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My rating: 5 of 5 spoons

The wives of two rugby players from New Zealand’s All Blacks teamed to create a lovely cookbook of delightful food that is (mostly) healthy as well. By the time I finished my first flip through the book, it looked like a porcupine with all the papers marking recipes I wanted to try sticking out. I cooked my first recipe that very night, the Caramelized Banana Bread. Oh, my!! Moist and luscious, this is all you could want in a banana bread!

The Zucchini Fries are an absolute treat that you don’t have to feel guilty eating!! Spatchcocked Spiced Chicken with Jewelled Couscous & Raita was amazing!! I didn’t actually make the Raita as I just found out that I can’t eat cucumbers, but the chicken and couscous was utterly delightful! I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the dates and oranges in the couscous, but they lifted the dish and were lovely.

The Fritto Misto was fun to do with my kids as was the Vietnamese Spring Rolls. Unfortunately, the Spring Rolls were less than enjoyable as we discovered that we do not like the rice paper rolls. The filling was delicious, and the dipping sauce is absolutely divine!!

This book has easily jumped to my favorites shelf and there are still many, many recipes that I’m dying to make–I just didn’t want to wait to get my review out and let people know how wonderful this cookbook really is! I am happy to give it my highest recommendation.

I received a copy of this book from Upstart Press through IPG for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 4 of 5 spoons

Indian food. I love it, but I don’t get it often and I’m far from an expert at making it. It doesn’t help that all the specialty ingredients aren’t the easiest to find around here, but I was looking forward to cooking from this book.

Many of the recipes were beyond me as I simply couldn’t find the ingredients around here (I’m still finding all the specialty shops in this area), but I was over the moon to find a recipe for Gulab Jamun. About 20 years ago I attended a Festival of India in Texas. Among the dishes I tried was these delectable, syrup-soaked Indian donuts. I fell in love, but every Indian cookbook I tried didn’t have the recipe. I couldn’t wait to get make them myself. Warning!! These are highly addictive!! They were relatively easy to make (once I sourced the ingredients. I had no idea how hard it would be to find green cardamom, and I never did find ground anise seeds. I finally had to grind my own.), and just as delicious as I remembered. The syrup recipe makes way more than you need for the donuts, but it is awesome on pancakes!

I haven’t made a huge amount out of this book so far, but the book is filled with so many delightful recipes. To be honest, it is worth it just for the Gulab Jamun! Give it a try tonight. You won’t be sorry!

I received a copy of this book from Whitecap Books for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 4 of 5 spoons

We love Italian food around our house, and my kids are learning Italian, so what could be better than a cookbook in both English AND Italian?! Each recipe is on two facing pages–the left side is in English, and the right side is Italian. This is great for supplementing their Italian learning, and is just downright fun!

I love that there is a variety of recipes that range from very easy and simple to more complex and challenging. This allows your children to grow in the kitchen without overwhelming them at the start. They can start with an easy Vermicelli in Tomato Sauce or Peas with Italian Ham and as they learn and get better in the kitchen can graduate to more difficult dishes such as Beef Rolls (Involtini di Manzo) or Piedmontese Chocolate Pudding (which is more difficult to make than it sounds with multiple steps).

Kids today are losing that valuable art of cookery what with all the convenience foods and restaurants everywhere. Bring the family together, teach your kids some valuable skills and try something Italian for dinner tonight!

I received a copy of this book from Quarry Books for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 4 of 5 spoons

I love enchiladas, so I couldn’t wait to cook from this book. I was somewhat surprised to find it only had 3 recipes for enchiladas (4 if you count the soup). Considering the name, I was expecting more, but forged ahead anyway. It was a nice, cold day so I decided on the Slow-Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup, and I’m so glad I did! This soup is absolutely delightful! Lightly spicy and rich, it was the perfect dish for a cold day…but that won’t stop me from making it during the summer, too!

Next I decided to make a nice, hot breakfast for my family so I pulled this book back out and made the Breakfast Tacos. I had to tweak it just a touch. I didn’t have Serrano ham so I actually used sausage, and I left out the crushed red pepper flakes so my youngest could eat them as well. They were delicious and reminded me of the breakfast burritos we used to get from a tiny place in Texas years ago.

Don’t be deceived by the title, this is so much more than just a book of enchilada recipes. From brisket to empanadas, or tamales to handmade tortillas, you can find a bit of everything from the Southwest.

I received an F&G fro Pelican Publishing Group for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 2 of 5 spoons

New Orleans food in a slow cooker? What’s not to like?! Unfortunately, several things. I wanted to love this cookbook and to use it a lot, but there were many issues. I made the Crabby Chicken to do the Crabby Chicken Salad and, while the chicken itself was fine, the chicken salad was another matter all together. The photo showed a beautifully dressed salad with cubed chicken while the recipe called for you to shred the chicken and there was no dressing to be found. I realize you can just cube the chicken if you want, but it is a pet peeve of mine for cookbooks to show you one thing while giving instructions for something different, and I would want the authentic dressing, not have to just figure something out on my own. Anyway, it was not a hit with my family.

