Book Review - Sweet and Southern

Introducing Sweet and Southern: Classic Desserts with a Twist by Ben Mims, Rizzoli New York, 2014.  All photography by Noah Feck.

 

Sweet and Southern is 224 pages of mouth watering Southern delights, accompanied by 100 color photographs that will practically have you wanting to eat the pages.  Author Ben Mims was raised in Mississippi and steeped in the classic dessert traditions of the Deep South.  His experience at Saveur Magazine, as well as stints as an executive pastry chef and recipe developer for both Everyday with Rachel Ray and Southern Living, make him the perfect choice to author a book on southern desserts.

Mr. Mims has successfully modernized many of the traditional southern desserts, tweaking them a bit to cater to modern day tastes and diets that prefer lighter and less sugary treats.  He also blended Southern traditions with international influences, reinventing ageless recipes with fun twists.



(Mississippi Mud Cake)

Sweet and Southern is broken down into six tantalizing chapters....

• Cakes
• Pies & Tarts
• Biscuits, Breads & Pastries
• Custards & Puddings
• Cookies & Confections
• Frozen Treats

(Peanut Butter Cup Smith Island Cake)

Accompanying each recipe is a short story as Mr. Mims charms us with a tale about his relationship with that particular dessert.  He then lists the necessary ingredients and gives a simple, and easy to follow recipe.  And last, but certainly not least, are the gorgeous photo's that accompany most of the recipes.

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I'm a big fan of Edam cheese, and these crusty rolls make me want to grab a package of dry yeast and start baking....

(Edam Cheese Rolls)

I have to admit that this next selection intrigued me - Watermelon Gelatin with Sea Salt.  I've never heard of such a thing, but since I love fresh watermelon, I'd be willing to give this taste sensation a try....

(Watermelon Gelatin)

Who can resist Buckeyes, made of cream cheese, peanut butter and chocolate?  Not me!



(Buckeyes)

One recipe that immediately grabbed my eye was Hummingbird Cake.  I've read often about this Southern favorite, but never attempted it.  Well, here was my chance.   Made with bananas, pineapple and pecans, and coated with a cream cheese frosting, it screamed "Make me at once!"

Ok, I am the first to admit that I sorely lack baking skills and truth be told, this recipe called for three 9" cake pans.  Since I only own 2 cake pans, I just improvised and used my two 9" cake pans and a bread pan.   Ok, don't laugh, but I'm very good at going with the flow and there was a method to my madness as you will soon find out.



The Hummingbird Cake was easy to make with clear instructions.  Here's my finished TWO layer version....

As here is the bread pan version which I took next door for my friends to enjoy.  It ain't pretty, but it sure tasted good!  LOL!   Hey, I never said I was a chef.  But I do know what I like and Hummingbird Cake will be made again soon in my house.

Overall, Sweet and Southern earned high points.  There are so many delicious sounding recipes in this book that I cannot wait to try.  Here's a list of some of my favorites....

• Caramel Cake
• Black Forest Cake
• Pound Cake
• Orange Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Southern Biscuits
• Whiskey Sauce
• Cornbread
• German Sugar Bread
• Orange Rolls
• King Cake
• Apple Butter
• Pancake Syrup
• Chocolate Bark

And the list goes on and on.  I am almost tempted to even try the Bourbon Fruit Cake.  I've never been a fan, but Mr. Mims makes his version sound so good that I am almost tempted to try.  Almost....

I highly recommend Sweet and Southern as a lovely addition to your cook book collection.  Dozens of tasty recipes grace this book and I guarantee you will spend many a happy hour baking them.  I may have to fight off my daughter for final possession of this book - but I wield the larger rolling pin!

Excuse me while I go eat another piece of Hummingbird Cake.

(I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.  Images are the property of the publisher and cannot be reproduced without consent.)





Book Review - Great Pub Food

I hope you're hungry because this weeks book review is on Great Pub Food by Rachael Lane, Hardie Grant, 2013

This 192 pages paperback edition has over 80 recipes and 86 color photographs.  With a kitchen friendly size of 8 3/4" x 9 3/4"  it's perfect for propping up on the counter so you can get your whisk on!

Great Pub Food is a wonderful compilation of international pub favorites.  The best part is that you can create pub meals from around the world in the comfort of your own kitchen.  The book is broken down into 5 easy to follow chapters

• Burgers, Pies and Pastries
• Classics
• Special Board
• Salads and Sides
• Desserts

Whip up familiar fare such as Pulled Pork Sliders, Steak Sandwiches, gourmet Hotdogs, or Steak and Mushroom Pie.  Feeling adventurous?  Try your hand at some of the more intriguing classics such as Beef and Guinness Pie, Shepherd's Pie, Bangers and Mash or Pumpkin Gnocchi.  The Specials Board contains classics such as Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Chinese Barbecue Pork Ribs.  Side dishes like Macaroni and Four Cheeses or Creamy Roast Garlic Potato Mash will have you going back for seconds.   Make sure you leave plenty of room for desserts like classic Apple Pie, Mud Cake or Bakewell Tart.

