Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
The Supermarket Epicure by Joanna Pruess
Beat This! by Ann Hodgman
Beat That! by Ann Hodgman
The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin
Salad Dressings by Teresa H. Burns
COOKBOOK REVIEWS:
Grill!by Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson (Good Books - 2006) - "Quick and Delicious Recipes for Indoor and Outdoor Grilling" - - - Attractive paperbound book featuring a nice selection of recipes, many with an international flair, that can be prepared on a gas grill, charcoal grill, or indoors on a grill pan. The book features full page color photos of many of the recipes, plus sections offering information, tips and advice on successful grilling, tools of the trade, food safety, cleaning, and handy hints for grilling meat and fish. The recipes are broken into sections that includes starters, main meals, "bread in hand", skewered, salads and vegetables, there's even a few desserts! I tried out some of the recipes in meals, we used a charcoal grill for all the cooking - here's how it went: Meal 1 - "Whiskey, Garlic and Brown Sugar Salmon", and "Smoked Vegetarian Caesar Salad" Whiskey, Garlic and Brown Sugar Salmon - This recipe had easy directions to follow, just a basic salmon marinated in a simple to prepare (just five ingredients) sauce. The result was a "different" tasting salmon - nice, but nothing fantastic. It was really quite plain, I feel there are better ways to prepare salmon. This ended up being the least favorite of the seven recipes we prepared. Smoked Vegetarian Caesar Salad - An unusual and excellent Caesar Salad - who would have thought of making a salad on the grill? Really creative idea here. The recipe required an elaborate, but easy to follow process - but the results were well worth it with this one. The salad has a homemade dressing and "crispy capers" made on the grill - the capers really do crisp up on the grill when sauteed long enough (per the directions). Then you place lettuce halves right on the grill which gives the whole salad a nice smoky flavor. Yum!
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The salmon in this meal was a bit boring, but the really excellent salad made up for it.
Meal 2 - "Sirloin with Chimichurri Marinade", and "Grilled S'Mores Sandwiches" Sirloin with Chimichurri Marinade - A sirloin steak marinated in an herb and vinegar mixture, this came out very tasty with a nice spice level. The marinade has quite a few ingredients, but certainly well worth the effort as this really came out good. This recipe was one of my favorites.
Grilled S'Mores Sandwiches - Really good and very easy! Well, I had to give one of the desserts a try - I wasn't sure how these would come out as instead of graham crackers which, as the book states, "don't fare well on the grill", these S'mores are made with bread. Well, they came out really gooey and delicious - loved this.
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These were my two favorite recipes out of the seven prepared for this review, so Meal 2 ended up being a real winner!
Meal 3 - "Peri-Peri Butterflied Chicken", and "Fattoush" Peri-Peri Butterflied Chicken - This recipe requires you to butterfly the chicken, insert it on metal skewers, then marinate and grill. The preparation was not too hard and the butterflying allowed for fairly quick grilling. It came out very good, the meat nice and juicy with a nice, spicy skin from the marinade.
Fattoush - A Lebanese bread salad made with flour tortillas that was pretty easy to make, but you did have to be very careful to not burn the tortillas, which are heated on the grill. The recipe also had one odd, unavailable ingredient, sumac, which we couldn't find so substituted a bit of lemon and some paprika for color in place of the sumac (I got the idea from a website on substitutions). This salad came out very tasty, with a nice blend of flavors. I liked this quite a bit.
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Meal 3 was also a very flavorful meal, really a pretty mouthwatering chicken dish and the salad seemed just the right side for this.
Other Recipes Prepared - "The Classic Hamburger" - This recipe is actually a non-traditional style of hamburger - i.e., with bread crumb, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and the like in the meat mixture (like a meatball or meatloaf) - toppings are just suggested including standard classic burger toppings like ketchup, mustard, lettuce, dill pickles, etc. The recipe directions and suggestions worked well in making the patty and grilling and this actually did come out pretty good for this type of burger. I would have actually liked it if the recipe included a suggestion for the *ideal* way to top this, rather than just expecting you to come up with your own toppings, but really this was very, very tasty.
Summary: - - - This book is full of lots and lots of recipes that I thought sounded interesting, it was hard to pick which ones to try out. Most of the recipes we did try were really excellent and full of flavor. The recipes, in general, seem a bit too complex for a beginner cook, but anyone with a bit of cooking experience should have no trouble. Our use of a charcoal grill could have made cooking a little more difficult as many of the recipes seem to call for different heat levels at different times, a gas grill would perhaps be easier to use. Since the book includes quite a few international recipes, especially those featuring Asian and Middle Eastern flavors, there was a bit of a problem finding a few of the ingredients, or recipes we avoided because they included an ingredient that was not easily found. As a whole though, I think this is a great book on grilling as it features such a variety of unusual flavors and recipes, in other words - many unique and creative dishes, and not just your standard, run-of-the-mill recipes for the grill you see every day. Here are some recipes that have caught my eye (helped along by the appealing looking photos) that I haven't yet tried - "Steak Sandwiches with Fennel Relish", "Carmelized Lamb Chops", "Spinach and Ricotta-Stuffed Chicken", "Pizza with Tomatoes and Chevre Pesto", "Shrimp and Chorizo Skewers", "Grilled Chicken, Papaya, and Chili Salad", "Grilled Banana Split" (oh boy!) - and that's just naming a few - I'm getting hungry!
