Cookbooks

Has this summer's reading club inspired you to start cooking? Here are some great cookbooks with easy and delicious recipes that you can make yourself this summer.

Teens Cook Dessert
From quick treats to impressive sweets, this step-by-step guide teaches you to make delicious desserts - the kinds teens like to make and eat. Sisters Megan and Jill Carle understand what other teens know and don't know about baking, and they clearly describe and explain everything their peers need to do to produce fabulous results. A great follow-up to Teens Cook and with 75 delicious recipes included!


A Teen's Vegetarian Cookbook 
From Apple-Date Dessert to Zesty BBQ Burgers, vegetarian cooking is more varied and exciting than ever before. Here are over 120 recipes for mouth-watering and nutritious meals, snacks, and desserts-- including: Easy Homemade Granola, Cold Sesame Noodles, Thai Coconut Curry, and Chocolate Coma--that are easy enough for beginning chefs to handle. You'll also find a glossary of cooking terms and unusual ingredients, complete step-by-step menus for meals the whole family can enjoy, and a chapter on college cuisine.

Clueless in the Kitchen
This thorough and witty culinary guide demystifies the kitchen and its contents for young adults and anyone who's found themselves in front of a full fridge exclaiming, "There's nothing to eat here!" With 200 easy-to-follow recipes, Evelyn Raab shows culinary novices how to make all kinds of simple and scrumptious dishes for every meal and occasion. Recipes are coded with easy-to-understand icons and symbols that sort each dish into categories, such as vegetarian meals, cheap eats, couch potato, mom and family food, and cooking to impress.

Real Food, Real Fast
British teen Sam Stern is a great cook, and he's on a mission to get everyone else doing it. He's offering REAL FOOD, REAL FAST to lure all those time-pressured teens away from their fast-food fixes. With his engaging conversational tone -- and the help of his friends -- Sam breezily runs through dozens of recipes, using real ingredients and simple techniques. But what makes these dishes a cinch for even cooking-resistant kids are the cool tabs that indicate preparation times of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 minutes.

The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook
Learn to make recipes inspired by the Hunger Games! For the first time, you will be able to create delicious recipes from the humble District 12 to the extravagant Capital, including: French Bread from the Mellark Family Bakery, Katniss's Favorite Lamb Stew with Dried Plums, Rue's Roasted Parsnips, Gale's Bone-Pickin' Big Game Soup, and Capitol-Grade Dark Chocolate Cake
 

And remember that we have a great selection of cooking magazines that you can check out too! I always find great recipes in Vegetarian Times.

If you haven't signed up for the Summer Reading Club yet, there is still time. Come by the Reference Desk and start earning some prizes for the books you're reading this summer!

Kimberly

Reading is So Delicious!

Our Summer Reading Club begins this week! Sign up at the Reference Desk and earn prizes for the books you read this summer. Our grand prizes this year are a Nook Simple Touch, an iPod shuffle, and iTunes and Barnes & Noble gift cards. 

This year's theme is "Reading is So Delicious!" Here are some great food-related books to read this summer!

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother, Rayka, escape Rayka's abusive boyfriend and end up in the small town of Culpepper, West Virginia. Foster dreams of having her own cooking show like her idol, celebrity chef Sonny Kroll. Rayka longs to be a headliner instead of a back-up singer. Macon Dillard's goal is to be a documentary filmmaker. And Miss Charleena plans a triumphant return to Hollywood. Everyone has a dream, but nobody is even close to famous in the little town of Culpepper. Until some unexpected events shake the town and its inhabitants-and put their big ambitions to the test.

The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen
Macy's summer stretches before her, carefully planned and outlined. She plans to work at the library, spend her evenings studying for the SATs, wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp. Spare time will be used to help her obsessive mother prepare for the big opening of the townhouse section of her luxury development. But Macy's plans don't anticipate a surprising and chaotic job with Wish Catering, a motley crew of new friends, or...Wes. Tattooed, artistic, anything-but-expected Wes. He doesn't fit Macy's life at all-so why does she feel so comfortable with him? So...happy? What is it about him that makes her let down her guard and finally talk about how much she misses her father, who died before her eyes the year before?

Kitchen Princess by Miyuki Kobayashi and Natsumi Ando
Najika is a great cook and likes to make meals for the people she loves but something is missing from her life. When she was a child, she met a boy who touched her heart and now Najika is determined to find him. The only clue she has is a silver spoon that leads her to the prestigious Seika Academy. Attending Seika will be a challenge. Every kid at the school has a special talent, and the girls in Najika's class think she doesn't deserve to be there. But Sora and Daichi, two popular brothers who barely speak to each other, recognize Najika's cooking for what it is: magical. Is either boy Najika's mysterious prince?

Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw
Cyril Bartholomew isn't exactly everyone's idea of a dream date and he's a little on the heavy side. Not that he gets pushed around or anything, but it does cause him to keep one very important secret from everyone: he loves too cook. The only person who knows this secret is his best friend, Nick. Nick is just about the opposite of Cyril-he's a really attractive track star who is cool in a rebellious sort of way. Cyril has never been jealous of Nick, though. . .until the day that Nick decides he is interested in Rose Mulligan, Cyril's long-time secret crush. Cyril helps Nick woo Rose with culinary masterpieces which secretly creates. Includes recipes from the story.

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who's playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything?

Kimberly