Cooking Books

I love that this cookbook comes in a three-ringed binder and has a picture for every recipe.

I am the queen of counting calories and this book is #1! I have tried several of the recipes (including desserts) and it is phenomenal how good the food tastes. Even when I reach my goal weight, I'll keep making most of the recipes I've tried so far because they are that good! I highly recommend the Sweet Onion Burgers (I use turkey), Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce, Tilapia with Chili Cream Sauce, and the Mocha Cake! Delicious!

I am very happy with this cookbook. The recipes are modern and the book's layout is fantastic! My family loves the new twists on old favorites.

The book is spiral bound, and while it allows the book to lie flat on a countertop, the pages don't turn easily. I think the problem is that the spiral binder is too small for the book. The pages don't have much "breathing room" as you turn them so it makes browsing the book difficult. The binding isn't an issue if you will find the recipe you're looking for and turn to that page. Aside from the binding issue, the production is top quality. The entire book is color on glossy paper, and you'll find alluring photos of every recipe.

I have read dieter cookbooks that seem to be regular cookbooks with traditional recipes that have been modified. I wouldn't put this one into that category. It's organized just like a cookbook, as the chapters are based on the type of food used in the recipes. However, I would classify the recipes as new and innovative ideas. While there are some basic, traditional recipes, it's more common that you'll find new recipes that you've never seen before which pair healthy foods, for example, Cranberry Grilled Chicken, Veal with Orange Sauce, Pineapple Pork Roast, Gazpacho Sandwiches, Blood Orange Sherbet, Green Tea and Tangerine Sorbet, Peach-Coconut Mousse, and Orange-Blueberry Angel Food Cake.

One of the best parts of the book is its introduction, which tells you how to calculate your calorie needs, provides a sample menu plan with variations for different calorie amounts, reviews the components of a healthy diet, and emphasizes the importance of exercise.

In my collection of cookbooks, it won't be my go-to book. But when I am looking for new ideas, it will provide me with tons of them to help me add flair to the foods I prepare most often.

First of all, I love this cookbook!! I own more than 10 diet/light/low-carb cookbooks, and this is the only one that all the recipes I've tried from haven't let me down. I love the layout as well; every recipe has a picture making it easy to choose a dish I'd like to try that day.

That being said, I regret that I bought a spiral-bound edition. I chose this one, because it was cheaper. And of course, it turned out that there's a reason for that; The book is quite thick while spirals are very tight, making it very hard to turn pages completely. So, some pages were torn off the comb as I flip though the pages very often to choose a recipe of a day.

This is a great cookbook. If I were you, I'd pay a few bucks more now and get a better quality version that would last longer. (like a ring bound or a paperback version? I don't know which one would be better since I haven't tried other editions. But at least I can tell you that spiral-bound is not very sturdy.)

Happy cooking! =)

With several shelves full of cookbooks to choose from, this is the one that I pull down when I need some inspiration for good, hearty, tasty, basic foods that are easy to prepare. This is my most used cookbook, and everything I've made from it has turned out well. Pop culture cookbooks come and go but this classic stands the test of time. Highly recommended.

This is my favorite go-to cookbook for a weekend meal when I am not craving any particular cuisine and just want to try something new. The chatter is lively, and the recipes fun to cook, both reducing well and expanding to suit a bigger crowd. While the dishes do not reflect a "pure" ethnic sensibility, the blending of flavors and seasonings lead to delicious results sometimes even exciting. I return to many of these recipes again and again. My (spoiled) husband who sometimes doesn't know what he is eating but certainly knows if he likes it, is a big fan of this cookbook.

I love cookbooks and this is one of the best I have ever read or used. It is both a good cookbook and a good read, and most recipes are ones you will use. I am so impressed that I am giving it to several good cooks as a Christmas present.

This is the cookbook I have been waiting for for many years. It is supberb, down to earth cooking and it is so well set out that even an occasional cook can follow it and get wonderful results. I would recommend this to any one who likes excellent eating. Every time I look at it I want to go back to Chantarelle for another great eating experience

When we moved last year, it was one of 5 cookbooks I packed in my suitcase to use in our temporary apartment. It's chock full of great recipes for American classics, but done in a way that appeals to people who've gone beyond Campbell's soup casseroles. A number of easy ethnic recipes rounds out the mix.

I have been so busy reading. Sorry I didn't rate sooner.