Juice! by Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson (Good Books - 2004) - "Over 110 Delicious Recipes" - - - Book for the very health-conscience featuring a nice selection of tasty, natural, healthful juice concoctions using a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and seasonings - all photographed in lush, colorful photographs that make every juice drink shown look like a tropical delight. The book is broken down into sections based on time of day and includes a large well-done chart in the back of the book with storage and juicing preparation tips, benefits, and approximate juice yield for all the many fruits and vegetables used in the recipes. The book also includes tips on juicers and blenders, juicing methods, and even a nice little section on herbal remedies. I tried out some of the juice recipes myself including: Barbie Pink - One of the "Seven am: Wake-up Call" drinks suitable to drink in the morning. This one contains raspberries, muesli, yogurt, and honey and came out extremely thick. It was flavorful, though I'm not sure I wouldn't just like to have a bowl of muesli with the fresh raspberries on top instead. As stated in the recipe, this came out a bright bubble-gum pink color.
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One - Listed in the chapter "Three pm: Energizers", a blend of carrot, orange, apple, and a little chopped fresh ginger. Well, what can I say - this was much better than expected. I wasn't so sure how this combination of flavors would taste, but this juice came out quite yummy, with a real zing to it. I actually WOULD call it an energizer.
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Malibu Cooler - From my favorite juice category, "Five pm: Cocktail Hour" - fresh pineapple, ground almonds, and coconut milk, the recipe states "This drink will transport you to the Caribbean in seconds". Yes, I suppose that's true, especially when you add a little Rum to the mix as I did! Please note: it does say at the beginning of this chapter that alcohol can be added to these drinks if sedation is required - but it does render the health benefits of the drink less beneficial. Ah, well.
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Holiday - Okay, tried another one from the "Cocktail Hour" category. This one features pineapple, coconut milk, and banana. Thick and tasty. This drink was my favorite of those I prepared - very cool and refreshing on a hot summer day, this tasted a bit like a banana milkshake, but with more of a tropical flavor, perhaps a bit Pina Colada-like. Yum.
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There are lots more interesting sounding juice recipes in the book: how about "Hot Recharge", "Mango Lush", "Strawberry Blond", "Coconut Dream", or the one just called "Clean". There's even a recipe for one called "Vampire Juice" which includes, among other things, beetroot and, well, green algae?! I'm not so sure about that one - but most of the recipes sound quite enticing.
Summary: - - - This book includes a nice selection and variety of tempting juice drinks - and not your grocery story variety juice drinks, these are thick, flavorful, and extremely healthy tasting mixtures that actually do give you a sense of well-being and good health. The recipes are all easy and quick to make. Plus, it's a pretty easy way to get down a whole lot of fruits and veggies at once.
12 Best Foods Cookbook by Dana Jacobi (Rodale - 2005) - "Over 200 Delicious Recipes Featuring the 12 Healthiest Foods" - - - Healthy cooking book offering ideas and loads of tasty recipes all based around the 12 best all-around foods to maintain optimal health. For those wondering just what those are, here's a list: blueberries, black beans, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, salmon, spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, chocolate, walnuts, soy, and onions (yes, you did read that right - chocolate, I was glad to hear that too!). The opening part of the book features benefits, buying and storing tips, and cooking techniques for each of the 12 foods. Then it's on to the recipes. Broken into sections such as: Soups, Salads and Dressings, Poultry and Meat, Fish, Sandwiches and Baked Goods, Vegetables and Side Dishes, Desserts, and more, many of the recipes feature a side bar that includes food facts, and tips for preparing each recipe. There are also some attractive color photos of some of the dishes interspersed throughout the book. I tried out some of the recipes, trying to include something from each of the 12 foods. Here's how it went: Meal 1 - "Salmon Fried Rice", and "Broccoli Balsamico" Salmon Fried Rice - Yum, yum, yum is all I can say here. I REALLY liked this easy-to-prepare fried rice recipe. Broccoli Balsamico - Broccoli florets mixed with a simple sauce. I am not much of a fan of broccoli, but knowing of it's health benefits, I'm always looking for new ways to cook it to add some flavor. This recipe did the trick for me - really, quite yummy.
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A very tasty meal, and seemed really healthy too.
Meal 2 - "Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Gravy", and "Baby Spinach, Watercress, and Apple Salad" Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Gravy - A stuffed pork chop, served over a sweet potato mixture. I really don't care for sweet potatoes much, but decided to try this recipe because it looked good in the photo of it and I LOVE pork chops. Well, this came out fairly good, though I still had a problem with the strong sweet potato flavor (nothing wrong with the recipe, just my weird taste). Baby Spinach, Watercress, and Apple Salad - This simple salad was prepared with a homemade Cracked Mustard Dressing. The dressing is made with tofu and has a nice, healthy flavor. This salad was quite good.
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I didn't like this as well as Meal 1, mainly because of my dislike for sweet potatoes. Others who ate this meal thought it was great though.
