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Review: Happy Cooking by Giada De Laurentiis

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Happy Cooking by Giada de Laurentiis

Happy Cooking by Giada De Laurentiis

I’ll go ahead and confess, right up front, that I’m a total Food Network addict. I have been since I first got hooked on the “dream come true network for foodies” many years ago, thanks to Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, Emeril, and beautiful Giada De Laurentiis.

Since she has, over the years, provided me with some of my all time favorite recipes, I forgave her for being gorgeous long ago.

Happy Cooking is the television star’s newest cookbook and, though I’ve loved each of her cookbooks, this is definitely one of her best. The recipes are super creative, beautiful, delicious, and doable. Completely doable.

Giada’s recipes are consistently flawless. She is an expert at flavor combinations and, when it comes to Italian food in particular, nobody (and I mean nobody) does it any better. The recipes in Happy Cooking really shake up traditional favorites and make cooking exciting again.

She does an outstanding job of making recipes that should be insanely difficult insanely easy. With clear, easy to follow instructions, these recipes will quickly become your favorites.

The remarkable thing is this: the recipes in Happy Cooking look like they’d cost a small fortune to make – yet they’re honestly very reasonable. What’s more, the food you’ll create looks as though you had a personal chef stashed away in the kitchen.  A chef that answers to an authentically Italian name.

Happy Cooking by Giada de Laurentiis Review

Happy Cooking: Make Every Meal Count … Without Stressing Out

Recipes In Happy Eating Include:

  • Orecchiette with Cauliflower and Bread Crumbs
  • Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna
  • Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Crispy Fried Egg
  • Banana Tea
  • Chicken Sausages and Mash
  • Pan-Seared Salmon with Year-Round Succotash
  • Smoky Candied Carrots
  • Corn Fritters with Cherry Tomato Salsita
  • Fiesta Quinoa Salad
  • Whipped Ricotta with Greens
  • The Only Vinaigrette You’ll Ever Need
  • Sauteed Shrimp Cocktail
  • Many more!

 

From Amazon: Best-selling cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis is picking up where Feel Good Food left off. Filled with even more fresh recipes and day-to-day living strategies, the Food Network superstar shares her year-round approach to living a healthy and happy lifestyle.

Giada De Laurentiis, one of the most recognizable faces on the Food Network lineup, invites readers to get to know her as never before. The celebrity chef is back with nearly 200 new recipes and helpful advice on everything from hosting a potluck or open house to what to pack along for lunch every day. Drawing on the time-saving tips and healthy eating strategies that keep her functioning at the highest possible level in her roles as working mom, restaurateur, and tv personality, she has assembled a year-round roadmap to vibrant good health and delicious eating. Readers will be inspired to try new ingredients, new wellness practices, and create a wholesome balance between peak nutrition – and the occasional decadent indulgence. Featuring her New Year’s cleanse, homemade Christmas gifts, and ideas for every holiday, special occasion, and casual weekend in between, this is Giada’s 365-approach to cooking up a happy life.

You can find Happy Cooking: Make Every Meal Count … Without Stressing Out, along with Giada’s other cookbooks, on Amazon.

Note: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. The opinions are entirely my own.

Happy Cooking by Giada de Laurentiis


Giada de Laurentiis’ Almond Pancakes

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Almond Pancakes Recipe

I’ve said it a gazillion and seven times, but I’ll say it again: I’ve never tried a Giada de Laurentiis recipe that didn’t blow me completely away. If you try a lot of different recipes, you know that it’s pretty rare for anyone to churn out perfection each and every time – especially when, like Giada de Laurentiis, you churn out so many recipes!  She simply creates some of the best recipes I’ve ever tried.

The following recipe is no exception.  This is for Almond Pancakes and the recipe is both beautiful and delicious.

