November 2023 MBR The Cookbook Shelf

The Cookbook Shelf

Taste of Home Budget-Friendly Cookbook
Taste of Home
https://www.tasteofhome.com
c/o Trusted Media Brands
https://www.trustedmediabrands.com
9781621459514, $19.99, PB, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-Budget-Friendly-Cookbook-thumbs-up/dp/1621459519

Synopsis: In this time of rising food casts, now with the publication of "Taste of Home Budget-Friendly Cookbook: 220+ recipes that cut costs, beat the clock and always get thumbs-up approval" it has never been easier to cut grocery bills while dishing out the meals everyone requests ranging from homey meat loaves and lasagnas to new takes on pasta and ramen.

Inside this very special cookbook you will find a culinary wealth of simply satisfying dinner ideas as well affordable desserts that end menus on a sweet note.

"Taste of Home Budget-Friendly Cookbook" features for more than 220 delicious recipes (all approved by the Taste of Home Test Kitchen); 150+ full-color photos; helpful icons for slow-cooked foods; recipes that use 5 or fewer ingredients, some 50+ dietitian-approved, good-for-you dishes; Prep/Cook timelines with each dish; Nutrition Facts with every recipe; and expert tips throughout help save money and time. Of special note is the bonus Pantry Staples chapter that will enable you to 'stash some cash' when you make your own marinara sauce, biscuit mix, pizza dough and condiments.

Critique: An inspirational meal-planning pleasure to simply browse through, and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' in organization and presentation, "Taste of Home Budget-Friendly Cookbook" is an especially appropriate, timely, and highly recommended pick for the time stressed, food budget limited, family chef, as well as a guaranteed popular addition to community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Taste of Home (www.tasteofhome.com) is the leading multi-platform producer of information on food, cooking, baking and entertaining, serving home cooks engaging media that capture the joy and comfort received from food made with love.

Taste of Home All-New Most Requested Recipes
Taste of Home
https://www.tasteofhome.com
c/o Trusted Media Brands
https://www.trustedmediabrands.com
9781621459675, $19.99, PB, 320pp

https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-All-New-Requested-Recipes/dp/1621459675

Synopsis: With the publication of "All-New Most Requested Recipes" from Taste of Home, kitchen cooks can now indulge in 268 recipes for family favorite dishes. These recipes are ideal for creating a menu, planning a buffet, or serving a impressive dessert. Need a dish to pass? Try any of these mouth-watering party contributions showcased here. Best of all, along with their recipes, contributing family cooks share their kitchen secrets and heartwarming memories via interviews featured throughout "All-New Most Requested Recipes", making this a culinary compendium that contemporary home cooks refer to time and time again.

Critique: Menu inspiring and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly in organization and presentation, "All-New Most Requested Recipes" showcase palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, and popuar dishes that would be appropriate for any and all dining occasions. It features top-rated dishes from TasteofHome.com, recipe contests and valued contributors; At-a-Glance icons that spotlight contest winning, air-fryer and Instant Pot recipes; as well as interviews with America's top home cooks, sharing their kitchen secrets, Of special note is a bonus chapter of menus perfect for entertaining all year long. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99), "All-New Most Requested Recipes" is an unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, and community library Contemporary Cookbook collection.

Editorial Note: Taste of Home is the leading multi-platform producer of information on food, cooking, baking and entertaining, serving home cooks engaging media that capture the joy and comfort received from food made with love. Their website, www.tasteofhome.com is a top destination for engaging audiences with kitchen-tested recipes, how-to techniques, cooking videos and more.

Taste of Home Everyday Slow Cooker
Taste of Home
https://www.tasteofhome.com
c/o Trusted Media Brands
https://www.trustedmediabrands.com
9781621459828, $17.99, PB, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-Everyday-Slow-Cooker/dp/1621459829

Synopsis: The slow cooker is the busy cook's best friend, and for good reason -- it delivers the perfect combination of comfort food and convenience. When managing hectic schedules, there's something magical about a device that lets you do your prep work in the morning and discover a ready-to-serve meal just a few hours later.

""Taste of Home Everyday Slow Cooker: 250+ recipes that make the most of everyone's favorite kitchen timesaver" is a new cookbook comprised of beautifully illustrated recipes suitable for hot breakfasts, savory main courses, satisfying sides, hearty soups and stews, and tempting desserts. Each and everyone one of these amazing, delicious, nutritious recipes can all be made in the slow cooker so that you can plan cooking around whatever your schedule may be -- instead of planning your schedule around cooking.

