book review : breakfast for dinner

Full disclosure, I received a free copy of Lindsay Landis and Taylor Hackbarth's new book pushlished by Quirk Books, "Breakfast for Dinner" in order to do this review. You can purchase it here. Many, many thanks once again to Eric at Quirk Books for graciously sending me a copy. 

Lindsay Landis' name might sound familiar because last year I reviewed her other book, "The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook," here and here. Or you might know Lindsay from her wonderful website, Love & Olive Oil. This time Lindsay is co-author with her husband to bring us the wonderful world of breakfast for dinner. Personally, I love breakfast so this was right up my alley. Once again, the cookbook is filled with beautifully photographed and designed recipes that are sure to tempt your taste buds. Unfortunately, as I posted yesterday I am doing the Dukan Diet so I was pretty limited in terms of what recipes I could test for this review. However, I did find one that could easily be made Dukan-friendly (I'm in the Cruse Phase and today is my lean protein + veggie day).

I made Shakshuka, a Middle Eastern breakfast of poached eggs (my fav!) in tomato sauce (I never met a tomato sauce I didn't like). In order to make it Dukan-friendly I had to omit the feta and pita (noooooo!). To be honest, I also omitted the parsley but because I forgot to get it at the market.  :/ The recipe calls for mild peppers and suggests Anaheim but I couldn't find any so I used Poblano peppers which were still delicious. If you're never cooked with peppers before, fear not. The mild peppers truly are mild and even the Jalapeño that the recipe calls for will mellow out as it is cooked. The recipe was easy to follow and turned out wonderfully. I love a runny egg! Today, I made breakfast for lunch and it just goes to show that breakfast is truly a meal to be enjoyed any time of the day.

book review : the cookie dough lover's cookbook, part 2

So after a successful eggless cookie dough recipe I thought I'd try my hand at one of the other recipes. I wanted to try something with minimal baking (it's been SO hot here in IL lately) and with ingredients that I already had on hand. Soft Sugar Cookies with Cookie Dough Frosting seemed like the right choice. I am not a huge sweets person however I have a soft spot for those soft sugar cookies with the bright frosting with sprinkles at the market. I don't know what it is! The recipe was easy to make and easy to follow, which is always a plus. And the finished product tasted just like the store-bought version except with the cookie dough twist. 

A detail that I really like about Landis' cookie dough recipes is that she uses miniature chocolate chips. They can be found next to the normal sized chocolate chips but they are SO much cuter and I will say MUCH easier to stir into the dough. They also give a better dough : chocolate ratio, in my opinion. They're so cute ...  but I digress ...

One thing I will say about this recipe is that it makes A LOT of frosting. But this is coming from a pretty non-sweets person who usually scrapes off the frosting from cakes. If you are also such a person I would suggest cutting the frosting recipe in half because I have a container full for leftover frosting in my fridge. :/  I am going to sneak in a container full of them to share with friends as we watch Marvel's The Avengers tonight for the second time, what a great movie!!!  LOVE Joss Whedon!

book review : the cookie dough lover's cookbook, part 1

Full disclosure, I received a free copy for Lindsay Landis' new book published by Quirk Books, "The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook" in order to do this review. You can purchase it here.

Man, it's hard to believe but this is my sixth book review for Quirk Books. Thank you, Eric at Quirk Books for letting do yet another fun review!

So the author of this book, Lindsay Landis, is the person behind Love & Olive Oil which is also a fabulous website to frequent. Landis is not only a food blogger but also a graphic designer so with that being said can I just say how much I appreciate the information organization of this book and the beautiful photography that Landis also did. Also being a graphic designer I can tell you that the simplicity of how all the text in the book is laid out does not mean that it was easy to do so. Simple ≠ Easy, let me tell you Mr. Man. 

The inspiration for the cookbook was a Cookie Dough Truffle recipe that has been and continues to be the most popular post on her food blog. And so, the foundation of the cookbook is an eggless raw cookie dough recipe that is safe to eat as-is without the fear of salmonella poisoning. Seeing how my sweet hubby is a HUGE fan of cookie dough I decided that the first thing I'd want to make was the basic Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough recipe. Because c'mon, if the cookie dough recipe is no good then what's the point of making the other stuff, right? 

