I have successfully completed my second recipe from my personal Cookbook Challenge!

This week, I used my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook Bridal Edition to find my meal inspiration.

This cookbook seriously AMAZED me.  I received it from a dear family friend at my very first bridal shower, but I had yet to really look at what this book had to offer.  It is nothing short of amazing.

The book starts by offering information about almost every kitchen tool and how to use it along with substitute options if you don’t own a particular tool.  It then details how to arrange food beautifully for parties, how to prepare for large dinner gatherings, how to include your spouse while cooking, and THEN it gets to the recipes!

In the recipe section, it does not have pictures for every single recipe but it has pictures for most.  Several of the recipes make larger portions, and the book provides recipe suggestions that use the leftovers in the days after the initial meal is created.

My favorite part of the book is the “make it your own” suggestions.  These are kind of like recipe formulas where the book explains the essential parts of a recipe and then lets the cook customize by picking his/her own veggies, toppings, mix-ins, etc.  It’s awesome!

Needless to say, I can’t wait to try more yummy recipes from this book 🙂

Sunday night, Brian and I had his family over for dinner and a wedding picture viewing party so I wanted to make something tasty that everyone would enjoy.  I opted for the chipotle black bean burgers.

I liked the idea that everyone could “build their own” burger and add toppings as they wanted.  I followed the recipe exactly, so we served the burgers on tostadas with cabbage, salsa, cheese, onion, and sour cream as topping options.

They tasted great, but they didn’t hold together very well.

I guess flavor is the only real thing that matters…right?!

After dinner, we viewed all of our wedding pictures (1800!!) while enjoying my mom’s fabulous zucchini cake.

Man, that stuff is GOOD!

Question of the Morning:

• What is a new recipe that you have created or made recently…feel free to link up or share the recipe in the comments section!