Other Recipes Prepared - "Mexican Chicken Stew with Black Beans" - This is a recipe that is very quick to make after a day at work. Simply prepared with chicken, black beans, tomatoes, and spices - this came out great and tasted nice and healthy to me after several days of heavy foods and restaurant meals over Memorial Day weekend! I really love this dish. Served this with a light green salad on the side. Terrific. "Southwestern Three-Bean Salad" - Very easy preparation - just a variety of canned beans mixed with prepared salsa verde and spices. This was delicious and the salsa I bought was very hot, so this came out quite spicy too. Yum. "Salmon Soong" - Asian-inspired mixture of salmon, veggies, and spices heated in a wok, then served in a lettuce cup. Really interesting idea, though the flavor didn't come out quite as good as the Salmon Fried Rice I also made from this book. Still, it was pretty good and certainly had a very healthy, fresh taste to it that was enjoyable. "Vietnamese Sweet Potato and Shrimp Pancakes with Lime Dipping Sauce" - Fearing the flavor of the sweet potato in this (which, as you already have read - I don't like) I went ahead with this appetizer recipe as it did sound interesting. Well - this came out to be the WOW recipe of the book. Lightly fried little pancakes stuffed with a couple of pieces of shrimp inside, then served with a yummy dipping sauce - absolutely delicious. I would love to serve these at a cocktail party - really, really great.
Summary: - - - I love the idea behind this book. Eating foods that help out with your complete health and well-being is something that I think we should all strive for. This book features lots of excellent recipes, a few I tried were particularly top-notch. Everything seemed to have such a fresh, natural flavor, and all the recipes tried were easy and trouble-free. I would have to say, this book is one of the best I have seen featuring recipes for a healthy lifestyle. I would definitely give this book high recommendations.
Peace, Love, and Barbecue by Mike Mills and Amy Mills Tunnicliffe (Rodale - 2005) - "Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue" - - - Attractive large-sized paperbound book full of vintage and recent black and white photographs. Interesting story of the author's love of barbecue includes family background and tales about his excursions to various barbecue joints around the country, and travel on the BBQ contest circuit. The book is interspersed with a sampling of barbecue recipes and side dishes. I tried out several recipes from this book in meals. Here's how they came out: Meal 1 - "Big Bob Gibson's Hickory-Smoked Chicken" with "Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce", and "Blue Smoke's Iceberg Wedges with Roquefort Dressing" "Big Bob Gibson's Hickory-Smoked Chicken" with "Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce" - A whole chicken cut in half and slow grilled over hickory wood, then at the end placed in a bowl of the homemade white sauce to coat prior to serving. Wow - a very unusual way to barbecue chicken and I have never actually used a white sauce as a barbecue marinade. This came out absolutely delicious, with an amazingly crisp and darkened skin on the chicken (almost blackened) that kept the moisture in the chicken, so that it tasted like it was done in a slow cooker - moist, juicy, and falling off the bone. Loved this. Blue Smoke's Iceberg Wedges with Roquefort Dressing - Extremely simple to make, just iceberg lettuce cut in wedges and served with the homemade Roquefort dressing. The dressing, also easy to prepare, came out extremely tasty.
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Loved this meal - superb, delicious. Leftovers tasted great the next day too.
Meal 2 - "Apple City Barbecue Grand World Championship Ribs", "17th Street's Tangy Pit Beans", "Colorful Pasta Primavera Salad" "Apple City Barbecue Grand World Championship Ribs" made with "Apple City Barbecue Sauce" and "Magic Dust Dry Rub" - Baby Back Pork Ribs rubbed with Mike Mill's very spicy homemade dry rub called "Magic Dust". The homemade Apple City Barbecue Sauce came out very, very tasty and made these ribs taste really great. I usually don't put so much extra sauce on my ribs, but this sauce was so exceptional - I couldn't stop eating it. 17th Street's Tangy Pit Beans - Easy to prepare using a variety of canned beans, and a homemade sweet barbecue sauce, these at first were a bit overly sweet. Plus, the rub used to flavor these was a bit more spice than I like in my beans. However, by the next day these beans had mellowed into something really, really yummy. I actually ended up really loving these beans. I would recommend making them a day in advance to give a chance for the flavors to meld. I also froze some (this makes a huge batch of beans) and they tasted just as good defrosted the next week. Colorful Pasta Primavera Salad - This pasta salad recipe is made with your choice of pasta shape (I used Tubini) and includes a mix of veggies and salami, covered in a creamy dressing. The salad came out quite good, not overly creamy. Perhaps could have used a touch more flavoring in the dressing - it didn't seem that the packaged Italian-style salad dressing mix used for this quite did the trick. I would perhaps change this to mix up my own Italian dressing to mix with the other ingredients, rather than using the mix. Still was tasty though.
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Like Meal 1, this was a great, tasty meal. That barbecue sauce is fantastic.
Other Recipes Prepared - "Gerry Dawes's Down-Home Andalusian Sangria" - A Sangria made with white wine, brandy, and fruit, this made the perfect amount to have with a Mexican-style dinner for two. I went light on the Simple Syrup (sugar and water mixture) as the recipe suggested sweetening the Sangria to taste and I thought it seemed sweet enough already. I was right - this came out very tasty.
