cookbook – Page 4 – One Chapter

Slow Cooker Revolution by American’s Test Kitchen

5 stars Cookbook

I can’t believe I have never reviewed this cookbook as it is one of my favorites. I have been an American’s Test Kitchen followers for years and I can’t tell you how many of their recipes I have made over the years. I also subscribe to both the Cooks Country Magazine and Cooks Illustrated Magazine; they both offer recipes yet they each are different in their own unique way (check out their website site). You can see how much I use this cookbook by the post-its at the top, and I do write in this book. This is one of my go-to crock-pot cookbooks.

First, why I like American Test Kitchen. The variety of cookbooks they have is amazing! From vegan, cooking for two, diabetes, meat, brunch, pies, etc. (I’m sure you’ll find something in their stack for you). I like their cookbooks as they use normal ingredients that I have in my pantry or that I would find at my grocery store. I also feel that I am cooking something that’s normal, it’s not a dish that can only be served on special occasions. I like their recipes because they try these recipes over and over again until they are perfect. With each recipe, they include a description as to WHY the recipe works. It can include things they tried in the recipe, what they changed, what worked and what didn’t. I think that’s interesting.

With this cookbook, you will not get a picture with every recipe but you will get serving size and cooking time. Nutritional information is not available. There are 12 main food categories in this cookbook: soups, stews, braises, chilis, BBQ favorites and more, pasta sauces, meatballs meatloaves and more, enchiladas tacos and more, casseroles, on the side, eggs and brunch, and desserts. There’s also a basic section (broths, sauces, gravy, etc.), an index, and a slow cooker 101 section.

I have bought this cookbook as a wedding present many times, have bought it for friends and each of my kids have a copy as I think it’s fantastic. I have made the Farm Stand Tomato Sauce, the Chili Mac, Tomato Macaroni and Cheese, Meatballs and Marinara, Chicken, Tomato, and Olive Sauce, White Chicken Chili, Smothered Pork Chops with Onions and Bacon, Old Fashioned Beef and Noodle Soup, Tex-Mex Chicken Stew, Bachelor Beef Stew…….(I think I will stop).

I will comment that with their recipes, there is prep time. You might need to brown your pork chops before putting them in the crockpot or you might need to simmer/mix some ingredients before pouring it into your crockpot but this is worth it. If you short on time in the morning, I have done these steps the night before and stored the product in the retrig. overnight and just continued with the recipe in the morning and the recipe turned out fine for me. I highly recommend this cookbook!

Upscale Downhome

5 stars Cookbook

After looking through this cookbook, I placed an order for my own copy so I could return this copy to the library. I saw a post on Facebook about this cookbook so I put a hold on it at the library and after looking through it, this is definitely a keeper. I will tell you that I haven’t read any of Rachel’s other books so, I am now looking into them but right now, this one has my attention.

I am not a fancy cook as I eat normal food. Once in a while I will try something different, if the mood strikes me but I have to psych myself up for it. This week I bought some beet chips at the store, I said bought, I haven’t eaten them yet but I have them in my possession as they looked good and I liked beets (a lot!) and they’re baked, so hopefully, they’re not too bad. After thumbing through this cookbook and reading quite a few pages, I really think I could make everything in this book! It looks all normal, it looks pretty easy, it’s comfortable food without a lot of fancy ingredients and it looks like food that my friends and family would eat. This cookbook looks like a winner to me.

In sections that are pretty typical: snacks, dips, casseroles, potluck, slow cooker, parties, etc., I found many recipes I am excited to try. I also was excited about the parties section and the sips section. The parties section has a listing of 10 different types of parties and for each of the parties, the author gives suggestions on how to host them. From decorating, to food, the author has great suggestions and pictures to help make the party a success. In the sips section, there are 10 drinks to create from moonshine, gypsy, margarita popsicles to patriotic punch. There are some that are nonalcoholic too.

Let’s talk about the recipes. The illustrations in the cookbook are different, I thought. The author shows us a variety of illustrations for each recipe, and yes, each recipe has illustrations. Each recipe has a series of illustrations (3-5) that show the progression of the recipe as you follow the steps plus a final product illustration. This makes the cookbook bright and colorful inside. There is a little blurb and serving size information for each recipe but nutritional value is not provided. The ingredients and preparation are listed and they are easy to follow.

What I like about cookbooks are, they may have the same title of a recipe that you have tried before but the ingredients are a bit different. There are some recipes whose names look familiar: Loaded Baked Potato Salad, Seven Layer Salad, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Chili Cheese Dip, and Spaghetti Salad but following this author’s recipe and/or using her other suggestion, these just might make this dish stand out.

I thought the Breakfast Scramble, Raspberry Peach Dump Cake, and the BBQ Root Beer Chicken sounded amazing- just to name a few. I can’t wait to get my copy in the mail.

Eat Like You Give a Fork

4 stars Nonfiction

I’m middle of the road on this one. Why? Because I am a picky eater, I admit it. I don’t want to give this book a 5 because there is nothing in this cookbook I will eat, nothing, yet this book is a nice one, if you eat this stuff.
My aunt likes to get vegan and she would love this book and a few of my kids like to eat these foods so they would love to try a lot a few of these recipes, so this book would be great for them but me, not so much. So why did I get it? I picked it up at the library as it looked appealing. Look at the cover, those dishes look fantastic. I thought I would just look through it and see what recipes and ideas were inside.

So what did I see inside that I might tempt myself with? Chicken Sausage, Spelt, and Pepper Skillet – this picture looks fantastic with the dark colors of the mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, and the colorful peppers. Yum- yet, I would have to try Spelt. Then, we have Smoky Veggie, Jackfruit, and White Bean Chili. This looks chunky, hearty and tempting. But, what is jackfruit? I think I would do this one with all the veggies in this chili. I keep coming back to the Overstuffed Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle-Lime Yogurt- these potatoes look beautiful. Black beans, yogurt, ghee, sweet potatoes, chipotle chile powder, etc.
This book is not all about recipes either, she has lots of information about eating healthy. Lots of articles to read before you dive into the strategies and then, articles in each of the 8 strategies that include her recipes. There are not pictures for each recipes but there are a lot of colorful pictures in this cookbook. There are serving sizes with each recipe but not nutritional value information. There is an index at the back This is a nice cookbook that will lay flat on a table, if need be. Check it out if this type of food grabs you as it really has some interesting recipes and articles.