Giada de Laurentiis’ Almond Pancakes

  • 1/2 cup (4 oz.) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
  • 1-1/2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups buttermilk pancake mix (recommend: Kruteaz)
  • 4 ounces almost paste, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • Maple syrup (optional)
  • Fresh raspberries (optional)
  1. In a food processor, combine the mascarpone cheese, water, sugar, almond extract and vanilla extract. Process until mixture is smooth.
  2. Add pancake mix and pulse until just combined.
  3. Preheat griddle or large, non-stick skillet over medium-low heat.
  4. Grease griddle or skillet with 1 tablespoon butter.Add almond paste and pulse once to incorporate.
  5. Working in batches, pour 1/4 cup of batter per pancake onto griddle. Cook for about 1-1/2 minutes each side, or until golden.
  6. Repeat with remaining butter and batter.
  7. Arrange pancakes on a platter. Serve with maple syrup and fresh raspberries.
Yield: 16 Pancakes

Recipe and photo credit: Target’s A Bullseye View.  Click the link for a lot more recipes, including some more outstanding Giada recipes.

Poached Pears in Honey, Ginger and Cinnamon Syrup

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Giada De Laurentiis Poached PearsPoached Pears: A Giada De Laurentiis Recipe

As you might imagine, I do a great deal of cooking.  While I love to wing it, creating my own concoctions, I love trying out new recipes even more.  It’s fun to tinker with recipes I’ve found and see what new things I can come up with – but there are a lot of recipes that need no tinkering whatsoever. Some chefs and celebrity cooks come up with recipes where I’m convinced tinkering around would be sinful.  Because I try out so many different cookbooks and recipes, I do consider myself an expert when it comes to household celebrity chefs and cooks.

Someone can mention a name and I’m able to tell them to trust most of their recipes, some of their recipes, or none of their recipes. Then there’s the select group when I simply say, “Get your hands on every recipe carrying their name. Make each of these recipes. Don’t change a thing.”  Oddly enough, this select group isn’t made up of very many.  However, Giada De Laurentiis is firmly on the list and has been for quite a few years. Every single recipe this woman comes up with is 100 percent perfection.

The same is true for her line of kitchen and cooking products.  I’ll let you in on a little secret. As you know if you read any of my blogs, I’ve got a Target fixation. I’m there at least 3 times a week! There are certain departments I gravitate toward EACH trip:

  • The cat food/birdseed aisles. With 4 cats and a yard constantly filled with birds, it’s little wonder I always make a beeline to these aisles.
  • The Starbucks in the front of our local Target. Thank you, Target, Thank you very much.
  • The clothes aisle.
  • The cooking and kitchen aisle. Target has the most beautiful dishes! They’ll often have great sales, too, in addition to their regularly low prices.

However, before any of these stops, my first stop is ALWAYS the Giada De Laurentiss aisle.  I’d faint dead away if they ever put out a new product with her smiling face on the front and I wasn’t the first to buy it. Dead away.

Basically, if you see the name Giada De Laurentiis on anything (recipe, cookbook, Lasagna dish, spatula, magazine…), you’d be crazy not to add it to your arsenal.

Below is a beautifully delicious and deliciously beautiful recipe for Poached Pears from Giada De Laurentiis.  It’s shared with my readers courtesy of Target’s A Bullesye View.

Poached Pears in Honey, Ginger and Cinnamon Syrup

2 cups simple syrup, recipe follows
1 (750) ml bottle Moscato wine or other sweet dessert wine
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons honey
1 ( 3/4 inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 small, firm, ripe Anjou or Bosc pears, peeled and cored
Vanilla ice cream or gelato

For the syrup
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 cups water

STEP 1: In a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears, combine the wine, simple syrup, cinnamon sticks, honey and ginger. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the bean to the saucepan.

STEP 2: Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. Add the pears and simmer over medium-low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes, turning occasionally, until the pears are tender.

STEP 3: Remove the pears from the liquid and allow to cool. Continue to simmer the liquid until it thickens and is reduced by half, about fifteen to twenty minutes. Cool to room temperature. Remove the cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean and discard, or keep to garnish!

STEP 4: Place each pear on a small serving plate with a hefty scoop of vanilla ice cream.

STEP 5: Drizzle on the syrup, serve immediately and devour!

YUM!

Recipe and Photo Credit: A Bullesye View

Giada De Laurentiis Chicken Recipe

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Giada De Laurentiis Chicken Recipe

Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine

As a Giada De Laurentiis fan, I’m excited to tell you that she has a new cookbook on the market, Weeknights with Giada (click the link for more information or to order your copy from Target.com today!).  Below is a great recipe from the cookbook.  Like ALL Giada De Laurentiis recipes, this one’s a winner.

