Sunday, December 9, 2018

Weekend Book Reviews: Cookbooks

Cooking with Nonna:  The Holiday Cookbook by Rosella Rago and Adriana Trigiani has 150 Italian holiday recipes.  This cookbook has a good mix of recipes divided by holidays.  My favorites from the book were the dessert recipes.  The "bones of the dead" cookies were my favorite by far.  The grandmother or nonna profiles sprinkled throughout were interesting to read.  This would be a nice cookbook for Italian cooking fans. 

Elisabeth Bailey's The Make-Ahead Sauce Solution is an unusual freezer cooking method.  Rather than freezing entire meals or entrees, cooks can freeze sauces.  The sauces can then be used in a variety of ways:  over pasta, potatoes, meats, etc.  I think this is a good option for someone with more limited freezer space or for those who do not want 20 servings of the exact same thing.  The sauces are divided by type ranging from Americas, Asian, cheese/wine, Mediterranean, and pesto/salsa.  You are sure to find many sauces to fit your family's tastes. 

Dry by Clare Liardet is full of flavorful but non-alcoholic drinks.  When I first started reading through the cookbook, I found myself marking recipe after recipe to try.  The recipes serve from one to four.  They are perfect when you want a special drink for yourself.  They could easily be multiplied for a larger group.  A few of my favorites are the tropical morning smoothie, blueberry julep, roasted peach lemonade, and espresso mint martini.  This is one cookbook that I will definitely be adding to my bookshelf! 

Cooking with Scraps by Lindsay-Jean Hard teaches cooks to take the normally discarded parts of foods and turn them into delicious meals.  Many of the items will be familiar to extra thrifty cooks.  I commonly use my homemade bread ends or bread that did not turn out just right to make bread crumbs or croutons.  Apple peel/core jelly is a favorite at my house, and no good southerner would consider turnip greens to be scraps.  Even I learned some new things.  I never would have imagined making a cake with banana peels.  It is an interesting cookbook for those wishing to make the most of what they have.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

1 comment:

terricheney said...

The 'Scraps' cookbook reviewed here sounds like one I'd enjoy reading through. I noted on Pinterest? YouTube? earlier this week a recipe that called for banana peels. I never knew you could eat them!