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if you want to know about kosher symbols (hexsures(sic)), kosherquest.org has LOTS of information as well as other kosher resources.

there's this book on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Keep-Kosher-Comprehensive-Understanding/dp/0060515007/sr=8-1/qid=1163779180/ref=sr_1_1/104-0535041-1398335?ie=UTF8&s=books
I haven't read it; but a member of my congregation wrote it.

pretty much, keeping meat and milk separate are the keys. parve food is neither. everything vegan is parve, honey is parve, eggs are parve, and fish (that has scales and fins), is parve.

If you are cooking for someone else, just ask what their level of kashrut is. Some will only eat packaged food with hexsures on it, others say that a can of tomatoes doesn't need supervision. It is agreed; tho- that fruits and vegetables (fresh) do not need supervision, eggs do not need them, nor does us certified milk; nor does honey, whole grains, or maple syrup from vermont. Then there is the issue of cookware. others need all the pots and pans to be kosher. (never touched anything unkosher, only used for milk or meat; not both).
traif food includes pork and shellfish. Ask them, they'll be happy to tell you.

if what you are looking for is traditional eastern-europe jewish food (gefilte fish, brisket, kasha vanishkas, latkes) there are lots of great jewish cookbooks out there. my favorite from growing up (out of print, tho :( is jennie grossinger's art of jewish cooking.

clodia rodan also has a jewish cookbook out, as does gil marks. Additionally, molly katzen has some good traditional jewish recipes in her moosewood and enchanted broccoli forest cookbooks.

online ,recipesource.com has a jewish recipe section as well.

good luck!

All the recipes on my blog are kosher.

In addition, the Kosher Cooking Carnival just happened:

http://renegadekosher.wordpress.com/2006/11/16/kosher-cooking-carnival-12kosher-cooking-carnival-12/

A couple of good recipes there

My favorite cookbook is Mama Leah's Jewish Kitchen by Leah Fisher

evan, my cousin often uses vegan recipes to round out her meals (vegan dishes are paerve and can be served with either milk or meat entress). for vegan entrees that use soy, seitan, or some other vegetable protein, you could just use regular chicken or meat.

and vegetarian recipes, of course, come in very handy when you're serving a dairy meal.

so i would suggest looking into vegan/vegetarian resources too.

i mostly use vegetarian cookbooks, and then compliment with kosher chicken/meat recipes (if not making dairy) (you can easily find kosher tofu or tempeh)
so you can get pretty creative, and make most things taht aren't necessarily specifically labelled as 'kosher recipe'
as jillrenee mentioned above, as long as the ingredients are kosher, and you aren't mixing milk and meat, it is kosher. then there is the whole issue of pots/ovens which may mean that depending on level of observance, the recipe can be fine, but still wouldn't be 'kosher'.
feel free to email with any more specific questions.

there is a cookbook series, Kosher By Design by Susie Fishbein, that is considered required reading by all observant women in the 5towns of LI. the entire book is kosher cooking so there isn't an issue with substituting ingredients (except for making a recipe either parve or dairy or parve or meat). so, it simplifies making kosher meals...which are not necessarily "traditional", just kosher versions of "regular" food.

or, you can just substitute soy milk for any recipes that requires milk or parve margarine for butter in exactly the same amounts. there is no difference in taste...even martha stewart's precise menus are fine with the soy/margarine subs.

and if you are concerned about hechsher just check the labels...some soy products are listed as DE (dairy equipment) which for some observant jews, makes is unacceptable to use with meat but ok to serve after meat. try to find Parve if you are making a meat dish, like Trader Joes soy milk.

hope this helps!

Chris - thanks for the link.

Evan - one word of warning, don't be tempted down the substitution route. Too often kosher cooks try to substitute non-kosher elements into their cooking. The most obvious being the use of margarine as a butter substitute or fake cream as a cream substitute.

There is a rich history of kosher cuisine out there that doesn't require the substitution of natural ingredients with ersatz, GM riddled food. (That's the type of rant Chris was referring to.)

Even though I live in Israel, I don't really keep things kosher myself, but a fellow blogger - BurekaBoy, has a pretty cool blog and he tries to keep the faith - you can check him out at: http://is-that-my-bureka.blogspot.com/

I'm one of those 'bad Kosher cooks' who uses Dairy-free Margarine a lot in my cooking. I see nothing wrong with it, myself, but that's me. But then I never claimed to cook traditional Kosher food too often. ^^ I think it important to ALWAYS discuss with your rabbi to find out what's what. Some Rabbis accept the rule of if it's kosher, go for it! Other only recognize certian certifications, and may keep stricter/different rules. It's worth it to go that extra mile to make sure what you're doing is 'kosher', no pun intended. ^^