I was diagnosed with diabetes about 2 years ago. I have read a number of books on the subject. What I like about this book is that it talks about real food. The dessert recipes are made with real sugar. They are low sugar of course, but a number of the recipes can be fed to company. The book also confirmed something I had recently noticed. If I eat less fat, I can eat more carbohydrates with less effect on my blood sugar. I believe this book would be a great place to start for the newly diagnosed, but it is also a great review book that includes a lot of the newest ideas and theories. In addition, it has the basic understanding that food is good and good food is even better.

I add my recommendation to the earlier one that you can save yourself lots of time and money by just buying this book. I recommend the hard-back version as your copy will get lots of use around the kitchen.
The explanations of the blood sugar problem and corrective methods are logical, simple and complete. The book is very well written and makes pleasant reading.
With the exception of two or three ingredients which you may have to find in a health food store, all others can be found in any grocery store.
All of the recipes thus far tried are simple and delicious.
The meal plans and recipes work without a pervasive feeling of constant hunger, which can be a problem in many other diabetic meal plans.
Following a diagnosis of pre-diabetic blood sugar level, and fortunately buying this book on a dietician's recommendation, along with half a dozen others which I rarely use, I have lost twenty pounds in the first three weeks of owning and using the book, with more coming off daily, with minimal exercise. Exercise naturally accelerates the weight loss.
A useful supplement is "No-fuss Diabetes Recipes for 1 or 2" by Boucher et al, but "The Other Diabetes" can stand alone.
The well known and documented relationship between obesity and diabetes 2 can be quickly attacked using this book.
One of the delicious breakfast recipes, Peach Almond Smoothie, will banish hunger for at least half a day, and is widely variable by substituting other frozen fruits for the peaches.
The recipes present lots of variety to accomodate different tastes.

This is one of the most practical and informative books I've found. It is easy to understand and has useful menus and recipes for the busy life of most people with diabetes or pre diabetes. I do not believe you will be disappointed with this book. Give it a read, you'll be glad you did.

My father has type II diabetes. I bought this book for him, but ended up reading it myself. I am not diabetic, but am at risk of developing it. This book is an interesting read, and has a wondeful meal plan and recipes. I have decided to start eating the way she describes, The Mediterranean way, just because it's a healthy way to live. It's just a bonus for me that it also helps prevent and control "the other diabetes". Get this book....it's fantastic!

This book is not for someone who's never brewed but if you've done it a few times, this book will get you hooked. The methods, ingredients, and everything else about this makes you want to try brewing in ways you probably wouldn't imagine otherwise.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a little adventure in their brewing.

I just started home brewing, and I want more--Randy Mosher's book gives me that. This book gives a full spectrum on brewing, from the history to the chemistry to tons of recipes for creating many different types of beer. This guy has a great sense of humor, and the book is also very visually engaging. This book answered many of my questions about how beer brewing works and what to do and what not to do. Most of the recipes he gives have instructions for beginners and advanced brewers, so this book can definitely "grow" with you. I would suggest brewing a few batches first, before trying the more advanced techniques, and/or purchasing the other books described in these reviews as companions. I was really happy to see that there are so many possibilities for home brew, and the author's enthusiasm motivates me to try them. A great book!

This as my first brewing book and still my favorite. If you get one brewing book, this is the one. While not encyclopedic in brewing details, it shines in inspirational historical insight into what beer IS.
A joy to behold, you will not be disappointed!

This book is fantastic. It has more recipes for extract brewers and all grain brewers alike than you can poke a stick at and each cattegory of ingredient imaginable is placed into a table so you can compare and find out more about what interests you. I found the detailed chapter on hops to be most beneficial to me. There is a chart with all known hop types and how they may be used and what substitutes could be used instead. Well worth having this as a great reference.

I'm enjoying this book immensely. This is my second home brewing book (Papazian was the first, about 15 years ago). Like Papazian, "Radical Brewing" includes plenty of lore in addition to hard core brewing info. And like Papazian this book has lots of humor in it. But Mosher's book is much more current, in terms of both information and viewpoint. And the humor is sardonic where Papazian's humor tends to be more goofy and quaint.
If anything "Radical Brewing" is slightly less practical than "The Joy of Homebrewing." It seems like Mosher focuses on giving the reader inspiration rather than step-by-step instructions, which is very wise considering how individualized each batch of homebrew is. Papazian has a certain recipe mentality, where Mosher is instead setting forth ideas and techniques. Good stuff, particularly for the intermediate or advanced brewer. Highly recommended.

This book is great to have in your collection if you are trying to learn to cook authentic Jamaican food. I am so glad I bought this book.

