Tag: reviews

Cookbook Review: The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

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Welcome back, Readers!

It’s time for another Cookbook Review post! And I am so excited to share this one with you. This is one my all-time favorite cookbooks!!

I discovered The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins a few years ago when I stumbled upon online articles discussing the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet. The book sounded wonderful and I had to rush out to a bookstore to get it! Luckily the Barnes & Noble near by college campus had one in stock.

This cookbook continues to be one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever read because, to me, it reads like a novel. Jenkins does a great job of creating an Eat, Pray, Love style narrative about her family’s time in Italy.

Whether romanticized or not, I fell for it and wanted to be her! (Okay, I’ll be honest: I re-read parts of it to write this review and I STILL want to be her!)

One of the other aspects of this book that I like is that it is not just a cookbook. It also explains what the Mediterranean Diet is and how you can “Make the Change” to the lifestyle. Only after around 40 pages do you see any recipes.

But when the recipes do come, let me tell you…YOU WILL LOVE THEM!!

We all experience headnotes in cookbooks. These are the little paragraphs that precede the recipe that sometimes tell how a chef created the recipe or how it can be served. Headnotes in this book are no exception, but Jenkins includes beautifully written paragraphs that also teach the reader how to cook the recipe’s main ingredient, for example. Other times the headnotes are filled with wonderful anecdotes about her time in the Mediterranean region.

One of the positives of this cookbook is in the vegetables section, Jenkins takes the time and space to break down commonly used vegetables in the Mediterranean Diet. Each vegetable has 1 to 3 recipes that feature it, ensuring the budding Mediterranean chef how to incorporate them into their new diet.

Believe it or not, the Mediterranean Diet is not a big fan of the dessert course. I know, right? But this book does include more than a dozen sweet treats to satisfy your sweet tooth. While many are fruit-based, they will almost surely satisfy any sweet-tooth.

Writing this review has made me fall in love with it all over again. I’ll have to make something out of it soon!

Cold Days Are For Soups

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Over the weekend, my house was filled with soups.

On Friday, I decided to make a recipe out of the cookbook I will be reviewing this week: The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. The review comes out on Thursday, so stay tuned! Since the weather turned back to more seasonably cold temperatures, I figured a soup recipe was in the cards.

So, I decided to make Butternut Squash Soup, North Africa Style.

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Recipe #21 – Triple Chocolate Loaf Cakes

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This recipe is from Cook Like a Pro, pg. 224.

Last weekend I made another dessert recipe, the Triple Chocolate Loaf Cakes. While the recipe was very simple, this was not exactly something to write home about. It was basically a very chocolate-y cake in a loaf form. What I did like though, is that it yields 2 loaf cakes. But in reality, I feel like I could have combined the two pans into one and gotten a taller cake.

It was tasty and simple and can definitely be used if you don’t need a full cake for something, but again, I wasn’t overly impressed with it.

The recipe calls for chocolate chips to be coated in flour before adding them to the recipe. I remember Ina saying something in one of the episodes of Barefoot Contessa that this helps the chips not sink to the bottom of the pan. Well, I did coat them in flour — generously — and they still sunk. Oh well!

Recipes #15 and #16 Orange-Honey Glazed Carrots and Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

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Both of these recipes can be found in At Home

In addition to the Parmesan Chicken I made last Saturday, I made two side dishes. Both of which complemented the main course nicely.

The buttermilk mashed potatoes are amazing! As someone who doesn’t get to have mashed potatoes very often, these were a welcome addition the meal. The potatoes were so creamy and flavorful. The salt Ina calls for is a lot, but the potatoes do not taste overly salty. The addition of pepper merges all the flavors and makes for a very tasty side dish.

The Orange-Honey Glazed Carrots are hands down, the BEST carrot recipe I’ve come across!

Using ginger, honey, and orange juice to turn up the volume on these carrots was a great choice for the meal I made. But, it’s also a great recipe crafted by the great IG! In fact, my family loved these carrots so much that we will be making them for our small family gathering at Thanksgiving. I can see them making a regular appearance at the Thanksgiving table year after year.

They are also going to be the first side dish recipe added to my list of Favorites!

As I may have mentioned earlier, I will be taking this week off from cooking dinner. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make an IG recipe! I plan to bake this weekend, but not dessert! Probably muffins or scones. Both of those are types of food I haven’t attempted yet. Plus it’ll be a good excuse to tackle one of the Breakfast recipes!

