The Ranch Table by Elizabeth Poett
I have watched Elizabeth Poett's cooking show on TV before and enjoyed it so when I saw this cookbook I definitely wanted to check it out. Poett is a seventh-generation farmer on her family's 14,000 acre ranch. In addition to living and working on the ranch, Poett started The Ranch Table - a business that hosted classes, dinners, and events on their ranch. Now she also has the TV show Ranch to Table on the Magnolia network. All of the recipes are organized by season and each chapter in a section gives a highlight of ranch activity then some recipes related to that event or season. There were several recipes I wanted to try. There were also lots of beautiful photographs of both the food and the ranch. If you're looking for a great seasonal cookbook check this one out.
Piecemeal by Kathryn Pauline
The premise of Piecemeal is that "instead of cooking a giant meal and reheating throughout the week, do a little work ahead of time, and then assemble or finish cooking 'a la minute' for fresher meals that reflect, on a daily basis, what you feel like eating." (p. 16) While that is definitely one way of meal prepping, that is not personally how I like to cook. I meal prep so that I DON'T have to cook every day after work. But, just because I don't like the meal prep philosophy doesn't mean this cookbook doesn't have anything to offer. There are 30 ingredients with 120 recipes with various ways to use those ingredients for quick meals. Each recipe is noted whether it takes 5, 15, or 30 minutes to make and also gives tips on how to make ahead, other components to switch out, how best to store, and ways to use that recipe or component. Overall, I liked the recipes and there were several I wanted to try. I can definitely see the benefits of this type of meal prepping but for now that just isn't what works for my life.
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