Summary: - - - This book contains just as much advice, wit, and tips as it does recipes and is fun to read if you love barbecue (or even if you don't - you'll become a new fan!). Mike Mills is so enthusiastic and has such a love for barbecue this reads like a chat with an old friend. Big bonus - the recipes in this book are fantastic. Just about everything I tried out was top-notch, great flavor and easy to prepare. This may just become YummyEats favorite book on barbecue (I'm craving some of that Apple City Barbecue Sauce right now!).
The Thin Commandments Diet by Stephen Gullo, Ph.D. (Rodale - 2005) - "The 10 No-Fail Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss" - - - Weight loss and diet book, offering detailed information on the ten "Thin Commandments", useful strategies for losing weight. This book also features Dr. Gullo's ABC Eating Plan including recipes, menus, advice, and information on following the 10-Day TurboCharge Diet, including continuing plan, and maintenance phase. Plus "The Diet Doctor's 25 Favorite Foods", the "Taste is King Awards" - 110 best light foods on the market, charts of recommended foods, and weight loss resources. Instead of our usual cookbook review method we do here, of preparing and reviewing cookbook recipes by cooking them in meals - for this book, we decided to put two YummyEat's staffers, a husband and wife, on the 10-Day TurboCharge Diet, a very low-fat / low-carb diet program. Here's the details on how the ten days went:
NOTE: This diet recommends using GG Scandinavian Bran Crispbread, a high-fiber cracker, in lieu of bread. We were unable to find this brand of cracker, but were able to use one of his recommended substitutes - the WASA Light Rye.
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Day 1 LUNCH: "Better Than Deli Tuna Salad" - Prepared this the day before, easy preparation.
This recipe only used one 6 oz. can of tuna to make two servings, but was so full of lots of diced veggies that it really made a lot. This tuna salad was very tasty and healthy - it actually left me quite full. I had two WASA crackers with this.
DINNER: "Dr. G's World Famous Low-Calorie Zucchini/Eggplant Parmigiana" - Easy to make, I was a bit worried about how something with so much eggplant (not one of my favorite veggies) would taste. No need to worry - this was actually delicious. Yum.
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Day 2 LUNCH: "Yogurt Jubilee" - Calls for 12 oz. of fat-free yogurt mixed with Lipton Onion Soup Mix and spices. I made less than the 12 ounces as this seemed like a lot more than I could eat. I flavored it up with dill, celery seed, and garlic powder. This made a delicious dip for carrot and celery sticks. This filled me up right after eating, but I did get quite hungry later in the afternoon.
DINNER: "Creole Crumbed Shrimp" - A healthy version of fried shrimp. Coated with egg whites, spices, and WASA crackers and then baked, this recipe was delicious. Much better than I expected - it was really yummy. I was still a bit hungry after dinner (we had a green salad with light vinagrette on the side) but that's pretty much to be expected when dieting, I guess.
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Day 3
Weight loss so far (weighed in morning before start of day 3 diet) - 3 pounds. Very happy to say, both of us are 3 pounds lighter after only 2 days of meals. On to day 3. LUNCH: Leftover "Zucchini/Eggplant Parmigiana" - very tasty reheated.
DINNER: "Seafood Salad Positano" - Easy to prepare, and a beautiful, colorful looking salad that looks like something you could serve at a fancy dinner party. Full of shrimp, scallops, tilapia, and crabmeat - this tasted quite healthy and good. I probably could have eaten twice as much of this, though.
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Day 4 LUNCH: "Dilled Egg Salad" - I LOVE egg salad - this was a very healthy version, with loads less mayonaise than I am used to in my egg salad. It was a bit bland and came out a bit heavy on the dill, but still pretty good. I had a half a grapefruit slice with this, and was quite full after.
DINNER: "Many Vegetable Soup" - Tasty, easy to prepare soup, loaded with veggies. Quite flavorful too, considering the healthy quality of this.
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Day 5
I have still only lost 3 pounds total - my husband has lost more than 5 pounds now. We'll see how it goes for me. I have been getting very hungry in the afternoons and am CRAVING some carbs (boy some mashed potatoes and gravy sounds good to me right about now) but I haven't been snacking or anything and have been sticking quite well to the diet.
LUNCH: "GG Veggie-Cheese Crunch" - Okay veggie-cheese mixture, spread on WASA crackers. Really pretty bland, but filling.
DINNER: "Mustard Crumbed Chicken" - A baked version of "fried" chicken with a delicious mustard crumb coating, I really liked this.
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NOTE: After Day 5 was a weekend in which we had social obligations involving party food, so took the weekend off of the diet. Back for the last five diet days on Monday.
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Day 6
Monday, my weight almost back up to what it was before the diet. Oh well.
LUNCH: "GG Sandwich with Turkey and Cheddar" - Light turkey breast slices and slice of cheese on GG crackers (note: we had to substitute the GG's with Wasa crackers). Prepared this with a thin spread of spicy mustard, it was quite tasty and satisfying.
DINNER: "Fish n' Chips" - This meal uses frozen fish sticks and includes a recipe for the "chips". Not real chips, but a healthy variation called Oven "Fried" Zucchini. I sliced very thin slices of the zucchini and spread on baking sheets, as suggested. Unfortunately this recipe did not come out very well, as the "chips" were so thin they became dried out and some were burnt. They still tasted fairly good anyway. I am also not that keen on frozen items (I prefer homemade food) but I wanted to have the meal suggested for the chips, so went ahead with the frozen fish, which tasted fine.