Come back to the blog tomorrow to check out my review of Back to Basics!

Until next time…

Recipe #14 Parmesan Chicken

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This recipe can be found in Family Style.

One of the recipes I made for Saturday dinner was parmesan chicken. But, I have a confession to make. I bought the wrong cheese! Instead, I bought a combination of grated Pecorino Romano NOT Parmesan. So, since I kind of messed up the title ingredient, by review won’t be too long.

This recipe is very simple to make since it is essentially fried chicken cutlets. However, the addition of cheese to the bread crumbs is what really sets it apart. And if I’m being honest, I think the Pecorino Romano cheese added even better flavor than the parmesan would have.

I also decided not to serve this recipe with the recommended salads greens and lemon vinaigrette. But, it is still worth trying. It’s a simple meal than can be any night of the week and can easily accommodate and please a large group of friends.

Did I make sides for this? Yes, yes I did! I made two basic recipes: mashed potatoes and a separate carrot dish. Those reviews are coming tomorrow!

Happy November, by the way!

Review of “Barefoot Contessa At Home”

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Garten’s fifth cookbook begins what I call “Quintessential Ina.” This was around the time I discovered and fell in love with her cooking show. And I think her best recipes stem from the next few books. The tagline “everyday recipes you’ll make over and over again” rings true for this book since Ina had finally settled into her target audience: untrained, home cooks.

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Review of “Barefoot in Paris”

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This is part of a 12-part series where I review each of Ina’s cookbooks. A new review drops every Thursday at 1:30 PM. This is the fourth review out of the twelve.

This week I get to talk about my favorite Barefoot Contessa cookbook to date — Barefoot in Paris. This book is different from the others in a few ways. First, this is the only book (so far!) that focusing solely on one type of cuisine: French.

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Review of “Barefoot Contessa Family Style”

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Welcome to the third installment of my Ina Garten cookbook review series. This is week three, so I’ll be reviewing Barefoot Contessa Family Style. This book, published in 2002 has a subtitle that reads: “Easy Ideas and Recipes That Make Everyone Feel Like Family,” and honestly, I think this book lives up to that statement.

Prior to Ina’s latest cookbook featuring comfort food, I would have to argue that this is her early take on that idea but with a twist that makes it elegant and “gourmet.” (As if we expected anything less!)

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Recipe #9 – Ultimate Beef Stew

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From Modern Comfort Food, page 104.

With the release of Ina’s latest cookbook last Tuesday, I knew that this week’s cooking HAD to feature a recipe from it. So, I decided on a classic: Ultimate Beef Stew.

Let me first say, that I am not usually a fan of beef in any capacity except a hamburger. I’m not really sure why. I guess it’s a texture thing for me. Like, I don’t think I’ve had a steak in like 6 years and even then it was while I was in college and had chicken-fried steak once a month.

So why would I make a beef stew as the first recipe out of the new cookbook?

Well, we already had the beef in the freezer, so my wallet got to keep some of its money. Also, the photos of the recipe in the cookbook are so enticing that I just had to make it.

And let me tell you: I wasn’t disappointed!

While the recipe did take longer to prepare than I thought because of all of the chopping and prep work, it was worth it! The stew cooks in the oven for over two hours, which allows the meat to cook properly without getting dried out. Both the meat and vegetables were so tender when it was ready.

There were some things about this recipe that I didn’t like. First, it would take quite some time to prep alone. I would say before you even put it in the oven, you need a good hour to an hour and a half to cut everything and cook what’s needed on the stovetop. Also, like many of Ina’s recipes, the stew had a strong pepper taste throughout. And I only seasoned the amount she recommended when she recommended to do so. In fact, it was so peppery that my nose started to run!

Eating the leftovers the next day did take out some of the overabundant pepper taste, which was great for me.

Overall, this recipe was a hearty one-pot meal that surprisingly had fewer dishes than expected.

Review of “Barefoot Contessa Parties!”

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This is part of a twelve-part series where I review Ina Garten’s cookbooks. Check back each week for the next installment in the series! The reviews will drop every Thursday afternoon at 1:30 PM.

This week I’m reviewing Ina’s second cookbook: Barefoot Contessa Parties! which was published in 2001.

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