Lately it seems, that every time I browse through my local book shop, or on the net, something which feels an awful lot like guilt, stops me from buying any more cook books.
I have so many on my shelves, a lot which have been cooked from, but a lot which haven’t been.
My challenge is this – to cook at least one recipe from EVERY book in my collection….
Can it be done?
I don’t know, but I’m going to try.
I’ve put an ‘Off the Shelf’ tab at the top of the page, where I will list the books I cook from alphabetically by author and then name of book. I will link back to the relevant post as I complete them.
I hope you’ll enjoy this as much as I’m going to.
At the bottom of the post, I’ll also answer these three questions:
Marks out of ten?
Would I make this again?
Would I do anything differently?
(These are my books which are not relegated to boxes in the loft!)
At Anna’s Kitchen Table 
You've given yourself a real challenge, but I suspect it is one that will be great fun to tackle. You have some wonderful cookbooks in your collection. Have a great day. Blessings…Mary
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Sounds like a good plan that inspires me; I have so many books just sitting there. I jsut spotted you on Gloria's blog and thought I would drop in for a cup of tea.
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Mary, that's why I've not set a time limit to complete the challenge in, just whenever I want.Hi, Rita, welcome to my little blog, enjoy your time here!
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Wow, you have a LOT of cookbooks!!! I'm not a fan of buying them unless I've had them and inspected them (usually from the library) and I've deemed them worthy of my shelf. I have about 10 probably. To be fair, I'm the same way with books of the non-cooking variety ~ when I know I can get them for free from the library, that works for me! With recipes, it's the internet.
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Hi Katie,I get what you're saying, but that's not me. I adore my books, and the fact I can refer to them, drool over them whenever I want!I have re-sold any that I don't like, or given them to charity shops.
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I wish you a lot of luck with your personal challenge. My wife challenged me to cook one recipe from every book we own back in January 2009. I've managed around 75 books so far and that's less than half. I'm too easily distr … ooh, look a shiny thing.
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Ha ha ha! Thanks Phil! :)) that's funny!
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What a great idea! I have many of the same books and you will be my inspiration 🙂
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That's great, Anna! Can't wait to see what you'll be making from The Primrose Bakery ;-PGood luck!Maria xx
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What a collection and a great idea..Fun project..I'll be watching:)
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Brilliant plan Anna- I too have many a cookbook that I haven't actually cooked a recipe from! Looking forward to reading how you get on!
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Love to see cook books Anna!! nice idea!
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Thats a great idea, I need to do that too! Ive had the same guilt from buying new books as you and Ive had to curb my habit lolhave you tried websites like Eat Your Books? You put all your books on a database, and then when you want to cook something and you have say, a pumpkin and you cant think what to do with it you can just enter it into the search and all the books you have with a pumpkin recipe will show up! Its really helped me use my books more often! as its so much faster than scanning thru 2 or 3 books – it scans thru them all for you!
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I am very impressed by your awesome cookbook collection. Someday, when I have a larger house, I would love to emulate you:)
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Jax, that is a fantastic idea!!I'll have a look at that site today :)))
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wow that is quite a tough challenge, but i really hope you do it, and I'm sure you can and will do brilliantly! I for one, can't wait to look at all that you've cooked up!
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Sounds like a great idea to me, and something I could definitely do with joining you in! I'm glad to see someone else with as many bookshelves of cookery books as me. And even though I don't cook from them that often I'd hate to give them up! I am starting to feel pangs of guilt when I see new cookery books and think to myself 'No, must use the ones I already have'. I tend to crumble and buy the new ones too though!
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Fantastic challenge Anna, best of luck!I'm really looking forward to reading about and seeing the results.
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Oh I look forward to this challenge! I feel the same as you – so many cookbooks, only a few have been used. I've also resolved to cook from more cookbooks this year – fingers crossed!
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I think anyone who has more than five cookbooks is in this situation! Though my collection isn't as much as your utterly desirable one, I am guilty of the same. Looking forward to this very much …go ANNA!
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That's a very impressive cookbook collection there Anna! 🙂 Looking forward to reading your verdict 🙂
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Ha ha, thanks everyone for your support. Seems many of us are in the same boat!Jaxstar, that website 'Eat your books' is GREAT!
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Anna, this is a great idea and one I should also do myself!Mariax
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Thanks Maria! I don't use my cookbooks half as much as perhaps I should!
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Brilliant challenge you've set yourself. It looks like it might take you some time. I've been tryng not to buy any books for some time as I have no where to put them, but it's very hard! When do the books from the loft come down???
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That's some collection, how many books have you got (and how's it going testing all those recipes?) x
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