One of the best aspects about reviewing a cookbook is that I take the time to make a few of the recipes.  First of all, I like photos that make me want to make a recipe and there was a long list of recipes here that I wanted to try based on the photos alone.  Second, I like to see if the recipes are easy to follow and the 3 that I chose were well written and precise.  Finally, the proof is in the pudding so to speak - how good does the food actually taste and more importantly, does my family like it and would I make it again?

Want to see what we made?

The unanimous first choice was Eggplant Parmigiana.  First I prepared the eggplant...

Added the cheese and easy to make sauce....

I baked it and look at this -  How delicious does that look?  It was excellent!!  When my husband states that a dinner I made is the best he ever had, I know I have a winner.  This was by far the best eggplant parmigiana I've ever made.

Next up was a Mushroom Risotto.  I've never made any kind of risotto and I have no idea why not.  It was super easy to make, quick and very good. 

I served the Mushroom Risotto as a side dish with the Chicken Parmigiana, which was easily another winning recipe.  It consisted of chicken breasts with a homemade sauce and cheese.  Paired with the risotto, it was a perfect meal and one I will make again.

Great Pub Food offers a lot of fun Pub recipes from around the world.  The food photos will make you want to try your hand at recreating delicious Pub Food at home.  Pour yourself a beer or a glass of wine, sit back and enjoy.

I was provided an advance copy of the book for review purposes and asked to give an honest review. All opinions are my own.  All photos are property of Rizzoli Publishing and cannot be reproduced.

Book Review - Vegetarian Everyday

Rizzoli Publishing has just released "Vegetarian Everyday: Healthy Recipes From Our Green Kitchen."  Rizzoli New York, 2013.  

( photo property of Rizzoli Publications.  Do not reproduce)

Vegetarian Everyday: Healthy Recipes From Our Green Kitchen is hardcover, 256 pages, 8" x 10" and loaded with 100 recipes and beautiful color photographs.  It's written by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl, who are the couple behind the renowned blog "Green Kitchen Stories."   In addition to the recipes, David and Luise share stories of their lives, as well as a few photos of their adorable daughter, Elsa.  Most of the recipes are accompanied by a short story or personal history behind the dish.  Not only did they develop the healthy and simple recipes that are in the book, they also eat these foods each and every day.  The recipes generally avoid dairy, refined flour, and sugar, providing inspired dishes for vegetarians as well as those with gluten and other allergies. 

So what exactly is left to make a meal with?  I'll be honest, that's exactly what I thought at first.  No dairy?  No flour?  No sugar??  Come on!  Impossible!  I cracked open the book and glanced at the index, which showed ten chapters covering breakfast, lunch and dinner, along with snacks and drinks.  If you're interested in improving your eating habits, "Inside Our Pantry" is a great starting point.  There are many detailed categories, including...

• Butter, Vinegar and Oil
• Nuts and Seeds
• Dried Beans, Lentils and Peas
• Plant Based Milk and Cream
• Natural Sweeteners
• Pasta and Noodles
• Flours and Grains (my favorite category.  Who knew there was such a wide variety?)
• Kitchen Appliances

Each category is broken down into items with excellent explanations on where they are used and what they are good for.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I recognized a great deal of the foods, with the exception of the flours.  I need to broaden my flour horizons!

If you ever wondered how difficult it would be to introduce your children to healthy eating, then you'll be interested in reading their "8 tips on how to give your children a healthy start in life."  With childhood obesity on the rise, these are helpful tips that are easy to apply.

Personally I never imagined that such a wide variety of yummy sounding vegetarian dishes even existed.  The more I read, the more willing I was to try different recipes.  As I read through the book, I made a running list of recipes that I wanted to try and I made three of them for this review.  I like to try my hand at a few of the recipes to see if they actually taste as good a they look and to see how difficult they are to prepare.  The recipe that first caught my eye was Broccoli Salad with Pomegranate & Raisins.  It consists of 8 ingredients, pomegranate seeds being one of them.  None of the stores here currently had fresh pomegranate's in stock, so I just improvised and substituted dried pomegranate.....

...... and quickly mixed up the salad.  Start to finish took all of 5 minutes....

