I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci

The name of this book is what makes you want to read it.  Anything with spaghetti in the title is a must read.  However, this memoir I only felt luke-warm about, and that won't cook a noodle in any hurry.

Giulia is unlucky in love.  Not even dating until her early twenties, she falls for a series of men who just aren't quite what she needs.  And she's obviously not what they need either as they don't offer to make things permanent.  And this is in spite of her good cooking, active personality, and want of a decent relationship.  As she travels the years she dates several people, and each have their own quirks and good, but they also have some flaws too.

Giulia isn't afraid to point out everything she does wrong when it comes to dating.  She says she falls too fast, tries too hard, and goes after people who are interested in her, not necessarily those she is interested in.  She just wants that relationship.  The men she meets are interesting.  I can't say that I would have been attracted to any of them, too broody and not enough work ethic in some of them.  Most of them were able to cook though, so that's a plus.  Since it's Giulia's memoir, we get a somewhat biased view of them though so it's hard to tell what their true personalities may be, although it seems like she tried to be fair.

As memoirs go, this one was actually kind of depressing.  There's so many failed relationships that if you're single and having trouble in the dating realm yourself you start despairing of ever getting a good date.  Or a date for that matter.  Because you certainly don't want to go with whatever's interested regardless of your feelings.  Giulia's relationships she does have actually last for long periods of time (at least the 3 and 1/2 that she really focuses on in the book) so the breakups are more traumatic too.  One thing that really irritated me about the book (and this may just be my personal preferences) is the constant talk about music and how certain music was edgy and people liking bands before they were popular.  If the music's good, who cares about the when and why?  Not a huge deal, but whenever I encounter it in a book it rubs me the wrong way.  Aside from that though, the writing was smooth and progressed at a good pace.

This was an ok memoir.  It's very much a story of dating and a little bit about food (there are recipes).  If you really like drama this will be a good book to read and if you like food, stick around for those recipes.

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti
Copyright 2009
273 pages

Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson

I love food. Any type of food, and I love the gadgetry that comes with the preparation of food. Some new kind of blender? I want to see it. A trip through the antique store to check out old egg beaters and mandolines? I'm there. But I never really thought about some of the basic stuff, which this book explores.

The author takes eight chapters and breaks down certain kitchen sciences and inventions into histories. The chapters are as follows: Pots and Pans, Knife, Fire, Measure, Grind, Eat, Ice & Kitchen. Some of these titles are fairly simplistic. For instance, Ice encompasses not only Ice Boxes, but Ice Cream and modern refrigerators as well. And some of the others are explanatory, like Pots and Pans. Each take you on a history as far back as the gadget existed and brings it to the modern and the different types we use now. There are also little sections at the end of each chapter that explore a single type of gadget, like a nutmeg grater. Such things as measuring cups, spoons, and even ice cream makers are discussed. But even down to the explanation of the fork through history, there's a lot in this book that isn't readily available in other history books.

Gadgets are interesting. It is possible to have a kitchen filled with gadgets that only do one thing (like an avocado cutter) or to just have a few trusty tools like a knife and stove. Each of these approaches takes a different kind of cook just like modern vs. traditional cooking takes a different type of cook. And the author does mention the use of sous-vide and it's rising popularity. I'm actually intrigued by the concept myself but have no room for any additional gadgets, especially after my latest foray into a juicer (and as the simplistic would say, what was wrong with an old fashioned manual juicer). For this whole book to be about the most simplistic of cooking utensils though makes it different from a lot of others. There is no technique being discussed here, just a simple history of some things we take for granted.

The writing itself was kind of dry. While I eagerly wanted to learn more about kitchen history, I had a hard time just sitting down and reading this book in one sitting and had to break it up a bit. There's a lot of fascinating information here, but sometimes the minute details are a little too much, such as the listing on and on of different types of spoons the Victorians used. I might have been a little more interested if there was a picture of all these spoons, but when trying to picture them all in my head, they all looked remarkably like teaspoons to me. And I'm not trying to say there aren't any pictures in this book. There are a few illustrations scattered throughout the entire thing. But I feel that this book could have been made so much better by actual photographs. Maybe not of everything, but there was a lot in there that I could try to web search each time, but it would be preferable to have it right there on the page. It would have broken up the monotony of all the detail as well. Wilson does tell it with a warm voice, but it's more like listening to a senior citizen wax on eloquently about how they walked uphill to school in the snow both ways.

It is an interesting book if taken in small portions. There's a wealth of information to be had (and a want for a Marshall Ice Cream machine) and it did inspire me to visit Ivan Day's website ( a guy who cooks historically). This is a good read for a foodie or historian.

Consider the Fork
Copyright 2012
279 pages

Taste of Home Baking Book

This review is from the Amazon Vine Program.

**I have made 19 of the recipes in this book**

Alright, I've sat on this book for a year without reviewing it. And why is that? Because I tell myself I have to make a certain number of recipes before I can review a cookbook, and since I'm a single person, I can't make something every day or I wouldn't fit out my apartment door. But that day has finally come and I wanted to make known what a terrific book this is.

You'll notice that this is quite a large book, set up in a binder format so that it can lay flat. There are two plastic covers that come with it, that you can set over a page to protect it from splatter. I'm too lazy to use them, but they seem like a good idea. Next, the inside covers have food equivalents and substitutions tables on them. This is almost my favorite part because it is so handy. Then we get into the actual book itself.

The first tab is baking basics and this is just a short section explaining methods, measuring tools, what kind of bakeware you should have, and the difference between eggs sizes and other such things. For someone who's new to the world of baking (or an expert who may not know a couple of things) this chapter is very useful. But enough about that, on to the food!

The first section is cookies and because cookies are easy to make, this is where I spent most of my time. The Cherry Pecan Dreams were pretty good and the Butter Wafers were easy to make and turned out light and crispy, as they should have been. Next, the Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies were also delicious. But then there was the Chocolate Chunk Shortbread which was terrible and not very good tasting at all. Luckily, that was one of the only not so good things in this section. Further into the chapter, the Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies were addicting, and I'm pretty sure that I ate the majority of them myself. The Orange Cinnamon Chocolate Chips Cookies were unique and I shared them at work where they were scarfed down instantly. And despite having made these cookies, there were much much more in this chapter that I haven't yet had the chance to make but am excited to try, like the Walnut Crescents.

