separate:

 I do still have quite a task ahead of me.  Some days I imagine just donating all of them - the kids are so picky, and who has the time, energy or money for fussy recipes any more?

  Back on the bookshelf - 17 Donated - 64  Still to come - 66

getting rid of a few more cookbooks books 76-81

 part cookbook clean up and part de-clutter - i got rid of 7 cookbooks.

 it's all easy was previously a keeper, so i'll adjust that in the count  below.  i am slowly coming to terms with the fact that i am apparently more of an aesthetic Nigella cookbook person than an actual user of them.  and it hurt to get rid of the well filled tortilla and the trader vics books, but i have owned them for YEARS and never used them, so it was time to go.

 Back on the bookshelf - 19 Donated - 62

cookbook cleanup 74 & 75

 

This one is a bit of a shocker for me, but I have parted ways with my Nigella Christmas book.  At one time I thought I would keep this book forever, but this past Christmas I sat down with it to plan some dishes to make for the holidays and came up empty.  There was not one single thing I was interested to make, and if I'm being honest, this was not the first holiday season that happened.  So she's off to find a new home, and she took 5 Ingredient Fix with her.  

 Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated - 55 

cookbook clean up 73

 It's time to say goodbye to another (and maybe my last) Guy Fieri cookbook.  We have cooked a few really good recipes from Guy over the years.  But as mentioned before, his recipes are just too much - too many ingredients, too long to prepare, too much for a weekday dinner - for us.

 So bye bye to Guy on Fire, and I hope you find a lovely new home.

We tried the basic sweet pancakes, which were fine, and the pizza dough - which is a very very good recipe - but for me not worth keeping the whole book.  

Side note - I did not realized that I started to cull my cookbook collection back in 2019.  6 years and still not done????  We better speed this thing up in 2026. 

cookbook cleanup 72

 i think that now - or pretty soon - the cleanup is going to get harder.  i THINK i've now gotten rid of all the "easy" books that i for sure knew i wasn't going to use but was hanging on to anyway.  now it's down to the stuff that i know i like, am pretty sure i like, and the ones i haven't used yet but have convinced myself will change my life for the better.

sadly, this one fits into none of those categories, so off it goes. 

 Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated - 51

cookbook clean up 67- 71

Here are 5 more books that are hitting the road, for no other reason than this is not the home for them, and that is ok.  i think sometimes i am hesitant to get rid of some books because i have spent the money on them.  but years later, the money has been spent and all i am left with is a book i don't have interest in sitting on my shelf taking up room.  what's the point?  let's let it go.

 

 

Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated - 51

cookbook clean up 66 and 2 changes on the list

 

i want everything to be free of clutter - my bookcase, my house, my head.  and so tough - and easy - decisions have to be made.  some tough ones include to stop burying my head in the sand and hope my health improves without me actually taking responsibility (hasn't worked so far) and choosing creative activities over doom-scrolling at night.  or coming to terms with the fact that i have entirely too many cookbooks and i am never going to cook out of all of them, nor do i actually WANT to cook out of some of them.  i don't know why i feel a weird obligation to hang on to some of the books that i have, but i do and i'm trying to get over it.

case in point - the 3 chrissy teigen books i have.  i have not reached for any of these since i cooked out of them for the cleanup (from books 2 and 3) and i don't see it happening in the future either.  she isn't someone i know, or like, or admire, so why am i hanging on to them?

so cravings is out, and it's taking the other 2 that were previously in the kept pile, with them.

  Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated - 46

cookbook clean up 65 - Lucky Peach

 This is the Lucky Peach cookbook.

101 recipes all in the easy range for all sorts of menus and tastes.  

I braved Costco on a Saturday afternoon to buy a rotisserie chicken to make the rotisserie chicken ramen. 

 We made a delicious pad see ew as well.  I have a bunch more recipes I hope to try, especially in the pickle, sauce and noodle categories.

 Back on the bookshelf - 22 Donated - 43

cookbook clean up 63&64 and a rumination

 ok so in the month since i last did a cookbook clean up, our decorating plans changed and I did not lose my bookcase after all.  but i would like less cookbooks on it so i could maybe put some of my journaling stuff on it - and truly, many of these books have not been used in years.  why am i hanging on to them?

book 63 to go is a Guy Fieri one - first my kids wouldn't eat most of this and second, all the recipes have too many damn ingredients.  this guy (hee hee) just can't have a simple basic recipe.  I've sat with this book out for months and no matter how many times i go through it, i can only find 3 recipes i am even remotely interested in trying.  

this second one hurts a bit more but like i said, some of these books I haven't looked at in years - and this is one of them.  again, not the kind of food my family will eat.  i have real hesitations about donating this one, but realistically i just don't think i'm going to cook from it any time soon.

 and lastly, some motivation to myself to keep going in all things - 

cookbook cleanup 62 - The Best of Friends The Restaurant

we are talking/planning about doing some redecorating in the house and moving some stuff around, and i might be losing my bookcase that I keep my cookbooks on, and have to move them to another already pretty full bookcase, so it's time to get real and realistic about the books i keep.  

 and so it pains me, but i'm going to donate this book.   i just haven't been able to find a way to cook from it yet, and maybe there is someone out there who will.  it's a sweet little book.  sad face emoji.

Back on the bookshelf - 21 Donated -41

cookbook cleanup - books 59-61

 Sometimes I am just a few breaths away from getting rid of every single cookbook I own as they sit there mocking me, full of recipes I will most likely never make because my kids are picky as hell and I have no time or desire to cook elaborate meals.