Shared by home cooks and approved in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, the slow-cooked specialties showcased in "Taste of Home Everyday Slow Cooker" are sure to turn out perfect every time. Between family dinners, weekend snacks, charity potlucks and game-day spreads, there's no reason to ever put your slow cooker in the cupboard because every day is a day for slow cooking!

Critique: "Taste of Home Everyday Slow Cooker: 250+ recipes that make the most of everyone's favorite kitchen timesaver" offers recipes suitable for creating: Slow & Easy Breakfasts; Snacks, Appetizers & Beverages; Side Dishes; Sandwiches; Soups, Stews & Chilis; Entrees; and Desserts. Also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99), "Taste of Home Everyday Slow Cooker" is thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' in organization and presentation, making it an ideal menu planning resource, and an especially recommended pick for personal, professional, and community library collections.

Editorial Note: Taste of Home (www.tasteofhome.com) is the leading multi-platform producer of information on food, cooking, baking and entertaining, serving home cooks engaging media that capture the joy and comfort received from food made with love.

Taste of Home Copycat Favorites: Volume 2
Taste of Home
https://www.tasteofhome.com
c/o Trusted Media Brands
https://www.trustedmediabrands.com
9781621459330, $17.99, PB, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-Copycat-Favorites-restaurant/dp/1621459330

Synopsis: "Taste of Home Copycat Favorites: Volume 2" is a culinary compendium offering 'at home' versions of beloved dishes from Olive Garden, Panera Bread, Starbucks, Rib Shack, Arbys', Applebee's, The Cheesecake Factory, Chick-Fil-A and more.

Save money and don't just dial delivery, skip the drive-thru, and save your wait staff tips for yourself, because with "Copycat Favorites: Volume 2" you can now enjoy an even greater collection of your favorite restaurant foods, snacks and more at home with this unique cookbook comprised of beautifully illustrated DIY kitchen cook friendly recipes.

"Copycat Favorites: Volume 2" brings more of America's most popular menu items right to the at-home kitchen cook. It has never been easier to treat your family to their favorite restaurant foods than with this all-new follow-up to Taste of Home's best-selling cookbook "Copycat Restaurant Favorites" (2019) Inside "Copy Cat Favorites: Volume 2" are recipes more than 100 entrees, pizzas, sandwiches, soups and desserts -- each of which was inspired by popular eateries and the brands that America loves best.

Critique: From Fun & Festive Cake Pops; Copycat Coleslaw; and Butterbeer; to The Famouse Doubletree Cookie; Fish & Fries; Jalapeno Burgers with Gorgonzola; to Chipotle Chicken, the recipes comprising "Copycat Favorite: Volume 2" is an effective DIY kitchen cook's way to bring restaurant fine dining and fast-food dining onto the family dining table to the delight of all who sit there. Also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99), "Copycat Favorites" from Taste of Home is a strongly endorsed addition to personal, professional and community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: For more than 25 years, Taste of Home has been one of the world's most popular cooking publications. Through the pages of the flagship magazine, popular cookbooks and online community, Taste of Home offers a friendly exchange of family-favorite recipes, cooking tips and personal stories from genuine home cooks. Because professional food staff test and evaluate every recipe in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, readers are guaranteed success every time.

Taste of Home All New Christmas Cookies
Taste of Home
https://www.tasteofhome.com
c/o Trusted Media Brands
https://www.trustedmediabrands.com
9781621459866, $14.99, Spiral Bound, 208pp

https://www.amazon.com/Taste-Home-All-Christmas-Cookies/dp/1621459861

Synopsis: The folk at At Taste of Home, based on the popularity of their cookbook "Christmas Cookies", have now created a second volume of sweet Christmas themed treats with the publication of "All New Christmas Cookies". This is a magical collection kitchen cook/baker recipes for 100 additional cookies, bars and brownies worthy of the holiday season (or any other time of year!). From easy bites ideal for making memories with tiny bakers to impressive nibbles sure to wow the crowd, this all-new edition features the cookies you need to make your holiday merry and bright.