The next chapter was Bars & Brownies. This section is a little shorter, but not by much, there are quite a few bars and brownies to be had. The Caramel Pecan Bars were easy to make, but a little overly sweet. But the Triple Nut Diamonds were faintly reminiscent of Pecan Pie and not hard to make despite looking complex. The Toffee Bars were also easy to make and tasted very good. I will say I wish I had made the Tiramisu bars already, they look delicious! It will definitely be on the list to try soon.

Cakes I didn't really get into that much. I'm not much of a cake eater, nor do I enjoy making them. They have about every cake and frosting you could think of listed in this section though, so if you do like cake, I'm sure you'll find something here.

Cupcakes are kind of like cakes, I don't find myself being drawn to make them either. But this was also a very small section compared to the rest so it may have just been that none caught my fancy. There are some Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes that might be good for the holidays though.

Cheesecake I can't stand, I've only ever made it for other people who like it (and I'm beginning to sound like I don't like sweets at all from the last three chapters, I do, really, I'm just picky about sweets). They certainly have some exotic sounding cheesecakes in this chapter though, like the Pina Colada Cheesecake or the Mexican Cheesecake (yes there are some savory ones listed).

The Pies and Tarts section is especially timely for the holidays. The Never Fail Pie Crust is definitely a recipes that someone who always has troubles with crusts (like me) should use. It was easy to make and use and tasted just fine for the pies in this chapter. For Thanksgiving last year, I made the Vermont Maple Oatmeal Pie which was definitely unique and enjoyed by the family and the Ginger Streusel Pumpkin Pie, which was a fancy take on the classic and probably the best loved pie at the holiday. I do have to say that I may make the Black Forest Tart for the holidays this year, it looks sinfully delicious.

The next section's title always makes me laugh because it's titled desserts. I thought that was everything in this book, but apparently not. There are a lot of cream puffs in this section, but I haven't yet made any of them. I have however made the Strawberry Pizza, which was among the favored desserts that I took into the workplace this year. And best of all, it was simple to make. The Banana Brown Betty was also easy to make, but turned out mushy and the taste was only ok. I think Brown Betty's should probably stick to other fruit.

I love Quick Breads. Easy, no time to rise, and usually delicious, they're great to take to potlucks or as a contribution to a group dinner. And there are several in this chapter that were successful. Like the Chocolate Zucchini Bread and the Lemon Bread, which had a light lemon flavor and a somehow dense yet light at the same time texture. The Lemon Blueberry Tea Bread was also nice, and had a cake-like texture to it. The Coconut loaf was a good idea too, but it was a little too dense in texture. I do wish I would have tried some of the savory quick breads in this chapter, but just haven't gotten to it yet. The Amish Onion Cake looks amazing.

Muffins, Biscuits and Scones is the next chapter in this giant of a book. I actually haven't tried anything from this section yet, and I'm not sure why. There's a bunch of different savory and sweet muffins, biscuits and scones in here. And the Pepperoni-Olive ones especially sound like a good snack.

Yeast Breads is a good section too. I actually like the process of kneading dough, it's a great way to get frustrations out. I actually made the Vermont Honey-Wheat bread the other day and it tasted just as a honey wheat should. Although it did take some very pricey ingredients like maple syrup and honey and a good amount at that. Still, it was perfect when toasted and slathered with peanut butter. The Pepper Cheese bread was good too, although a tad crumbly. And there are so much more in here, like the No-Knead Harvest Bread, that I would definitely like to try. There's even recipes for stromboli in this section.

The next section is Coffee Cakes and Sweet Rolls. As I scan this section I'm beginning to realize that I haven't really made it through this book much at all. There's just so much here! From doughnuts to sticky buns, it's a large section.

Almost Homemade I must admit that I largely ignored. I don't like using packaged mixes and that's what the majority of this is. Sure it's convenient, just not my style. In a book filled with so many other good things, this is just a section I'd avoid.

Trimmed Down Favorites is a section for those who want to indulge without killing their waistlines. The Makeover Frosted Banana Bars were really good and easy to make, but alas, I like full fat so they're the only thing I made in this section. They did have some gluten-free in this section as well though.

The last chapter is Holiday Classics and while I consider this all to be Holiday foods, Taste of Home gets specific. Nearly every holiday is represented here, from Christmas to Halloween to Easter. There's even St. Patty's day cupcakes.

And we end the book at the indices, which are general and alphabetical and a lot easier to find certain things than flipping through the book is. There's just so many recipes that it makes it hard to find things otherwise. Especially when you can have up to four per page. But even with that many recipes, there are still pictures of some of them on every page, which is nice. I like to compare what I make to the pictures to see if I did it right.

I really like this book and refer to it often if making something to share at work or at a group meal. Things are simple to make and understand, the instructions easy to work with, and the food more often than not delicious. Also, most of the ingredients are easy to find at your local grocery store. It can be overwhelming at times due to its sheer size and amount of recipes, but I try not to let it intimidate me too much. If you're a big fan of desserts or just like to bake this is probably the book for you. In fact, it might be the only one you need because of everything in it.

Oh, and before I forget to mention it, you also get a free year's subscription to Taste of Home magazine, which was a nice little surprise to come with the book.

Review by M. Reynard 2012

The Food52 Cookbook by Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs

**This review is part of the Amazon Vine Program**

Food52 is a food blog, but now is a cookbook, filled with recipes from different cooks. And I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. Almost all the recipes turned out fantastic, although there were a few duds. It is a higher end, tougher cookbook; but I think that it would appeal to a wide range of people.

To date (4/1/2012) I have made 22 of the 140 recipes within this cookbook.

This book is separated into seasons. Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, based on the ingredients available during the season and the general theme of food. As said before, a good portion of these ingredients are higher end. So this isn't a budget cookbook, nor is it a quick fix cookbook.

At the front of the book is actually a bonus chapter, known as the test run that has three recipes. I haven't tried either, but they seem simple enough, although the one calls for an obscene amount of butter. They include a salad, pasta dish, and a dessert.