This is a superb book. Many recipes that I remember from my childhood. I've made a few already and they've all turned out really well.

I use it for everyhting when I can. Its a little hard getting the correct measurments. I love it and should be a a staple in every jamaican household.

I am Jamaican and know how to make some Jamaican dishes, but wanted to learn new recipes. I found this book to be very user friendly with recipes that are well known, as well as some lesser known ones. For the reviewer who said there isn't a recipe for oxtail, may I point you to page 101, right next to the one for curried goat.

Totally what I expect in a cook book from start to finish. It was very user friendly with the vocabulary, history and step by step instructions from the market to the pot. In the end ...authentic Jamaican cuisine. Anyone can use this cook book and enjoy the flavors of Jamaica. This was a hit for me!

Great book for the at home chefs. Cooking is something my husband and I love to do, so to find something clear and easy to ready was a must.

Received the book quickly from the seller in described condition.

This is an excellent cookbook, containing all the necessary information for preparing the recipes easily. Some of the risotto recipes are unusual, and all are delicious. Surprisingly, none have been difficult to prepare (although I hate to admit this!). "Risotto" is a wonderful introduction to Italian cooking, something unique and delicious to dazzle your family and friends with.

I bought and heavily (!!! see below) used this cookbook soon after it first came out in the late 1980s. It was a breakthrough cookbook for its time, and hugely popular, and is still a wonderful resource that I can recommend today almost without hesitation.

In the late 1980s, I first started seeing risotto offered frequently in Mediterranean or even New American yuppie restaurants in the SF Bay Area when I visited on business--but not yet readily in fine restaurants in Seattle, for instance. Risotto was a clear trend for foodies, but hadn't yet hit mainstream nationally. So it was with impeccable timing that Barrett and Wasserman released "Risotto" in 1987.

I caught the bug early and hard. After I got this cookbok--in one my inspired food specialty frenzies--I wanted to make everything risotto. It was the perfect, versatile one-bowl (though usually 2-3 pots) meal that could fit any flavor or fancy, a base for any vegetables, seafood, meat, fruit, or herbs you wanted to cook with that day. I literally cooked risotto two or three times a week for 8 months, from fall harvest through a Seattle winter and into springtime baby vegetables. And I used this cookbook for all of it.

This cookbook "Risotto" had many virtures. First, it is an exceptionally clear introduction to risotto: its history, varieties of rice, geography, how it is cooked and used, etc. Second, as other reviews state (and you can see in the Search-Inside-The-Book table of contents), it covers many kinds of risotto and has plenty of recipes: cheese, vegetable, meat, fish, fruit, liqueur, leftover.

But the strongest (and non-obvious) feature of this cookbook is how it makes use of its Basic Recipe. Up front, with tips and tools and techniques, it describes a canonical recipe for making risotto: the broth, the oil/butter and minced onion and rice, the first stir of liquid, the stirring and adding broth, the sauteed "soffrito" ingredients, and the final additions of cheese, broth, and sometimes cream to stir in. The cookbook gives ingredient amounts for cooking the basic recipe for different size dinners, with a few additional tips for making more or less than the canonical (serves 4) recipe.

In the rest of the book, recipes all can then say, for instance: Start with the basic recipe, but this time we're going to add the chopped spinach after 10 minutes of stirring in step 3; or Once the rice is coated in the oil, stir in 1/2 cup of white wine (instead of broth); or In the last step, omit the cheese and broth and use 1/2 cup of cream. And of course the soffrito, the usually-sauteed ingredients mixed in, were different for every one.

I usually resist a standardized recipe, feeling like a straitjacket. But this had the opposite effect. Having a single Basic Recipe was a great way to build confidence and proficiency with a new way of cooking. And building 100 recipes off of it--including restrained, classic Italian risottos, together with more creative or adventurous combinations--made it clear how once you'd mastered the Basic Recipe and how to apply it, you could do anything with risotto! And even though I may have made the cookbook sound mechanistic by focusing on the Basic Recipe, it really is one of those cookbooks where all the recipes are a joy to read, with notes about the history of the recipe or about the ingredients, etc.

Now, nearly 20 years later, this cookbook easily stands the test of time. The techniques are clear, straightforward, complete. All of the best-known, classic Italian risottos are present. And there are dozens of variations that are great on their own, and as a guide to what you can create beyond them.

