I went to a ginormous library book sale yesterday and bought about 10 cookbooks. Currently, I rely pretty heavily on 2 books for recipes, but I’m hoping some of the ones I bought yesterday will become favorites. Anyway, this got me to thinkin’ that some cookbook reviews might be in order for Community Eats.

And so here you go!

Title: The Simpler The Better
Author: Leslie Revsin
Published: 2004
ISBN: 0471482315

I love this cookbook. In fact, I think I’m practically in love with this cookbook. Most of the recipes so far on this site come from The Simpler the Better, and for good reason: they’re straightforward, easy to execute, and delicious. Emphasis on delicious.

I don’t like a lot of extra fluff and detail. . .just tell me what to do and how to do it. Revisn has a clear and concise way of writing her recipes that appeals to me. Each one consists of about 5-10 ingredients and about 3 brief steps to prep and cook.

The only downside are the serving sizes, which tend to run small. Most recipes are supposed to make 4 servings, but I find they only feed about 3. So, if you need to increase the amounts, double them and then some.

In terms of community cooking, I find the book’s layout and format quite nice. I can usually give it a quick glance and I’ll know what I need to do next. . .which is nice when you’re directing 2 or 3 other people in meal prep. Also, I like that the ingredients are mostly very common and easy to find, since, with my community group at least, each member is responsible for providing one item.