Summer:

The first recipe in this section is the Summer Corn Chowder. This is one of the ones I've made and it was extremely good. The removal of the corn from the cob took a little time, but otherwise it wasn't a complicated dish to make. It just took a little time. The Blueberry-Coconut Muffins were also extremely good, with healthful ingredients, and were a quick mix to stir up. They'd probably be good with another kind of berry as well. Daddy's Carbonara was interesting, because of the use of eggs. But it tasted good and it didn't require a lot of prep work. I do think it could have used a touch more seasoning. A snack of Rosemary Thyme Pita chips was simple to make, although I found peeling apart the pita layers much more difficult than the book would leave me to believe. But they tasted much better than any pita chip you could find in a bag at a store. For cookies, the Zucchini-Lemon Cookies were very healthy tasting and almost made you feel like you were getting away with something even though you were having a cookie. Another dessert, the Simple Summer Peach Cake, was enjoyed by my coworkers, but it was kind of dry and crumbly. For another Zucchini Dish, the Zucchini Pancakes did not turn out well at all. I had an inkling at the beginning that they wouldn't hold together based on the ingredients and I was right. The taste was a little bland too. The Eggplant Parmesan was another one of those failed recipes for me. It was complicated to make and definitely not worth the time it took. It wasn't very flavorful.

There were plenty of other recipes from ribs, to fried chicken, to other things, and I definitely plan on trying some more of these dishes. They fit the Summer theme well and I imagine the vast majority of them are tasty.

Fall:

I absolutely loved the Savory Bread Pudding. It was easy to make and with the mushrooms and gruyere cheese, it was definitely savory. I really enjoyed it. Continuing with the mushroom theme, the Creamy Mushroom Soup was delicious as well, although it was quite time consuming to make. A great snack was the Smoky Fried Chickpeas. They didn't last very long because they were so good though. I didn't really enjoy the Chicken with Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce. It sounded so delicious but was quite plain and took a long time to make. It should be forewarned that the Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies will keep you up all night if you eat too many of them. I speak from experience. I do have to say, as delicious as they were they would have been great with some dried cherries added in. The Southwestern Spiced Sweet Potato Fries with Chili-Cilantro Sour Cream turned out some fantastic fries, but the sour cream dip was not very good. I ended up using ranch dressing instead.

There's once again some great recipes I haven't yet got to try in this chapter. I look forward to some of the heavier meat dishes, like the Rib-Eye with a chocolate sauce. It just sounds intriguing.

Winter:

Lentil and Sausage Soup for a Cold Winter's Night was exactly that. Perfect for a colder day. It was heartier healthier fare. It did take awhile to make though. Moving on to the Roasted Bagna Cauda Broccoli, I just wasn't impressed. The flavors, despite having somewhat bold ingredients, weren't very strong. The Creamy Sausage Stuff Mushrooms were easy to make and had a fantastic flavor. I liked the use of Asiago cheese in the filling.

I have to admit, there just weren't as many recipes that intrigued me in this chapter. There were a couple of seafood recipes that would probably be good. But I didn't really see the heartier fare that I expected. There also weren't as many desserts in this chapter either, as compared to the others.

Spring:

The Chewy Sugar Cookies were not very flavorful, but they were easy to make. A great spring ingredient is asparagus, and the Absurdly Addictive Asparagus is extremely good. I loved the pancetta that was mixed in with it. It was even easy to make. Pasta with Prosciutto, Snap Peas, Mint and Cream was also another wonderful dish. And again, east to make and a quick fix. The Maple Yogurt Pound Cake has been voted the best baked good I have brought into work thus far. It was just moist enough, and had great flavor. My mom is the connoisseur of Creamy Cucumber dishes, and the Creamy Cucumber Side is one of the best she's ever had.

I haven't tried too many recipes from this section yet, but I'm eager to. Since we're just getting into spring I look forward to trying more of these. Especially the Caramelized Pork Bahn Mi, it just looks delicious.

So overall everything in this book was very good. Its rare to find a cookbook that has every recipe turn out perfect or be tasty, so the few that aren't are acceptable. I do think that the expensive or odd ingredients might make it difficult to make some of the recipes, or turn more strictly down-home type of cooks off. Because some of them can be hard to obtain, and my family didn't even know what a good portion of them were (porchetta, Sriracha, etc.). So this book is definitely more of an adventurous culinary trip.

The layout of the book is nice. Despite having a hard back cover, it sets open easily enough. The recipes are easy to read with a large enough font, and almost every recipe has a picture. Some even have some preparation pictures the ones that are taken are quite beautiful and make the food look delicious. I do have to complain though about the way the recipes are sorted. Since its by seasons I didn't expect desserts, main dishes, etc. to be in separate chapters. But I at least expected them to be organized within the chapters themselves. This book had a week type structure, but I think it would have been better served to have everything separated by type of food within the chapters. I didn't enjoy flipping one page from a main dish, to the next to a dessert, to a side dish, back to a main dish, another dessert, etc. It just makes it harder to find things as I'm not one for really looking at the appendices or table of contents.

I do like this book, and its definitely deserving of a permanent position on my cookbook shelf. I plan to refer back to it again, especially for some of the recipes I have already tried, like the chickpeas and a few others. They seem to be good standbys with great flavor.

In The Small Kitchen by Cara Eisenpress

**This review is part of the Amazon Vine program**

Recipes Tried (8.17.2011):20 of 100

Ah, another cookbook based off a blog. Filled with stories and anecdotes along with recipes. I should learn by now that these aren't really to my taste but I always hope that the recipes will be more than enough to make up for the other stuff I must sift through. I'm not going to say this is a bad cookbook by any means, but I won't say it is excellent either.

The two authors of this cookbook are friends, who, as they grew up, moved to college, and beyond took their friendship to the kitchen. The express their love of cooking, their mistakes and their successes. They also share dinner party tricks and tips and other sundry items and stories. I have to confess that I wasn't very fond of their stories; like most personal anecdotes I read in cookbooks its probably great for those who known them, but to the stranger it can be hard to connect.