Unfortunately, anything I tried from this cookbook pretty much had the same results. No one in my family really cared for anything from this cookbook, and we spent some time in Louisiana and lower Mississippi and they loved the food there.

If you really know what you’re doing with New Orleans cuisine, you can probably tweak these recipes to get them to come out better. If you’re completely new to New Orleans food, you might want to try a different book.

I received a F&G of this book from Pelican Publishing Company for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 5 of 5 spoons

I have just recently been introduced to bone broth and had made one batch of beef bone broth. I couldn’t wait to dive into this book! Brodo is filled to the brim with information, tips and recipes to make amazing bone broth at home. I decided to go with the Golden Chicken Broth, and I was not disappointed. Such a rich, healthy, lovely broth!

I love the fact that you can do almost anything with these broths. My second daughter had her birthday today and requested Chicken Enchiladas. I used my Golden Chicken Broth to poach the chicken breasts as well as in the sauce itself. I love that I get some added health benefits even when I’m not just drinking the broth.

There are so many broths to choose from. You can start with a simple chicken broth or go with something else such as veal, lamb, duck, fish, clam, vegetable and many, many more. There are lovely recipes at the back of the book to use your new bone broth in to make delightful dishes for your family.

Join the bone broth movement! Add to your health while making delicious bone broths to drink or to cook with. It’s worth it!!

I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House LLC through the Blogging for Books program for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 5 of 5 spoons

I’ve been fighting some health issues for some time, and in studying and researching natural ways to help I discovered bone broth. I wanted to give it a try and this book came along at the perfect time. I sourced some lovely beef bones and got started.

When I first started looking at the book I was taken aback at the amount of bones called for. I was afraid I would have trouble getting that amount together easily, but I was able to source all the bones I needed quickly. I left out the ginger as it and I do not get along, and added some carrots and celery along with the other ingredients and started cooking. Twenty hours later (Yes, you read that right. It simmered on low over night.) I had a lovely bone broth. After it cooled down it went in the fridge for a couple of hours. That solidified the fat so that it was easily removed (You can save the fat and make tallow for candles/soap, as that is covered later in the book.) and I was left with a beautiful bone broth. I felt it was under salted, but that’s easily corrected.

There are recipes included in the book to use your bone broth. I’ve found that it works great to make a simple couscous with just some herbs added. I made an amazing beef stew the other night, and used my bone broth instead of a store bought stock. Yum! Next I’m on to chicken!

I received a copy of this book from Sterling Publishing for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’m sorry my blog has been a little quiet lately.  We’ve had several rounds of sickness through the family and it has put me a bit behind.  The reviews are starting to come out now, so stay tuned for some great cookbooks!!

My rating: 4 of 5 spoons

This is my second cookbook by Maggie Beer, and I’ve fallen in love with her books. They can be interesting to cook from as she’s in Australia and I’m in the US. There are ingredients that can be quite hard to find or flat out impossible where I live. There’s also the seasonal issue–I’m reviewing her Christmas book in the winter, but over there it’s high summer. That makes some of the recipes a little trickier as well if you’re looking for fresh, seasonal ingredients, but I still love her books. I love the fact that the recipes typically serve more people–anywhere from 6-12. There are six people in my family and it gets old when I have to constantly double or even triple recipes just to make enough to feed my family.

The book is divided up into sections that vary from Crabbing at Port Parham (I’m jealous!), chapters covering various Christmas meals or events, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and Food for the Beach House. I drooled over all the lovely fish dishes, but most are either fish we can’t get where I live, or are definitely not in season right now. That’s okay. I’m hanging on to this book for more cooking later.

I love all the fresh dishes in here. Just because it’s Christmas doesn’t mean it has to be all heavy foods. I made the Fattoush for my family and they loved it even without having garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. I’ll have to make it again when my garden starts producing.

I definitely will be cooking more from this book as the years moves more to our summer time, but I didn’t want to wait to get this review out let others know about this delightful book. From delectable recipes, fun menus and photos that make you want to reach in and sample the food shown, it will be a great addition to anyone’s collection.

I received a copy of this book from Trafalgar Square Publishing through Independent Publishing Group for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My rating: 5 of 5 spoons

Today is the perfect day for a good book and a hot cup of tea. “The Tea Book” gives you everything you need to know about tea from how tea is enjoyed around the world to The History of Tea, Plant to Pot, Drinking Tea and recipes for teas and mixed drinks as well as dishes either to go with your tea or made using tea. This is an informative, fun book that is as great to read as it is to cook from.

The recipes are varied and range from Tea-Infused Beef on a Green Papaya Salad to Matcha and Chocolate Shortbread and Tea Smoked Duck Breasts with Spiced Pears. My favorite recipe is the Earl Grey Hearts, a delicate shortbread-type cookie with the subtle flavor of Earl Grey tea. They are easy to make and an absolute delight to eat!

Whether your interest is in history, the correct etiquette of tea drinking around the world, or just a good cup of tea, this book has you covered. Hmmm. I think I’ll go brew another pot.

I received a copy of this book from Sterling Publishers for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.