Homemade with Love by Jennifer Perillo

I first heard of Jennifer Perillo from In Jennie's Kitchen while looking at another blog I check, Food Wishes.  I watched the video and instantly felt I had to know more.  More about her, the unexpected loss of her husband, in that instant becoming a single parent to two young daughters, and how food and family have helped her cope.  She's a recipe developer, and has the ability to see the finished product before all the ingredients are even picked out.  As I look through the cookbook, I'm finding that the title is the truth...it is absolutely homemade with love.  She focuses on scratch cooking, from her baking mix to her cashew butter, showing us along the way how we, too, can build a homemade pantry.  This is definitely a cookbook for those who want to learn to cook more natural foods.  She's realistic in that some things (a batch of crepes or the perfect poached egg) don't always work the first time.  Just because she's written a cookbook doesn't mean they've all worked the first time for her either.  Just don't give up.  Trial and error is a given in cooking, just keep going until you get it right.  She knows that not everyone eats the same, so has many egg, dairy, gluten and meat-free options in the book.  I'm not a vegetarian, but her meatless dishes look amazing.  Her Lentil Ricotta "Meatballs" (made with her Creamy Homemade Ricotta) look just as delicious as her Beef Spezzatino.  My biggest problem?  What to make first!  I've chosen 30+ recipes on my first time through the book!
It's not all about the recipe in this book.  There are certainly tips and tricks and suggestions.  Ways to make the best eggs.  How to freeze, make ahead, or make substitutions.  She talks about the best way to shop for seafood that is good for the consumer and the planet.  She takes the daunting task of canning and simplifies it for the beginner, then follows that up with recipes for jams, fruit butters, pickles and more.
Simple, upscale recipes for every cook, and stories about her life and her family.  Every word in this book is absolutely written with love.

I made the Secret Ingredient French Onion Soup, and...forgot to take a picture.  She has a great one here though.  I LOVE French Onion Soup, I don't know why I don't make it more often. I just never think of it, I guess.  Unless I'm at my favorite chain bakery/cafe that has the best I've found.  This one was easy and delicious, and I'll make it again in a heartbeat.  The only thing I did differently was substituting the sherry vinegar (which I couldn't find at my store) for regular sherry that I already had on hand mixed with a bit of red wine vinegar.  French Onion Soup is one of those things, in my opinion, that even onion-haters would love.  It doesn't taste like onion anymore after all that cooking. But I don't know any onion-haters that would be willing to try it.  Maybe finding one should be added to my to-do list!

 Update: I made the Creamy Homemade Ricotta (wow!)  to go in the Ricotta Lentil Meatballs ( which have no meat)  and was pleasantly surprised at how yummy they  were.  I love beef meatballs,  but these are now a top contender.   Paired with a little marinara and some pasta, I felt I could have eaten them all.   Lentils are good for me,  right?

Dinner, A Love Story by Jenny Rosentrach

I loved this book from the very start.  It is about so very much more than recipes.  It is about family and love and food and friends and the things that are so important in life.  If I'm being honest, the first entry on my cookbook review blog is less a cookbook and more a life and food book.  Jenny takes us on a journey through her life and how food became so important, the thing that was always a constant, a comfort.  She tells us how she got her young children to try new foods, how the family dinner came to be, and never once makes the reader feel guilty for not being able to make a home cooked meal every night of the week.  The recipes aren't overly fancy, but real meals with ingredients available even to those of us in smaller towns. She admits to still making macaroni and cheese from a box with ground beef occasionally.  That's a recipe I can get behind!  There are entertaining stories from her childhood, like the time her mom went back to school and DAD was in charge of dinner.  Imagine that!  Interspersed throughout the chapters are the recipes for the meals that go along with that time in her life.  Chicken cutlets from her childhood, porcupine meatballs from her mother in law, who sends a fat envelope of handwritten recipes to her and her husband, Andy, once or twice a month.  Heirloom recipes...what a dream!  There are Andy-owned recipes, like Black Bean Burritos and Arroz Con Pollo, and recipes they got from their babysitter, Davika.  There are even a few cocktail recipes, she refers to them as medicine.  Most parents can relate to that.  There are lists and tips in this book, like what types of kitchen equipment she suggests, how to stock a pantry for quick meals, and some of the best cookbooks she's read.  She helps us plan dinner parties (don't serve guests something you haven't made before!) and shows us what makes it possible for her to raise a happy family while holding a full time job.  She never makes the reader feel beneath her, food or family wise.  She's telling us what works for her.   In the end, it all comes back to the food, and how it has strengthened her and brought a closeness to her family that many of us long for in our life.

I absolutely loved this cookbook, and I think you will too!  

She can also be found on her blog, http://www.dinneralovestory.com/

Recipe #1: Great Grandma Turano's Meatballs

This one was very easy.  A little time consuming for me because I didn't prep ahead of time, and my kitchen is anything but organized.  Maybe that's something I need to take from her book: be ready to cook and things will go a lot smoother.  All that said, these are awesome.  I served mine over spaghetti, then I gave some without noodles to friends to sample.  The verdict:  delicious!  It is so easy to make your own sauce and meatballs, no need to buy jarred again!  But if you do, that's ok too, we all do :)

Recipe #2:  Grilled  Chicken  Mediterranean Plate

 This isn't really a recipe,  but a technique. Get yourself a pita  and load on the toppings.  I used homemade hummus,  but store bought is great too.  I also grilled some chicken,  although rotisserie chicken makes it even more simple and quick to put together.   My almost-6 year- old son gobbled it up,  not even asking me what it was.  I love dinners like that!

Recipe 3: Tony's Steak

I absolutely love Asian favors, so this was right up my alley!  And seriously, what's easier than throwing a bunch of ingredients in a plastic bag, letting it sit in the fridge for 4 hours, then throwing it on the grill for ten minutes?  I loved this one, and will certainly make it again!