Critique: "Taste of Home All New Christmas Cookies" features: 143 recipes with step-by-step directions; Full-color photo with each recipe; Prep and bake timelines for cookie-baking success; Tips for gift-wrapping and shipping cookies, putting together the ultimate assortment and hosting your own cookie exchange; Baking tips and cookie-making secrets from the Taste of Home Test Kitchen. A perfect Christmas gift, stocking stuffer, or holiday present under the tree, "Taste of Home All New Christmas Cookies" will help to make any Christmas party celebration even more 'Merry & Bright'. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $10.99), "Taste of Home All New Christmas Cookies" is an ideal and very special pick for personal, professional, and community library Holiday Cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Taste of Home (www.tasteofhome.com) is the leading multi-platform producer of information on food, cooking, baking and entertaining, serving home cooks engaging media that capture the joy and comfort received from food made with love.

Elf Food
Cayla Gallagher
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510776975, $19.99, HC, 224pp

https://www.amazon.com/Elf-Food-Holiday-Christmas-Whimsical/dp/1510776974

Synopsis: Fill your plates with peppermint candies, gingerbread, and snowballs and eat just like elves do with the recipes comprising "Elf Food: 85 Holiday Sweets & Treats for a Magical Christmas", a cookbook will take you on a sweet, sugary journey through Christmas Tree Meringue Pops, over rolling hills of Plaid Swiss Roll Cakes, and through a field of Mistletoe Shortbread. You'll arrive at a Classic Gingerbread House and cuddle by the fire with some warm milk and a Hot Chocolate Bomb.

Critique: An ideal menu planning for desserts or snacking with illustrated and thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' holiday classics and new Christmas themed treats, "Elf Food" by culinary expert Cayla Gallagher will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to personal, professional, family, and community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Cayla Gallagher (https://www.pankobunny.com/about) is the host and creator of the YouTube channel pankobunny, an online cooking show where she creates weekly tutorials, teaching her subscribers how to turn everyday recipes into "edible cuteness" -- colorful, eye catching treats! With an audience of more than 300,000 followers across her social media platforms and more than 300 million views on Facebook, she strives to bring amusement and creativity to tables all over the world. Currently residing in Toronto, Canada, Cayla is also the author of Unicorn Food, Spooky Food, Reindeer Food, and Mermaid Food.

Pickle & Ferment
Susan Crowther, author
Julie Fallone, author
Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781510775756, $19.99, PB, 184pp

https://www.amazon.com/Pickle-Ferment-Preserve-Delicious-Probiotic/dp/1510775757

Synopsis: Fermenting, in the simplest definition, is changing food into a healthier version of itself -- a version that basically stays fresh, forever. Sounds kind of magical, doesn't it? It kind of is.

Fermenting is what happens when you mix two things together: food and salt. As soon as food and salt are combined, they wake up microbes -- bacteria and yeast that are living in and on the food.

With the publication of "Pickle & Ferment: Preserve Your Produce & Brew Delicious Probiotic Drinks", co-authors Susan Crowther and Julie Fallone explore a specific type of fermentation: raw pickling or live-fermentation. Live-fermented foods are the healthiest to eat and easiest to make. Live-fermentation is simpler than canning and the food lasts longer than freezing. This technique saves time and energy, as it cuts down on heating and cooking. Live-fermented foods do not require refrigeration. Plus, they can stay fresh indefinitely.

In addition to saving energy costs, fermenting increases a food's health benefits. Live-fermented foods are healthier than their original raw products. Vital nutrients and vitamins (often destroyed with heating) are not only kept alive, but improved. And other nutrients are actually created during fermentation.

In the pages of "Pickle & Ferment: Preserve Your Produce & Brew Delicious Probiotic Drinks", Susan Crowther and Julie Fallone effectively collaborate to offer step-by-step instructions for pickling and fermenting all kinds of produce from carrots to garlic to sweet potatoes, plus offers recipes for Live-Fermented Hot Sauce, Fermented Hot Honey, and more unique and healthy goodies. Readers will also find recipes for kombucha, jun tea, and other probiotic drinks.

Finally, there's an abundance of recipes for incorporating your probiotic-rich ferments into other recipes, such as Healthier Hummus, Jun Sourdough Bread, Cultured Muffins, and even Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake!

Critique: Showcasing 60 classic and unique recipes for probiotic-rich ferments such as sauerkraut, pickled veggies, salsas, kimchi, sourdough, jun tea, and more, "Pickle & Ferment: Preserve Your Produce & Brew Delicious Probiotic Drinks" is beautifully and profusely illustrated throughout with full page, full color photography. It is informative, user friendly in organization, and especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and college/university library natural food cookbook collections. It should be noted for the family cook that this DIY instruction reference for home-based fermenting is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note #1: Susan Crowther graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and eventually ran her own catering business - Susie's Menu. Susie's passions encompass cooking, writing, and health. She has worn several hats: cook, chef, caterer, nutritionist, massage therapist, health educator, college professor, and mom. She sells her fermented goodies under the name FerMont in and around her hometown of Brattleboro, Vermont.

