A quick roundup of my fave recipe books...

I love cooking, but I'd be lying if I said convenience and cost wasn't an important consideration for me. I have a mortgage, and I work 7:30 till 18:00 every day, so I want something super easy and as quick as possible for dinner. I'll happily spend hours at the weekend cooking, and cooking for a dinner party is actually one of my favourite things to do, but I like to be as efficient as possible Monday to Friday.

With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of my absolute staples when it comes to recipe books, and give a special mention to some of my favourite recipes within those pages. Happy cooking!

Jamie Oliver, 5 Ingredients, £12.99 (AMAZON)
First things first, I'll just point out that not every recipe needs only five ingredients, probably most. That being said, this recipe book is an absolute must have. All the recipes are super straightforward, and even where you do need additional ingredients, they tend to be classic store cupboard ingredients (red wine vinegar etc...) so you'll probably already have them. Most of the ingredients you could probably find in your local supermarket too, so that makes it nice and easy (if you're lazy like me!) to do the whole food shop in one place, and still put together an absolutely banging meal plan. Helpfully it's also separated into sections (pasta/chicken/fish etc...) so that's a winner.

Favourite recipes:
Sicilian Tuna Pasta // Seared Sesame Tuna // Italian Seared Beef




























Miguel Barclay, One Pound Meals Fast & Fresh, £4.99 (AMAZON)

So this is the second instalment of Miguel Barclay's One Pound Meals series. I've a feeling that there's actually a new one out, or at the very least is coming soon; it's a one pot recipe book, so I'm pretty excited to get my hands on that one as I've loved both others so far. I actually bought this book on a recommendation from Laura, after leafing through it whilst I was at her house last year. Pretty much everything I've made from it since, we've absolutely loved. I have to confess I've never actually checked that the meals come in at under £1 per person, but I'm quite willing to just take Miguel Barclay's word for it...

Favourite recipes: 
Bacon and Asparagus Tagliatelle
Butternut Gnocchi with Crispy Parma Ham & Feta
Pork Saltimbocca & Green Pea Mash
Churrasco Burger

Rukmini Iyer, The Roasting Tin, £10.51 (AMAZON)
This is potentially the best recipe book you could ever buy if you tend to verge on the slightly lazier side of cooking. Pretty much every recipe is cooked in just one roasting tin, and every chapter starts with a summary of the roasting times for different types of grain/vegetable/pasta etc... so you can adapt any of the recipes to change the base ingredients as you wish. I totally adore the design of the book, and have made so many of the recipes within it. I'd go so far as to say that this is potentially our current most-used recipe book, so definitely check it out whilst it's only £10.51 on Amazon!

Favourite recipes: 
Chargrilled Lamb on Flatbreads with Pine Nuts, Raisins & Goat's Cheese (I always swap the raisins for pomegranate seeds!)
Avocado and Chicken Salad with Pomegranates & Brown Rice
Bulgur Wheat with Roasted Red Peppers, Tomatoes, Feta & Pine Nuts (substituting giant couscous for the bulgur wheat though!)
Spelt with Chorizo, Sweet Potato, Red Onion & Spinach (with giant couscous again instead of spelt...)

Joe Wicks, Lean In 15, £9.99 (AMAZON)
I first came across Joe Wicks a couple of years ago when a friend of mine decided to take part in one of his personalised programmes and absolutely raved about the recipes she'd been given on the program in the shift phase. I actually can't recall how quickly I ran out and bought this book when it was released but I feel like I've owned it for a long time now - it could be one of the oldest recipe books I own, but that's not saying a great deal given that I'm only 25. Once again, this is a super easy recipe book but the reason I particularly love this one is because it's broken down into chapters based on your exercise level during that day. So if you've just done a big work out, you've earned yourself some carbs, and if you haven't? Well that's just tough luck and you'll have to make do with one of the lighter recipe chapters. Definitely not a hardship though, I promise you that. If you're that way inclined, there are also a few workouts in here, so it's a good place to start if you're looking for a bit of a lifestyle change.

Favourite recipes:
Thai Green Curry
Cheeky Chicken Fried Rice
Mighty Duck Noodles
Sammy The Sea Bass with Spaghetti

Happy cooking! X