There are several chapters including Getting Started, which doesn't have recipes but rather is a how-to and pantry stock of sorts. Next chapter is Cooking for One, which as it sounds is cooking for one. Despite it being named this however, many of the recipes could easily be shared, at least the ones I tried. I have tried the Peas for One, which was good but made quite a bit. The Spinach Pie Quesadilla, which really wasn't anything special which is the same comments I have for the Swiss Chard Frittata. The Yogurt Carbonara was quick to make but really not so excellent as well. The Soft Scrambled Eggs and Gooey Grilled Cheese Sandwich were both things that are pretty standard and basic to make. I did really like Phoebe's Pesto Panino and thought it had a great mix of flavors. In the soups range, I did try the My Mother's Garlic Soup which for the amount of garlic it had in it, had surprisingly little taste.

The next chapter focuses on Potlucks and has all sorts of dishes you can make and share with your friends (and drinks). It was a smaller chapter, but I did try the Fusilli with Pomodoro Fresco which had a good sauce but wouldn't stick to the noodles for some reason (could be my error). I also tried the Sexy-Ugly Onion Tart which was pretty good but could have been spiced up a little bit. The pie crust recipe that accompanied the tart turned out a really good buttery crust.

Cocktail Parties was next and as expected a lot of finger foods and dips enveloped this chapter. My first stop was the Noodles with BGSK Peanut Sauce that I absolutely loved but couldn't figure out why it was in a cocktail party section. The White Bean and Rosemary Dip I made was good and very popular at our family reunion, but at the same token the Black bean Dip didn't go as well as it was insanely spicy. There are some empanada and drink recipes in this chapter too that I can't wait to try.

Dating and Food came next and it contained an array of different types of foods for different types of the day. I haven't tried too much in this section yet, but the Plain Jane Pancakes tasted ok but didn't cook evenly even in my cast-iron skillet. I can't tell if the fault lied within my ingredients being bad or the ratio of ingredients being off. The Barbecued Lentils were surprisingly good and filling and definitely something I would consider making again. However I would have to give myself plenty of advanced notice as they were somewhat time consuming.

Brunch contained just what it sounds like, Brunch recipes. There actually aren't very many recipes in this chapter (5) and I haven't tried any of them yet. However, a couple of them are compotes and really, one is kind of a build your own thing so I'm not sure how to really define this chapter.

Giving was a chapter all about desserts. I made quite a few of them. The resignation brownies were ok but didn't have the normal consistency of a brownie. The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies were crispy outside, chewy inside and had great texture, but were only average on taste. The Banana Chocolate Chip Bread was a good idea, but ended up being too sweet for me but easy to make.

The Dinner Party was one of the largest chapters in the book with a myriad of different food options. Most of them are pretty involved and while I would have liked to explore in this chapter more, to date I have only made one recipe, the Provencal Baked Chicken. Like the rest in this chapter it was very involved to make, but tasted wonderful. I can't wait to try more from this chapter of the book.

Leftovers sounds pretty self explanatory. But it's not. Not only do they give you good ideas to use left over foods, they also have recipes for basic condiments such as ketchup. I made the Pesto and it tasted like a standard basil pesto, which is not a bad thing. I also made the Chana Bateta out of several things that could be found in your pantry and was pretty impressed with it as well. It did take some time to make, but the steps were relatively easy.

One Year Closer to Thirty was kind of an odd array of comfort food. I regret to say I've tried nothing in this chapter yet although the White Cheddar Mac and Cheese sounds good as do the cupcakes.

The recipes overall were ok, to me a lot were bland and while I do like a healthy amount of spice in my food, I don't think my taste buds are that crazy. It seemed like almost every recipe I was adding something to it to give it a stronger flavor. The directions were easy to follow and produced what they should have. I guess I just don't really understand who this book is marketed to. Some of the recipes are so easy that it would lead you to believe it is for someone just starting out or learning to cook, but then the ingredients can actually be quite expensive (pesto anyone?) for a college budget or anyone on a limited income. I also don't see many people this age holding dinner parties either (and I am just out of this age). My next thought was that yeah its about their progress through life but to be honest, with the exception of a few classic cookbooks, there aren't many people who return to the same cookbook for a decade so it may not have the same effect on the audience.

This isn't my favorite cookbook but it's not one that I'd recycle either. There's a few good recipes that I would use again and there are a couple still that I look forward to trying out. I guess all I'm trying to say is that there are other books I'd choose before this one.

In the Small Kitchen

Mom's Best Country Recipes by Les Blair

I picked up this little cookbook in a gift shop and have been nothing but pleased with it. Les Blair published and organized this little book and spiced it up with country sayings (as it says on the cover). This isn't a cookbook for beginners though, unless they are reading it just for fun. This book makes you figure things out while cooking. The food is mostly down home cooking with a tiny bit of southern thrown in. To date I've tried about 37 of 231 recipes in this book.

The first chapter was drinks/appetizers. Mostly punches and shakes on the drink side and dips for the appetizers, but I did get a chance to make the sausage balls. They were ok but definitely could have used more sauce.

Soups and Salads is the next chapter in the book. There are many varied salads and soups and for soup I did try the Potato soup which was kind of plain but could be spiced up a bit. Salads had your variety of fruit salads and mayo based. I did try the Layer Salad which was fantastic. The Taco Salad and Marinated Cucumbers were a little less wonderful though.

Main N' Side Dishes is the 3rd chapter. This had a wide variety because it had breakfasts, lunches, dinners and everything included in it making the chapter quite large. The Pork Chops with sauce produced a nice tender pork chop, but the sauce was less than desirable. The Meat Loaf on the other hand was delicious as were the Chicken Croquettes (first time I ever had a croquette as well). The best thing in the chapter was the Skillet Potatoes and Peas. Something to note about that particular recipe is that it calls for salad dressing but doesn't really specify. I used ranch before I realized they were probably talking about mayo but it was still fantastic. The Chuckwagon beans were merely satisfactory and for casseroles, the Chicken Noodle Casserole was ok but a bit watery and the same applied to the Company Egg Bake. Getting into breakfast I really enjoyed the Brown Sugar Pancakes. I don't even like pancakes and I thought these were fantastic. In the lunch section the only recipe I tried was the Sloppy Joes which was good but definitely needed more sauce. As said before, this was a huge and varied chapter.