The only small hesitation that I have today with this cookbook is a consequence of its strength. The Basic Recipe is a good learning tool, and is the way that a generation of American home chefs have now been introduced to cooking risotto. But there are actually variations in how risotto is made--what fats to use, how much broth to add and how to stir, using alternative tools like pressure cookers, etc. Once you're an over-the-top risotto fiend like I became, you'll want to explore those as well. Fortunately, one of the co-authors of Risotto (Barrett) went on to publish a follow-on risotto cookbook that is just as delightful--and goes all out with different ways of cooking risotto and more novel and creative recipes. See "Risotto Risotti" at [...]

Oh, so what was my favorite single risotto of the dozens I made from this book? A simple one, actually. An asparagus risotto made with early-spring skinny shoots. It was the most completely-green risotto I've made, and was brimming, overflowing with that aromatic "grassy" flavor of the best asparagus--the closest I've come to ethereal grazing in a bowl.

We love the book and have used it for years. Besides having excellent recipes, the book often serves as a springboard for our own creativity and we have made some riffs on the recipes that we like a lot.

One caveat: I don't know if it's the book, our rice source, our cooking pot, or us, but we invariably find that we need up to a cup more broth than specified, and that it takes us 10-20 more minutes than the recipes suggest (and we like our risotto al dente, so it's not like we're cooking it to mush). Just an FYI; it certainly hasn't kept us from using the book.

There are just two of us, so we always have leftovers, but the suggestions for using them are excellent. In fact, we sometimes make risotto just so we can make the risotto "fritters" the next day.

I've owned this book for almost ten years. While I use other risotto recipes for inspiration, I use the proportions and instructions in this book exclusively.
While some recipes aren't the greatest, my opinion probably reflects my personal preferences, not the authors' abilities. And, some recipies (like the one for shrimp, truffle oil, and squash) are worth the price of the entire book! (That recipe, I might add, has caused several friends to go out a purchase a copy for themselves.)
Overall an excellent, much-used addition to my cookbook collection.

Great recipes for soups, easy to make, with lovely photos of finished product.

One of my favorite cookbooks. I recommend it.

This is the 5th copy of this book we've bought. We give them as gifts to our busy friends who appreciate good food but don't have much time to cook a delicous, nutritious dinner every night. We especially love the blended soups that use chicken stock. Once blended they taste like a cream based soup without the fat and calories. When we give these as gifts we usually give a good immersion blender along with the book. We have found an immersion blender works so much easier than pouring the blended soups into a blender (less messy too). Our favorites: Potato Leek (blended) and Comfort Chicken Soup (with rice and spinach -- a balanced meal). I especially like the fact that the recipes are so easy to make that my husband loves to fix dinner. We have used the recipes in this cookbook at least once a week since we bought it 5 years ago. It's the best.

this book has a lot of useful information that helps in our fight for good health, fast, easy cooking and time saving. I have used some of the recipes and find them quite satisfactory.

Even though I almost never cook, the soups in this book are *so* simple and *so* tasty that I use it regularly. The format of the book is wonderful and the recipes extremely easy to understand and follow. Oh, and did I mention that they are delicious?! Do yourself a favor and make double quantities and freeze what you can't use right away. That way you can have tasty soup at hand through the winter.

I have already tried a few of the soups in this book, and they are delicious. Easy to make -- even a beginner can master these! A wonderful purchase for a cold winter day.

Here's another book that I purchased because I loved the cover art. (I wish we had a poster with that illustration on it!) There is something very cheerful about the smiling Sun and a ring of happy animals celebrating it. This is a beautiful, "feel good" book inside and out, in both text and illustration, in message. I was surprised to discover that the back cover had a recipe for Sun Bread, which I am tempted to try--even with my limited cooking abilities! LOL I thought the recipe note was brilliant and ever so funny: "This bread, alas, won't make you fly. But it is heavenly--light and high!" Could happiness be as simple as a warm loaf of good bread? :D

I like the book's message on how one really should take responsibility for one's own happiness as the little baker does in this tale. This book is worth sharing and reading aloud.

I have become a huge fan of Elisa Kleven's work, and I recommend this book as a remedy for rain and / or wintry days, for family time, and for in-school story time. Another great story is "The Lion and the Little Red Bird."