The cookie dough was very easy to make and I appreciated the different versions that Landis suggests as well.  Such as a Vegan/Dairy-Free version, Gingerbread version, or Gluten-Free version. I used a 1 oz. ice-cream scoop to help me portion out the cookie dough balls.  I decided to roll some of them in my hand to to leave others looking like tiny scoops of ice-cream with the rough edges. I thought the eggless cookie dough was pretty dang good. It was a tiny bit different from the real-deal but not enough for it to really matter.  And the real cookie dough fan in the house thought it was very good too! If you're a fan of cookie dough, I'd definitely suggest you check out this book!

book review : little old lady recipes

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Meg Favreau's new book published by Quirk Books, "Little Old Lady Recipes" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

Once again, thanks to Eric at Quirk Books for letting me review so many awesome books.  

I really wanted to review this book because in my experience the best tasting dishes have been made by people who are "little old ladies" and I always find myself asking them for their recipes.  This pocket-sized book is packed with everything from everyday recipes (like pancakes) to dishes you'll want to take to your next potluck (like tuna surprise casserole).  You won't find the latest and greatest in gourmet food here but you'll find the oldies but goodies that you'd find from your grandma's kitchen.  Well...not MY grandma since she's a 1st generation Korean woman but you know what I mean. 

The recipe I decided to tackle was the one for frosted cinnamon rolls.  I've never made cinnamon buns before and to be honest I was a little nervous about making it.  Any time I work with yeast I feel a little nervous.  I always feel like I'm going to 'hurt' them or kill them somehow and nothing will rise.

So the way the recipes are written are very much in the voice of a little old lady.  As in, there are specific measurements but there are also generalities written in to the recipe.  For example, the recipe calls for the first resting period of the dough to last "until doubled."  So basically what I did was what an episode of Castle on On Demand and guess when it looked like it had doubled.  I kind of wished it had given me some kind of timeline like an hour or whatever but in the end the buns came out fine and it wasn't a big deal.

So the cinnamon buns came together pretty easily and I have to say that they weren't the loveliest of all cinnamon buns that I have seen but they were yummy just the same.  Mark had one after work and he said they were "delicious" so I guess my first time with these babies went a-okay.  One bonus of making these is that they made the apartment smell divine.  :P

book review: the cookiepedia

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Stacy Adimando's new book published by Quirk Books, "The Cookiepedia" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

First of all, how cool is Eric at Quirk Books for letting me review so many awesome books.  Thanks, Eric!

Ok, on with the review.  First impression:  I love the cover.  I'm a huge fan of kraft paper so whenever it gets applied in an unexpected way (like the cover of a cookbook) I love it!

"The Cookiepedia" contains what the author considers the top 50 classic cookie recipes.  The interior of the book is wire-bound and the cookie contents are divided by genre of cookie: Buttery, Chocolaty, Fancy, Fruity, Spicy, and finally Nutty and Seedy cookies.  I thought the interior design of the book was easy to follow, cool-looking with the hand-drawn elements, and I really like a section at the end of each recipe to write personal notes about the recipe.  I usually end up writing on the margins of my cookbooks so this was a nice touch.  One thing that I wasn't too impressed with was the photography.  The beginning of each cookie chapter as a collage of all the different cookies in that section and to me the design solution wasn't very appetizing.  I thought the photographs of each specific recipe was much better but that's just my opinion.  

I tried out Stacy's recipe for Lemon Chewies.  I'd never heard of these cookies before (maybe it's an Asian thing, lol) but from the list of ingredients it looked like a winner and for me I wasn't disappointed.  The cookies were lemony and chewy!  Go figure!  ;P  Now, of course, since I'm a meddlesome little twerp and as my father would say "a very stubborn and will-full person" (we have a normal dysfunctional relationship) I HAD to make my own adjustments to the original recipe.  My additions were made basically in hopes of boosting the lemon flavor.  I added lemon juice in the cookie and glaze and probably tripled the total amount of lemon zest used in the entire recipe.  

Lemon Chewies (adapted from The Cookiepedia), yields about 25 cookies

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp lemon zest

1 egg

1/3 cup honey and lemon juice (fill 1/3 cup half with juice then finish off with honey)

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add lemon zest and mix to incorporate.  

2. In a separate bowl, crack in the egg and stir in honey and lemon juice until fairly well mixed.  Add it to the butter mixture and beat until combined.  Add flour mixture a third at a time and let it mix in fully each time before adding the next third.  Don't forget to scrape the bowl as you go along.  