Wild Game came next and I'm ashamed to say I didn't make anything out of this one due to not having any of the meats readily available. But there are recipes for quail, duck, turkey, and then going further, raccoon and venison. Because you've always wanted to know how to barbecue a raccoon.

Bread n Rolls is just like it sounds. There are biscuits, muffins, and other types of rolls in here. I made the Tomato Onion Bread and while it could have been good but it tasted way too strong of molasses.

Sourdough Cookin is a section I would have loved to try, but alas, don't have a good spot to store a starter right now. But the chapter gives plenty of options for using one including doughnuts and cake.

Which brings us to our next chapter, Sweet breads, doughnuts, and fritters. I loved this chapter as it involved a lot of fried things. A recipe for Quick Cinnamon Rolls turned out to be more a recipe for a cinnamon cookie, but it still tasted ok. The Sour Cream Muffins although they sounded strange were delicious. Moving on to fritters there are a ton of different kinds in here and of the pineapple and two different types of apple I made, all were successful and relatively easy to make. The Apple Nut Bread and Zucchini bread were good enough to make them the recipes worth buying this book for. The Oatmeal and Banana bread however, were just average.

Cakes n Frostins are probably a favorite chapter for many. The Chocolate Cake (moist according to the recipe) was actually not that moist but still pretty good, especially paired with the cream cheese frosting. The applesauce cake though was a bit of work to make and the Raw Apple Cake turned out terrible. There are also recipes for other types of cake and it present a wide variety. Cheesecake is included here too, but the resident cheesecake expert wasn't thrilled with it.

Pies n' Cobblers is the next chapter. There are a couple different crust recipes in here but I wasn't thrilled with any of them. They both turned out sort of stiff despite gentle handling. The pies in here are standard country pies involving tree fruit and cobblers. The Strawberry Pie was very interesting and involve3d jello and while good, only made enough for 1 pie instead of the two it said it would. The Banana Cream pie (meringue) was also fantastic but time consuming.

There is a Desserts section as well filled with dessert puddings and dumplings. They also have a few ice cream recipes in this chapters as well.

Cookies n' Candies is a great chapter with a lot of interesting cookie recipes. The Fresh Apple were very good and they make you feel healthy while eating them. The Cheesecake cookies weren't too bad either. For candy such options are offered as brittles and popcorn balls.

Miscellanus Good Stuff is the last chapter in the book and it has what you'd expect, doughs for pizza, sauces, relishes and pickles. I tried a couple of the bbq sauces and while they were easy to make, they didn't taste all that great.

So you're probably wondering why with all these fantastic sounding recipes I rated the book only 3 stars. The answer is because some of the tastes and makings are just average. In addition, as said before, this was not a book for beginning cooks. A lot of the recipes have limited instructions and this can make things hard. For example, had I made one of the recipes precisely how it called for in the book I would have been serving raw meatballs with sauce. You have to have a little know-how when proceeding through this book.

This is a good little cookbook for just flipping through as a novelty. For cooking it has some good points but they are interspersed with not so good. The cute little country sayings at the bottom of the pages are fun as well. For the price, its definitely not too bad of an investment.

Mom's Best Country Recipes
Copyright 1990/94 depending on the edition
63 pages

The About.com Guide to Southern Cooking by Diana Rattray

I'm not sure why I picked this book up. Its not like my normal selections for cookbooks. I usually go for the kind with lots of pictures and for more exotic cuisines. But I am a big fan of Southern food and about the only person in my family who likes greens. Therefore, it just kinda made sense for me to add this to my ever-growing cookbook collection. Overall I was pleased with the book, it had some decent recipes, and everything was pretty easy to make for the most part. I found a lot of the recipes I had to up the seasoning quite a bit as it was somewhat bland, but I'm fond of heavy spices so this may not hold true for everyone.

The book is laid out 15 chapters and some appendices. Within the chapters themselves there are spaces on the sides of the pages where tips, tricks, links to online recipes or articles dwell. There are also some comments on usage of tools in the kitchen. In the back is an index, but everything is pretty much grouped by type of food so locating things is fairly easy. Each chapter starts out with a list of recipes that are contained within the chapter as well. For those who like pictures though, be warned, the only picture in this book (aside from the authors face in areas) is the one on the front cover.

CHAPTER ONE-BEVERAGES
This chapter covers drinks, and by far, I didn't really accomplish much within this chapter. I did try the Mint Julep (which I didn't care for but then again I don't drink a lot of alcohol) and the hot chocolate mix, which was very good. It also contained recipes for frozen drinks and coolers. The julep that I tried was kind of involved, but the hot chocolate was easy to make and the recipes in this section varied between the two in difficulty.

CHAPTER TWO-APPETIZERS AND BREADS
I found it a little strange that the bread was in this section, but it worked out alright and at least it was titled as so. I'd have to say that I probably tried the most recipes out of this section because they were all fairly easy to make and sounded delicious. The Spicy Cheese Straws tasted like Cheez-Its, which I personally don't like, but any who do would probably love. The crab stuffed mushrooms were good but probably could have been better with more crab and less breadcrumbs. The Deviled Eggs recipe was pretty standard and I imagine the staple recipe anyone would have. I did try the Creamy Crab Dip as well and it was good, but it turned out a lot thinner than I expected and didn't make a good "dip". My fiance was a big fan of the Tangy Glazed Sausage Bites, in which you make your own sauce for instead of a store bought sauce. I do have to say that when I got to the bread part of this section, I was vastly disappointed in the cornbread. For a Southern cookbook, this cornbread was dry and tasteless. The Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits on the other hand, where extremely easy to make and were light, fluffy and delicious.

CHAPTER THREE-BREAKFAST
Surprisingly I didn't try much out of this section although there were plenty of wonderful recipes contained within. Most involved making Casserole's or Breakfast Bakes (which I did make the Mississippi Breakfast Bake, which looked beautiful when finished but could have used some more spice). I was very happy to see Beignets which I think are delicious and can't wait to give this recipe a try.

