An Obsessive Home Cook: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Cookbook Overviews / May 14, 2018

I was super excited to finally take a look at The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman. Perelman is a popular food blogger and her cookbooks are often mentioned on lists of must-have cookbooks. There is no real catch to this cookbook or Perelman’s blog, except that Perelman describes herself as an obsessive home cook. She had no formal training, but she just loves to experiment with recipes until they are perfect. She cooks in a small New York apartment for her husband and small kids. There are even photos of the small and modest kitchen she uses to create these great recipes. This is one of those cookbooks where I really I wanted to make pretty much every recipe. I can’t wait to show you on Wednesday the recipe I tried out. Spoiler warning: It was delicious! If you want to go ahead and get started on some Smitten Kitchen recipes, check out her blog. Her writing in this cookbook and on her blog is funny and inviting, and I am sure you will be convinced to try out some of her recipes right away.

Oy With the Poodles Already: Eat Like a Gilmore
Cookbook Overviews / May 7, 2018

This week’s cookbook is Eat Like a Gilmore: The Unofficial Cookbook for Fans of Gilmore Girls. As I mentioned before, I am a huge Gilmore Girls fan. But even if you have no idea what Gilmore Girls is, this is a fun cookbook. It’s written by Kristi Carlson, but has a lot of contributors. Carlson decided to write this cookbook because she was a GG fan who loved to cook and was fascinated by all the references to food on the show. In addition, all of the contributors write short descriptions of their experiences with GG, which are really fun to read. (Yes, this is starting to sound like some sort of cult!) So why a Gilmore Girls cookbook? Probably because food is so important on the show. First, the Gilmore girls (who are single mother Lorelai and her daughter Rory) eat crazy amounts of junk food (of course through the magic of television they have no issues with their weight), which is a running joke on the show. Second, one of the most important characters owns a diner, which is one of the most important locations on the show. There is also a supporting character, played by Melissa McCarthy,…

Healthy Living: Run Fast. Eat Slow.
Cookbook Overviews / April 30, 2018

OK, I am not a runner. At all. I have tried Couch to 2K several times and never made it past week three. So why am I reviewing Run Fast. Eat Slow.: Nourishing Recipes for Athletes? My fifteen-year old son is a distance runner, and my mom mentioned this book to him. We happened to be at Barnes & Noble the other day and saw this book. He has been working on eating healthier, so I decided to go ahead and buy this for him. I almost never just buy a cookbook without doing a lot of research first. I usually like to check it out from the library and test it first. So let’s hope this cookbook is a success. Run Fast. Eat Slow. was written by Shalene Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky. Flanagan is marathon runner and Olympic medalist. Kopecky is a runner and a nutritionist. They both argue that nutrition plays a big role in their success as runners. Even though I am not runner, I am always looking to incorporate more healthy habits. But I do hate restrictive or gimmicky diets. When I quickly glanced through this cookbook at the bookstore it appeared that the recipes were…

Sweet Treats From Vancouver: Butter Baked Goods
Cookbook Overviews / April 23, 2018

Today’s cookbook is one I picked up at the library just because it was so gorgeous. Butter Baked Goods: Nostalgic Recipes From a Little Neighborhood Baker was written by Rosie Daykin, the owner of Butter Baked Goods in Vancouver. It’s a pretty standard dessert cookbook with a lot of the basics and a few Canadian goodies thrown in. Daykin started out as an interior decorator but always dreamed of opening a bakery. She opened the bakery in 2007, published this cookbook in 2013, and published a second cookbook, Butter Celebrates!: A Year of Sweet Recipes to Share with Family and Friends, in 2015. This cookbook is full of simple desserts with pretty simple directions and standard ingredients, but I think that is why I was drawn to it. The desserts look like things you would really want to eat and bake for others. There are chapters on muffins, drop cookies, rolled cookies, bars, frostings, cakes, cupcakes, pies, and confections. The confections chapter is where this cookbook stand out. Butter’s Baked Goods is most well-know for its homemade marshmallows. This chapter includes the basic marshmallow recipe, plus variations, and some recipes that use the homemade marshmallows as an ingredient. There are so many…

Let’s Do This!: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Cookbook Overviews / April 16, 2018

Hi everyone! This is my first post on The Cookbook Section, and I’m very excited to get started. This is a blog for talking about cookbooks (and maybe some other books thrown in now and then). I love to read and to cook, and I love to combine the two. Unlike some people, I think that cookbooks should be read. A great cookbook should have great recipes and look beautiful, but it should also be fun to read. On this site, I will review cookbooks of all kinds, from serious to celebrity, from paleo to country cooking. I will test out a recipe or two to share. But most of all, I will let you know if the cookbook is worth being read. Also, I want to hear from you. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my reviews. And let me know about your favorite cookbooks. Okay, enough chatter. Let’s do this! The cookbook I want to start with is Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat, who is a writer and a chef and was called “the next Julia Child.” This is an excellent cookbook for reading. In fact, it…

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