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Day 7
Weight loss back to 3 pounds.
LUNCH: "GG Sandwich with Turkey and Cheddar" - As stated in the book under "Lunch Menu", "these items may be enjoyed every day" - I went ahead and had this sandwich again, since I had more turkey slices leftover and it is a very good little sandwich.
DINNER: "Roasted Organic Turkey Breast" - This was the most labor intensive of the recipes I prepared for this diet, it was also the best. A delicious turkey breast smothered in a homemade barbecue sauce, sweetened with pure-fruit apricot jam, oranges, and limes. I sliced this and served over a fresh salad, as suggested in the recipe. Just loved this and plan to make this again - on a diet or not!
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Day 8 LUNCH: "Pink Tuscan Tuna" - A tuna mixture served over fresh spinach, this was my favorite lunch of the diet. Loved this, it was very easy to prepare, and I plan to make this recipe again too, whether on a diet or not.
DINNER: "Oven-Steamed Salmon, Hong Kong-Style" - A simple to prepare, Asian-style salmon fillet baked in a foil packet. This made for a delicious meal, easily prepared after work, and very gourmet in style. We had a small, light salad on the side.
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Day 9 LUNCH: "Farmland Turkey Salad" - Small amount of sliced turkey served over a tossed salad, with a few toppings and a little Cajun seasoning. This was also very simple, yet tasty.
DINNER: "Scallop and Vegetable Packets" - Scallops and loads of veggies baked in a foil packet. This recipe was easy to prepare and very, very healthy tasting. Pretty good.
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Day 10 LUNCH: I skipped the recipes today, and had a half a grapefruit and a few WASA crackers for my lunch.
DINNER: "Grilled Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce" - A simple spice mix rubbed on pork tenderloin, then barbecued on the grill, sliced and served with the plain, but tasty cucmber-yogurt sauce. This made for an enjoyable dinner, served along with a light salad. Healthy and delicious.
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Summary: - - - This was a bit of a difficult diet (all diets are, in my opinion!), as the carbs were much lower than I am used to, there was more seafood than I am used to eating, and I was sometimes still hungry after a meal (note that I didn't eat any snacks during this diet, even though there are snack items recommended and allowed as part of the program). But my total weight loss at the end of the 10 day diet was 6 pounds (I am a small person, so this was a weight loss that friends DID notice - hurrah!), my husband lost 7 pounds. We are pleased with this amount of weight loss after a relatively short time, and the foods prepared were often very tasty. Several of the recipes are ones I plan to continue using even when not dieting.
The "Continuing Plan" part of this program is for those who want to continue the diet more than the 10 days, or lose weight at a slower pace. It includes recipes that aren't so extremely low-fat and low-carb as the meals from the Turbocharge Diet.
Low Carb 1-2-3 by Rozanne Gold (Rodale - 2005) - "225 Simply Great 3-Ingredient Recipes" - - - This book is a no nonsense book of low carb recipes all containing only three ingredients. There are no photos, just a large collection of extremely easy to prepare recipes. The recipes are broken up into three categories: VLC (very low carb), LC (low carb), and ILC (indulgent low carb). There are also several useful sections in the book including foods and equipment to keep on hand in the low carb kitchen, list of foods that are allowed and or/limited on a low carb diet, and 52 "magical menus" that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and special occasion menus making use of recipes out of the book. I tried out several recipes from this book in meals. Here's how they came out: Meal 1 - "Singapore Steak", "Stir-fried Eggs with Shiitake Mushrooms", and "Steamed Broccoli with Stir-Fried Pecans" - All easy to prepare, this meal was just slightly labor intensive since it required cooking all three recipes at the last minute, but I was very pleased with the blending of flavors the three dishes had when together as a meal. Singapore Steak - Marinated with Asian fish sauce and scallions for 3 hours (no more) this is not a recipe you could prepare after work. After marination, the meat is seared and then sliced. It came out quite good. Stir-fried Eggs with Shiitake Mushrooms - Yummy. Stir-fried last minute in a wok, I thought this was a really good egg dish. This was out of the breakfast recipe section but I thought it would taste good with the grilled steak - it did. Steamed Broccoli with Stir-Fried Pecans - I am not much of a fan of broccoli, but this method of cooking it made for a really good flavor. Cooked with Chinese oyster sauce, this way of preparing broccoli would be a good way to get kids (or grown-ups!) to eat their greens. I could actually see incorporating this flavor blend for flavoring up other types of veggies too. We loved this.
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This meal was top-rate, with a nice gourmet-style to it. Made for a super tasty dinner.
Meal 2 - "Chipotle Chicken", "Brussels Sprouts with Fresh Orange Butter", "Wild Rice with Walnut Oil and Scallions" - This meal was easier to prepare than meal 1, and came out tasting even more healthy than meal 1. Chipotle Chicken - A chicken dish prepared with chipotle peppers, and red onions - this came out flavorful and spicy. It required an hour of marination after being prepared plus 40 minutes of baking, so may not be suitable for an after work dinner. Brussels Sprouts with Fresh Orange Butter - Comprised of Brussels sprouts, an orange, and butter - the orange and butter wasn't really enough to flavor up those sprouts, and the cooking process seemed to give the dish a bit of a bitter flavor. Perhaps at certain times of year the oranges available are more sweet, I'm not sure, but this recipe was the one I prepared that sort of missed the mark. Wild Rice with Walnut Oil and Scallions - Very easy preparation, this came out to be a simple and healthy, yet flavorful rice dish.
