Hello all! Forgive me if this question has been asked already, but I searched and couldn't find any posts similar to my question...

Anyway, I'm a calorie counter who isn't all that great a cook. I'm a bit on the cautious side when it comes to trying new things and I tend to eat the same thing over and over.

As you can imagine, it's getting b o r i n g !!!

I was wondering if anyone has any favorite cook books (magazines or websites would work too) they can recommend? I'd love for the recipes to be somewhat on the easy side--easy to prepare and easy to find ingredients. Lastly, I'm trying to eat more 'natural' foods, ie: cutting way back on the artificial sweeteners and fat free stuff and sticking with less processed foods.

Thanks so much in advance for any recommendations/suggestions!

Hi Sandye! I have the Better Homes and Gardens New CookBook. It's really great, has tons of recipes and is easy to read. I think they may even give calorie amounts but I'm not totally sure. It also has tips about cooking certain foods, it's only $20 at Walmart and totally worth it.

I swear by allrecipes.com, which lets you search recipes by ingredients.

Oh thanks for the suggestions girls!!
Kyla~ I may just have that cookbook--I'll have to check! Thanks for the reminder!
gt26~ I love allrecipes, it's just that sometimes I don't have time to peruse the site all that much. However, I haven't done a search by ingredients--I'll have to try that! Thanks for the tip!
wrueangel~ thanks for the link! I'll have to check it out!!

I Googled and found Low Fat Cooking for Dummies It sounds right up my alley! Perhaps I'll have to hit a local bookstore and check it out.

Thanks again for the suggestions girls! I'd love to hear more if anyone else has any to throw at me!

Are you cooking just for you? The 15-Minute Single Gourmet was invaluable when I was learning to cook (and I knew *nothing*). Easy, easy recipes, generally whole foods, helps you learn cooking and foods. And obviously, the recipes are for a single serving (except ones that keep especially well, like soups, that are 2-serving recipes). The author is Paulette Mitchell.

search hungry girl's blog for recipes. she's got tons and tons of fantastic stuff she's made lower fat/cal.

Julie~ Thank you so much! I'm trying not to cook for just me, but that's how it turns out most of the time--I make one thing for the rest of my family and then something for me. I have recently informed them all that they will be eating what I eat from now on. I'm tired of being a short order cook. Even though the book you recommended is geared more towards single servings--it shouldn't be hard to double, triple and so on, each recipe. Thanks so much!

Shrinking Girl~ I'll have to check HG out! I have her 200 Under 200, but as you can imagine there aren't a lot of entrees in there. I'll head over there tonight after the kiddos are in bed! Thank for the advice!

Jacque~ Hey you! Thanks for the suggestion, I've never been over there. I'll be checking it out tonight too!!

Thank you ladies for all of you suggestion and input!! I really appreciate it!

CookingLight.com.

eatingwell.com