Chicken with Tarragon and White Wine Recipe

Serves 4

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 (8-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken breasts
4 (4-ounce) boneless and skinless chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons flour
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup dry white wine, such as Riesling
2 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat the oil over high heat. Season the chicken with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper and dust with 2 tablespoons of the flour. Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken and set aside on a large plate.

Heat the same pan used for the chicken over medium-high heat. Add the onion and season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 4 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until aromatic.

Increase the heat to high. Add the wine and scrape up the browned bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Return the chicken pieces to the pan.

Add 2 cups of the chicken broth and 1/2 cup of the tarragon. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken pieces to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup chicken broth and the remaining 2 tablespoons flour until smooth. Whisk the flour mixture into the simmering cooking juices. Whisk in the mustard. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve the sauce over the chicken and garnish with the remaining tarragon.

Reprinted from Weeknights with Giada by Giada De Laurentiis. Copyright © 2012. Photos copyright © 2012 by Amy Neunsinger. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.

Photo Credit: A Bullseye View

Weeknights with Giada Cookbook

For an interview with loveliness personified (aka Giada) on A Bullseye View, click here!

Adorable Carrot and Zucchini Mini Muffins

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Carrot Zucchini Mini Muffins

Carrot and Zucchini Mini Muffins by Giada De Laurentiis
Makes 24 mini muffins

For the muffins
1 cup almond flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup grape seed oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup grated carrots (from 1 medium peeled carrot)
1/2 cup grated zucchini (from 1 medium unpeeled zucchini)
1/2 cup raisins

For the frosting (optional)
1 cup (about 8 ounces) whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 tablespoons honey

1. Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, sieve together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add any solids leftover in the sieve to the bowl and mix in.

3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the oil, syrup and egg. Add the dry ingredients and mix well until combined. Mix in the carrot, zucchini and raisins.

4. Using 2 small spoons, fill the muffin cups 3/4 full with the batter and bake for 15 minutes until light golden. Cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool, about 30 minutes.

5. Frosting: In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese and honey until smooth. Spread the cooled muffins with frosting and serve.

Credit: Recipe and Photos Shared with you from A Bullseye View!

My Knees are Weak: Hazelnut Crunch Cake

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Giada De Laurentiis Hazelnut Crunch Cake

If I have trouble concentrating the rest of the day, it’s all thanks to the picture above and the recipe below – both used courtesy of A Bull’s Eye View.  Sigh, I love Target. Maybe that’s why I’m there everyday, huh?  This beautiful cake would make a deliciously unexpected dessert for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Or, better yet, both!  I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have any complaints.

Hazelnut Crunch Cake with Mascarpone and Chocolate
Makes eight servings
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 (8-oz.) containers mascarpone cheese
1 cup cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest

Step 1 – Prepare cake mix according to package directions for two 9-inch spring foam cake pans. Let cool on a wire rack.

Step 2 – Toast hazelnuts: Place hazelnuts in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Heat until fragrant and golden brown, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Let cool. Tip: Place hazelnuts in a towel and rub together – this will make the skins come off easier.

Step 3 – Place toasted nuts close together in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheet.

For the crunch:

Step 4 – Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until dissolved. Bring to a boil and let cook until sugar is light brown, about 8 minutes. Let bubbles subside then pour the caramelized sugar over nuts.

Step 5– Place baking sheet in refrigerator and let cool until hard, about 30 minutes. When cooled, top with another piece of parchment paper and pound into small pieces, or place on a cutting board and cut into small pieces. Set aside.

For the filling / icing:  

Step 6 – Using an electric mixture (on a low setting), beat mascarpone cheese, cream, powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold the crunch mixture into the whipped cream.

For the topping:

Step 7 – Finely grind chocolate chips, sugar and zest in a food processor.

To assemble:

Step 8 – Put 1 cake on a serving plate. Top with 1-inch of the whipped cream crunch mixture. Top with the second layer of cake and continue frosting with the remaining whipped cream crunch mixture. Sprinkle top and sides of cake with ground chocolate and zest.

I looked around their website and bookmarked quite a few recipes – great stuff! One I loved uses a great Monster Trail Mix from Target. The recipe is for Monster Trail Mix Bars and I’m having even more trouble concentrating on my work! Click the link and check them out.  You’ll also want to see the Parmesan Egg & Garlic Crostini with Baby Romaine Salad and Bacon Vinaigrette. I’m grabbing the ingredients for this beauty TODAY…. you know, when I also get the ones I’ll need for the Hazelnut Crunch Cake and Monster Trail Mix Bars.