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Meal 2 was good too, but not quite as tasty as meal 1.
Other Recipes Prepared - "Quick Chicken Parmigiana" - This recipe was very easy to make, and can easily be prepared as a quick meal to make after work. The three ingredients blended together to make a super chicken dish. I loved this.
Summary: - - - All the recipes were easy to make, all came out with a very healthy flavor and mostly good taste. I have always been a bit skeptical of collections of recipes that contain a limited amount of ingredients. That is, I usually avoid books that are three, four, five ingredients - you know the ones. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I liked the good ideas and original mixture of flavors that some of the recipes have, and I also must say that some of the recipes we prepared were especially yummy. I also had the feeling that sticking with the dishes and menus from this book would be a great way to lose weight, as these recipes are more than just low carb - they are extremely health conscious as well - and that's a good thing. Click here for seven recipes from this book including the tasty "Quick Chicken Parmigiana" dish.
Cooking New American 200 Recipes from the Editors of Fine Cooking (The Taunton Press - 2004) - "How to Cook the Food You Love to Eat" - - - This is a very pretty book full of tempting gourmet-style recipes. Every single recipe has a photo of the prepared dish, as well as a photo or two taken during the preparation of that dish. The recipes include helpful tips on "Cooking Right", "Cook's Choice" (best choices for certain ingredients), and "Cooking Ahead" ideas. There is a very nice selection of recipes to choose from including small bites, salads, soups, pasta, a variety of meat and fish dishes, vegetables, beans and grains, and desserts. I tried out several recipes from this book. Here's how they came out: Meal 1 - "Filet of Beef with Blue Cheese, Rosemary, & Pine Nut Sauce" and "Mustard & Rosemary Roasted Potatoes" - Easy to prepare selections for a tasty weeknight meal at home. Filet of Beef with Blue Cheese, Rosemary, & Pine Nut Sauce - This recipe for filet mignon was quite easy to prepare and came out delicious. Mustard & Rosemary Roasted Potatoes - A simple potato recipe, also easy to prepare. The potatoes came out good, perhaps slightly dry. Still, something I would like to try again as this dish would be a nice accompaniment to many meals.
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This came out to be a very gourmet-style meal, like something you might get in an upscale restaurant. We served this along with a tossed green salad.
Meal 2 - "Quick Stovetop-Braised Sirloin Tips with Mushroom Sauce", "Green Beans with Brown Butter & Pecans", "Parmesan Pureed Potatoes" - A very labor intensive meal to prepare, but worth it. Quick Stovetop-Braised Sirloin Tips with Mushroom Sauce - This recipe had a lot of different steps and took awhile to prepare (especially with the fact that I was preparing the side dishes at the same time), but the results were certainly worth the effort. This was absolutely delicious. Green Beans with Brown Butter & Pecans - A simple, yet very tasty green bean dish. Prepared the green beans a little bit earlier, then did the final cooking step with shallots and pecans just before serving the meal. Parmesan Pureed Potatoes - A simple mashed potato dish, very similar to many mashed potato dishes I have made, and very easy to prepare. The recipe said to be sure to use "actual Parmigiano Reggiano for this dish". I did. The cheese flavor came out so subtle that I really couldn't taste the difference between this dish and other similar potato dishes that have a small amount of Parmesan or similar cheese. Still, very tasty.
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This meal when served, like Meal 1 above, looked like something you would be served in a fine restaurant. The best part - it tasted that way too! Everything was terrific and the flavors blended nicely.
Other Recipes Prepared - "Maple-Glazed Carrots" - Well, I am not that keen on cooked carrots, but we decided to give this recipe a try to serve alongside pork chops. Simple to prepare, we used the recommended roll cut for the carrots (instructions given). This honestly was the best cooked carrot dish I have ever had - really, really good. The roll cut gave the dish a fancy touch, so it would look nice even to serve to company. I certainly will serve this one again. Excellent recipe. "Updated Chef Salad" - Prepared this to serve as a light weeknight meal, it came out really good. Loved this, and quite easy to prepare as chef salad's go. This was actually so tasty that I decided to make it again for Thanksgiving dinner, making it a bit fancier by substituting Italian meats for the turkey breast and ham. It came out really good this time too. I like the fact that the dressing recipe actually makes more than enough dressing for the salad (I often find with salad recipes I have to double the dressing amount to make enough). As it is, this salad has so many flavors you barely need dressing anyway! "Cranberry Streusel Cake" - I usually try out recipes in advance before serving to company, but the recipes from this book have been so successful that I decided to prepare and serve this at my Thanksgiving dinner, no advance tryout needed. I made the cake the day before, as recommended by the recipe. It was an easy cake to make, although I was a bit concerned when the streusel topping (put on 40 minutes into cooking time) didn't seem to sink part way into the cake as the recipe said it would, rather the topping seemed to just float on top. Turns out my worry was for nothing. With close to twenty guests for Thanksgiving, and several different desserts - this cake received rave reviews by all who tried it. Yummy, yummy!
