Inside the Test Kitchen: A Book Review

While I do most of the main cooking in our family, Adam loves to experiment in the kitchen. He says, "if it is good for you in any way Michelle probably made it." Inside the Test Kitchen is all about experimenting. You open it up and you feel like you just opened up someone's high school notebook. This cookbook is so relaxed that you just can't help but want to dive in.

The first thing I always notice about a cookbook are the pictures. This book is filled with photos and I love that! Not just a photo for each recipe, but photos of the process. They are accompanied by "handwritten" notes. The recipes are unique plays on classic comfort foods like mac and cheese and green bean casserole. There are discussions on the best type of ground meat to use for hamburger and which cheeses are the stretchiest. I am delighted to have this book in my new kitchen when we move in 50 days from now.

Tyler Florence has really created something special in this book. It is as fun to read as it is to cook from. It's so easy to follow and I can actually find the ingredients. There are many recipes that are gluten free, which is a major plus for our family. I can't wait to surprise my darling husband with this super fun cooking experience this Christmas. My taste buds can't wait either!

My Perfect Pantry: A Cookbook Review

My oh my, I cannot wait to have my own kitchen in less than 3 months! Thanks to Geoffrey Zakarian and his fantastic cookbook, My Perfect Pantry, my mouth is watering and I have the cooking bug. I am really impressed by this book. It has everything I like from a cookbook and more.

The introduction shares Geoffrey's view of the pantry from childhood to cook and is a very sweet start. He shares his list of must have pantry spices and ingredients. There are a total of 50 ingredients that he talks about. Each section includes information about the ingredient. I really liked this bonus information. I learned a lot about BBQ sauce that I did not know and will have a lot of fun sharing with my BBQ sauce lovin' husband. Then there are 3 recipes using the ingredients. This is my favorite part, there is a picture of every single dish! I really like to see the dish before I make it and so this feature alone would have made me happy. He includes so much more and that is what makes this book worthy of making space in one of our moving boxes for.

The recipes are so easy to understand and use ingredients I can actually find. I can't wait to start cooking with this book and experiencing some new flavors!

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.



More Info

Author Bio

The Kitchen Ecosystem: A Book Review

A large box came in the mail. What is this?! it was The Kitchen Ecosystem by Eugenia Bone. The box and mounds of bubble wrap were a bit much, but the book did come in pristine condition. It is quite the heavy tome. The cover is beautiful and the pictures throughout are wonderful. The introduction was very inspirational. It really got me thinking about how I have and can use so many of the food things I tend to toss out from bones to carrot tops. Eugenia talks about creating your own kitchen ecosystem where your meals are interconnected with each other and where there is less waste. I love the concept. I can't wait to implement it in my own kitchen, when I finally have one again.

I know many people who would love this book. It has creative recipes and they look mouthwatering. The problem that I have is that so many of the "staple" ingredients in her book are not available in our small town grocery store. Corn, check. Carrots, check. Chicken, check. Lobster, duck, fennel, not so much. The likelihood that I would be able to make many of these recipes is very slim. The one thing I really liked in this book was the variety of broth and stock recipes that can use leftover bits and bones. It is an awefully big book to keep around for that handful of recipes though.

I am inspired by the concept of this book. I plan to take Eugenia Bone's advice and create an ecosystem in my kitchen. I plan to use my own recipes with the foods available in my area. She doesn't recommend simply following her recipes, she wants you to create an ecosystem of your own and is simply showing how she has done it. In concept I give this book a 5 out of 5, but if I had purchased this book for myself, I would have been sorely disappointed. So, I will average it out with a midrange 3.

• More Info


• Author Bio

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.