Tag: cookbook review

New Cookbooks for the New Year

I want to share a couple of new cookbooks I recently received.  They were both gifts from my oldest son this past Christmas.  He usually asks me what books I would like, especially after last Mother’s Day when he bought me two juicing – smoothie books I already owned.  I have learned it is best to give him a list of a few and just tell him to pick one or two.  This past Christmas he bought me Meat Free Monday and Inspiralize Everything.

Meat Free Monday cookbook

Inspiralize Everything cookbook

I really like both of the cookbooks a lot.  I have already tried many of the recipes from the Meat Free Monday book.  The idea of this book is to go meat free for one day each week, specifically Monday – even if you are not a vegetarian.  This campaign was launched by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney in 2009.

There is a whole menu for each of the different seasons:  Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter with 13 weeks of meat free recipes for each season.  The recipes are fairly easy to follow and the book has a lot of really nice photos of the recipes.  There is a recipe for breakfast, lunch, sides, snacks, dinner-main course, and a dessert for each week.

So far I have tried these recipes:

  • Winter Fruit Salad
  • Lentil, Chickpea, Cheddar and Onion Burgers
  • Black Eyed Bean Casserole
  • Apple Cake
  • Roasted Vegetables and Miso Dressing with Sesame Seeds
  • Bircher Muesli with Apple

I have only tried one recipe from the Inspiralize Everything book.  I have intentions to try a lot more I just haven’t put them in to my weekly menu plans yet.  Also, it seems like my husband likes everything I make with the spiralizer but getting my 3 teenage sons to try it is another thing.  They are not big on trying “new” things.  They like the spiral potatoes – fries that I have made a few times and baked in the oven.

The Inspiralize Everything book is nice to have if you own a spiralizer of some sort.  It gives an A to Z list of different fruits and vegetables you can spiralize and at least 2 to 4 recipes for that particular fruit or vegetable.  I purchased the Kitchen Aid Spiral attachment for my mixer a few months ago.  You can look in my blog archive for a post I did about the Spiral attachment.

In my opinion both of these books are a great addition to my library of cookbooks.  If you are looking for some good vegetarian recipes that are healthy and taste good I would definitely recommend getting the Meat Free Monday book.

Have a great day!

-Kimberlee

 

Categories: Books Cooking

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Crock Pot Cookbook Review

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This is my new favorite crock pot cookbook.  The book is Fix It And Forget It New Cookbook by Phyllis Good.  I actually have had it for a couple of months now and use it at least twice a week or more.  The first week I had it I think I used every day for about nine or ten days in a row.  There are some great recipes in this “new” version of the book.

Crock Pot Cookbook Review Kimberlees Korner

I really like the lay out of this book and that there are color photos throughout the book of most all of the recipes.  The previous versions of the Fix It And Forget It books did not have photos, as I recall.  I do not own any of those I have only checked them out from the local library in the past.

There are some great guidelines in the book for slow cooking and how size of your cooker matters for different recipes.  This influenced me to go and buy another crock pot as the one I had was a huge 7 quart one.  I went and bought a 3.5 quart crock pot and this one also has a built in timer that turns off and switches to warm when the timer goes off so your food is not overcooked.  This is also nice for cooking side dishes or desserts, which there are lots of great recipes for in this book.

So far I have tried these recipes and my family (1 husband and 3 teenage sons) have loved them all:

  • Asian Chicken Breasts
  • Wild Rice with Chicken
  • King Turkey – I have made this three times
  • Keilbasa and Cheese Pasta Sauce – I have made this twice
  • Baked Ziti – I have made this three times and it is very good!
  • Green Chili Rice (kids didn’t want to try this but it was really yummy!)
  • Hearty Beef Barley Soup
  • Minestrone
  • Exotic Sweet Potatoes – these are awesome!
  • Colorful Rice Pilaf
  • Party Walnut Broccoli – kids don’t like this but my husband & I do
  • Moist Stuffing
  • Fast and Fabulous Brussels Sprouts – I have made these three times
  • Cranberry Almond Bread – I have made this twice
  • Baked Oatmeal – I have made this twice – it is so good!
  • Zesty Bean Dip – I have made this twice
  • Pumpkin Pie Pudding with Streusel Topping – I have made this three times-very good!
  • Apple Cranberry Crisp
  • Apple Coconut Pudding
  • Slow Cooker Basic Beans

As you can see I have tried quite a few of the recipes and still have many pages marked of other recipes I want to try.  I really like how there are lots of great recipes for breads, grains, desserts, and sides in this book.  Sometimes I use both of my crock pots at once and do the main course-meat in the larger crock pot and a side dish in the smaller one.

Cranberry Almond Bread made in crock pot

The photo above is of the Cranberry Almond Bread that you make in the crock pot.  It is really simple to make and tastes so good.  My husband even liked it and he does not normally eat things made with fresh cranberries.

I have not taken any photos of the other recipes because my family eats everything before I remember to get out my camera and take a picture.  If you get the book though you can see photos of all the recipes in there.

I also have lots of slow cooker recipes pinned on pinterest that I have tried if you want to check out other recipes on there.

I really like this book and think it is a wonderful cookbook to add to my shelf of cookbooks.  What cookbooks do you use a lot and really like?  Please let me know by clicking on Leave A Reply.Crock Pot Cookbook Review Kimberlees Korner

Have a great day!

Kimberlee

Categories: Books

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