Great Cookbooks that I Can’t Live Without

First of all, I have to say that I am a Junior League/Service League cookbook collector junkie.  They are all great and I have not found a bad one yet.  Anytime we travel, I try to pick up a memento cookbook from that city.   So far, I have collected books from Little Rock, New Orleans, Denver, Birmingham, Houston, Dallas (this is an antique one that I LOVE), Kansas City, Watlerloo/Cedar Falls, Tulsa, Reno, Wilmington (NC), St. Louis, Springfield (MO), Enid (OK), and Stillwater (OK).  Stir Ups (from Enid) and Jambalaya (from New Orleans) are my two favorites.

I have included ALL of my “go to” books here.  You will notice a couple of antiques among the list from my grandmother’s collection.

Best Recipes from the Cook Book Guild.  Ed. Patricia Fink.  New York:  Doubleday, 1972.
Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (New and Revised).  New York:  Golden Press, 1986.
Gourmet Cookbook, The.  Ed. Ruth Reichl.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Household Searchlight Recipe Book, The.  Topeka:  Household Magazine, 1942.
Junior League of New Orleans.  Jambalaya (15th Anniversary Edition).  Memphis:  Wimmer, 1983.
Junior Welfare League, Enid, OK.  Stir Ups.  Memphis:  S.C. Toof and Company, 1982.
Kelley, JeanneBlue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes.  Philadelphia:  Running Press, 2008.
Lawson, NigellaNigella Bites.  New York:  Hyperion, 2002.
Leone, Gene.  Leone’s Italian Cookbook.  New York:  Harper & Row, 1967
Rombauer, Irma S., Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker.  The Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary Edition.  New York:  Scribner, 2006.
*Wilbur, Todd.  Top Secret Restaurant Recipes.  New York:  Plume, 1997.
Wood, Margaret.  A Painter’s Kitchen:  Recipes from the Kitchen of Georgia O’Keefe.  Santa Fe:  Museum of New Mexico Press, 2009.

*I am a bit embarrassed to include this one, but it has an awesome French toast recipe and a great BBQ sauce recipe!

If you have a cookbook that you can’t live without, pleast post a comment.