Recipes From My Home Kitchen - Asian and American Comfort Food by Christine Ha

                             

Christine Ha was born in California and raised in Texas in a Vietnamese family, so she's got a lot of variety to draw from in her cooking.  She admits she wasn't in love with cooking from an early age, and often wasn't allowed to actually help her mom in the kitchen.  She would sit on a stool and watch, working her way up to peeling the egg roll skins apart and eventually wrapping those egg rolls.  When she went off to college, she had little cooking skill.  Moving to an apartment forced her to learn to cook, about the same time as she was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica and subsequent vision loss.  Fast forward a few years, Christine Ha became the winner of Fox Television's hit show MasterChef season 3.  To say she's an inspiration would be an understatement! 

Christine tells a story with most of her recipes.  The food she ate while backpacking in Europe, how she spent summer breaks surviving on sour cream & onion chips, and her parents (like so many) bribed her with pizza.  She gives us Vietnamese dishes she grew up on, and explains to us why our fried rice is never quite as good as what we get from takeout.  She recreates her late mothers dishes from memory, because she never thought to get those recipes while she was still alive.  Nothing is written down.  There's the ultra-simple but delicious Sunnyside Up Eggs with Toast, Clay Pot Catfish, and the egg rolls she grew up watching her mother make for all occasions.  Her mom would even change the filling based on the audience, like when she used ground turkey instead of pork so Christine's Muslim classmates could enjoy them.

This book is full of memories from home, but also the food she yearned for that all her friends were eating.  Like meatloaf, chicken pot pie, penne with vodka, and chicken tikka masala.

I love the variety in this book.  It really is true to the title of "Asian and American Comfort Food".  Even if you don't make any of the recipes in this book, it's a good one to read.  If you think you can't cook, read a cookbook written by a blind chef.  She might just be able to give you the confidence to try something new!

Pioneer Woman: Food From My Frontier

I love Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond,  so you would automatically assume I'm going to love this cookbook as well.  I certainly thought so when I started,  and that's partly the case.   In theory I like the step-by-step  photos with each recipe,  but as I went through the cookbook,  it got almost annoying.   Her recipes are simple,  and I don't really need a picture of her fingers adding a teaspoon of salt to a soup.   That being said, I do like the content of the cookbook itself.   She cooks a lot of what I want to eat,  and some stuff even my husband will eat!   Her husband and mine are similar in their food likes:  meat is good, "weird"  stuff  not so much.   I guess even having a chef for a spouse doesn't mean you love everything!  I also love that the photos are her own,  that's something I'd love to be able to do,  take gorgeous pictures of delicious food!   She goes for the classics in this one,  with a PW  twist.  Grilled Cheese,  Chicken Salad,  and Green  Bean  Casserole in  new and  exciting ways.   She gives us her favorite family recipes,  like Chicken  Noodles, and adds in that special occasion recipe for  Veal Osso Buco.   And although she hates bananas with every part of her being,  she loves the recipe for bananas foster.
I don't love this cookbook...as much as I wanted to.  I like to have my recipes more together than this one offers.  But it certainly serves its purpose.  To share with us the food from her frontier.  And she does make it all look delicious!

Barefoot Contessa Foolproof - Recipes you can trust by Ina Garten

                                  