Summary: - - - This is really a lovely book with many, many interesting gourmet type recipes. Some of the recipes may be a bit hard for a beginner cook, but as a whole many recipes are easy to prepare and the ones that are harder are certainly worth the trouble. A couple of the recipes I cooked from this were really, really top-notch - among the best I have made in awhile. For the experienced home cook who wants to prepare easy, yet very gourmet restaurant-style meals, we highly recommend this book. The more inexperienced cook will also find plenty of help throughout the book, with the "cooking right" and "how-to" tip boxes for most recipes. A super collection of recipes. Click here for an excerpt and several recipes from this book including the yummy Cranberry Streusel Cake.
The Low-Carb Gourmet by Karen Barnaby (Rodale - 2004) - "250 Delicious and Satisfying Recipes" - - - A very attractive looking, hardbound book full of information on following the low-carb diet, low-carb shopping tips, and lots of unusual and tempting recipes. The book is also interspersed with little boxes giving low-carbers tips on foods, cooking techniques, "Top 10 Reasons for Living a Low-Carb Lifestyle", etc. Each recipe lists the effective carbohydrates, fiber, protein, fat, and number of calories per serving. The back of the book has tables that summarize the nutrient information for all the recipes from the lowest carbohydrate count to the highest. When I was looking through this book trying to find some recipes to try out, I had a hard time deciding which ones to try first - there are SO many recipes that look interesting and different. There are color photographs for a few of the recipes and I must say, the photos make the food look really good and yummy. I tried out a number of the recipes in meals, here's how it went: Meal 1 - "Grilled Flank Steak with Cumin Aioli", "Guacamole", "Warm Turkey, Bacon, and Mushroom Salad", and "Frozen Bourbon, Chocolate, and Burnt Almond Cheesecake" - For the first meal I made from this book I decided to use one of the menus that are listed on several pages as "Entertaining Low-Carb Style". I made the Tex-Mex Meal, except for the Black Soybean Dip (we were unable to find a can of black soybeans, even looked in several different shops. Ideas anyone?)
Grilled Flank Steak with Cumin Aioli - Prepared the simple marinade in the morning, prepped the steak, and refrigerated. Then I prepared the Cumin Aioli - simple preparation and easy to follow instructions, I refrigerated after preparing. NOTE: the Aioli recipe calls for a raw egg - I decided to coddle the egg for one minute, and the recipe came out fine doing that. There is an option to either grill or broil the steak - since it was pouring rain this day, we decided to use the broiler. I must say - this dish was great. The Aioli was super yummy and the recipe made enough Aioli so everyone got plenty. Guacamole - A simple, yet extremely tasty guacamole. Again, this recipe was easy to prepare and tasted really good. I made this right before dinner, and we served it alongside the flank steak. The cool, fresh flavor of this tasted quite good along with a bite of steak. Yum. Warm Turkey, Bacon, and Mushroom Salad - This salad had quite a lot of bacon in it - so I knew it was going to be good. It was! Another easy to follow recipe that came out very tasty.
Frozen Bourbon, Chocolate, and Burnt Almond Cheesecake - This dessert had quite a few steps and took a number of different pans, etc. to prepare. Still, the recipe was very easy to follow and everything seemed to go well. I made this the day before, for staying in the freezer overnight. When we served this the next day it was close to frozen, but it did taste really, really good. The only thing that we thought was that there was a bad aftertaste of the Splenda sweetener that was used in the recipe (not really the fault of the recipe itself - but rather of the artificial sweetener!). The next day we took the leftovers of this dessert out of the freezer a bit early before serving, it defrosted a bit, and tasted even better than the day before. I really liked the taste of the chocolate with almonds that was interspersed through the cheesecake.
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This menu as a whole made for a very upscale, gourmet-looking meal that I would be proud to serve to guests. We were very pleased with the taste of all the recipes.
Meal 2 - "Halibut with Pine Nut and Parmesan Crust", and "Cucumber Salad with Peanuts, Coconut, and Lime" - This meal was prepared last minute, after work, and we found the preparation quick and easy for both recipes.
Halibut with Pine Nut and Parmesan Crust - Halibut prepared with a simple topping and baked, this recipe was easy to follow and came out great. I am not much of a fan of fish dishes, but this was really good! Cucumber Salad with Peanuts, Coconut, and Lime - This was also very easy to prepare. We couldn't find one of the ingredients - the black mustard seeds - but the recipe stated that you don't have to have the seeds, so I went ahead and made this and it did come out very tasty.
Meal 3 - "Donald's Deep-Dish Pizza Quiche", and "Brussels Sprouts Sauteed with Garlic, Pine Nuts, and Balsamic Vinegar" - Yet another tasty meal, with easy preparation. Donald's Deep-Dish Pizza Quiche - Of all the dishes I prepared for this review, this one was my favorite. Really easy preparation, this tasted great. Loved it - and you don't have to be on the low-carb diet to enjoy this. Even though it is a pizza without bread, it still managed to come out close to tasting like a real deep-dish pizza. Brussels Sprouts Sauteed with Garlic, Pine Nuts, and Balsamic Vinegar - Well, I love things with pine nuts and balsamic vinegar too, so I figured this would be good. It was. Simple preparation at the last minute before serving the meal, this was quite tasty.
