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For Christmas this year I got the best basic cookbook on the market along with a wonderful holiday cookbook from my husband. Our kids also got a great Christmas surprise this year with Betty Crocker Cooking Basics: Recipes and Tips to Cook with Confidence.

This hardcover, spiral-bound book is packed with useful information for the beginning cook. The bulk of the cookbook includes tasty recipes that don't need complicated ingredients and don't require complex steps.

Each recipe includes some specific cooking tips. For example, one explains how to easily cut cheeses, another explains pasta substitutes. Not only are there photos of the final product, there are also photos of preparation steps. Beginning chefs will see the proper way to chop garlic, string pea pods, poach an egg, etc.

The recipe chapters include:

• Main Dish Salads, Sandwiches and Soups
• Pasta Favorites
• Main Dishes, Meat to Meatless
• Great for Grilling
• Side Salads and Veggies
• Snacks and Sweet Treats
• Three Get-Together Menus

At the end of the book is a real bonus for new cooks. The Beyond the Basics section has a very good ingredient glossary, a cooking terms glossary, useful preparation techniques, a guide to selecting knives, tips about thermometers and other cooking equipment, detailed information about herbs and spices, grilling basics, food safety information, food storage tips, emergency substitutions, and yields and equivalents.

This book is not only a great recipe source, but a great cooking reference all around. As homeschoolers we get a special bonus as this is a great setup for a cooking curriculum! Two of my kids have already bookmarked a slew of recipes they want to try.

If you're looking for a great beginner cookbook or a good basic cooking resource, Cooking Basics is top notch.

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.