Editorial Note #2: Julie Fallone (https://www.juliefallone.com) has made food her career and passion from an early age. She has run a restaurant kitchen and a catering company and written a newspaper food column. Today she devotes her time to food photography, recipe testing, and jewelry making from her Baltimore apartment.

Pizza Night
Deborah Kaloper
Smith Street Books
c/o Rizzoli
www.rizzoliusa.com
9781922754455, $19.95, HC, 140pp

https://www.amazon.com/Pizza-Night-Recipes-Nights-Party/dp/1922754455

Synopsis: Showcasing recipes more than 60 DIY delicious pizza recipes suitable for any night of the week, "Pizza Night" by Deborah Kaloper is a mouthwatering, exploration of the delicious world of pizza recipes that range from Neapolitan classics and deep-dish pies, to the sweet and the fried.

With "Pizza Night" as a menu planning resource, even the most novice of kitchen cooks can get the party started with such pizza delights as Sopressa & Olive Panzerotti or Pizzette Fritte. They can satisfy the whole family with fan-favorites like Pepperoni, Margherita, or Hawaiian. Experiment with new pizza combinations like Kimchi & Sesame, Peach with Goat's Cheese, or Radicchio & Candied Walnuts. Then dig into a Detroit-style Hottie or a Chicago Veggie Pie and finish the night off with a Banana Nutella Calzone with Mascarpone.

With pizza to suit any nighttime dining event, whether you're making pizzas with friends, have a date to impress, or want to curl up on the couch with a calzone for one, "Pizza Night" has fun and easy recipes for thin pizza, thick pizza, focaccia pizza, sweet pizza, and the best of pizza's cousins. So with the aid of "Pizza Night", anyone can now get out the cheese and toppings, and get ready to slice up a great time!

Critique: Profusely and beautiful illustrated with full page, full color photography of finished dishes, and also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.69), "Pizza Night: 60+ Recipes for Date Nights, Lazy Nights, and Party Nights" is a 'must' for the legions of pizza lovers and a welcome addition to personal, family, professional, and community library cookbook collections.

Editorial Note: Deborah Kaloper (https://www.deborahkaloper.com) is a California-raised, Melbourne-based sought-after food stylist, prop stylist, and recipe developer. Her passion for all things food started at the age of six with her first cookbook given to her by her grandmother, Nonie. A former breakfast and pastry chef, Kaloper works with top photographers, chefs, food writers, and brands, styling their food for books, magazines, and advertising. In her downtime you can find her up early walking along the ocean to catch the sunrise and trying to perfect her Nonie's Croatian Easter bread.

More Daily Veg
Joe Woodhouse
Kyle Books
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781804190845, $36.99

https://www.amazon.com/More-Daily-Veg-frills-vegetarian/dp/1804190845

More Daily Veg: No Fuss or Frills, Just Great Vegetarian Food is a companion to Joe Woodhouse's already-acclaimed Your Daily Veg. It captures international influences on vegetable cooking, offering modern updates of traditional vegetarian dishes to make them both healthier and more widely appealing. The grouping by ingredient allows vegetarian cooks easy access to dishes which work with seasonal availability, while easy instructions to re-crafted dishes such as Celeriac Puff Pie or Biang Biang Noodles makes them accessible to all home cooks. Facing pages of color photos add the inviting appeal needed to make these vegetable-based dishes attractive to a wide audience of both vegetarian cooks and meat-eaters looking for appealing additions to the table.

Gatherings
America's Test Kitchen
America's Test Kitchen, Publisher
www.americastestkitchen.com
9781954210141, $35.00

https://www.amazon.com/Gatherings-Casual-Fancy-Americas-Test-Kitchen/dp/1954210140

Gatherings: Casual-Fancy Meals to Share takes a different approach than many America's Test Kitchen titles, inviting cooks from their various departments to share favorite ways of entertaining family and friends at home. It arrives at a perfect time (when COVID isolation is ending and many are considering entertaining at home for the first time in years) and reinvents the notion of entertaining with meals and dishes cooks can produce that give them the freedom to attend their own parties. From Goetta (pork shoulder simmered with onion, herbs and spices, shredded and mixed into a loaf with steel-cut oats and fried until golden) to a Sweet Potato and Lentil Salad with Fried Shallots, recipes that lend to more than a few celebrants feature the hallmark foolproof testing of America's Test Kitchen, the personal comments of cooks who have successfully used these dishes to entertain, and the attraction that comes from comfort food that holds widespread appeal. Libraries and home cooks will find Gatherings easy to use.