CHAPTER FOUR-SOUPS AND SALADS
There was a whole lot going on in this chapter and it was pretty evenly split up between the soups and salads. Included in the salads though are recipes like potato salad or cole slaw so its not just a green salad section. I tried out the Chicken Tortilla Soup and thought it was easy to make. The crispy tortilla strips made to accompany were good just on there own and the most popular part of the meal. The Ham and Bean soup was also very easy to make and was just perfect on a rainy day and surprisingly thick. For salads I absolutely adored the Broccoli Salad with Raisins and Pecans (although I used dried cherries, she said any dried small fruit would work) and like most of the recipes within this cookbook, it was very easy to make. The Black Eyed Pea Salad with Basil Dressing was an interesting refreshing take on a bean salad and not quite what I expected when I first started making it.

CHAPTER FIVE-SANDWICHES
I hadn't heard of a Kentucky Hot Brown until I cracked open this book. The name isn't actually very appealing, and at least for this recipe, there was nothing brown about it (I later learned it was named after a place) but it was tasty and very filling. The Out of the Ordinary Burger was tender, but not big on flavor. There were some other Southern classics that I haven't yet tried, like Pimento Cheese Sandwiches, but they looked fairly easy to make through the instructions.

CHAPTER SIX-BEEF, VEAL, AND LAMB
This is the biggest chapter of the book and contains quite a bit of recipes for all of these meats. So many sounded good and they all were fairly inexpensive cuts of meat (aside from lamb, which is always pricey). The Country Fried Steak I was a bit disappointed in. There wasn't a lot of flavor, and maybe it was just the cut of meat I got (which was the suggested cut in the book) but it wasn't very tender and terribly hard to eat since it was so chewy. The Country Style Meatloaf was good and chock full of veggies that you didn't even realize were there while eating it. The Barbecued Meatballs with Rice was a big hit with my fiance, but I just thought they tasted like tangy ketchup (which was a main component of the homemade bbq sauce for the recipe). I haven't yet been able to try any of the Lamb or Veal, and probably won't in the near future due to cost and squeamishness respectively.

CHAPTER SEVEN-PORK AND HAM
I love bacon, ham, and all things pig. This was a pretty large section and it was nice because the few ham recipes used, you could later turn into other ham recipes with the leftovers. The Cajun Seasoned Pork Tenderloin didn't make it to leftovers though. It was incredibly delicious and tender and the only thing I noticed was that I used all of the seasoning for about half of the poundage of meat advised. The Oven Barbecued Pork Chops were easy to make but despite slow cooking they didn't turn out very tender and the sauce was merely ok.

CHAPTER EIGHT-CHICKEN AND TURKEY
This section was actually smaller than I expected for a Southern cookbook. There was still quite a few recipes, but it did shock me that the beef section was larger than this one. The Fried Chicken Strips were good, especially dipped in sauce, but makers should beware that you don't need as much flour mix as is called for in the recipe. The Oven Barbecued Chicken was average, but easy to make.

CHAPTER NINE-FISH AND SHELLFISH
I haven't tried too many recipes out of this section either, just because of seafood costs in my local area, but a lot of the recipes sound pretty good. Frying is a main preparation but there are also croquettes and broiled fish available as well. I did make the Baked Dijon Catfish with Crumb Coating and it did have a good flavor but wasn't as crispy as I would have liked.

CHAPTER TEN-RICE, PASTA, GRAINS, AND BEANS
This section was small, but had a nice little array of recipes. Since I had a whole ton of beans, I chose to make the Louisiana Red Beans and Rice which wasn't bad but took way longer to cook than stated. I also simmered some Down-Home Pinto Beans that were reminiscent of some restaurants, but lacked the depth of flavor even though I used a nice smoked ham hock.

CHAPTER ELEVEN-VEGETABLES
I was actually on the fence about this chapter. Most of these veggies are cooked but not with a lot of seasoning and a pretty standard bland cheese sauce is used for a good many f them. The Easy Fried Corn was interesting, but had a decidedly weird texture. Savory Collard Greens were great with hot sauce, but alas, it made so many and I was only one person eating them and couldn't get through them all. Spinach Casserole with Eggs and Cheese was easy to make, but once again, could have used more spice. But the Creamy Potato Scallop was good, and while it took longer than expected to cook because it was so liquidy, it didn't ruin the flavor. Broccoli with Cheese Sauce, as stated before, had a bland kind of cheese sauce that did nothing for the vegetable. The same applies to the Savory Baked Cabbage as well.

CHAPTER TWELVE-SAUCES, PICKLES, AND PRESERVES
Just like it sounds, this chapter was a mash up of things. The Creamy Sausage Gravy (which I thought should have been in the Breakfast section) was pretty standard fare and very hearty. A real stand out in this chapter was the Come Back Sauce. I will come back anytime for this interesting and tasty sauce that I used on the Fried Chicken Strips. The Barbecue Sauce with Bourbon definitely had a hint of alcohol, but wasn't my favorite bbq sauce.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN-CAKES AND PIES
For some reason I haven't touched this chapter much even though it holds an astonishing amount of goodies. I did make the Praline Cheesecake with Pecan Crust that was sinfully rich, but noticed that the resident cheesecake lover scraped off the topping and went just for the plain cheesecake underneath. There are a couple pies in here that I definitely want to get to making and I think in the future that this chapter will get some heavy use.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN-COOKIES AND CANDY
This chapter did get a lot of use and all of it was very filling and sugary. The Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies were classic and eaten quickly while The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies were pretty good, but almost tasted store bought somehow. For a candy, the Southern Pecan Pralines were not very troublesome in the way of making, and while not a lot was made, it was so rich that we had trouble getting through it all.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN-DESSERTS AND SWEET SAUCES
The last chapter was filled mainly with sauces and Bread Pudding. I'm not a big fan of bread pudding but I did make one and my fiance didn't like it very much. The Bourbon Sauce on top was a different story though and was quite tasty, although a pain to make.

Appendix A contains a glossary of southern food and cooking terms which could really come in handy for a beginning cook who doesn't know what bacon drippings or blackened might mean. Appendix B had suggested menu offerings for Holidays like New Years or Mardi Gras. Appendix C, since this is an about.com cookbook offered other sites and further reading on the material.

