November 2015 Cookbooks

Little House Living by Merissa Alink

This was less cookbook and more how to make homemade house/body products. Based on the cover you would think it was more food and cooking and even that is more creating "mixes" that can then be used to make staples. While in theory I like the idea of homemade detergent and body lotion, I just don't have time for that. Most of that kind of stuff I can save money on with coupons and sales, so that more of my budget can go to quality food. Overall, I wasn't really impressed with this one mainly because food was only about 1/3 of the book.

Fast Food, Good Food by Andrew Weil

Many people think to eat well you have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but in this cookbook Andrew Weil shows that you can make good food fast. The cookbook is divided into the "normal" segments - starters, soup, main dishes, sides, desserts, etc. While a lot of the recipes looked good, there were only a few I wanted to try myself. Overall, a middle-of-the-road kind of cookbook - good but not amazing or ground-breaking.

New Southern Table by Whitney Miller

I love Southern cookbooks and this one definitely has some recipes I'd like to try. I also really liked the family photos that Miller has throughout the book to show where her love of food and cooking comes from. The only reason I didn't rate it higher was that there were only a few recipes I want to try. Overall, a good Southern cookbook.

Kombucha Revolution by Stephen Lee and Ken Koopman

Kombucha is one of my food goals. I don't like a lot of fermented and/or pickled foods, so when I tried a friend's homemade kombucha and liked it I really wanted to try to make it at home since fermented foods are so good for you. This book really walks you through the process and gives tons of recipe variations. He also includes ways to use kombucha outside of just drinking it in other recipes. This might be one I end up buying once I get started on my own komucha making at home.

The Southerner's Cookbook by Garden & Gun Magazine

I love Garden & Gun magazine so I was excited to see their cookbook and I was not disappointed! Each section begins with a written introduction and there are so many great sounding recipes. There are tons that I want to try and this might be a cookbook I end up buying. If you are Southern or love Southern food - this is the cookbook for you!

I ended up getting this cookbook as a Christmas gift - yay!

Happy Cooking by Giada De Laurentiis

I love watching Giada's cooking shows on Food Network and whatever she's making looks so good, but usually I'm a little disappointed with her cookbooks. In this one I felt like there were a lot of trendy ingredients which was kind of off putting or in one recipe that looked good you had to special order a specific ingredient which I don't necessarily want to do for one recipe. There were a few recipes I want to try, but overall this is just not my kind of cookbook.

Food Gift Love by Maggie Battista

I was looking forward to this one because I love to give homemade gifts. While there were some new ideas and suggestions for wrapping/presenting gifts, overall it was just OK. There were a lot of "gifts" that were perishable food items that seemed more like something you would bring to share at a party and less like a "gift." The photos in the book are beautiful and it does inspire you to wrap homemade gifts in a prettier way, but I didn't find too many new gift ideas.

The Chef Next Door by Amanda Freitag

I've been watching Amanda Freitag on Chopped and Next Iron Chef competitions for the last few years, so I was excited to check out her new cookbook. I really like the premise of the cookbook too. Instead of dividing it into appetizers, entrees, pasta, etc. She starts with basics, then sauces/marinades/etc. and then organizes the rest of the sections by easiest to harder. I think that is a MUCH better format for the home cook. She also puts together a few sample menus using the recipes in the book at the end. Overall, I liked it especially for a more beginner home cook. There are definitely a few recipes I'd like to try.