Cookbook Reviews

Meals in 30 Minutes or Less

A Guide so Easy a Complete Idiot Could Succeed!

by Joi

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Meals in 30 Minutes or Less

I have nothing but crazy wild love for the Complete Idiot books. I have so many of them that some of my bookcase shelves are entirely orange! I was recently sent a few of these consistently wonderful books to review on the food blog, causing me to do a happy dance across the kitchen floor. One of these books was the one you see pictured above, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Meals in 30 Minutes or Less.

This priceless 450+ page  book contains more than just 500 recipes you’ll use again and again, it also has great tips and tricks of the trade dispersed throughout under the headings of…

  • Definition. Cooking terms you may not be familiar with are defined and explained.
  • Minute Morsel. Information that makes cooking even more fun.
  • On the Clock. Tips for making something simpler, quicker, faster, and easier.
  • Time Waster. Alerts for things to watch out for – mistakes, misunderstandings, and potential hazards.

One of the recipes I’m most anxious to try is the Fast Spinach and Artichoke Dip.  My own Spinach and Artichoke Dip recipe, which I make OFTEN (to the delight of all involved) takes about 1-1/2  hours to make – including baking time! I also notice that it would… cough, cough… appear to be a much healthier, calorie-friendly recipe than my own. So, I can’t wait to take this one for a test drive.

Fast Spinach and Artichoke Dip

2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
1 (14 oz) can artichokes, drained
1 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup light cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
Dash hot pepper sauce
Tortilla chips or wheat crackers

  1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process spinach, artichokes, Parmesan cheese, cream cheese, mayonnaise, yogurt, mozzarella cheese, garlic, and hot pepper sauce until thoroughly combined but still very chunky.
  2. Scrape mixture into a microwave-safe serving dish, and microwave on high for 2 minutes or until bubbling.
  3. Stir and serve with tortilla chips or wheat crackers.

Seriously??? You could practically do this on a commercial break!  Sounds delicious.

About the Author

Food and wine writer Tod Dimmick is the author of four cookbooks. His work has been mentioned in the New York Times and the Boston Globe, and can be found on bookstore shelves from Boston to Sydney. Since a book project in 2005 oriented around healthy eating, Tod has increasingly focused his food writing on topics related to a healthy diet, and the evolution of produce purchase decisions from those based on price to those based on quality and provenance. For 1000radishes, the Will Work For Food Project, and for the Powisset Farm CSA, he supplies recipes and suggestions for local, in-season produce. On the more indulgent side, he also creates recipes for the Phantom Gourmet television show. The Phantom crew films these recipes in Tod’s kitchen outside of Boston.In 1991, he founded Tasting Times, the food and wine publication for busy people on a budget. The Tasting Times Wine Hotlist and Wine Minute blog have an international following. In 2000, he agreed to design and write The Busy Person’s Guide to Gourmet Cooking on a Budget web page for WZ.com, the well-known online guide site. In less than a year, subscribership to his email newsletter of the same name grew from 0 to over 75,000.

Before you even get to all of the recipes, you have a couple of very informative (and creative) chapters:

  1. “Faster and Better” – You’re reminded of the importance of good meals and reassured that cooking meals quickly doesn’t compromise the taste or the quality.
  2. “Stocking Your Pantry” – Learn the essential ingredients you need to have in your pantry at all times. These “go to” ingredients are the ones no cook wants to be caught without. You’ll also learn more about herbs and seasonings, fun foods to have on hand, and a very convenient primer on substitutions.
  3. “Essential Equipment” – Pots, pans, tools, knives, technological marvels that’ll get you in and out of the kitchen in less time than I’m spending on this review!

Recipes Included in this Awesome Book:

  • Healthy Buttermilk Waffles
  • Quick and Healthy French Toast
  • Light French Toast with Fresh Strawberries
  • George Ames’s Blueberry Muffins
  • Raspberry Crunch Yogurt
  • Breakfast Yogurt
  • Frozen Berry Shake
  • Italian Herb Omelet
  • Baby Shrimp Omelet
  • Scrambled Eggs with Sun-Dried Tomato and Sweet Onion
  • Apple and Toasted Pecan Salad
  • Chickpea Salad
  • Three Bean Salad
  • Jean’s Oriental Cabbage Salad
  • Barry’s Taco Salad
  • Tuna-Cannellini Salad
  • Hearty Chili
  • Vegetarian Chili
  • Grilled Chicken and Sweet Onion Sandwiches
  • Tuna Salad Wraps
  • Vegetarian Wraps
  • Chicken, Mozzarella, and Roasted Pepper Bites
  • Corned Beef Cornucopias
  • Quick Crab Balls
  • Boiled Mushroom Caps with Fresh Mozzarella
  • Garden Salsa
  • Salsa Verde
  • Grilled Hummus Triangles
  • Crab Ricotta Dip with Roasted Red Peppers
  • Red Pepper-Parmesan Dip
  • Mozzarella, Almond, and Spinach Wraps
  • Sun Dried Tomato Spread
  • Tofu Salad Spread
  • Mexican Chili Dip
  • Baked Sole
  • Crisp Fried Haddock
  • Whisker-Licking Good Catfish
  • Grilled Shrimp Scampi
  • Lightning Seafood Stir-Fry
  • Quick Crab Cakes
  • Drumroll Chicken
  • Buffalo Wings
  • Quick Home-Style Barbecued Chicken
  • Orange Chicken
  • Aunt Jean’s Dijon Chicken
  • Chive Chicken
  • Mustard-Glazed Chicken Breasts
  • Chicken Paprika
  • Grilled Apple Chops
  • Steak and Onions
  • Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry
  • Fast Stuffed Peppers
  • Ratatouille
  • South-of-the-Border Eggs
  • Stuffed Tomatoes
  • Sizzling Tofu and Asparagus Stir-Fry
  • Vegetable Stir-Fry
  • Portobello Pizza
  • Red Beans and Rice
  • White Bean Salad
  • White Beans with Olive Oil, Gorgonzola, and Sage
  • Italian Farmhouse Stew
  • 20-Minute Tomato Sauce
  • Fettuccini Alfredo
  • Linguini with Hot Pepper and Oil
  • Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke Pizza
  • White Pizza with Olives and Fresh Mozzarella
  • Feta and Black Olive Pizza
  • Orange French Toast
  • Light and Fluffy Pancakes (calls for unsweetened applesauce!)
  • Secret Cheeseburgers
  • Meatballs
  • Quick Tacos
  • Chicken Quesadillas
  • Pepperoni Pizza Dip
  • Garlic Toast with Tomato Dipping Sauce
  • Onion Rings
  • White Beans and Dark Greens
  • Balsamic Green Beans
  • Baked Cauliflower
  • Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
  • Steamed Asparagus
  • Fried Tomatoes (green or red!)
  • Baked Acorn Squash
  • Skillet Parmesan Artichokes
  • Sauteed Spinach
  • Garlic Mashed Potatoes
  • Fast and Easy Scalloped Potatoes
  • Quick Chinese Cabbage Stir-Fry
  • Sauteed Cabbage with Bacon
  • Bacon, Eggs, and Rice
  • Spaghetti Carbonara
  • Penne Pasta Salad
  • Carol Ann’s Tortellini Salad
  • Garden Bruschetta
  • Skillet-Baked Cornbread
  • Buttermilk Biscuits
  • Scones
  • Peach Yogurt Parfait
  • Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
  • Blueberries and Cream
  • Almond Piecrust
  • Mixed Fruit Betty
  • Dad’s Baked Fruit
  • Velvet Fudge
  • Mocha Mousse
  • Chocolate-Chip Cookies
  • Almond Chocolate Parfaits
  • Almond Oatmeal Cookies
  • Grandpa Phil’s Pudding
  • Lightning Strawberry Shortcake
  • Grammalane’s Lemon Pie

And those are just the ones I’ve marked to make this month!

I LOVE everything about The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Meals in 30 Minutes or Less, but I’m especially excited about the SCADS of breakfast recipes and tips. There’s a very small window of opportunity to put breakfast on the table (or in a hand as it rushes out the door). These recipes will come in… pardon the pun.. very handy.

Click through one of the links or the picture for more information. You’re going to love this one!

*** Footnote: I have absolutely NOTHING against microwaves – I love and use mine with pride – but I just had to add this: You’d be surprised how few of the recipes in this book use the microwave!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Recipe from Ellie Krieger's Comfort Food Fix

by Joi

Ellie Krieger Comfort Food Fix

Not only do I passionately collect cookbooks, the first section I head for at the library is the cookbook aisle.  I’m obsessed with recipes, cooking, and everything remotely connected to food.

Could you tell?

The wonderful thing about checking cookbooks out at the library is you get to take them for a “test drive” and see if they warrant a trip to Amazon.   With some cookbooks, I only find a couple of recipes that interest me, so I simply jot them down on a recipe card. However, other cookbooks, such as  Ellie Krieger’s cookbooks (each and every one!), send me to Amazon.com faster than payday sends me to the store. With speed that breaks the sound barrier.

The most recent cookbook to pass the “test drive” was Ellie Krieger’s Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy.  I realized there wasn’t enough ink in the house to record all of the recipes I’d want to make in this particular cookbook, so I put my pen away and told Ellie’s lovely face I’d see her on Amazon.

Soon.

The first recipe I made from this cookbook was the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus.  Like all results from an Ellie Krieger recipe, the hummus was phenomenal.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 larger roasted red pepper, drained and rinsed if jarred
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
One 15 oz can chickpeas, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons tahini
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons water

Finely chop 1 tablespoon of the roasted red pepper and reserve for a garnish. Coarsely chop the remaining roasted red pepper.

Using the broad side of a knife blade, mash together the garlic and the 1/2 teaspoon salt to form a paste.  Place the garlic paste, chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the oil, the cumin, the water, and the roasted red pepper into a food processor and process until smooth.  Season with additional salt to taste.

Place the hummus into a serving bowl and garnish with the reserved red pepper.  Drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon oil over the top.  Hummus will keep for about 1 week in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Yield: 8 servings

Food Processors

Sour Cream Sauce for Fruit Recipe

From Newman's Own Cookbook

by Joi

Newman's Own Cookbook

As you well know, I collect cookbooks with a crazy passion often reserved for chocolate cheesecake.   I take a great deal of pride in my hundreds of cookbooks.  While a lot of time and money has gone into collecting them, the main thing I love about them is the fact that so many are family heirlooms. Some are probably worth money right now (not that I’d ever part with a cookbook my grandmother wrote “yummy!” in) -  and others are simple little cookbooks that were used to raise money for churches or schools.  It would appear that my mom bought any and every cookbook anyone tried to sell her!

One of the cookbooks I use most often, actually, came from my mom’s collection. It’s the Newman’s Own Cookbook. It’s not as old as a lot of the cookbooks in my collection, obviously – so it’s not an oldie, but it is a goldie.

A favorite recipe from this cookbook is Fresh Fruits with Sour Cream Sauce. This Heavenly creamy sauce will have your family fighting over fruit instead of potato chips and chocolate chip cookies for a change. You’re going to love it.

Fresh Fruits with Sour Cream Sauce

3-1/2 cups sliced fresh fruit
1/1/2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh mint plus mint sprigs for garnish (optional)

Keep the fruit chilled until ready to use.

In a bowl, combine the sour cream, brown sugar, lemon juice and mint, and stir together until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the sauce into a serving bowl, cover, and chill until serving time.

Serve the fruit garnished with the mint sprigs and pass the sour cream sauce as a topping. Serve with crisp cookies.

My preferences:
The book recommends banana, mango, papaya, kiwi. I prefer berries, melons, apples, and grapes, however, so I throw together varying combinations of apples, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, and grapes. Naturally, you can just use whatever fruit your family prefers.

I’ve never used mint in this recipe, even though we always have mint in our herb garden. Go figure. I’m sure it’d look gorgeous, though! My main thing with mint is that, typically, if it’s present, it’s often the only thing my taste buds concentrate on. I take one bite and my brain says, “Mint!” I love the flavor, almost as much as the smell, I just don’t want it to steal the show all the time.

This fruit salad is fantastic served with almonds crushed on top – or even with nuts served nearby. I’m nuts for nuts, though, so I serve them with as many things as possible. They’re SO healthy!

A few other recipes from Newman’s Own Cookbook:

  • Potato Salad with Two Mustards Dressing
  • Roasted Herbed New Potatoes with Spinach
  • Whoopi Goldberg’s Big Bad Ass Beef Ribs
  • Julia Robert’s Fresh Peach Crisp
  • Gene Shalit’s Spaghetti Carbonora
  • Incredible Cobb Salad
  • Herbed Samon Fillets in Foil
  • Mediterranean Fish Fillets
  • Joanne Woodward’s Cioppino
  • Blaze’s Shrimp and Sausage Creole
  • Twice-Baked Potato over Spinach, Broccoli, and Peppers
  • Tom Cruise’s Linguine with Zesty Red Clam Sauce

Throughout the book are quotes from Paul Newman and pictures from his personal life and career.  Great, great cookbook.

Chocolate Lovers and Chocoholics: Brace Yourself for Adventures with Chocolate

A Cookbook That Looks Good Enough to Eat

by Joi

Adventures wtih Chocolate Cookbook

First of all, Adventures with Chocolate: 80 Sensational Recipes looks good enough to eat. The chocoholic in me insists on keeping this beautiful cookbook out – front and center – on my kitchen hutch. It’s that gorgeous. The only problem is, every time I see it, I HAVE to have chocolate. The sooner the better.

I was sent this cookbook to review and pretty much all I have to say is this, I’m flat out in love with the book and if you call yourself a chocoholic, you must buy the book immediately. If you don’t, your chocoholic membership card may be taken from you.

True story.

Book Description

Famed for his exquisite chocolates and ingenious flavor combinations, Paul A. Young now shares his chocolate-making secrets for the first time. After teaching you the finer points of chocolate tasting, you are invited to his masterclass on how to make a classic chocolate truffle. Soon you’ll be melting, blending, and tasting chocolate like a true aficionado, and so your chocolate adventure begins. There are up to 400 flavors in a piece of fine dark chocolate, and the variety and origin of the cocoa beans, as well as the way they were processed, all affect the taste of the finished product. With Paul at your side, you’ll discover why Equadorian chocolate lends itself beautifully to flavors such as marmalade, pink peppercorns, and saffron, while Venezuelan chocolate tastes amazing when paired with cinnamon, chile, or lavender. Once you understand how to combine chocolate with other flavors, you can let your imagination run wild and experiment with your own tastebud-tingling combinations.

The recipes are divided into chapters such as Fruit & Nuts, Sugar & Spice, and Unadulterated, and offer much more than just truffles. You’ll find recipes for Paul’s famous hot chocolate, cakes, cookies, desserts, and even savory dishes—a sure talking point at any dinner party. Take your pick from Wild Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Truffles, Sea-salted Caramel Tart, and the Ultimate Chocolate Martini. The Alchemy chapter is for the more adventurous cook, with wild and wonderful recipes such as Paul’s Venezuelan Chocolate Chile Chicken, Sweet Chocolate Pesto, and even a Honey-cured Bacon, Stilton and Chocolate Sandwich—which Paul swears by as a hangover cure! Paul’s enthusiasm for chocolate is irresistible and his stunning, easy-to-follow recipes are essential for all chocolate lovers.

Not only does Adventures with Chocolate: 80 Sensational Recipes give whatever room it’s in an instant makeover, the content is invaluable to chocolate lovers.

You’ll learn:

  • How to buy the right chocolate
  • How to identify different chocolates
  • How to make a chocolate truffle
  • How to make ganache
  • How to temper chocolate
  • How to decorate truffles

Of course the cookbook includes outstandingly delicious recipes for Chocolate lovers:

  • Paul’s Aztec-Style Hot Chocolate
  • Sea-Salted Caramel Tart with Javanese Milk Chocolate
  • Chocolate-Drenched Cacao-Nib Cookies
  • Dark Chocolate Sorbet (if the picture doesn’t make your mouth water, nothing will)
  • Trifle of Four Chocolates
  • Paul’s Chocolate Pudding Extreme
  • Three Chocolates Christmas Pudding
  • Salted Pecan Praline Ganache
  • Hand-Rolled Wild Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Truffles (gorgeous)
  • Maple Macadamia Ganache
  • White Chocolate Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Raspberry Compote
  • Sweet Roasted Green Garlic Ganache
  • White Chocolate Sauce for Seafood
  • And many, many more.

See Adventures with Chocolate: 80 Sensational Recipes for more information.

Feeding Your Family on a Budget

$10 or Less Dinners That Are Delicious and Economical

by Joi

Red Beans and RiceRed Beans and Rice, Page 73

I LOVE receiving new cookbooks or recipe bookazines to review on the food blog. LOVE it. Especially when they’re as outstanding as one of my most recent treasures is. Feed Your Whole Family! $10 Dinners or Less! isn’t just a must buy, it’s a must, must, must buy. This colorful and picture-packed bookazine has 84 wonderful recipes that are as kind to your bank account as they are to your taste buds. I love that these are budget friendly meals that don’t look budget friendly.

For example, I made the Red Beans & Rice (shown above) the very day Feed Your Whole Family! $10 Dinners or Less! came in the mail. The kitchen smelled amazing all day. The dish was (obviously) very pleasing to the eye and it was absolutely delicious.

For less than $10. Wow.  When you buy the bookazine (look for it on magazine stands in grocery and department stores), you HAVE to try this recipe. You’ll find it on page 73.  I was going to include the recipe with the post, but I can’t find it!  I tore it out to take to the store with me – big mistake. Normally, I jot down what I need on paper, leaving the recipe intact. But this time I was in a HUGE hurry, yadda yadda yadda.  It’s disappearance is a big fat mystery. I mean, I keep all of my loose recipes in appropriate files or recipe boxes.

One of those months.

When the recipe turns up, I’ll post it.  In the meantime, here’s the next recipe I’ll be making from this great bookazine.  It’s Cheese & Salad Pizza (from page 94).  It costs only $1.87 per serving and sounds delicious.

Cheese & Salad Pizza


1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb fresh or frozen (thawed) pizza dough
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (2 oz)
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
Salt and Pepper
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, each cut in half
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, sliced

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Grease 15-1/2″ by 10-1/2″ jelly roll pan with 1 tablespoon oil.  With fingers, pat pizza dough onto bottom and up sides of pan.
  2. Spread ricotta on dough; sprinkle with mozzarella, Romano, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.  Place pan on rack in lower third of oven.  Bake pizza 20 minutes, or until cheese is hot and bubbly and crust is browned.  Top with tomatoes and basil.

 Active time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

$10 Dinners or LessCan you tell how often I’ve been using this bookazine?!

Perfect Cookbook for New Cooks

As Well as for Those Who Just Want to do it Better!

by Joi

I was sent a cookbook to review on the blog recently that I’m really excited about. I get a lot of e-mails from cooks who are either new to baking or have been baking for a while but are confused about some of the basics. Most want to know what great basic baking cookbook I recommend. Usually I send them back a list of about 4 or 5 different books that I think will help them out. But each time I’d think, “Why can’t there just be ONE book that covers all the basics in terms that even the newest baker in the world could understand.”

When I heard about Baking Basics and Beyond: Learn These Simple Techniques and Bake Like a Pro, I hoped it’d be the cookbook so many are looking for. After receiving it in the mail, I know it is.

This would be the IDEAL cookbook for anyone (I’ve been cooking and baking for more years than I care to count but I’m loving this cookbook.) but I have to say, it’s BEYOND ideal for those who are fairly new to the kitchen. It’d be perfect to throw into a bag of goodies for a new bride & groom – maybe along with some great tools of the trade. They’d think of you each time they used one of the cookbook’s many wonderful recipes or double-checked the pages for baking tips and advice.

The only thing is, you’ll want to be sure to grab a copy for yourself. Trust me, the first time they tell you how they loved the Black and White Cheesecake, Caramel Sticky Buns, Calzones, Homemade Pizza, or Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, you’ll want to be able to say, “Me too!” You WILL NOT want to stand there turning 26 shades of green.

Cookbook Description from Amazon:

With the demise of home economics in the school system, many adults have no baking experience at all, relying on dreary store-bought baked goods and artificial mixes to satisfy their cravings. Baking Basics and Beyond: Learn These Simple Techniques and Bake Like a Pro allows even absolute novices to prepare a wide array of delicious, healthy breads, cakes, cookies, pies, and more. In a warm, reassuring manner, Pat Sinclair leads beginning bakers step-by-step through each recipe, thoroughly explaining each technique and direction. After learning a basic technique, additional recipes provide further practice and more elaborate results. This second edition contains more than 100 recipes, from old favorites like icebox cookies, cornbread, and brownies to updated classics, including Butterscotch Cashew Blondies, Chai Latte Custards, and Savory Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding. Throughout, explanations and precise tips, based on Sinclair’s years of baking experience, make readers feel as though there is a friendly teacher in the kitchen, peering over their shoulders, and guiding them toward perfect results, every time.

A few other recipes included in Baking Basics and Beyond:

  • Snickerdoodles
  • Ice Box Cookies
  • New Orleans Bread Pudding with Bananas Foster Sauce
  • Peach Shortcake
  • Chocolate Swirl Coffee Cake (You should see the picture!)
  • Peanut Butter Cookies
  • Buttercream Frosting
  • Pistachio Biscotti
  • Mississippi Mud Cake
  • Carrot Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
  • Spicy Applesauce Cake
  • Strawberry Sauce (for cake or sundaes you’ll never forget)
  • Chocolate Amaretto Pound Cake
  • Vanilla Whipped Cream
  • Banana Cream Pie
  • And MANY more equally beautiful and delicious recipes!

Tips & Advice Included:

  • How to properly dissolve yeast
  • How to whip cream
  • Tips for successful baking
  • How to make a soft meringue
  • Primer on baking equipment
  • Primer on ingredients
  • More!

My husband could, literally, take this cookbook into the kitchen and bake something remarkable. My fingers are crossed that he never does, though. It’d take 2 weeks to clean up the mess.

I hope you’ll click through and take a closer look at Baking Basics and Beyond: Learn These Simple Techniques and Bake Like a Pro. Believe me, this is one you’ll want to order right away.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

Cooking and Eating on a Budget

by Joi

Make the Bread, Buy the ButterI was recently sent a copy of Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch — Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods to review.

As someone who loves books, I’m always ecstatic to get a new book. As someone who’s almost always cooking and baking, a food-related book makes the ecstasy even sweeter. Finally, as someone who (like everyone else) is trying to make her dollar stretch as far as it can without ripping, I appreciated the fact that this book didn’t just have FUN on its mind. It also has FRUGALITY in mind.

Great news.

When author Jennifer Reese lost her job, she was introduced to a whole new reality. She had to look at things differently, including the food she bought. She had never before considered making her own peanut butter and pita bread, let alone curing her own prosciutto or raising turkeys.  Although she KNEW that making-it-yourself, and even growing-it-yourself made sense economically, she had her reservations. After all, could she really pull it off?!

Jennifer marched into her kitchen and began the first of many experiments. Ultimately, she found that some things are cheaper to make and some are cheaper to buy.

She considers the average, everyday American family life as she answers the following questions: When is homemade better? Cheaper? Are backyard eggs a more ethical choice than store-bought? Will grinding and stuffing your own sausage ruin your week? Is it possible to make an edible maraschino cherry?

A few of her fun discoveries: Although you should make your hot dog buns, guacamole, and yogurt, you should probably buy your hamburger buns, potato chips, and rice pudding. Tired? Buy your mayonnaise. Inspired? Make it.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter includes 120 recipes with money-saving and  practical “Make or buy” recommendations.  It’s a lot of fun to read about the author’s adventures. She writes with a lively sense of humor that leaves you wishing the book were longer than it actually is.   You’re sure to get a kick out of her food and animal husbandry adventures.  If you’re like me, you’ll also find yourself wanting your own chicken coup, goats, and maybe a cow.  Fresh eggs and milk – right out the back door? Sign me up!

Some of the recipes you’ll find in this fun and frugal book are:

  • Homemade Beef Jerky
  • Canadian Bacon
  • Baked Beans (recipe below)
  • Mozzarella
  • Ricotta
  • Whipped Cream
  • Ginger Ale (can’t wait to try this simple recipe!)
  • White Mountain Frosting
  • Birthday Cake from Scratch
  • Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Chocolate Pudding
  • Homemade Oreo Cookies
  • Fig Bars
  • Olive Pasta
  • Sweet-Hot Pickle Relish
  • Many, many more!

With each recipe, the author provides a cost comparison. You’ll see how much it costs to make the recipe yourself as compared to the most popular brands of store-bought products.

Homemade Baked Beans

( Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, page 169)
1 pound dried navy beans
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil
1/2 pound salt pork, cut into 1-1/2 inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 apple, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

  1. Soak the beans overnight in water to cover.
  2. Drain the beans. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
  3. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven and brown the salt pork.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. (You can use a bean pot to make this, but it generates fewer dishes to use the Dutch oven in which you fry the pork.)
  4.  To the fried pork, add the beans and all the other ingredients.  Stir well and add 6 cups of water.
  5. Bake for 3 to 4 hours, replenishing water as necessary. Midway through the cooking, taste for salt and adjust.  When they’re done, the beans should be very soft, but not falling apart.  Serve immediately or cool and store for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Makes 2-1/2 quarts beans, to serve 10.

Take a closer look at Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch — Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods on Amazon.

Heavenly Chocolate Chunk Cookies

With Toasted Walnut Halves, Have Mercy!

by Joi

Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookbook

Okay, before we get to these delicious cookies (cookies that all walnut lovers will die for), let me tell you how much you need to zip over to Amazon right now and order a copy of the Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookbook. Amazon has paperback copies available for less than $5.00 (new) and even less for used ones. But, seriously, for less than $5.00, I’d go with new.

This Christmas cookbook is filled with wonderful, festive, beautiful, and delicious recipes that’ll quickly become family favorites – at Christmas as well as throughout the year.  I keep my copy on the hutch in my kitchen year round with my other frequently-used cookbooks.  Trust me, this one’s filled with recipes you’ll use again and again. I am blown away that you can get a copy for less than I just paid for a Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks!

Some of the recipes you’ll find in this cookbook:

  • Eggnog Tea Bread
  • Cheddar Scones
  • Buttery Dinner Rolls
  • Amish Orange Rolls
  • Winter Salad
  • Christmas Eve Salad
  • Strawberry Holiday Trifle
  • Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake
  • Poinsettia Punch
  • White Bean Chili
  • Lasagna with Colorful Peppers
  • Chewy Chunky Chocolate-Walnut Cookies
  • Rich Seafood Casserole
  • Cornbread Dressing
  • Holiday Yams
  • Cranberry Applesauce
  • Double Chocolate Christmas Praline-Fudge Cake
  • Baked Sausage and Eggs
  • Mediterranean Coffee
  • Gingerbread Scones
  • Peppermint Candy Ice Cream Pie
  • Beef and Three Cheese Tetrazzini
  • Party Rosemary Pork
  • Layered Cheese Torta
  • Millionaires
  • Eggnog Cookies
  • Nutcracker Cookies
  • Spiced Pecans
  • Mocha Punch
  • Florentine Artichoke Dip
  • Yuletide Crab Puffs
  • Many, many, many more wonderful recipes!

Heavenly Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe

2 cups plus 2 Tbs. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 Tbs instant coffee granules
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
11-1/2 oz package semi-sweet double chocolate mega-chips or 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnut halves, toasted

Combine first three ingredients; stir well.

Combine butter and coffee granules in a small saucepan or skillet. Cook over medium low heat until butter melts and coffee granules dissolve, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature (don’t let butter resolidify).

Combine butter mixture, sugars, egg, and egg yolk in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in mega-chips and walnuts.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool slightly on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes 20 cookies.

Heavenly. Delicious. Incredible. Make them tonight!

Be sure to check out the Gooseberry Patch Christmas Cookbook on Amazon. This is a great collection of outstanding recipes and is worth a lot more than you’ll have to pay.

Gifts from the Kitchen

100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion: Christmas, Valentine's Day, Birthdays...

by Joi

Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion by Annie Rigg

Homemade Gifts for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Weddings, Showers, Birthday, and every single day of the year!

When it comes to cookbooks, I’m on a roll I can’t even believe. I’ve been sent some of the most amazing cookbooks and cooking magazines to review lately.  As a cookbook collector, I’m in hog Heaven. Chefs, publishers, authors, and food lovers are turning out some of the most amazing cookbooks I’ve ever seen lately.  The competition is fierce in this hugely popular subject, and believe me, everyone’s stepping up their game.

The most recent beauty I was sent to review is no exception. Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion is filled with stunningly beautiful photos and highly unique, absolutely amazing recipes. There’s a recipe for Fortune Cookies (page 126), for example, and you can even add your own message inside. They’re gorgeous.

If, for some reason, you aren’t sure you want to buy a book just for baked Christmas gift ideas, let me assure you that this is a book you’ll use year round. Check out some of the great recipes, and you’ll see what I mean:

  • Granola (make a batch for yourself to use on yogurt or cereal or make for a gift – fills about 4 jam jars)
  • Chocolate Valentine’s Cakes
  • Baby Shower Cakes (they’d be gorgeous for wedding showers too)
  • Easter Nest Cupcakes (adorable!)
  • Doughnuts
  • Stained Glass Snowflake Cookies
  • Stollen
  • Wedding Cake
  • Pickled Cucumbers
  • Pink and White Vanilla Marshmallows (perfect for Mother’s Day or birthdays)
  • Lollipops
  • Raspberry and Rose Chocolate Wafers (too beautiful to even talk about)
  • Greek Honey Cookies
  • Candied Citrus Peel
  • Apple Jelly
  • Mint Jelly
  • Hot Chili Pepper Jelly
  • Strawberry and Vanilla Preserves
  • Cherry Jam
  • Raspberry and Passion Fruit Pastilles
  • Love Heart Sugar Cubes (PERFECT for Valentine’s Day – they look like candied sugar hearts – the kind with words printed on them)
  • Pesto
  • Chocolate and Hazlenut Spread (Homemade Nutella? I’m all int!)
  • English Muffins
  • Sea-Salted Caramels
  • Peanut or Macadamia Brittle
  • Tortellini with Roasted Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Ricotta
  • Pickled Beets
  • Chocolate Truffles
  • Spiced Cranberry Jelly
  • Biscotti
  • Spiced Nuts
  • Herbal Teas
  • Pecan Snowball Cookies
  • Shortbreads
  • And even more!

In the back of the book, the author has listed different occasions – along with the recipes that would be ideal for each. The occasions include:

  • Mother’s Day
  • Father’s Day
  • Valentine’s Day
  • Easter
  • Housewarming
  • Baby Shower
  • Birthday
  • Bachelorette Party
  • New Year’s Day
  • House Guest
  • Christmas

You could easily add:

  • Grandparent’s Day
  • Secretary’s Day
  • Boss’s Day
  • Game day
  • Tailgating
  • Anniversary
  • Graduation

Then again, since when do we even need an occasion to bake beautiful treats for our loved ones? I baked two beautiful pies last night and the occasion was “On Account” – On account of wanting to see everyone’s faces light up when they came through the door and smelled (and saw) Apple and Cherry Pies greeting them.  This gorgeous cookbook and gift guide is FILLED with “On Account” recipes!

See Gifts from the Kitchen: 100 Irresistible Homemade Presents for Every Occasion for more information. Fellow foodies, this is one you’ll want to order today.  It’s beautiful.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Recipes

A Collection That'll Make the Holidays Even Better

by Joi

Holiday Recipes and Decorating Ideas

I was recently sent a copy of the beautiful issue of Holiday magazine (Good Housekeeping) 301 Recipes & Decorating Ideas 2011 from Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and Country Living. How could it be anything less than magnificent?

Answer: It couldn’t be.

Not only do I want you to grab a copy before Christmas, I want you to grab a copy before Thanksgiving. Not only will you want to make sure they don’t sell out, there are some great recipes you can start enjoying now AND with your Thanksgiving meal. Plus, it’ll give you plenty of time to plan your Christmas menu. Confession: I’ve already begun planning my Thanksgiving and Christmas menus – and A LOT of the things I’ve written down have come from Holiday magazine (Good Housekeeping) 301 Recipes & Decorating Ideas 2011.

Then, you have the fact that there are countless decorating tips, ideas, crafts, and projects in addition to the great recipes. There’s a gorgeous Poinsettia display that I’m going to use year round with “cat safe” flowers. Unfortunately, Poinsettia’s don’t fit the bill, so I’m buying the best looking artificial Poinsettias I can find. Solved!

There are also different wreaths, swags, uses for Christmas ornament balls, table setting ideas, and so on. When I first looked through the magazine, I found myself saying, “I’m going to do that.. I’m doing that… I can do that…” Seriously, this magazine is packed with great ideas.

Then there are the recipes. Wow! Below are just a few of the recipes (with beautiful color photographs) you’ll find in this great bookazine.

  • PB & J Snowflakes (cookies)
  • Chocolate Glaciers (cookies)
  • Six recipes for brownie lovers (of whom I am chief)
  • Elegant Beef (Pepper-Crusted Prime Rib – the picture will make your mouth water)
  • Crispy Potato-Parmesan Galette
  • Mixed Winter Greens
  • Green Beans with Caramelized Red Onions
  • Broccoli with Garlic & Lemon
  • Low Fat Eggnog
  • Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (yay!!!)
  • Ginger & Honey Mustard-Glazed Ham
  • Plus many, many, many more recipes.

 

Recipes that lead me to encourage you to buy this bookazine before Thanksgiving:

  • Cranberry Apple Chutney
  • Turkey with Giblet-Mushroom Gravy
  • Easy Turkey Stock
  • Savory Bread Stuffing with Pears
  • Maple-Ginger Glazed Carrots
  • Sour Cream Smashed Potatoes
  • Chocolate Walnut Pie
  • Maple Sweet Potatoes with Pecans
  • Roasted Squash with Walnuts
  • Sweet Potato & Chive Biscuits

The great thing about this collection is that I’ll be using the recipes year round.  I almost always have cookies made up around our house, so I know I’ll be using these cookie recipes over and over again.  Also, there are a lot of recipes provided for entertaining and holiday parties that’ll make great appetizers and game day treats all year long (Tartlets, Puff Pastry Nibbles, Teriyaki Meatballs, Steak House Crostini, Mini Crab Cakes, Artichoke-Fontina Dip, Light Onion Dip, Warm Crab Dip, Goat Cheese Logs, Healthy Pimento Cheese Logs….)

Either click through the link (Holiday magazine (Good Housekeeping) 301 Recipes & Decorating Ideas 2011) and order your copy today or look for it in your favorite store right away. This one’s a must have.

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