Healthy in a Hurry by Karen Ansel

The problem with cookbooks is they are very subjective.  There’s nothing particularly wrong with this book – the pictures are engaging and the recipes are interesting but they didn’t do anything for me.  The recipes were far too simplistic and would not satisfy my family.  I liked the idea of the book.

This would be perfect for someone just leaving home or for someone who has just started using healthier foods.  This is not a family cookbook.  Many of the recipes do not make substantial meals – lots of appetizer like foods which appear quick but for a large group would actually make more work. 

There are great ideas here and I love the colors and textures of the foods offered.

Home Baked Comfort by Kim Laidlaw

Beautiful book.  The recipes are elegant and stunning.  The pictures captivate the reader and leave you craving something hot and amazing out of the oven.  The recipes work in seasonal fruits at the peak of perfection.  The crusts are crisp and golden while the breads are soft and aromatic.

The instructions are simple with fairly common ingredients.

A nice touch is the brief interviews of various bakers from around the country.  Each offer their own perspective of baking and share a recipe.  Grab a cup of coffee and pour over this book as if you were visiting with a friend.  Kim Laidlaw has put together a book that was meant to be handed down to future generations – preferably covered in stains with sticky pages.

Family Camping Cookbook by Tiff and Jim Easton

Not sure I would recommend this book as much as Camp Cooking in the Wild but there is merit to owning this book.  I like that the Easton’s included information on how to incorporate foraged foods.  To me, that’s a big plus because I love to forage.  Their recipes are far more simple, as well, which is nice when you are cooking with children.

I like that they offer menus with shopping lists to make preparation super simple.  Not only that but they offer different menus based on age.  They even offer a vegetarian alternative. 

The book is broken up into environments such as the beach or the woods.  While much of the food is easy to prepare – they encourage a wide range of flavors and styles of cooking.  I never thought about grilling a butterflied leg of lamb while camping but I love the idea.  The more I look at the recipes the more I love this book.  I love ethnic food and this book is full of kid friendly foreign foods that we can make while out on vacation or adapt to make at home.

Cooking from the Farmer’s Market by Jodi Liano

A beautiful book from Williams Sonoma, Cooking from the Farmer’s Market did not disappoint.  The photography is colorful and enticing.  The recipes are varied enough that there is sure to be enough to warrant owning the book.

I was a little put off by the assumption that all Farmer’s Markets are the same.  I’ve been rather stunned to learn that’s not true as I follow blogs that offer seasonal cooking.  I live in Washington and, though we have an amazing farmer’s market, our seasons and variety of produce do not match what is offered in this book.

With that said, that doesn’t mean I can’t find the produce at our local Co-op.  I do appreciate encouraging local produce and learning to eat those foods. 

This would be a perfect book for those who have joined a CSA or get Bountiful Baskets.  I’m always trying to figure how to use some of the unique produce we get each week.

Edible Party Bouquets by Fox Chapel Publishing

When this title came up in the NetGalley catalog, I couldn't wait to review it.  I love the idea of edible bouquets and I'm always telling my husband that he should go into the business.  He's amazing when it comes to prepping beautiful food for parties (just wish he'd do it more often and perhaps would consider going into business).
This book totally blew me out of the water.  The bouquets were amazing.  The best part - they were all fairly simple.  The most complicated designs were created using cookie cutters making the work so easy. 
Not only were there fruit bouquets but Fox Chapel Publishing stretched the gamut by designing bouquets made of cinnamon rolls, wraps, mini pies, and tortilla chips.  Many of the designs were fully edible.
If you love to play with your food, this is the book for you.  Most of the bouquets don't require more than the food and skewers.  Some have you make foods from scratch while others have you use store bought ingredients such as a tree made out of chocolate covered mint cookies.
I'm thinking this might be a future Christmas gift for my husband and already gives me the best ideas for future party foods.

Allergy-Friendly Food for Families by Kiwi Magazine

This is a great book for families who have recently had a child diagnosed with a gluten, dairy, nut, soy or egg allergy or are learning to juggle multiple food allergies. The book starts off with tips for food safety and reducing cross contamination. It goes on to an FAQ section with experts before moving onto the recipes. The recipe section is coded with the 5 allergens – gluten, dairy, nut, soy, egg. Each has its own color square on the edge of each page so that locating recipes with that particular allergen gone is easy to do. The recipes are broken into meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, snacks, and parties. There are some rather neat features with this book. The first thing I noticed is that most of the recipes omit the allergen instead of trying to come up with a substitute. There are substitutions in this cookbook but not as many as other cookbooks have offered. I know that when we were gluten free it was far easier to come up with recipes that didn’t use gluten foods than it was to replace the gluten foods. The next thing I noticed was these cool sections on cooking with your kids. So many forget to teach their children how to cook and when it comes to food allergies, learning early is best. I loved the party section because there are always parties from birthdays to class parties and it’s nice to have beautiful ideas that taste good. The book wraps up with Building an Allergy-free Pantry. This is a great tool. It helps the user create a list of staples and explains the reasons why these ingredients are so important (including tips for using the item). I would gladly recommend this book. My only complaint is that it didn’t come out when we needed it.