I've got a fascination with Ina Garten.  I could watch Barefoot Contessa episodes all day.  That said, I often feel her recipes seem too complex and fancy for me.  Foolproof drew me in with promises of successful dinners made easy.  It seems much more laid back, but still with the Barefoot Contessa flair.  The first paragraph could easily be a line from something I post on Facebook occasionally: Why go through the trouble if the result is just ho-hum?  Well, I don't use the phrase ho-hum, but you know what I mean.  Foolproof means just that, but also satisfying to eat, company friendly and delicious.  She believes each recipe should be made as-written the first time around, but from then on, it's fair game.  We should tweak it to make it our own.  But making it right the first time helps give confidence and shows us what the recipe is "supposed" to look and taste like.
One thing I noticed right away: she's an obvious East-Coaster.  There's Lobster Mac & Cheese, Lobster Corn Fritters, Lobster & Potato Salad...those are recipes I probably won't try.  I don't think I can get the quality of lobster that comes when you live on the East Coast...at least not without paying through the nose.  But, I bet it's all delicious.  Her pictures make it look so, anyway.
I often wonder if something I make would be ok to freeze...I have a small family (1/3 of us are VERY picky) so the chances of a meal getting eaten before spoiling are sometimes slim.  Ina gives us a few tips on that very subject.  Don't re-freeze meat that's already been frozen and thawed.  Same goes for cooked meat.  And don't freeze a frosted or glazed cake.  Freeze the cake and make the frosting or glaze fresh.
Are you the hostess with the mostest?  Or do you long to be?  That would be me in a nutshell...the dream of having a huge dinner party and not having a clue where to start.  She's got a game plan for you, and she even shares her personal place settings to give you an idea.  She's created menus, and even a foolproof Thanksgiving meal.  And in a brilliant marketing move (she's a former White House nuclear policy analyst if that tells you about the way her mind works!) some of these menus include recipes found in her other cookbooks.  Ding ding ding, we have a winner!  Winner winner Fennel & Garlic Shrimp dinner!

Joy The Baker Cookbook - 100 Simple And Comforting Recipes by Joy Wilson

I'll start off by saying I'm not a baker, but that I'd love to be able to make a deliciously moist cake once in a while.  This book makes me want to learn, and it doesn't seem as complicated as I am making it out to be in my mind.  I was drawn to Joy's blog  because of her writing style more than the actual recipes - they looked delicious, but again, I'm not a baker.  Thankfully she has recipes that dont require any baking, like Pineapple Malt Milkshakes and Raspberry Fudge Pops.  She keeps it as real in this cookbook as she does on her blog.  The cover shows her holding a beautiful pink cake with sunflowers and strawberries on top, as well as the tattoo on her arm.  She admits her kitchen gets messy, which I can totally relate to.  My kitchen "gets clean" because it probably spends more time being messy than the average person!  She wants her recipes to be approachable, comforting and delicious.  You don't always need to make a pie crust from scratch.  She shows us various ways to get on with your baking when you're out of buttermilk.  Or you don't want to buy cake flour because you only need 1/2 cup, and who knows if you'll make this recipe again.  And how to make our own brown sugar.  She's in with the bacon-in-my-dessert trend, but not just chocolate covered bacon, or brownies with bacon.  No, she makes bacon black pepper waffles and peanut butter bacon cookies, both of which I'm eager to try.  There's a recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Bread, but it's not the typical "scary" vegan recipe with all sorts of ingredients you have no idea how to find.  Her recipes really are simple and look absolutely delicious.  How about Chocolate Bourbon Spiked Banana Bread?  Sounds divine, right?!  She offers up Single Lady Pancakes, whether you're really single, or just don't feel like making a ton.  Baked Coffee Cake French Toast sounds perfect for a weekend brunch.  And up until now, I thought I could do without an ice cream maker.  That was before I saw her recipes for Honey and Toasted Walnut Ice Cream and Strawberry Cookie Dough Ice Cream. But my favorite part of the whole book?  Confirmation in writing that chocolate pudding really can mend a broken heart.  That right there is worth the purchase price!

Keep an eye out for my reviews of some of her recipes, like Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies, Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes, and Baked Chili Cheese Fries.

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!

Hello!

I was just looking at a cookbook sitting on my desk, and thought to myself "This will be the 2nd cookbook I want to read cover-to-cover".  Which is how I got here.  Why not tell people what I think of the cookbooks I'm looking at?  They're about the only thing I read anymore, besides facebook statuses and everything and anything on pinterest.  I'm coming to realize I'm a little obsessed with social media...so here I am.  Putting my thoughts out there.  Now, if only I hadn't JUST returned the first book I want to review to the library last night.  Welcome, thanks for checking in on me, and lets get to reviewing, shall we?