This cookbook managed to contain a few themes in regards to food. Most recipes were easy to make and didn't take a lot of prep time by the cook. For ingredients, a few ingredients ran strong through the whole book and were mostly affordable items. Pecans are a little pricier and were used in a lot of recipes, but it probably depends on the region you're from whether its a luxury item or not. Cheddar Cheese, Buttermilk, and other fairly inexpensive items were used consistently and with just a small selection of ingredients, a lot of the recipes in this book could be made without adding too much else to the shopping list.

Since its a comfort food style of cookbook these recipes probably aren't the most healthy. For sure I would have liked to see vegetables that weren't smothered in sauces and hidden, but there were a few outstanding recipes in every chapter and enough good recipes to satisfy a busy cook. It'll probably remain a go-to cookbook, if nothing else just for the biscuits, but I can envision myself making more out of this book (and updating this review accordingly). It's good Southern food quickly and easily.

The Happy Baker: A Girl's Guide to Emotional Baking by Erin Bolger

**Although this was obtained as an ARC copy from the Amazon Vine program, I went and looked at a published version and did not see any edits. Therefore, comments about structure and format of this book will be included in the review.**

To Date, I have tried 9 of the 63 recipes in this book. As I try more, I will add them at that time to the review.

The Happy Baker: A Girl's Guide to Emotional Baking was written with a purpose. That purpose was for the author, Erin Bolger to let off a little steam in regards to the dating world and provide some delicious treats. In fact, this book (although technically separated into four parts) has two major aspects. The first, are the journal type pages filled with stick figure drawings and stories of Erin's pursuits in the dating world including her disappointments and the second are the actual recipe pages. This book does pretty well in that second aspect but the first leaves a lot to be desired.

Before heading into those parts of the book however, I'd like to take a moment and talk about how this book is organized and formatted and the different sections it includes. The first thing in this book is a rather large introduction that details what the book is about and what made Erin want to put it together. Next we move on to some tips she has for baking and ingredient selection, these are pretty helpful so I recommend taking a look at them. The Table of Contents shows up next and I actually have a real problem with how they chose to format this part of the book. Instead of listing out what recipes are in what section, they instead show each of the parts and give three sample recipe titles for each part. What is the problem with this? Well Erin's recipes are not separated into type sections like cookies, brownies, cakes, etc, instead they are a mishmash of types for each section that only are related through the clever titles that she assigns to them and her personal ideas towards them. With only 3 examples for each this makes it impossible for a reader to know where to head for a recipe without using the index (and personally I hate using the index for lookup) and truly makes this book not so user friendly. After the table of contents comes the four parts of the book that relate to different points in her life.

~~~
CHAPTER 1
The first section is the Early Years in which Erin discusses her love life through high school, college, and her first serious relationship. From this section I have tried:

Slow and Steady Wins the Peanut Butter Cupcakes:
These turned out pretty good but the measurements were off. Instead of making 18 cupcakes, I ended up with 22 (although the frosting was enough for all). They were sweet, decadent, and moist, but so delicate that putting the icing on was quite the chore and mine didn't turn out nearly as pretty as hers (maybe someone with a softer hand will have better luck). The cupcakes are actually flavored with cocoa so its a bit of a chocolate/peanut butter mixture taste.

You Are Not As Sweet As My Sugar Cookie:
These were easy to make (although took some time because of a refrigeration step) and turned out crispy. As far as taste, they rate average and you can't even really taste the coconut they are rolled in.

CHAPTER 2
The Second Section of the book is They Break It, You Bake It and the journal pages in this one break up from her first serious boyfriend and her rebounds after. Of this section of the book I've tried:

My Mom Is Always Right Choca-Mocha Squares:
These were excellent and kind of reminded me of a crispy brownie. However, once again in this recipe, the measurements were off and there was only enough frosting for about 1/2 of the recipe (and I didn't even use all the confectioner's sugar as it would have been too thick and impossible to spread).

The Big Hurt Cheesecake:
I'm not a cheesecake fan, however, my fiance loves the stuff. It was easy enough to make and he deemed it a 7.5/10 in the world of cheesecake.

You Can Kiss My Triple Decker Carrot Cake Goodbye:
Supposed to be three layers, I found that the ingredients for this made only enough for two. It was very good as far as carrot cakes go and the added pineapple was a nice touch.

CHAPTER 3
Chapter 3 was The Good, The Bad, and The Fugly. This one shared Erin's foibles in Internet Dating, Speed Dating, etc. Among the recipes here I've baked:

Don't Rule Out These Mini-Cheesecakes:
These were merely average and the tiny bit of fruit on top didn't really add anything to the taste according to the Cheesecake expert at this house.

I Need A Man That Has Bigger Balls Than My Banana Bread:
Honestly, this cooked just fine but I couldn't find anything about it that was different than the hundreds of other recipes of banana bread out there.

CHAPTER 4
Chapter Four is Erin talking about coming to terms with her relationship status. The recipes tried here are:

I Wish Tim McGraw Was My Man Double Chocolate Blondie:
These were really good, simple to make and the whole pan lasted roughly 1.5 days in my household. Everyone enjoyed them and wanted more.

Getting Lucky Just Ain't For The Irish Cream Cupcakes:
These were great cupcakes with a unique flavor. The Irish Cream is strong in this (my mom claimed it made her tipsy) but a warning to those who make it, way too much frosting is produced from the recipe for the amount of cupcakes produced.

~~~

When it comes to the excerpts and stories in this, I have to say that after reading them the first time, I will now skip over them. Maybe if I knew Erin personally I'd take a moment and look them over once in awhile, but not knowing her I didn't feel any connection and the stories weren't entertaining enough to do anything for me. I can see her family and friends appreciating these sections (and the strange stick figures) a lot more than perfect strangers would. I would rather she have left them out and instead perhaps just put little paragraphs of amusing clips on the recipe pages instead of these great big multiple page stories.