The Hunter/Farmer Diet Solution by Mark Liponis

Mark Liponis works as a doctor at the Canyon Ranch (an upscale diet center). Over the years, he believes he has found the secret to weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I can’t say I agree or disagree but I enjoyed his book. His theory is based on a sort of common sense.
The idea is that anthropologically speaking we have evolved to need a particular diet. In Mark Liponis’ book, he identifies two types of diets – The Hunter and The Farmer. Placement in one diet or the other is based on medical information – mainly insulin and cholesterol. The Hunter is insulin resistant and often suffers from high blood pressure and cholesterol while The Farmer is insulin sensitive and often suffers from hypoglycemia.
The Hunter diet is a low sugar, low processed carbohydrate diet that focuses on healthy proteins and vegetables. His theory is that Hunters are addicted to sugar. I do like that he encourages doctor support and says that a Hunter has found the correct diet when their blood glucose is under 100 and triglycerides are under 150. Basically this is a low glycemic diet designed for those with diabetes or susceptible to diabetes. The idea is that a Hunter eats a diet similar to what a hunter/gatherer would eat.
The Farmer diet is a low fat, high fiber, high grain diet that focuses on maintaining a steady glucose level throughout the day. He claims that Farmers are distracted by eating and often eat more than they need because their body is attempting to prevent drops in glucose levels. With this diet, one eats what they would grow so there’s a higher amount of grains, vegetables and fruit with less focus on meats.
All in all, there’s great information in this book. I liked that it’s not a fad diet. There’s no calorie counting but suggestions on eating better with the focus on losing weight. It may or may not work for everyone but the information is still good.

Simple Asian Meals by Nina Simonds

One cannot truly understand the wonder that is Asian food until they have had it homemade. There is something about the complexity of flavors and smells that is lost in most dining experiences. Nina Simonds offers simple and yet delicious alternatives to eating out. Her meals are easy enough for the least experienced cook. The book is filled with flavors that inspire a handful of recipes.
I like that she doesn’t offer tons of recipes but instead offers ways to alter the recipes she has listed. Cooking becomes comfortable when we are invited to experiment. I loved that she encouraged spices and that most of her flavors are easily attainable for those in the United States.
She finishes the book with Asian inspired desserts that complete the simple design. They are not overly sweet and most require little time to make them (she offers a recipe to make your own ice cream bon bons – I know what I am making this summer).
The last thing she did that I liked was dot the book with little trivia about the nutrition of the foods and Chinese medicine. It completed the whole picture of what the dish would be like for me. My ARC was in black and white which made me a little sad because the book is filled with beautiful pictures that could only get better in color.

The Food52 Cookbook by Amanda Hesser

Little did I know when I picked this book up that I was going to be completely swept away. First Food52 is a website created by the authors to support home cooking. I could spend a day there just looking over their dinner and a movie section.
The cookbook represents a year's worth of recipes that the authors gathered from their website. These are not just any recipes but the winners of a variety of contests they hold.
The recipes are real world recipes - sophisticated and yet homey. I can imagine my family eating these foods at the dinner table. I pictured my son enjoying buttery cookies and exotic soups and loving them.
I can't even begin to pick out a favorite and I'm sure my days will be consumed with fitting these recipes into our menus.
I liked that the recipes stretched beyond my comfort level but not so much that I was intimidated. The cookbook its self is open and honest like sitting down with friends to talk food.
The recipes are adult but can easily be served to children (minus the numerous inventive cocktails). I like that there are whole foods in these recipes and they are not too complicated. This is definetely one that is going on my shelf at home.

The 25 Greatest Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur

I remember my first Top Secret Recipes experience. A friend had loaned me her copy of this cookbook which had a recipe for something we had been talking about (I believe it was a candy). I can't remember what the recipe was because a few pages in and I was in love. Todd Wilbur has become famous for breaking down popular processed foods so that the average cook can make them in their kitchen. After many books, Todd is coming out with a greatest hits (a first in cookbook history).
This book is only available in e-book and is designed to help smooth the way for those who love e-books. This is the first Top Secret Recipes book to go digital.
If you are not familiar with Top Secret Recipes, recommend this book as a great introduction. If you are already a fan, this is a condensed version with his most popular recipes.
The recipes range from popular sweets like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Oreos to restaurant standards like McDonald's Big Mac and Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin' Onion. Each recipe comes with a short introduction to the company and the dish.

Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson

Goldy is back and up to her usual mischief. Her new assistant and old friend, Yolanda, has left an abusive relationship and moved in with a friend, Ernest. When Ernest is found murdered, Goldy has to clear her friend's name. Filled with twists and turns and mistrust this story is sure a mix of humor and mystery with a lot of cooking.
The plot of this particular Goldy Shultz Mystery was not bad - it was suspenseful and interesting. There was a lot more mystery in this story than previous ones. There were things I didn't like -
Goldy took way too many showers. The plot covers less than a week and I swear she took ten showers. It got to be distracting. If it had been intentional then some comment should have been made about her showering all the time (she showered 3 times in one day). If it wasn't then someone should have caught it.
The other thing I didn't like was Goldy's relationship with Yolanda. Yolanda was a very closed person and in the beginning Goldy believed her. Then little things came out and it didn't take long for Goldy to doubt her friend. As I said the book only covered a few days so there should have been more to Goldy's suspicions. It just didn't feel right to me.
Maybe I'm confusing this series with others since this one has become so slow over the years but I really couldn't connect to Goldy like I wanted to. The story felt a little rushed and it was so long. I felt like it would never end - it was interesting but endless.
All in all, I like these books so I liked this one but had this been the first one I picked up - I probably wouldn't read another.
On an aside - I was disappointed with the recipes. There was some great cooking in the book and the recipes just didn't seem to work for me. Maybe it was because they are at the end of the book instead of at the end of the chapter so I am still craving that particular dish.