It’s a good thing I have a treadmill.

 

Beautiful Square White Dishes from Target

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Dishes from Target

The beauties in this post are some of the dishes that were given to me on my birthday from my daughter, Stephany, and her boyfriend (and one of the sons I never had) Rusty.  They came from Target – the dishes, not the kids, they came straight from Heaven.

I absolutely love these heavy, gorgeous dishes. They’re perfect for any holiday or special occasion you can imagine. They can just as easily set an Easter table as a Christmas one – a simple changing of napkin colors makes the transition beautiful.  Add Red, White, and Blue napkins and BAM you’re set for Fourth of July.

Dishes from Target

Target has a remarkable selection of dishes, as well as kitchen gadgets, kitchen appliances, pans, etc.  They carry several Food Network chef lines, including Giada De Laurentiis.  Anything you see with her smiling face on the front is beyond excellent and exceptionally made.

The next time you want dishes (or anything else for your kitchen!), head to Target before you go anywhere else.  You can, of course, also shop online at Target.com.  You’ll find things you might not have in your local Target.

Dishes from Target

Giada de Laurentiis Products from Target: Must Haves!

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Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon

Okay. I normally don’t make broad, sweeping statements (unless it plays something like, “Drink coffee, it makes you sexier,” which doesn’t really count because that’s been proven). However, the time has come to make a doozie: If you ever see a cookbook, food item, kitchen gadget, pot, pan, dish, coffee mug, spoon, small appliance, large appliance, apron, salt shaker, or bulldog puppy (???) with the name Giada de Laurentiis on it, buy it and prepare to be amazed. The woman does not attach her name or beautiful face to anything less than a 10 on a scale of 1-10.

Apparently it’s against her code.

Good code.

The Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon, pictured at the top of the post?  Ridiculously excellent.  Like all of Giada’s food products, you get so much more than you pay for or even hope for.

Product Description:
An incredibly tasty Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest. The hand-harvested, all-natural sea salt with lemon zest comes from a combination of the pure Sicilian sea water and the freshest lemons grown under the Sicilian sun. Giada’s Sicilian sea salt presents a delicate and intense aroma, with distinct hints of sweet, fresh lemons. Its fresh and delicate taste is characterized by intense notes of lemon, making this gourmet product a perfect ingredient to be coupled with light dishes, ideal for cooked or raw fish and shellfish, poultry, vegetables and desserts. Academia Barilla and Giada De Laurentiis present a piece of Italy to Italian food lovers and food connoisseurs, to taste, enjoy and share. Together, Academia Barilla and Giada De Laurentiis have launched the much anticipated range of high quality, authentic Italian gourmet products.

I regularly buy Giada’s pasta, sauces, and other food products at my local Target…. a store I have nothing but love for. Her spaghetti sauces are amazing – my favorite one is a creamy pasta sauce that boggles the brain.

A recent gift from my husband (for a birthday I acknowledged but didn’t count) is the gorgeous ceramic lasagna pan pictured above. Naturally, like a kid with a toy, I had to use it right away. I normally would have whipped up my favorite vegetarian lasagna but we’d recently had spaghetti — I’m nothing if not anal — so I made a cheesy potato au gratin. Outstanding. The pan refused to allow the potatoes or the cheese to stick, which made serving, eating, and cleaning joyful, delicious, and simple.

It’s such a gorgeous ceramic pan I kind of hated to use it. You really have to see it to appreciate it. It’s worth a special trip to Target to see Giada’s collection of pans, gadgets, and more. She even has a line of sexy aprons as well as her own coffee.

Somebody tell me why I haven’t tried that yet.

By the way, when you click through to the ceramic lasagna pan, if you scroll down you’ll see what appears to be a great recipe for Baked Gnocchi, calling for spinach, nutmeg, gnocchi, chicken broth, heavy cream… is your mouth watering yet?

Another gift the wonderful husband bought me was the Giada De Laurentiis for Target 12″ Stainless Steel Nonstick Sauté Pan (Click through this link for details as well as a recipe for Orzo with Sausage, Peppers and Tomatoes!). This gorgeous pan was initiated into the family with salmon patties and is currently simmering a little pasta sauce for my oldest daughter’s lunch.

