I have to tell you, this cookbook is right up my alley. Happy Cooking Make Every Meal Count...Without Stressing Out is full of all the great things I look for when evaluating wether or not a cookbook is worth my money or not: brilliant photographs of the recipes’ end products, LOTS of said photographs, a wide range of recipes and recipes that are vegan or dairy free (or can be altered to accommodate). I’m a huge lover of Italian food, but I appreciate that Giada’s cookbooks are rarely pigeonholed into a specific cuisine. She fuses modern food with traditional, American ingredients with ethnic flavors and  completely elevates normal meals and snacks. 

The categories in Happy Cooking are pretty straight-forward: Breakfast, Snacks & Small Plates, Salads & Seasons, Soups & Stews, Pastas & Risottos, Eating Clean, Weeknight Warriors, Vegetables & Sides, Weekends & Holidays, Treats & Sweets. I feel like each one of these chapters could be a book in and of itself, but Giada does a great job of pulling in what is surely the best for each section. One thing I greatly appreciate about this cookbook is, when applicable, the recipes are visibly denoted as gluten free, vegetarian or vegan. Of course there are plenty of wheat and cheese filled dishes— don’t fret! This is Giada, after all. But it is nice to have options for those of us with dietary restrictions. Additionally, I found the chapter on Eating Clean really fascinating. I’ve never tried a cleansing diet, but this chapter offers up some excellent suggestions on how to incorporate healthier eating into your every day life. 

Sprinkled throughout the cookbook are morsels of valuable information. Pages such as Name Your Shape (p. 122) regarding pasta shapes (and pronunciations, thank you Giada), Benefits of Going Part Time Vegan (p. 127), Party On! (p. 58) tips for hosting a cocktail party and Citrus Primer (p. 268) tips for buying, storing and prepping citrus fruits are great additions to an already enjoyable book. Overall, this is one of the best cookbooks I have seen this year. There are not always step-by-step photographs of each recipe, but every page is full of colorful, delicious, inviting photographs that just seem to shout “Yes, you really can make me! Just try it! I’m delicious!” Giada herself is as cheerful and perky in the pages of this cookbook as she is on the screen of Food Network. We can’t all be friends and neighbors with the world’s prettiest and greatest Italian chef, but maybe cooking from this cookbook is the next best thing. 

Christmas is right around the corner! Happy Cooking would make a great gift for the chef in your life-- or buy it for yourself and have something new to serve at your holiday party this year! You can buy it HERE on Amazon. 

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. 

I

 must admit, I never knew that Jewish bakers were superior to any other type of bakers. Or that there was a difference between Jewish coffee cake and say, Gentile coffee cake. That is, until my mother-in-law made the most delicious Jewish coffee cake for my sister’s bridal shower. What made it different? Why did it taste so dang good? I had to find out more.

Enter this cookbook: The Jewish Baker’s Pastry Secrets. I’d never before heard of George Greenstein but upon reading the cookbook’s introduction, I learned that he was a well-known New York baking legend (James Beard award winner in fact) who had already published one cookbook, Secrets of a Jewish Baker. It was a hit, but there was never a follow-up to it until now. This book is a compilations of recipes and notes that were discovered by Greenstein’s children after he passed away. If you are like me and read cookbooks from introduction to index, you will not want to miss the introduction here. It sets the tone for how lovingly and painstakingly this cookbook and its recipes were carefully curated. Most of the notes are from George Greenstein himself, with little tidbits from his children- memories and such- sprinkled throughout. In that aspect alone, this is one cookbook that will give you warm fuzzies just reading it!

Before the recipes even begin, Greenstein takes a full chapter to discuss the fundamentals of baking— equipment, tools and techniques. Sprinkled throughout this chapter are “Baker’s Secrets” that really are helpful, interesting tidbits of information. He discusses everything you would need to know from oven temperature variations to proper cutting tools, all with an easy prose that proves without prattle this guy knows what he’s talking about. The recipes are both simple and complex. No shortcut is taken to perfection, and many of the danishes and pastries require a significant amount of time if not skill. There were some names of ingredients and pastries that I had to Google to figure out what they were, but all of the directions are very clear. If I had one complaint- and its a big one- it would be that there are no pictures within the book. None whatsoever. The only pictures you get are one the front cover and the back cover of the dust jacket. The sweet buns and delicious looking loaf in those pictures are certainly mouth-watering but I could find no note indicating what each picture is actually of. I like pictures in cookbooks, but I’m not even asking for step by step pictures, ala Pioneer Woman. Just show me what the finished product is supposed to look like so I’ll know if I succeeded at your recipe or went scarily wrong somewhere and should try it again. Maybe that is the indication that this book is not necessarily meant for baking novices (like myself) but for the more seasoned baker with a little (or a lot) more experience under her belt (like my mother-in-law). 

This book is an enjoyable read and presents a friendly baking challenge. It seems to say, "come bake with me and I will show you my ways.” I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking to up their baking game. 

This book was sent to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

I love cookbooks! But I only buy and hold onto cookbooks that I actually use. I have no room for collectors’ items on my bookshelf. So when I sat down to read my newest cookbook, Trisha’s Table, I was almost giddy. I love Trisha Yearwood. I read the cookbook cover to cover in one sitting, and have a few impressions from that first read-through. 

Pros: 

The photographs in this cookbook are beautiful. They are wonderfully styled and evoke the down-home Southern style that Trisha exudes. 

The recipes are thoughtfully explained and most all of the ingredients seem easy enough to find. I also love the stories that accompany her recipes… from friends, from family, Trisha’s Table is truly a scrapbook of her nearest and dearest. 

The cookbook is artfully arranged by the common breakdown of breakfast, snacks/appetizers, soups & salads, beef & pork, chicken turkey & fish, pasta, sides, cakes cupcakes & pies, and cookies brownies bars & more. There is also a wide range of food styles— from Basil Pesto Pizza to Pad Thai, with everything in between. 

One other major highlight from this cookbook is the inclusion of several allergy-friendly recipes. Trisha explains how to make cashew cream that is easily exchanged to make several recipes dairy-free. 

Cons: 

I have only one grievance with Trisha’s Table, and that is, there are not enough pictures to accompany the recipes. A dish only tastes as good as it looks, and there were quite a few recipes that sounded good when reading through them, but there was no picture to put with it. 

So as to whether or not this cookbook will stay on my shelf (and in my kitchen), its a yes. Not having pictures with recipes is a big deal to me (I especially love Pioneer Woman’s picture-filled step-by-step cookbooks) but the big “pro” that saved this one is the inclusion of some dairy-free recipes. I can’t wait to try them! If you love Trisha Yearwood, or are a fan of Southern style comfort food, this is a great cookbook for you!!

Though I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for the purposes of this review, the opinions are my own.