3. Scoop out a round Tbsp of dough and roll gently into a ball.  Place on a lined cookie sheet or on a Silpat 2 inches apart.  Flatten and shape with your fingers.  Bake for 13-15 min or until the cookies are set and the bottoms are golden brown.  Cool for 5 min before removing from baking sheet.  Cool for 15 min before glazing (should not feel warm at all).

Lemon Glaze

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp lemon juice, add more as needed

1 Tbsp lemon zest

1. Mix the sugar and lemon juice together.  It'll take a while but keep at it.  Add more lemon juice if needed.  You want to get the consistency of shampoo or conditioner.  Once you get to this point mix in the lemon zest.  

2. Place the cooled cookie "face down" in the glaze and roll the "face" in the glace and lift out.  Let the extra glaze run off the cookie back in the glaze bowl.  Scrape any excess with a spoon.  Let the cookie drip off additional excess on a wire rack.  

3. Let the glaze dry until it's set (around an hour or so) and put cookies in an air tight container with parchment paper between each layer of cookie.  

book review: on a stick!

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Matt Armendariz's new book published by Quirk Books, "On A Stick!" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

On A Stick is a collection of recipes of food on a stick (duh) that would be perfect for your next party or just dinner.  Food on a stick or skewer makes eating fun and portable.  Some of the best appetizers and carnival foods are on sticks and in fact some of my favorite foods are on sticks.  I do love me a good corn dog.  The ones at Disneyland are AWESOME but I digress....

This beautifully photographed book is divided up in to two sections: savory and sweet foods on a stick.  Some of the recipes are for old standbys (like the corn dog) but others are unexpected like pizza on a stick or s'mores on a stick.  While some of the recipes are informative a lot of the recipes can be described better as inventive on an old idea.  As in, it's not completely original to have a recipe for frozen bananas covered with chocolate and peanuts (everyone together now: on a stick!) but how about a frozen Elvis banana by adding chopped bacon on the outside too?  Skewered melons isn't a new concept but how about mojito melon skewers?

I'd recommend this book if you love to throw parties and need a little creative nudge for new appetizer ideas.  It would also serve as a good gift for food or food photography enthusiasts as Matt Armendariz is one of the most notable food photographers today.  

book review: the encyclopedia of sandwiches

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Susan Russo's new book published by Quirk Books, "The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

My first impression of the book was, "Ooohhh, coool."  I really like the look and feel of the book.  It's a smallish book but it was really creatively done (the inside covers look like toasted bread!).  The book is not only a cookbook but it also contains a lot of background and history on each type of sandwich. 

I personally LOVE sandwiches and it's one of my favorite foods.  A perfectly made sandwich is a thing of beauty ... perfect proportions of veggies, protein, and carbs; coupled with the perfect type of bread and the right order of ingredients.  Sometimes the most simple things are the hardest to do well.  These great sandwiches will draw you in with the really great photos inside the book.  The wonderful photos inside were taking by Matt Armendariz.  You'll want to keep the book far away from your cooking area because you'll want to keep each picture pristine and beautiful. 

 

Today I decided to try out something quick, easy, and one of my favorite sandwiches: Egg Salad.  You can actually get the recipe off Susan's blog, here.  

Really easy to make and really satisfying on a Saturday afternoon.  This is definitely one of the books I'll be taking with me when I move from CA to IL.

sweet potato fries a la food blogga

Happy Thanksgiving!  For the past three years I've been spending Thanksgiving in Chicago visiting my beau.  This was the first year that we were orphans -  we'd be spending the holiday alone.  We wanted to cook dinner together but one of the hardest things is cooking for two people.  The side dish that I chose to make for us was Parmesan and Herb Sweet Potato Fries from Food Blogga's awesome book, "Recipes Every Man Should Know" published by Quirk Books and which you can buy on Amazon, here for only $9.95!  It's compact size makes it a great stocking stuffer!

Even though the book is designed for men it's definitely for women too.  The recipes are easy to follow and includes a useful introduction of kitchen tools and cooking terms.  Look how easy it was to make the Sweet Potato Fries!

Delicious and so easy to make...thanks Food Blogga for helping make Thanksgiving dinner fun and easy!