It’s quite possibly the best pan I’ve ever owned.

Features:
Pan-Pot Material: Stainless Steel
Handle Material: Stainless Steel
Features: Riveted Handle
Care and Cleaning: Hand-wash Only

Click through any of the links (except for the Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon – it has a mind of its own) to browse Target’s outstanding line of Giada de Laurentiis products.

Paula Deen’s Cooking up a Can’t Miss Episode Today

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Sweet Iced Tea!

Okay, so Paula’s Home Cooking is a Can’t Miss everyday – I know, I know. But today, it’s especially so. The recipes she’ll be making are “Country Food Side Dishes” and the lineup sounds way beyond delicious. One of the things she’ll make is a sweetening syrup she uses for Iced Tea. If you aren’t from the South, you may not be that familiar with sweet tea. Being a Kentuckian, I was never familiar with any other. When I got married, my husband was in the Air Force, so we moved around quite a bit. We lived in the beautiful city of Wichita, Kansas for a while and I was convinced they made the worst tea on earth until I realized they just didn’t sweeten it.

My response, of course, was “Why on earth not?!?!” (They also didn’t fry green tomatoes, make red eye gravy, or have a clear understanding of okra. But I loved them anyway.)

Here’s Paula Deen’s Recipe for Simple Syrup for Sweetening Tea:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, bringing to a boil. When the sugar is completely dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and cool to room temperature. Add to your pitcher of tea and soon you’ll be wondering “Why on earth..” everyone doesn’t drink sweet tea too.

Here are the other recipes Paula Deen will be cooking up today:

Corn Casserole

Turnip Mashed Potatoes

Indian Succotash

Hoppin’ John

If you’re a big fan of casseroles, don’t miss Emeril tonight. The show’s centered around casseroles and they sound amazing. Afterwards, we’ll be ready for dessert and those of us who are Alton Brown fanatics will be in Food Network Heaven, there’ll be back to back Good Eats. The first one focuses on cakes and the second one will “top things off” with icings. (Sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

For the recipes that will be featured on Emeril, Alton, and the rest of the shows on today’s Food Network, see the scrolling lineup to the left. I like what’s up Giada’s Italian sleeves today, too.

Today on the Food Network

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Rachael Ray's Kentucky Burgoo Burgers

Today’s Food Network line-up makes my Kentuckian heart skip a couple thousand beats. Yeah, that good.

First of all, early this morning on Boy Meets Grill, Fried Chicken is the star of the show. Sign me up for any show where Fried Chicken’s center stage!

On Everyday Italian (the 4:30 pm episode), Giada will make pancakes with ricotta. I love pancakes almost as much as fried chicken, so I’m completely on board for that. Also, I love cooking with ricotta – whether it’s lasagna, manicotti, or stuffed pasta shells…it’s one of the most agreeable cheeses in the world. I can’t wait to see how she uses it with pancakes!

Immediately after this Everyday Italian, the Barefoot Contessa has an amazing sounding episode featuring Mac and Cheese, Peach Raspberry Shortcakes, and Radishes with Butter and Salt. Talk about beckoning to Spring.

As if that weren’t enough, Rachael Ray is even dedicating one of her 30 Minute Meals episodes to Bluegrass Burgers today. She’ll be making Kentucky Burgoo Burgers and Southern Succotash and Julip Sweet Tea. On the 30 Minute Meals right after the Kentucky one, she’ll feature Mac and Jack Salad and BBQ Chicken Burgers with Slaw – in her own words, “Yum-o!”

On Throwdown with Bobby Flay there’ll be more…. (wait for it, wait for it)…. Fried Chicken! The recipes will be Hattie’s Southern Fried Chicken, Fried Chicken with Ancho Honey, and Sauteed Swiss Chard with Red Onion and Serrano Chile Vinegar.

The 11:00 Good Eats ALSO features Fried Chicken! In between Bobby and Alton are my much-beloved and anticipated Ace of Cakes episodes. This is one of the most entertaining and enjoyable shows on the Food Network, I just wish there was a new episode every night. These lovable and talented people are the most entertaining people on television.

Great day on the Food Network – don’t miss a minute!