My 3 favorite cookbooks are Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, and Taste of Home. They are all basic ingredient cookbooks, especially the older versions. I've always had good luck with their recipes. BH&G has some good specialty cookbooks, the New Diet book, and the diabetic cookbook, and Healthy Choices cookbook. I've had Cooking Light, Southern Living and Eating Well books, but found them to lean towards more of the gourmet style of eating, as I think of it, or use cooking practices that I'm not familiar with.E.