The wedding gift that changed our life

We've been married for almost a year and a half. In that time, we've found a lot of uses for some of the items for which we registered. The plates, glasses, cups, flatware- use them every day. The pots and pans, most days in a week. The mixer, about once a week.

But none of those things really changed our life. We did just fine without them- our life isn't any different because we got them; prettier, perhaps, since everything matches, but it didn't change things.

There is one gift that we got, however, that has really changed the way we do things around our house. It wasn't on our registry, and was actually a shower gift.

How to Cook Everything

This is our go to cookbook, for just about everything. My mom's go to cookbook was McCall's, and we have a Joy of Cooking, but this is really the one that teaches you how to cook, in plain english, with items you already have in the cupboard.

Favorite recipes include ice cream (best Christmas present last year was the Kitchenaid mixer attachment), pizza dough (a doubled recipe makes enough for 3 pizza stone sized pizzas, and keeps in the freezer), and crackers. Yes, crackers. For really cheap (like, 20 cents cheap) and 15 minutes time, you can have amazing homemade crackers. They are Calvin's specialty, and he makes them all the time.

We've given the cookbook to every member of our families, and talk about it whenever cooking comes up. It is that fantastic. And who knew that a cookbook could change your life?

What was your most useful wedding gift? And what is your favorite cookbook?