This is just a charming book. the art is amazing, there is so much to see, so much to discover on each page. And the recipe on the back makes a WONDERFUL loaf of bread (or circle of bread really! LOL)

This is another book we origanlly borrowed from the library and HAD TO HAVE for our private collection!!
Elisa Kleven is wonderful!!

i got this book from our library for my 3 yr old daughter who absolutely loves to mix flour water salt yeast and sugar for her "bread". She loves the illustrations as there are always little things to find within the pages; but not so many things that the story becomes cluttered....just nicely detailed. She also loves the story; it has a good feeling about it and leaves her feeling happy when we are done reading it. the recipe on the back cover for sun bread is a great way for child/parent/teacher, etc... to make; just to round out the lesson being taught. Excellent book and a must for your child's library and/or classroom library.

This is absolutely the best piece of children's writing I've ever read. The rhyme and meter are strong and playful. Kleven teases us with internal rhymes and alliterations. My three year old and I read this all the time.

The basic story line is that, on a cloudy day, a canine baker whips up a magic sun bread recipe that brings out the sun and everyone's joy. The book does to the reader what the bread did to the characters.

My three-year-old daughter and I made the recipe on the back cover, and I have to say it's a disappointment: dry and heavy. I'd halve the butter and maybe beat the egg whites for a lighter texture, but the idea is still great. The mold for the bread is cool too, and it looks happy in the oven.

A definite must-read-to-your-kids.

I have just discovered this timing book. Amazing! I never knew how simple cooking could be to get the perfect result. Thank you for helping to make me the chef I've always wanted to be. Everything I needed to know was answered. YEA!

This is the best. I always know what I want something to taste like but never how long to cook it without a regular recipe (which is a pain and never quite what I want). It is indispensable for family cooking (plain chicken) etc.

This book is great! It shows you how to cook products in every different method.

I LOVE this book. I am a trained chef and cooking instructor and constantly was having friends and family asking questions like "how long do I cook this? do I marinate it first?what if I want to grill it?" This straight forward format lets you experiment with your own flavors without worrying about time or technique. I have given about 12 copies of this book away and am close to needing a new one for myself. We all benefit from the years Mr. Piccolo spent researching this book. A perfect gift for a young person going out on their own.

If you have a collection of family recipes or old cookbooks that tell you to "roast a haunch of venison in the usual way" before proceeding with the delicious sauce, this is the book that will actually tell you how long and how hot to cook the meat (or fish, or vegetables). It's reliable and reassuring: I've been much more willing to adapt recipes to different cuts of meat or try new cuts because I know I can refer to this book to get the cooking times right.

A very useful book for the home gardener. A quick guide for growing, harvesting and using herbs.

I adore this book! Wow! It has all the things I wanted!
- it's organic
- it very thorougly covers many herbs in different formats, so you know everything from what bugs they attract or repel, how tall they grow, and what zone they can be grown in
- common uses for them: I discovered many herbs I thought were inedible plants that are indeed herbs
- easy to use tables

I wasn't too hip on all the cosmetic and craft uses - I'd rather eat them, but they're short and may come in handy. I know the rest of the book sure will!

This is a great book for a beginning herb gardener. The first half of the book is a general overview of gardening techniques, designs, and uses for herbs. The second half gives specific information on growing and using many herbs. This has been extraordinarily helpful to me as background and reference for me.

However, it is pretty basic and only covers the most commonly used herbs, so I'm not sure that advanced herb gardeners would get much out of this.

Great resource book. Covers all of the basics in clear, simple instructions.

This is a relatively small book at about 150 pages, but it manages to pack in a lot of information very concisely. It's beautifully illustrated with color photographs and drawings.

The first 2/3 of the book includes general herb gardening background and use of herbs tips: how to choose plants, pick the location, general design principles, planting instructions (including some nice tips on extending the growing season), propagation, harvesting, drying, pests and diseases, etc.

It also includes suggestions for common culinary uses, such as salads, herbal vinegars, flavored oils, teas, jellies, honeys, and breads. These are not an extensive set of recipes, but more like master recipes with some suggestions for how you can mix them up with variations.

The book also includes suggestions and recipes for health and beauty products (again, not an extensive collection). This section includes potpourri, sachets, bouquets, dried arrangements and insect repellents.

The last 1/3 of the book has individual pages on about 50 different herbs. These individual pages tell you a description, how to grow, harvesting instructions, suggested uses, tips, cultivars, and also includes a quick key on the level of care required (using a 4 glove rating system), if it attracts beneficial insects, whether or not it is ornamental, whether or not it can be grown in a container, how much yield you can expect to get and how easy it is to grow.

The back of the book contains a few pages of resources for laboratories, vendors, herb associations and other books or literary resources.

There are lots of charts and sidebars and overall I found this book to be very useful and easy to access. It doesn't have the level of information needed to make this anything other than a quick reference book though.