Title: Beer Is Not A Food Group: Motherly Meals on Meager Means
Author: Lori Powell Gordon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Adventure Publications, Inc.
Publisher Order Line: 1-800-678-7006
Pages: 192
ISBN: 1-59193-035-9
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This hilarious cookbook and how-to manual is designed for college students and anyone else out on their own for the first time. It is filled with many practical ideas and recipes which are easy and inexpensive to make. It is also filled with very funny notes to the author’s college attending son and daughter. They start on the cover with, “Hope you really like college, because we made your room into a den. Love Mom and Dad.” Here is a typical note the author places on the “Nick’s Pot Roast” page: “Billy, If you buy your vegetables at the co-op or at a grocery store where they don’t have them all packaged up, you can buy just what you need. If it’s sold by the pound and not by the bunch, you can take just one or two of each. Love, Mom P.S. Here’s the deal, either you come home for the weekend with your laundry or it doesn’t come home at all. Mailing your dirty socks and underwear is unacceptable.”
This book is filled with pithy, practical stuff leavened with wonderful humor. It is easy to do and fun to read. We gave it a hearty five hearts.
Title: I Want My Dinner Now!
Author: Renee Pottle
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Hestia’s Heart Publishing and Design
Pages: 144
ISBN: 0-9760137-1-1
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is a good basic cookbook for people who, like so many of us, live their lives in a rush. The recipes are simple and easy to plan for. The ingredients are relatively cheap and easy to find. The author also focuses on how to best use one’s kitchen appliances, how to plan out weekly menus, and what to stock in the pantry. Her writings are easily understood by both teens and adults—women and men. All beginning cooks should have this on their shelf. We rated it four hearts.
Title: A Taste of Murder
A Second Helping of Murder
Author: Jo Grossman & Robert Weibezahl
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Publisher Website: www.poisonedpenpress.com
Pages: 206/210
ISBN: 1-59058-076-1/1-590058-077-X
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: 1999, October, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Cookbooks with a twist. That’s what Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl have succeeded in producing with A Taste of Murder and A Second Helping of Murder. The cookbooks are compilations of favorite recipes from contemporary mystery writers. Some of the recipes come from the characters themselves; others are the author’s favorites. All of them are written to fit the theme of the books—mystery and murder.
A Taste of Murder includes sections such as: “The Pot Thickens” and “Fowl Play,” with recipes for “Gazpacho to Kill For” and “April Woo’s Crispy Hacked Duck.”
A Second Helping of Murder has sections called, “The Set-Up,” featuring a recipe for Deviled Eggs, in which a crossword puzzled must be solved to figure out the ingredients, and “The Proof is in the Pudding,” with a recipe for “Heavenly Lemon Mystery.”
All of the recipes are easy to follow and most have easily obtained ingredients. Some of the recipes are as quick and easy as making a peanut butter sandwich, while others, such as “Seafood Bledsonia” and “Munch Mancini’s Meatballs,” call for more preparation. A Taste of Murder and A Second Helping of Murder are not only filled with great recipes, they’re fun to read. The only things that could have improved them would have been some taste-tempting photographs. We give them four hearts.
Title: The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark: Recipes for an Expedition
Author: Mary Gunderson
Illustrator: Dennis Dahlin
Publisher and/or Distributor: History Cooks
Publisher Website: www.historycooks.com
Pages: 168
ISBN: 0-9720391-0-4
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Step back in time to one of the most important expeditions in American historyThe Louis and Clark journey to the Pacific. Did you ever wonder what the men and women ate on their long journey. Well, renowned food historian, Mary Gunderson, knows exactly what they ate and how they prepared it. The book is filled with excellent recipes, many of them Native American, arranged in order of the expedition. The recipes are accompanied by historical vignettes, which explain the context of the food dishes. This would be a superb project resource for gifted classes and historical societies. The illustrations are superb and most recipes include an excerpt or two from both Lewis and Clark's journals. This is a totally neat book! We rated it a very high five hearts.
Title: Home Cheese Making
Author: Ricki Carroll
Illustrator: Elayne Sears
Publisher and/or Distributor: Storey Books
Publisher Website: www.storey.com
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1-5801-464-7
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2002
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
4
The joy of reviewing anything published by Storey Books comes from my years of selling the heck out of their titles and knowing how professional their standards are for the books they provide to the homesteading and do-it-yourself markets. Home Cheese Making is no exception. There are recipes for 75 different homemade cheeses; recipes for other dairy products; plus a generous resources section. The illustrations are excellent, the instructions clear, and the troubleshooting suggestions are clear and easy to follow. As usual, the author they selected to write this wonderful book is an expert who knows how to communicate well to rank beginners, as well as to more experienced people. We rated it four hearts.