This salad was a huge hit.  We ate it the first day for lunch with cheese and crackers, with our dinner as a side dish, and the next day I piled a scoop of it on top of a fresh salad and had it for lunch again.  Delicious!

Next up was Flour-free Banana & Coconut Pancakes.  After seeing this photo in the book, I knew I'd be making these....

( photo property of Rizzoli Publications.  Do not reproduce)

This was another super easy and quick recipe to make as there are only a few items needed and no flour.  I had a little trouble cooking the first two pancakes because I think I poured too much batter in the pan and they burned on me.  I made the next two pancakes a little smaller and they cooked up much better...

 

 

Now I admit that my finished product doesn't look as photo perfect as the one from the book, but I will tell you this - they were fantastic.  I added a little maple syrup on top.  I think they tasted like a cross between a pancake and an omelet.  They were incredibly light, fruity and flavorful.   My daughter dug into them and declared them "a winner!"





 

The third recipe I tried was Herb & Asparagus Frittata.... 

 

( photo property of Rizzoli Publications.  Do not reproduce)

Since Chablis and I were the only ones home for breakfast, I cut the recipe in half.  First I cooked up my veggies....

Then added the egg mixture and asparagus.  Now the recipe called for fresh asparagus, but I again improvised with canned since the store was out....

I then baked the end result for one minute and I was finished.  Now I know you're thinking that my Frittata does not look anything like the one in the book, but then, I never said I was a good cook either.  LOL!  But I will tell you this - it was good!  And even if mine didn't look like it was supposed to, I learned how to cook a dish that I'd never have thought of on my own.  It was healthy and wholesome and filling.  And more than enough for the two of us.

Vegetarian Everyday is by far the best vegetarian cookbook I've seen and I'll tell you why. Last year my daughter was having some health issues and she cut meat, sugar and dairy out of her diet for 4 months.  Her biggest complaint was finding interesting recipes for meals that she would eat and enjoy.  I spent hours on-line and at the library searching for a vegetarian cookbook that she'd like.  We checked a few out of the library but I didn't find a single one that I really liked enough to go out and purchase.  Vegetarian Everyday would have easily filled our needs. 

If you want to eat healthy and don't know where to start, then I suggest Vegetarian Everyday.  Vegetarians will find a nice selection of recipes that vary ingredients so you're not eating the same foods all the time.  A blend of influences from Sweden, Italy, Japan, Morocco, France and India gives you a wide variety of tastes and textures.  Let me stress that you don't have to become a vegetarian to take advantage of this book either.  Feel free to add some of the recipes as side dishes, start off your day with an all-natural juice, or end your dinner with a guilt free dessert.  The possibilities are endless, and I just didn't know how to pull it all together.  This book will show you how!


I was provided an advance copy of the book for review purposes and asked to give an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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Book Review - La Cucina Italiana

Rizzoli Publishing has just released "La Cucina Italiana, The Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking"  by the editors of La Cucina Italiana.  The encyclopedia is based on the popular Italian Magazine "La Cucina Italiana" which has been in publication since 1929.  Do you like to cook Italian?  Would you like to learn to cook Italian?  Do you just plain like to eat Italian food?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this book is for you!

Don't let the word encyclopedia throw you because this book is so much more.  It contains over 3000 step-by-step photographs and more than 500 recipes that will delight and excite the beginner as well as seasoned chefs.  La Cucina Italiana is geared towards many levels of cooking expertise - easy enough for new cooks, more challenging levels for those who want to try something more difficult, and finally, chef secrets and new techniques for those who are more experienced in the kitchen.

The encyclopedia consists of 21 chapters, ranging from basic ingredients to complete dishes and contains lots of history about the different cuts of meats, cheeses and pastas.  I particularly liked the way each chapter is broken down into different sections:

• Ingredient Guide
• Essential Methods
• Feature Recipes
• From the Experts
• The Right Tools

Each recipe name is listed in both Italian and English with Italian words sprinkled throughout the book.  This  lends a fun sense of authenticity while providing me a chance to translate using my meager Italian skills.  The recipes go quite in depth on ingredients and technique.  The gorgeous accompanying photos are guaranteed to make your  mouth water while they easily demonstrate how to do something or what it should look like.  This book is like having a cooking school in your hands and is very user friendly.

Some of my favorite chapters included...