Other Recipes Prepared - "Butter-Wrinkled Beans" - Prepared this recipe one evening to serve along-side grilled lamb chops. This recipe said to season with a "squeeze of lemon" and I put quite a good sized squeeze - it came out lemony and yummy. I will definitely be making this recipe again when I am looking for a simple way to prepare a tasty green bean dish.
Summary: - - - Everyone here liked this cookbook. What I like about this book is that it includes a large amount of tempting recipes that are all simple in preparation, yet turn out with quite a gourmet quality to them. I also like the fact that there are a number of unusual recipes in this book that seem different from the usual fare often seen in other books. There is a "Turkey Snackin' Cake" that I would like to try, and a number of interesting looking Tofu recipes. For those living the low-carb lifestyle, I recommend this book for it's unusual assortment of recipes that please, as well as advice and tips to help you. But this book would also be great for those not following a low-carb diet, as the recipes are good enough to satisfy anyone's taste buds. Click here for an excerpt and seven recipes from this book (including the yummy Deep-Dish Pizza Quiche and the Grilled Flank Steak with Cumin Aioli).
Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter/Publishers - 2002) - "Easy ideas and recipes that make everyone feel like family" - - - This is a very nice looking hardbound cookbook containing full-page photos of most of the recipes. The book starts out with ideas on table setting, cooking together, family traditions, meal planning, finicky eaters, and what to do when disaster strikes. While most of the ideas stated here seem rather obvious to me, they may be helpful to beginning cooks and party hosts. Plus these opening thoughts and ideas give a friendly feel to the book, which is also sprinkled throughout with quite helpful tips for each recipe. Now on to the recipes. Most are recipes for simple, homestyle comfort foods. No recipe is really long or complicated. The photos really make the food look good - makes you want to try them all! Each recipe features a few helpful cooking tips - these include tips such as ideas for leftovers, preparing the recipe in advance, and possible substitutions.
I tried out a number of the recipe in meals, here's how it went: Meal 1 - Oven-Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes with Homemade Gravy, and String Beans with Shallots Potatoes - I made these a few hours in advance to save some time later. Then I reheated right before dinner. Very, very easy to prepare - the taste was very good, very rich flavor. They are very basic, but also very yummy mashed potatoes.
String Beans - Blanched the beans earlier in the day to prep for cooking fully later. Easy recipe - very basic sort of beans, but quite good.
Chicken - the most difficult to prepare of the dishes I made for this meal. Even though fried for just a short time in oil - it proved just as difficult and messy as making regular fried chicken. But I have to say, this would definitely be a really good fried chicken to do for a party - doing the harder frying part of the recipe earlier in the day, then baking in the oven before serving. The flavor of this chicken was YUMMY - really, really good!
Homemade Gravy - easy to prepare, good flavorful gravy. The recipe doesn't require pan drippings, so this would be a good gravy to make for potatoes or other dish when you are not preparing a meat that is going to give drippings. I served this with the mashed potatoes - although the potatoes definitely had more than enough flavor to stand up on their own!
Meal 2 - "Arugula with Parmesan" and "Real Meatballs and Spagetti" Arugula with Parmesan - very , very simple to prepare - nice side salad to have with a meal.
Real Meatballs and Spagetti - this took awhile to make, but wasn't difficult in any way, and the instructions were easy to follow - in fact, using these instructions I made meatballs that didn't fall apart while cooking, like sometimes happens to me! This recipe came out really yummy!
Summary: - - - So, all in all, this seems like a very nice cookbook for those who want to cook homestyle comfort food without a lot of fuss. Nothing trendy or difficult. Lots of detailed instructions to help beginning cooks. Plus, she uses Kosher salt for all the recipes which is something that I recommend myself and always do - a valuable tip for good tasting foods! Barefoot Contessa Family Style is available for purchase at Jessica's Biscuit / eCookbooks.com currently at a 40% discount.
The Convent Cook by Maria Tisdall (2002) - "Divine Meals for Families Large and Small" - - - Here's how my cooking went: Meal 1 - "Sausage. Peppers, Onions, and Potatoes" - served along with a Greek Salad Greek Salad - I prepared this earlier in the day and did the salad dressing early too, then stored both in the refrigerator. Both the salad and the dressing were extremely easy to prepare and the recipes very easy to follow. Came out extremely tasty - we liked this salad so much that I am going to remember this recipe to serve at a dinner party or for guests.
Main Dish - Well, this recipe wasn't difficult and came out tasting extremely good. This was listed under "October" meals (I made it in July) and would really be a great dish to serve in October - a sort of harvest festival/Octoberfest kind of recipe. Only thing I can complain about the recipe is it said to simmer slowly for 20 minutes until the potatoes were soft - and it took almost 2 hours of cooking to get the potatoes just right. The recipe would have been perfect if it had just said "cook slowly for a couple of hours". The Convent Cook is available for purchase at Jessica's Biscuit / eCookbooks.com currently at a 60% discount.
Links: Places to Buy Cookbooks Online Jessica's Biscuit / ecookbooks - I have been ordering from this company's cookbook catalog for years now; they are always reliable and have a great selection of cookbooks. Now they feature over 9,000 cookbook titles you can order online. You can also send for a free paper catalog.
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