“Mom, that’s so weird. Who recreationally reads cookbooks?”

I have vivid memories of my mom curled up in her recliner, pile of cookbooks in her lap, on lazy weekend days. She would wave me off, picking through page by page, sometimes stopping to read a particularly tasty-sounding food combination out loud. I might have gotten her nose and face structure, but I knew for sure that I would never get her cookbook-reading hobby.

Fast-forward 25 years and – yep, you guessed it. I love reading cookbooks, not just for the recipes but to hear the love and personality shining through between a-cup-of-this and a-cup-of-that directions.

Pinterest might be the modern cookbook – and it does in a pinch – but there’s nothing quite as satisfying as paging through a thick tome, looking for the recipe that suits your fancy. It’s something I don’t do often enough but will be doing regularly, thanks to my 2017 goals.

I needed a black-eyed peas recipe for this week. After all, who wouldn’t want some good luck coming their way for the next 365 days? This would have gone way quicker if I could have typed “black-eyed peas” into a search engine and scrolled past the Fergie references, but there was some satisfaction in scooping up an armful of cookbooks and going on a scavenger hunt. None in my Pioneer Woman cookbooks, shockingly, but a favorite Rachael Ray cookbook had what I needed. “Look + Cook” is super easy and the “Pork and Black-Eyed Pea Chili” was heart-warming and tummy warming. If it brings good luck this year, all the better.