• Breads and Flatbreads.  If you're a bread lover like I am, this is where you will begin.  The very first recipe I tackled was the Focaccia and I was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to make because the directions are so well explained.  More on this later.
• Sauces, Stocks and Broths begins with a brief history on the different types of each and the regions in which they originated.
• Vegetables.  This chapter will show you ways to use vegetables that you never imagined, as well as introduce you to some that I bet you've never tried.  This chapter is extensive.
• Legumes. One of my favorite things to eat is traditional Italian beans and now I know how to make them properly.
• Pork & Pork Products. It's mind boggling to read about the wide variety of ways that pork is used.  Nothing goes to waste.
• Dairy.  Italy produces over 450 different types of cheese.  I enjoyed reading about how to make homemade Ricotta and I guarantee Chablis is going to want to make the Pasta Ai Quattro Formaggi.  Anyone??  That means pasta with four cheeses.
• Cakes, Cookies & Spoon Desserts.  Enough said!

I decided to put the book to a little test of my own, just to see how easy or difficult it was to follow.  My husband will be the first one to tell you that my cooking skills are adequate, yet uninspired.  He is quite fond of saying that I am the "one pot wonder."  As such, I was anxious to try my hand at a few of the recipes.

The first thing I tried was the Focaccia recipe...

1) Easy to follow directions and look at the gorgeous photos in the book....

2)  So far so good.  It's ready for the oven.

3)  And here we have the finished product.  It didn't sit on the cooling tray for long....

Tony and Alex spied the book on the counter and in no time at all they were flipping though the pages and making a list of recipes they wanted to try.  I urged them to make something for dinner and they immediately rolled up their sleeves and tackled Gnocchi.

Gnocchi is another favorite of mine and for those who aren't familiar, gnocchi is made from potatoes and flour.  First you boil potatoes until they are just done....

Do you have a "potato ricer?"  It's sort of like a huge garlic press.  I love mine!

Alex and Tony shaping the gnocchi....

The finished product, with butter, olive oil and parmesean cheese.  It was excellent!

In conclusion, La Cucina Italiana is a book with something for everyone.  I found it to be filled with traditional Italian recipes coupled with beautiful photos and easy to follow directions.  Nothing in the book looked to be too hard to try.  I thought that the "From the Experts" sections were the most interesting.  These "words of wisdom" are practical and helpful.

The holiday season is just around the corner.  "La Cucina Italiana, The Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking" would make a wonderful gift for anyone who enjoys cooking.  This is a book that will get used - a lot!  Plus, you'll get the added benefit of eating the meals that get cooked because of this book.  That sounds like a win-win to me.

Arrivederci!

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(cover photo property of Rizzoli Publishing.  Do not reproduce)

I was provided an advance copy of the book for review purposes and asked to give an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Recipe Scrapbook

I wish I were really crafty.... but I'm not.

I try to create things but the vision in my head is never quite what ends up as the finished product.

So I flit from blog to blog, looking at all kinds of cute things that all you creative people create.  The beautiful jewelry, the beaded bags, the darling decorations made out of shells, knitted hats, crocheted  leggings, handbags, and totes and so many marvelous things.

Anyway, Chablis has never had the least bit of interest in cooking.  In fact, up until about 2 months ago she was lucky if she could boil water or make mac and cheese.  Suddenly she decided that she might want to learn a little about cooking the basics.  So for the past couple of weeks she's been picking out recipes and helping me cook.  Or rather I stand and boss her around the kitchen.  And then I take pictures of her making everything and the finished products.

Well, that gave me a great idea for a Christmas present for her.  I went over to our local Archivers store and bought a big recipe album.

It came with recipe cards and blank album pages and stickers.

I found a tutorial on how to make Subway Art in the Picnic program over at "You Seriously Made That?"  And then I made this cover sheet and printed it on an 8 x 10 photo page.   I put all of Chablis' favorite foods on it.  And no, I didn't spell shallots wrong.  Shalet is a rice and bean dish that my grandmother taught me to make.

Then I started filling out the recipe cards with all the foods she's been learning how to make. I slipped each recipe into a clear photo page and on the back of each recipe I slipped in a photo of the meal on the card.

I made sure to include our favorite Gingerbread cookie recipe...

And the very 1st cookie recipe she ever made all by herself!

I included some photo's of the whole family as well....

I wrapped it up and gave it to her for Christmas and she loved it!  Now, I know that all you people who can scrapbook can do a much better job, but I have to say that I was pretty happy with the finished product.  Chablis has already started adding more recipes to it and every time she cooks something she's screaming for me to come take her picture.

Not only will she have a personalized recipe book to treasure, but it will also contain photos that she can go back and enjoy many years from now.  And since everything is placed inside the plastic photo sleeves, everything is protected from spaghetti sauce drips, or cookie dough, or whatever.

So if you're looking for a cute gift idea, you might want to consider making one of these recipe scrapbooks.  It's a great way to create some memories while you're cooking and preserve them at the same time.

Bon Appetit!