And then I just ignore them once again and carry on with my day.

I was cleaning off the bookshelves to donate to the upcoming Symphony Book Sale, and as much as I wanted to sweep armfuls of cookbooks into boxes to donate, I realized that most of them I am just not ready to let go of yet.  

Maybe I should (re)read them one more time.  What if THE best recipes are lurking somewhere in the pages and I haven't tried them yet?

 Fortunately/unfortunately, I did let go of these 3.  I am feeling badly about getting rid of Smoke and Pickles and Vegan Lunch Box - I like them both, BUT I'm just not going to cook out of them.  I can't afford or get most of the ingredients in S&P, and as much as I love VLB, it's just not the fit for my silly family.

Back on the bookshelf - 21 Donated -40

cookbook clean up 58 - one part plant by Jessica Murnane

 I bought One Part Plant off the sale table at Chapters a few years back and promptly forgot about it.  Luckily for me I grabbed it off the shelf for the clean up, fully expecting for it to hit the donate pile but instead it's become one of my favorite books. 

 Jessica spends the first part of the book talking about her past less than stellar eating habits (ding ding says my inner bell) and how she came to start eating better which led to her feeling better.  It's like this book is speaking TO ME (hint hint, me)

The recipes are divided into 6 chapters of mornings, salads, snacks and more.  The first 2 recipes I tried were The Crunchy Chunky Granola - simple but AMAZING, and the Baklava-ish Toast.  I swooned.

Next was the chocolate chunk cookies made with almond flour that the whole family went crazy for, including The Grandpa who went out and bought me a new bag of almond flour so we could have them again.  The Roasted Potato, Corn and Leek Chowder was one of the best soups I made last year.  Incredible.

The Peach Ginger Tea became Watermelon Ginger Tea when I tried it because I had some frozen watermelon, and SOOOO good.  I've made this a bunch of times with a bunch of different fruits.

The Curry Popcorn was so delicious as was the riff I made on her Turtle Eggs - walnuts, dates and chocolate. 

This is SUCH a good book, I absolutely love it.  I will be trying out more recipes as well as all the ones I've already made for sure.

Back on the bookshelf - 21 Donated -37

cookbook cleanup 57 - The Book of Burger by Racheal Ray

 Next up is The Book of Burger.  We do love a burger around here.

 Lasagna burgers.  Grilled cheese burgers. Lamb burgers with walnuts. Hog dog fries (???).   It's all here.  I've had this book for ages and I'm pretty sure I've never cooked out of it before.  A lot of these were too far out for my family to consider, but I made myself a short list from the over 200 recipes.

 We started with the Cubano burger which had you chop some ham up and add to your ground turkey along with some garlic and other seasonings, cook and top with cheese, pickles and mustard.  I was confident that this would be a hit - but it was not.  The kids HATED this burger.  With a fiery passion.  The adults ate them, but after a couple of bites, it was not with much enthusiasm.  These were not a winner.

This book sat idle on my side table for quite a few months after that, but I was determined to decide if it goes or stays so we moved on to the Shepherds Pie burger.  Basically you make little meatloaf patties, cook them, place on garlic bread, top with mashed potatos and gravy and try not to cry while you eat them because they are so dang good.

 

Then we tried the Satay sliders, except made regular burger size and with pork instead of chicken.  This was another amazing burger - the cucumber onion relish was to die for.  Even The Girl ate it!

Even with two hits and one miss, this one is leaving the shelf.  While there are a few more - just a few - that I'd like to try, I know the kids won't eat most of them so what's the point.

Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -37

cookbook cleanup 52-56 - big summer blowout part 3

 

 

 Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -36

cookbook cleanup 47-51 - big summer blowout part 2

 b

  Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -31

cookbook cleanup 42-46 - big summer blowout

 A lot of things happened this summer, including both The Mister and I having less than stellar checkups with our doctors.  The Misters was a bit of surprise, mine was not.  I have been avoiding taking care of both my mental health and physical health, and that has come to bite me in the ass.  Let this be a lesson to you - take care of yourself, you are worth it, even if you think you are not.

The day before we left for holiday I decided to stop doing laundry and packing and instead focus on what was really important - cleaning out my cookbook shelf.  

Most of these are going because having so many cookbooks makes me tired and anxious, and I wanted to get rid of that feeling.  And also, will I ever cook from most of these books again/at all?  It was a hard question because I have loved cookbooks for so long, but it just isn't realistic for me any more.

So these 5 have hit the road.  Another 5 tomorrow.

 Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -26

cookbook cleanup 41 - Aloha Kitchen by Alana Kysar

 Honest, I promise I am buying WAY less cookbooks than I used to, both new and used.  But when I saw a blurb on this one, I just could not resist.  I love Hawaii and I love their food.  

I am so crazy about this cookbook, I can't even tell you.  Buy it.

We tried a lot of recipes, and everyone of them was AMAZING.

I bought a musubi mold for the Spam Musubi, and also Onigiri molds and we made both as well as rolls.

They were SO SO  good and the spam on it's own was delicious as well.

We made the pickled onions and the Namasu.  Amazing.

The mac salad is now our go to mac salad recipe.  We also tried the Local Style BBQ chicken, the Shoyu chicken, and the Mochiko chicken. 

We loved it all and I have a long list of things to go. This book is beautiful to read, look at and cook from.

Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -21