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Best Cookbook Recipes

The Muffin Tin Cookbook: Fun and Easy Meals Your Family Will Love (Plus a Fish Tacos Recipe)

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The Muffin Tin Cookbook

A while back, I was sent a wonderful cookbook to review, The Muffin Tin Cookbook: 200 Fast, Delicious Mini-Pies, Pasta Cups, Gourmet Pockets, Veggie Cakes, and More!

Love it, love it, love it.

Cooking is more than just one of my favorite hobbies and pastimes – it’s a passion that I love greatly.  Even now, I’m sitting at my desk in my home office – working in a frenzy of  keyboard tapping and brainstorming, breaking only for much needed sips of coffee.  Yet all I can think about is what I’m going to cook for supper, what my next dessert will be, and wondering when I can try out a new stuffed chicken recipe I saw yesterday.

Cooking, baking, cooking, baking, cooking, baking… a peek inside my brain.

Given the fact that it’s something I love so much, I want others to get the same kind joy from cooking as I do. I think that’s one of the reasons I get so excited about fresh, fun, and creative new cookbooks like The Muffin Tin Cookbook.  Not only are new cookbooks a complete joy ride for me in my amusement park of a kitchen, I know that other foodies will get a huge kick out of them as well.

I also like to see cookbooks filled with recipes that people will actually make! Recipes that don’t call for you to visit a foreign country and bring back an extract you can only find there – then stir it into a broth using the feather of a virgin peahen… Please. Every single recipe in  The Muffin Tin Cookbook is one you’ll make and make again.

Another thing I like to see in a cookbook is plenty of recipes that are quick and easy.  A lot of people have to work outside of the home AND come home and cook supper. People who have a limited amount of time to work with don’t need fussy recipes. They need recipes that can be thrown together quickly, cooked in a flash, and don’t require a lot of cleaning up afterward. The Muffin Tin Cookbook is a dream come true for someone looking for such recipes.

Since the recipes on Get Cooking are gluten-free (as are all of the recipes I personally make and eat – health reasons), I will point out that this is NOT a “gluten-free cookbook.”  Many of the recipes call for flour and a host of other foods off limits to those of us why have to eat gluten-free. HOWEVER, as with most cookbooks in my collection and recipes I find in the wild, I simply make the necessary substitutions.

Book Description

Muffin Tins—They’re Not Just for Muffins Anymore

There’s nothing you can’t make in a muffin tin—and we’re not talking merely muffins. All you need is a muffin tin, paper liners, and this ingenious, one-of-a-kind cookbook, and you can whip up delicious dishes that are as easy to prepare and serve as they are good to eat.

From quick-serve appetizers and sides to gourmet entrees and desserts, you’ll find an amazing variety of mouthwatering options for your dining pleasure, including:

  • Shrimp Cakes with Cilantro Lime Dipping Sauce
  • Egg Crescent Pockets
  • Deep-Dish Pizza Cups
  • Cornmeal-Crusted Mustard Chicken with Sweet Potato Coins
  • Duchess Potatoes
  • Zucchini, Corn, and Tomato Cups
  • Mini Ice-Cream Cakes

The best part (besides the tasty goodness): It’s fast, easy, mess-free, and provides built-in portion control. Kids will love to help you make them—like cupcakes, only better for your family!—and leftovers are as easy as popping the muffin-meal into the microwave.It just doesn’t get any better than The Muffin Tin Cookbook . . . your next memorable meal is just a muffin tin away! – From Amazon

Fish Tacos Recipe

3 pieces tilapia, about 3-4 ounces each, cut in half
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
Salt and Pepper
6 taco-size flour tortillas
Light sour cream, chopped green onion, chopped tomato, lettuce, and salsa for serving

  1. Place the tilapia, chili powder, cilantro, oil, lime juice, and salt and pepper in a bowl and allow to marinate 1/2 an hour, in the refrigerator.
  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and prepare 6 jumbo muffin cups by spraying with cooking spray.
  3. Push one taco tortilla down into each cup and press any sections that bubble out against the sides.
  4. Place 1 piece of marinated tilapia in each cup and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness of fish, until cooked through.
  5. Serve with toppings.

Taco tortillas are smaller tortillas and are just the right size to line jumbo muffin cups. Lemon juice can be substituted for the lime juice.

Muffin Tin Recipes

There’s an entire chapter in The Muffin Tin Cookbook devoted to Breakfast – a time of the day when few of us have unlimited time. Recipes in the Breakfast chapter include:

  • Egg Crescent Pockets
  • French Bread French Toast
  • Grits Casserole
  • Cheese Danish Cups
  • Bagel Sausage Sandwiches
  • And More!

Other chapters include:

  • Appetizers and Snacks (Asian Dumplings with Dipping Sauce, Spiced Pecan Cups, Hot Pretzel Bites…)
  • Beef and Pork (Mexican Meatloaf, Sloppy Joe Cupcakes, Taco Mini Pies…)
  • Chicken and Turkey (Teriyaki Turkey Cups, Chicken Tortilla Pies, Italian Chicken…)
  • Seafood (Salmon Cakes, Deviled Crab Tarts, Shrimp with Polenta…)
  • Potatoes, Rice, Pizza, and Pasta (Candied Yams, White Pizzas, Stuffed Gnocchi…)
  • Vegetables ( French Onion Pie, Edamame in Rice Paper Cups, Cherry Tomato Cups…)
  • Muffins and Breads (Corn Muffins, Monkey Bread, Peanut Butter & Jelly Muffins…)
  • Desserts  (Hot Chocolate Muffins, Lemon Pound Cake, Apple Cupcakes..)

Each recipe indicates the size of muffin tin needed.  As the author says on page 8, “Keep in mind that you can make your dishes any size you like, but you will need to adjust cooking time up or down accordingly (if you make a bigger cup than the recipe suggests, baking time will be longer; if you make a smaller cup baking time will be shortened).”

Please see The Muffin Tin Cookbook  for more information.  When giving cookbook reviews, I like to suggest the sort of cook that the cookbook in question is “ideal” for.   Although this cookbook is PERFECT for busy cooks, it’s just as fun and enjoyable for those of us who are simply busy cooking!  It would make an excellent gift idea for someone who’s new to the world of cooking – maybe even in a bag with a brand-spanking new muffin tin.

150 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Cookbook

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Is anyone even half as ready for autumn and winter as I am? Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of things about summer – baseball, fresh produce, songbirds at my bird feeders that aren’t there in cold weather, grilling out, and so on. Summer’s awesome in every way… but, having said that, autumn and winter are super special.

As a foodie, the cooler months make me think of soup, stew, chili, casseroles, chai tea lattes, and (of course) Halloween goodies, Thanksgiving dishes, and Christmas baking… how could a foodie NOT love this time of year???

I may be one of the biggest soup fanatics in the world, which is one of the reasons I’m excited about a new cookbook I was sent to review: 150 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Naturally, grilled cheese sandwiches are perfect all year. We certainly eat them year-round in our house. In fact, we’ve been known to enjoy grilled cheese sandwiches at all times of the day and night.  Talk about a delicious comfort food.  Cheesy deliciousness that comes together pretty darn fast – sign me up.

150 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches is a perfect guide to getting extra creative with this wonderful comfort food.  Although the modern version of the grilled cheese sandwich dates back to 1920 (when it became popular during the great depression, for obvious reasons), these delicious and inexpensive delicacies are currently a popular trend in cooking.  I think one of the reasons is the fact that they aren’t expensive to pull together.  I think the popularity of food trucks has also helped revive this wonderful sandwich.

Some people are even calling the grilled cheese sandwich the “new burger.”  The fact that so many people are eating less meat is another reason these sandwiches are so wildly popular.

From the Back Cover: A grilled cheese sandwich is classic comfort food and it’s enjoying an incredible resurgence in popularity. These fabulous recipes all begin with the grilled cheese we all know and love, and then from there, creative twists showcase just how incredibly versatile this sandwich can be.  The recipes reflect an almost endless and delicious variety of choices that include simple and timeless as well as gourmet and artisanal. From breakfast to dessert, there’s something for everyone in this book.

Another reason grilled cheese sandwiches are so popular is, let’s face it, they’re fast and easy to make.  You can have a warm, delicious, and comforting meal in a matter of minutes. This is one of the reasons they’re so popular with bachelors, college students, and beginner cooks.

Whether you enjoy your grilled cheese sandwiches with soup (one of my favorite meals), chips, or alone, nothing beats a great grilled cheese sandwich.

As I’ve probably mentioned on the food blog, when I had to totally give up wheat and gluten a number of years ago (health reasons), it threw my cooking persona into a tailspin. Imagine everything you are accustomed to cooking and baking for your family and yourself thrown out the door. Then finding yourself having to start over, pretty much, and discover a whole new way of both cooking and eating.

Stressful… and yet kind of mentally stimulating!

It’s a hideous predicament for anyone but for an avid cook and food blogger who was extra keen on homemade breads, cornbread, cakes from scratch, pies, etc.. it knocked me on my backside for a bit. However, I (honestly) found out that many aspects of gluten-free food are actually as good as their gluten-y counterparts and some are even better in many ways.

For example, for whatever reasons, gluten-free fried catfish is actually better.  Don’t ask me why (please), but the combo of rice flour and yellow cornmeal makes the best fried catfish in the world. Trust me, this is a personal favorite and something I’ve been cooking since I was allowed to touch the stove.

Grilled cheese sandwiches have been another pleasant surprise (along with French Toast, for that matter). Gluten-Free bread, in my opinion, makes them even better. I think it’s because they’re denser and, sometimes, thicker, than regular bread. Then again, Texas Toast is a great way to go with grilled cheese sandwiches.

150 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches includes so many creative, fun, and delicious recipes you won’t stop until you’ve made them all.  The cheese combinations, along with the additions of complimentary ingredients will boggle your mind.  I cook every single day (and have for years) and consider myself to be really creative in the kitchen, but even I found myself saying, “Ooooh, I would’ve never thought of that...”  One of the combinations that was wildly new to me was the one given in the recipe below.  I wouldn’t have ever invited Muenster Cheese to a grilled cheese party, but this recipe has me slapping myself for the oversight.

The recipe below is from the cookbook and is outstanding. I love it alongside tomato soup or chili and have been known to have it simply with a large dill pickle and Funyons.

I know how to live, after all.

Classic Grilled Two Cheese

Author: Alison Lewis
Serves 4

8 slices white or whole-grain bread (1/2 inch/1 cm thick slices)
2 TBS butter or margarine, softened
4 oz Muenster cheese, thinly sliced
4 oz Cheddar cheese, thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Brush one side of each bread slice with butter.
  2. Place on a work surface, buttered side down.
  3. Top 4 bread slices equally with Muenster and Cheddar cheeses.
  4. Cover with remaining bread slices, buttered side up, and press gently.
  5. Place sandwiches on preheated panini grill or in a large skillet over medium heat and cook, turning once if using a skillet, for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown and cheese is melted.
  6. Serve immediately.

When it comes to grilled cheese sandwiches, you have to really be careful with cheese combinations. Make the wrong move and the result will be thisclose to gross. You also have to be careful with what fillings you add and how you treat the bread. Again, the wrong move can leave your taste buds borderline depressed.  In this wonderful and fun cookbook, Alison Lewis has done all of the hard work for us and taken all of the guess work out of our hands.  We’re left with a ton of delicious recipes and combinations that’ll make us the Queen or King of Grilled Cheese.  Whether you use a Panini or Sandwich Press or a favorite skillet, you WILL use these recipes again and again and again.

Below are just some of the recipes included in 150 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches:

  • Roast Beef with Asiago and Watercress
  • Grilled Steak and Blue Cheese
  • Italian Tomato-Basil Bread
  • Hot Bacon Swiss Crostini
  • Havarti and Cucumber Sandwich
  • Grilled Spinach, Pepper Jack, and Bacon
  • Warm Peanut Butter Power Wrap
  • Italian Salami Panini
  • Sweet Pepper Relish
  • Hummus
  • The Pilgrim
  • And many, many, many more.

See 150 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for more information and to order your copy today… just in time for soup season!


Classic Green Mint Chutney Recipe

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Mint Chutney

Mint Chutney – Recipe from Spices & Seasons by Rinku Bhattacharya 

I’ve always loved listening to the radio while driving – ever since my parents reluctantly allowed me to start driving at 17, simply because they didn’t think they could put off the inevitable any longer. Music had always been something I enjoyed a lot. A few years back, though, I decided there was nothing for me on today’s radio, so I stopped even bothering to turn it on.  Then Adele hit the scene and made me excited about music again. She was fresh, exciting, and delightfully different from everything else.

She woke music up.

I often think about world cuisines along the same sort of lines.  If we were to eat the same things over and over and over again, our culinary lives would become just as stale, uneventful, unexciting, and bland as music had become pre-Adele.  Mixing things up for your family, as well as your own taste buds is a deliciously smart thing to do.

I home schooled our daughters all the way through school and when they were growing up, I’d incorporate whatever region we were studying into our family meals.  Hmm, I guesss that’s why they were extra excited whenever we studied Italy. It wasn’t my lessons, it was my food!

I still love to incorporate as many “tastes of the world” into our meals as possible and Indian food has become a new obsession. When you try different cuisines, you discover a whole new world of flavors and tastes and when it comes to Indian food, it’s an uncommonly beautiful experience.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be telling you more about a new cookbook that’s making my quest for fresh and exciting recipes and meals as easy as it gets. The book is Spices & Seasons: Simple, Sustainable Indian Flavors by  Rinku Bhattacharya. I’ll share a few recipes with you from the book and you’ll soon see that this is a cookbook you simply must get your hands on.

The first recipe is for something I had honestly never made before, Chutney.  Don’t let the word Chutney intimidate you and, by all means, don’t let the word mint turn you away. If you’re anything like me, you only think of mint as something beautiful in your herb bed and pleasant in your tea.  I’m so narrow minded when it comes to mint that I was tempted to leave the mint out of this recipe! Seriously, I thought, “Hmph. Mint goes in tea, I’ll just replace it with nice innocent parsley.”

I can be so ridiculous like that.

In the end, good common sense won out and I left the recipe as it was intended to be prepared, and it knocked my socks off.  The flavors are so intense, fresh, unique, and delicious. Trust me, you don’t want to replace the mint in this recipe – this is a perfect 10 recipe and I can’t wait to make it again.

I ate mine (of course) with Gluten Free Rice Crackers (Nabisco’s Gluten Free Rice Thins are won-der-ful) but I provided flat bread for everyone else. Everyone loved it and they, too, can’t wait for me to make it again!

 

Classic Green Mint Chutney

(VE, GF)

Green mint chutney is a classic, popular staple, omnipresent next to snacks, particularly in the summer months. This recipe is a very simple free-form variation of the classic recipe. There are other creative variations using tomatoes, green mangoes, and the works, so I encourage you to create and innovate to suit your fancy. Mint by itself in this recipe can have a bitter aftertaste, so it is tempered with cilantro. You can mix and match other herbs as desired. This chutney can be used as a condiment or sandwich spread, or can be added to sauces.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Makes: 2 cups

1 bunch cilantro leaves (about 3 cups of leaves; tender stems can also be used in this recipe)
2 bunches mint leaves (about 11⁄2 cups)
2 green Serrano chilies
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 teaspoon black salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons oil (such as mustard or canola)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

  1. Place the cilantro, mint, green Serrano chilies, cumin powder, salt, black salt, sugar, oil, and lime juice in the bowl of a blender.
  2. Grind mixture until smooth. This chutney will keep for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, but the color will darken due to the lime.

 Mint Chutney and GF CrackersTips and Tricks:

It is important to ensure that the mint leaves used for this chutney are tender or they tend to add a bitter taste to this condiment.

This chutney can be mellowed by adding 11⁄2 tablespoons of yogurt or coconut milk as a vegan option. If adding yogurt you can skip the lime juice.

Another variation is to add some blanched peanuts or almonds.

Ideas for Serving the Chutney: Flatbread, grilled shrimp, crackers, toasted bread wedges…

Edits:

Delicious Roasted Winter Vegetables (Any Season’s Veggies will Do!)

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Roasted Potatoes, garlic, and Carrots

I’ve always been a huge fan of Special K Products, so when I saw The Special K Challenge and Beyond: Your Complete Guide to Weight Management, Healthy Living & Delicious Cooking in my grocery store about a month ago, I snatched it up as fast as I grab my drinks at Starbucks as soon as my name’s called.

I have a system in place when it comes to buying cookbooks. I have to keep myself in check because, frankly, I’d spend all my money on adding to my cookbook collection if I were to be left unsupervised. What I’ve started doing is thumbing through the book and seeing if I can find 4 different recipes I really just cannot live without.

The first 4 recipes I saw were:

  • Asian-Style Braised Baby Bok Choy
  • Roasted Winter Vegetables
  • Greek Style Spaghetti Squash
  • Crispy Baked Crab Cakes with Spicy Re’moulade

They had me at Asian-Style Braised Baby Bok Choy, actually, but I went through the motions of being a tough sell. I sat the book directly into the cart (ironically right on top of a box of Special K Cereal – the kind with bits of chocolate… so, so, so, so very good!).

My grocery store didn’t have any Bok Choy that day – baby or otherwise – so I rounded up some favorite vegetables for the Roasted Winter Vegetables recipe (the recipe is at the bottom of this post).

If you see this book in a store, snatch it up – it’s fantastic.  You can also order it from Amazon by clicking one of the links in the post or the picture of the book below.

Other recipes include:

  • Artichokes with Carrot-Cornbread Stuffing (I’m definitely making these for Thanksgiving)
  • Black Bean and Corn Dip with Oven-Baked Chips
  • Banana-Stuffed Multigrain French Toast
  • Spinach-Feta Frittata
  • Lemon-Chive Ricotta Dip
  • Enlightened Guacamole
  • Lemon-Pepper Salmon
  • Spanish-Style Cod with White Beans
  • Sauteed Shrimp Tacos
  • Chicken and Red Chile Enchiladas
  • Thai-Style Chicken in Lettuce Wraps
  • Oven-Fried Chicken Cutlets
  • Easy Chicken Potpies
  • Turkey Meatloaf with Barbecue Sauce
  • Braised Turkey Thighs with Winter Root Vegetables
  • Italian-Style Chicken Parmesan
  • Polenta Gratin
  • Rice Pudding with Dried Fruit
  • Dark Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Raspberry Sauce (you should see the picture!)
  • Frozen Yogurt with Berries Sundaes
  • Red Velvet Cupcakes
  • And A LOT MORE!

 Roasted Corn and Cauliflower

In addition to tons of healthy recipes (with suggestions, information, and nutritional facts), The Special K Challenge and Beyond: Your Complete Guide to Weight Management, Healthy Living & Delicious Cooking serves as a handbook for weight-management and weight-loss goals. You’ll learn about the Special K Challenge and how you can use it EASILY in your day to day life and make it fit your own personal needs.  Allow me to point out, though, that whether you read one word about the Special K Challenge or not, this book is more than worth it for the recipes and nutritional information alone!

I’ve made the Roasted Winter Vegetables recipe below quite a few times, and have used different vegetables each time. I’ve used sweet potatoes, corn on the cob (with the ears halved… looks better), red potatoes, carrots,  garlic. and cauliflower.  I’ve also used the same method on roasted tomatoes, but with a shorter baking time. The balsamic vinegar and rosemary are a perfect match for every vegetable you can imagine!

Roasted Winter Vegetables

Cooking Spray
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 6 wedges
2 medium red potatoes, cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch pieces
2 large shallots, cut into quarters
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mellow balsamic vinegar blends beautifully with fresh rosemary to flavor this colorful combination of roasted sweet potatoes, fennel, red potatoes, and shallots.

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Meanwhile, on 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking pan lined with foil and coated with cooking spray, toss together sweet potato, fennel, red potatoes, shallots, oil, vinegar, salt, rosemary, and garlic.
  3. Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes or until vegetables begin to brown, stirring every 10 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl.

Make it your own:  Comb farmer’s markets in the cooler months of the year for a variety of root vegetables to try. Here are suggestions for other varieties to roast using the method above:

  • Carrots – Peel and trim whole baby carrots, or cut larger peeled and trimmed carrots into 1-inch chunks.
  • Garlic – Separate a garlic head into cloves and leave peels on. Squeeze garlic from peels after roasting.
  • Onions – Cut peeled and trimmed medium yellow onions into 1-inch pieces.
  • Parsnips – Peel and trim parsnips and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • Turnips – Peel and trim whole baby turnips, or cut larger peeled and trimmed turnips into 1-inch wedges.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie? Yes, Please!

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This recipe was written before I had to give up wheat/gluten for health reasons and before the blog and I both went gluten-free! To make a gluten-free version, use gluten-free pretzels to make your own crust, use gluten-free pretzels on top (there are great ones on the market), and make sure your caramels and other ingredients are gluten-free. 

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

The Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie above is all a caramel lover could ever want from life.  It’s an eye-rolling-into-the-back-of-your-head experience with every bite.  Heck, your eyes will probably start rolling before the bite ever reaches your mouth.

The recipe is from a cookbook every pie lover should buy TODAY, Crazy About Pies by Krystina Castella.  (Read my Crazy About Pies Review by clicking the link.)

As you can see, I used a disposable tin pie pan. When I’m making ice cream pies, I always buy the disposable pans. I’m… um… not entirely sure why actually.  I mean, glass pie plates freeze just fine.  It’s just a strange quirk of mine – the good thing about this strange quirk is it’ll never be lonely.

My strange quirks number in the hundreds.

The recipe called for either Vanilla, Caramel, or Dulce De Leche ice cream and each would be out of this world. However, when I was in the ice cream aisle at Kroger, an ice cream called Caramel Praline (Kroger brand ice creams are fantastic, by the way) caught my eye.

Into the cart it went.

Ingredients for Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

I actually made two pies and one carton ended up being all I needed.  If your pie plates are larger than my disposable tins, you may need all of one container for one pie.

I’m including the pretzel crust recipe from the cookbook as well, because I’m just that darn cool.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

A few observations before the recipe:

  • This recipe makes the best caramel topping I’ve ever devoured. It would be excellent as a dip for apples, pretzels, or your fingers. It’d also be excellent drizzled over ice cream or.. well… your fingers.
  • (Duck! Here comes another strange quirk flying in!) I was a little nervous about my pretzel crust “setting,” and few things break my heart more than a pie crust that won’t do its job.  So, I drizzled a little of the caramel sauce over the crust as it cooled.  I had extra caramel sauce, since I was confident the ice cream I was using didn’t need any more caramel mixed in.  I saved the small amount I had left as an ice cream topper extraordinaire.
  • This recipe would be a lot of fun to experiment with. You have the basic, amazing recipe for a pretzel crust and caramel sauce. Let your imagination run wild with different ice cream flavors and even trade out caramel sauce with your favorite chocolate sauce. In the end, however, nothing’s going to beat this pie just as it is.
  • See the picture right above these observations?  The caramel Heaven-ness left in the bottom of the pan is so delicious you’ll want to dive in head first.  Just be sure no one’s around.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream Pie

FILLING:
Vanilla or Caramel Ice Cream (page 256) or 1.5 quarts store-bought vanilla, duce de leche, or caramel ice cream

CARAMEL TOPPING
1 9.5-ounce bag caramels
1/2 cup whole milk

CRUST
Large Pretzel Crust (page 235), baked and cooled

GARNISH
2 tablespoons crushed pretzels
1/4 cup whole pretzels

Makes one 10-invh single-crust pie.

Vanilla Ice Cream, mixed with a streak of caramel and set in a pretzel crust, offers a surprisingly sweet, smooth, buttery, and somewhat salty taste. Prepare the ice cream from scratch or purchase store-bought ice cream and mix in the caramel.

  1. Soften the ice cream until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
  2. Combine the caramels and milk in a small saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth.  Cool for 5 minutes. If using vanilla ice cream, use a spatula to swirl three-fourths of the caramel mixture into the ice cream.
  3. Spread the ice cream into the crust, then spread the caramel (or the remaining caramel, if using vanilla ice cream) on top. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 3 hours. When ready to serve, top with crushed and whole pretzels.

One more observation: The 3 hours it has to spend in the freezer will be the longest 3 hours of your adult life.

Tatste of Home Best Loved Recipes

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Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes Cookbook

I always (always, always, always) try to do my best when it comes to cookbook reviews.  Cookbooks are one of my greatest passions. I’ve collected them since I was around 18 or 19 and have never sold or given one away. Perish the thought! I have family heirloom cookbooks, store bought cookbooks, Church “Fund Raiser” Cookbooks (seriously great recipes can be found in these!), and.. of course… cookbooks that have generously been sent for me to review on my food blog.

Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes: 1485 Favorites from the World’s #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine is one of the recent cookbooks I’ve received and I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you all about it. I’ve waited for a few weeks, however, because it only recently (very recently) became available on Amazon.

While, as I said, I try to do my best on all cookbook reviews, I get a little bit of stage fright when the cookbook is this extraordinary. My number one mission is always to get a cookbook that I love dearly into as many hands as I possibly can. With Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes: 1485 Favorites from the World’s #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine (Amazon link), I feel extra pressure because this truly is a cookbook you MUST have. It’s one of the best collection of recipes I’ve ever seen.

What’s more, this is beautiful and huge cookbook would make the best gift imaginable for any foodie or cook in your life. Trust me, they’d thank you each time they used it. This is well over 1,000 recipes (1,485 to be exact) that will be used, loved, and reused indefinitely.  What’s more, it looks great sitting on your kitchen hutch. It’s quite the looker!

Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes

 

 Book Description

Real recipes from real home cooks—they’re what make Taste of Home one of America’s most popular—and most trusted—names in home cooking. Over the years, we’ve featured tens of thousands of recipes in our magazines and websites. But what makes this book so special is that it features not just great recipes. Not just award-winning recipes. These are our best-loved recipes: The ones that conjure up heavenly aromas, that bring you back to Sunday dinner tables, summer picnics and holiday parties, that call vividly to mind the special cooks who made them. The ones that make you close your eyes, smile and say, “Mmmmm!”
They’re all here—cook-off winners and bake-sale favorites, must-have comfort foods and secret family recipes, regional specialties packed with flavor and style. This collection contains 1,485 of the most requested, most beloved dishes, all submitted by Taste of Home readers. Recipes for all occasions are included from Blueberry Cheesecake Flapjacks to Caramel Apple Bread Pudding, mouthwatering main dishes from Creamy Seafood-Stuffed Shells to Chicken with Rosemary Butter Sauce, and delicious dessert recipes from Magnolia Dream Cheesecake to Chocolate Ganache Tarts.
Here’s what else is included:
  • Top 100 favorites recipes
  • Prep/Cook Times
  • Recipe comments from our web community
  • Everyday ingredients
  • Easy-to-follow directions
  • How-to photos
  • Cooking tips
  • 26 chapters
  • 20 photo sections with 400 full-color photos
The most cherished magazine features are included: Mom Made it Best, Our Favorite Contributor’s Meals, Mealtime Express, Cooking for One or Two, Grand-Prize Winners and Potluck Picks. Besides special features, the remaining chapters cover everything from appetizers and beverages to entrees and sides and breads and desserts.
Below are just some of the amazing recipes included in this outstanding cookbook:
  • Tiger Butter Candy (page 214)
  • Sour Cream Chocolate Cake (page 171)
  • New England Baked Beans (page 243)
  • Herbed Turkey and Dressing (page 397)
  • Traditional Lasagna (page 394)
  • Nutty Oven-Fried Chicken (page 385)
  • Onion Beef Au Jus (page 399)
  • Deluxe German Potato Salad (page 411)
  • Salsa Verde (page 457)
  • Country Fried Steaks (page 53)
  • Traditional Meat Loaf (page 73)
  • Asparagus Beef Stir-Fry (page 44)
  • Mexicorn Grits (page 573)
  • Italian Spiral Meat Loaf (page 632)
  • Best Baby-Back Ribs (page 618)
  • Breaded Pork Chops (page 634)
  • Speedy Jambalaya (page 629)
  • Pumpkin Pies for a Gang (page 689)
  • Chicken Enchilada Bake (page 723)
  • Smoked Turkey and Apple Salad (page 742)
  • Pepperoni Pan Pizza (page 797)
  • Oven Parmesan Crisps (page 839)
  • Old-Fashioned Cream of Tomato Soup (page 872)
  • Cajun Corn Soup (page 861)
  • Chewy Peanut Butter Bars (Page 316)
  • Swedish Raspberry Almond Bars (page 323)
  • Saying “And Many More” just doesn’t cut it this time! How about “Over 1,000 more recipes!”

Below is the first recipe I made from Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes: 1485 Favorites from the World’s #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine. It’s called Holiday Tortellini Soup and it’s out of this world. This will be a beautiful soup to make around Christmas – but I’m sure I won’t wait that long to make it again.

Make this one as soon as possible – you’ll blow everyone away!

Holiday Tortellini Soup

Holiday Tortellini Soup

Recipe Type: Soup
Author: Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 8
Hearty and full of flavor, this Italian-style soup freezes well if you want to make it ahead or have leftovers to save for another day. – Michelle Goggins (Recipe Author)
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 ounces pancetta or bacon, finely-diced
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 can (49-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
  • 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
  • 1 package (9 ounces) refrigerated cheese tortellini (use gluten-free if necessary)
  • 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
  • 8 ounces fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 cup freshly shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.
  2. Add pancetta. Cook until crisp.
  3. Add onion; cook 3-4 minutes or until tender.
  4. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.
  5. Add the broth and Italian seasoning; bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, cook tortellini according to the package directions; drain.
  7. Add the cooked tortellini to soup mixture.
  8. Stir in crushed tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes.
  9. Add the spinach and cook just until wilted.
  10. Season with salt and pepper.
  11. Garnish with the cheese.

I don’t care if you’ve been cooking for 50 years, 5 years, or 5 days – you have to grab a copy of Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes: 1485 Favorites from the World’s #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine. While you’re at it, you’d really be smart to buy one for the foodie, seasoned cook, or new cook on your Christmas list.

I am SHOCKED that Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes: 1485 Favorites from the World’s #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine doesn’t cost more than it does. When I gave my arms a workout by carrying this beautiful book into the house, I thought, “I’ll bet this one will be an expensive cookbook.” Then, when I looked through at all of the AMAZING recipes and pictures and realized that I could conceivably see myself making each one, I thought, “Oh, yeah, this one will cost over $50, easily.”

And what’s more, it would have been worth every penny!

Amazingly, this collection of the best recipes in the world (what more would you expect from Taste of Home?) is just a little over $20. 889 pages of recipes, tips, tricks, and pictures should cost a heck of a lot more than this.

I sincerely hope you’ll take advantage of the price and grab this one today. You’ll thank me later, I promise!

See Taste of Home Best Loved Recipes: 1485 Favorites from the World’s #1 Food & Entertaining Magazine!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

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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. (Amazon link)  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. I use jarred red peppers for every recipe, including this one. They’re delicious and save you the time of roasting the red peppers yourself.

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


Sour Cream Sauce for Fruit Recipe

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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… I personally never bother with it)

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.