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Title: Home Sausage Making
Author: Susan Mahnke and Charles G. Reavis
Illustrator: Elayne Sears
Publisher and/or Distributor: Storey Books
Publisher Website: www.storey.com
Pages: 224
ISBN: 1-58017-471-X
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: February 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4
Home Sausage Making is a classic how-to that has been recently updated. Like wine and cheese, sausage lends itself to aficionados and connoisseurs. Sausage comes in so many types and styles that it provides an endless variety of taste experiences. Whether eaten by itself or used as an ingredient in other dishes, sausage commands the respect of our taste-buds. This book offers 185 recipes for making cased and uncased sausages and recipes for using sausages in other dishes. It is well illustrated and its directions are easy to follow. This manual teaches the secrets of making both old-world favorites and more exotic and newer varieties as well. We rated it four hearts.
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Title: The Best of the Best from West Virginia
Edited by: Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley
Illustrator: Tupper England
Publisher and/or Distributor: Quail Ridge Press, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.quailridge.com
Pages: 286
ISBN: 1893062-36-8
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2002
Reader: Patty Hecke
Rating: 3
This cookbook is full of old fashion, easy to understand, down home food that mom used to make recipes. Tucked in along with these tasty temptations are interesting tidbits of information on West Virginia, its heritage, history and tourist attractions. For those "I don't know what to fix for dinner" evenings, this is a must have cookbook. We rated it three Hearts
Title: Food for Tots
Author: Dr. Janice Woolley and Jennifer Pugmire
Illustrator: Marilyn Taggart
Publisher and/or Distributor: Food for Tots Publishing
Publisher Website: email: info@foodfortots.com
Pages: 286
ISBN: 1-890908-01-0
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2001
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating: 5 Hearts
Food for Tots is filled with over a hundred yummy-sounding recipes, as well as directions for making play-dough, glop, bubbles, and other play foods. It is also a nutrition guide/advice book for parents of preschoolers. I wish I'd had it when my kids were little. We rated it five hearts.
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Title: Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids
Author: Amy Houts
Publisher: Snaptail Press
Publisher's Website: www.snaptail.com
Publishing Date: 2001
Reviewer: Judy Schuler, Heartland Reviews
Rating:4
Getting kids involved in meal preparation is a great way to get them to at least try the food that is prepared. In Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids, Amy Houts gives children jobs to do in each recipe. The book contains recipes for each season and holiday of the year beginning with summer garden meals and back to school, and ending with Fourth of July and summer treats. It also includes a section of multicultural recipes.
Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids covers table manners and kitchen safety, as well as complete and easy-to-follow instructions for making nutritious dishes with the help of kids. It is a great resource for mothers of young children. We give it four hearts.
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Title: Fabulous Lo-Carb Cuisine
Author: Ruth Glick
Illustrator: Sammy Wroblewskie (cover)
Publisher and/or Distributor: Light Street Press, Columbia, MD
Publisher Website: www.lightstreetpress.com
Pages: 136
ISBN: 0-9706293-0-3
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: 2001
Reader: Allan Lechner
Rating: 5
Fabulous Lo-Carb Cuisine does exactly what you would expect, it provides the reader with 128 pages of recipes in the following categories: appetizers, salads, sauces, dressings and butter, meats, and deserts. The author substitutes sugar with Splenda in her recipes, so they are not only low in carbohydrates, but lower in calories also. The recipes are easy to follow and if she uses an ingredient that might be hard to get, she gives you an idea of where to look for it. Each recipe provides you with a yield and nutritional analysis.
As a diabetic, I like this book, because, as said above, the recipes are low in carbohydrates and sugar. Ms Glick tested all her recipes prior to including them in the book. I only had time to test a few (spice cocktail hotdogs, grilled beef with peppers, sloppy joes, and key lime pie), but they were all delicious. I am adding this cook book to my collection. I gave this book five hearts.
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Title: Best of the Best from Oregon Cookbook
Editors: Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley
Publisher and/or Distributor: Quail Ridge Press
Publisher Website: www.quailridge.com
Publishing Date: 2002
Pages: 288
Price: $16.95
ISBN: 0-9711000-4-7
Reviewer: Bob Spear
Rating: 4
Best of the Best from Oregon Cookbook is the latest cookbook in a series of state by state cookbooks. The editors selected recipes from 79 of the best regional cookbooks from Oregon. This is Quail Ridge's usual approach to publishing their regional cookbook series. They have become the Readers Digest of cookbooks. The recipes are valid, well presented, and truly represent the best of the best.
In addition to this title, I also evaluated their Indiana and their Great Plains titles, looking for obscure but essential regional recipes and I found them. These editors and this publisher really know their business. The series is perfect for cookbook specialty stores, airport bookstores, and travel bookstores, as well as general bookstores. We rated this series and this book four hearts.