The recipes, from what I tried, are mostly successful and a bit above average in taste. However, the measurements were off in quite a few that I tried and while most of this stuff would be easy for a beginning cook, they may have some trouble with finding a way to compensate for these issues. Another complaint about the recipes that I would have are that some of them didn't have an expected yield of how many you could make. With the cupcakes it would tell you how many to line, but the cookies it was go until you don't have any more dough left without a solid number to base on. There were some reoccurring themes in her recipes as well that involved coconut, bark, biscotti, and chocolate covered cereal mixtures that seemed to have quite a few recipes dedicated to them. This isn't necessarily bad but may not be what one expects going into the book. A fantastic thing about the recipe areas are the pictures. This book does a tremendous job and there is a picture for every recipe (and a few others besides) that are simply gorgeous and fun to look at. The ingredients are all fairly simple to obtain and won't break the bank (except toffee baking chips, I couldn't find those anywhere and they're in a couple recipes, but that could just be my area).

I felt this book was kind of average. For a cook who was using it for the recipes, it was very hard to open because of such a tight binding and I had to break the spine (eek!) to get it to somewhat lay flat. It was also annoying to wade through the pages of stories that really were just average and kind of distracting. The recipes were cleverly named and mostly excellent (although there were a few technical flaws) but would be great for anyone with a sweet tooth or those that really do use baking as therapy. It's hard to find a specific recipe, but it gives you a chance to look through the pictures and perhaps find something more appealing to the eye than what was originally sought. I'll definitely be coming back to this book for dessert ideas as it is valuable in that way.

The Happy Baker: A Girl's Guide to Emotional Baking
Copyright 2010
160 pages

Food to Live By by Myra Goodman

Food to Live By written by Myra Goodman is one of my favorite cookbooks. While I have many, I find that this book offers many recipes that help make use of fresh ingredients that are both healthful and tasty. Each chapter starts out with a story and information about the particular dishes being made and also includes several beautiful clear photographs.

The book starts out as a somewhat biography on how Earthbound Organics (Myra and her husband's business) got started and their first few years of life on a farm where they eventually developed their prepackaged organic greens salads.

The first recipe chapter, It All Began With Raspberries is of course about the delectable little red berry. My favorite recipe from this chapter would be the Raspberry corn Muffins. Easy to make they are very tasty and a big hit at my workplace. They use fresh berries and are sweetened with honey instead of sugar, making them very healthy. But the raspberry chapter isn't just about muffins. It also has recipes for Scones, Jams, Ice Creams and more.

The next chapter is Soup. While all the soups I have made from this book are delicious, they are surprisingly time consuming. When one thinks of soups, easy throw together meals come to mind. Not so with Myra's methods. Her Sweet Corn Chowder, while delicious is very labor intensive. Even the corn is being cut from the cob! The Simply Chicken Soup, despite its name also took quite a bit of time to make. Also a chore in the kitchen, the Savory Split Pea Soup and the Mexican Albondigas soup. Not all were time consuming however, the Hearty Cauliflower Bisque was extremely easy to make. And as I said, all were delicious and well worth the time in the kitchen. This section also featured a field guide to Squash, with 9 different varieties highlighted.

Leafy Green Salads is the next chapter. As someone who just throws salads together I don't use this chapter as much as the rest of the book. It does include a Field Guide to Gourmet Greens which has pictures and descriptions of 25 different kinds of salad greens. It also includes a mini-chapter of Versatile Vinaigrette's, Dips, and Crunchy Nuts; all perfect accompaniments to a salad.

The next chapter explores Meat and Poultry Main Dishes. One of my favorite recipes of this chapter was the Maple-Brinded Pork Chops. It was like eating meat candy and took surprisingly little prep time. This chapter also included a very easy recipe for roasting a chicken. Mine came out looking just as golden and delicious as the full-page picture. Curried Chicken Salad was a unique take on a traditional meat salad and Myra inventively serves hers in avocado halves. One meal I wasn't particularly fond of from this section was the Herbed Turkey Loaf with Honey Mustard Glaze; unfortunately, this loaf fell prey to the usual dry texture that turkey seems to give.

Fish and Shellfish are the next part of the book. Being land-locked I have not made any of these recipes as it seems that to do them justice, fresh seafood would be needed. Most of the recipes look delcious although some, like the Ginger Lime Salmon seem to have a odd unique flavor combination.

The Pasta and Vegetarian Main Dishes is one of my favorite chapters. The Grilled Vegetable Lasagna, while very time consuming, was one of the most delicious lasagnas I've had the experience of eating and the Farm Stand Spinach Cannelloni was easy to make and one of my favorite dishes of all time. The chapter also featured a section on Great Tasting Tomatoes that featured pictures and descriptions on 8 different kinds of tomatoes ranging from green, to red, to yellow. Warning, this chapter also includes several recipes for tofu for those who may not be the biggest fan of the soy substitute.

Chapter 7 covered side dishes. While there is a plethora of recipes in this section, I found some of these the most difficult to make. Due to my relative inexperience with fresh artichokes, the Roasted Balsamic Artichoke Bottoms was a complete flop for me. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum, the Roasted Asparagus, Blue Cheese Smashed Potatoes, and Creamy Potato Gratin were easy to make and very tasty.

Breakfast and Brunch was next. While not a big fan of breakfast I enjoyed several of these recipes. The Spanish Egg "Souffle Cake" was interesting and a very unique way of making breakfast. The Morning Glory Muffins made quite a few and while they used a ton of ingredients, I imagined it was just as healthy as eating a granola bar full of goodies. She also included a whole section on Smoothies in this chapter.

Chapter 9 covered desserts. In this chapter, she included a Field Guide to Apples. 6 different apples were featured with pictures and information. I'm not a dessert fan so I personally haven't made any of these recipes. Although, some of the pictures might be enough to convert me and make me try this section out.

The last chapter is simply titled "The Basics" and is a very handy section for a cook who likes to make everything from scratch. She has recipes for making your own chicken stock (which I now do every time I have leftover chicken parts), flavored vinegars (I have made the raspberry, very easy), Asian sauces such as Teriyaki, and even pie crusts and Matzoh meal.

Overall, the book contains 222 main recipes, although there are several "smaller' recipes that either accompany a main one or showcase a technique. In addition to this, the book has several smaller sections within chapters that explain an ingredient or give a specific technique for preparation.

I have recommended this cookbook to several other people who love it just as much as I do. While some of the recipes may use too many ingredients or be very complicated, the majority showcase easy to obtain ingredients and spectacular flavor.