Mitchell Beazley
www.octopusbooksusa.com

These new recipe books should be on the shelves of libraries interested in expanding their collections of techniques and innovative approaches to cooking.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Better-Cocktails-techniques/dp/0600637948

Sebastian Hamilton-Mudge, Natalia Garcia Bourke, and Andy Shannon's How to Make Better Cocktails: Cocktail Techniques, Pro-Tips and Recipes (9780600637943, $19.98) is recommended for those with some prior experience in cocktails who are looking to expand their repertoires. It covers not only recipes, but basic insights on how superior cocktails are created, discussing balance, dilution, and foaming. Some 70 classic and unique recipes are profiled in an attraction for any cocktail drinker who would become a drinks creator.

https://www.amazon.com/House-Garden-Year-Kitchen-Seasonal/dp/1784728950

Blanche Vaughan's A Year in the Kitchen: Seasonal Recipes for Everyday Pleasure (9781784728953, $44.99) excels in colorful full-page photos paired with recipes that will attract a wide audience. From Boneless Chicken with Lemon and Thyme Salt to Baked Pumpkin Soup and Warming Madagascan Curry with Coconut Rice, these seasonal dishes are replete in international influences and produce-based ingredients, perfect for seasonal cooking that embraces the harvests of the year.

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow
Diana Henry
Aster/Octopus Publishing
www.octopusbooksusa.com
9781783255764, $29.99

https://www.amazon.com/Roast-Figs-Sugar-Snow-Food/dp/1783255765

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul is a new edition of a winning cookbook that focuses on cold-weather dishes, pairing spices with seasonal fall and winter fare that remains an attraction some 20 years after the book's first appearance. This revision includes seven new recipes, a foreword by Nigel Slater, and attractive full-page color photos of such dishes as Styrian Venison with Chestnuts, Cranberries and Wild Mushrooms, Danish Roast Pork with Pickled Prunes and Sweet Cucumber, and Roasted Shoulder Steaks with Pears, Onions and Melting Gorgonzola. The result is classic Diana Henry, packed with attraction and foolproof results.

Hamlyn/Octopus Publishing
www.octopusbooksusa.com

These new vegan cookbooks will expand a vegan cook's possibilities, offering exciting new innovations and approaches not to be found in other vegan cookbooks.

https://www.amazon.com/Mildreds-Easy-Vegan-Exciting-simply/dp/0600638057

Mildreds Easy Vegan: Exciting Food, Simply Cooked (9780600638056, $32.99) shares dishes from the restaurant that emphasizes the simplicity of vegan cooking, promoting this healthy eating style. Chapters open with brunch ideas such as Cherry Pistachio Porridge or Chocolate Hazelnut Crepes and move to international influences in all kinds of meals, from a Harissa Patatas Bravas and Iranian Shirazi Saladmade with mint, cucumbers, tomatoes, and spices to a baked Leek and Pine Nut Gnocchi Gratin packed with texture and flavors. The result elevates vegan food to the level of comfort food, equating it with an ease of preparation that will prove inviting to all cooks.

https://www.amazon.com/Very-Vegan-Christmas-Plant-based-celebrating/dp/0600638030

Sam Dixon's A Very Vegan Christmas (9780600638032, $19.99) proves that those on a plant-based diet needn't miss the familiar trappings of the holidays in which people gather around food, even if meat, cheese and chocolate aren't part of the vegan diet. Recipes for party foods include cocktails, appetizers, and festive main dishes which excel in both appearance (emphasized by the color photos throughout) and creative embellishment. Here are Mincemeat Pancakes, Mushroom & Chestnut Stuffing, and Cranberry & Lentil Filo Christmas Crackers - all of which promise an inviting, celebratory feel perfect for holidays where vegan and meat-eaters look for bright, colorful, inviting foods. These fine, creative collections should be featured in any library's vegan cookbook holding, and on the shelves of any aspiring vegan cook.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

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James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

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James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review