Comfort Food by Julia Chen

Comfort Food
by Julia Chen

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon | BookExcerpt

Just released: February 13, 2018
Publisher: Clink Street Publishing
Genre: Cookbook, Recipes
Paperback: 122
Rating: 4

There's nothing quite like Comfort Food to put a smile on your face and a feeling of contentment in your stomach.

Chef Julia Bettelheim is passionate about feeding people; from the students in her university kitchen to guests and family at home.

From recipes that are as simple as a sandwich to as technical as a fruit cake, she knows the importance of creating delicious meals that are full of flavour and which always have budget in mind.

Her recipes include easy to make classics and mouth-watering family favourites, using easy to find products that are fresh and economical.

Fun, fast, indulgent and nurturing, there's a time and a place for Comfort Food in every kitchen.

My two-bits:

As the title suggests, this cookbook is filled with comfort food recipes which were collected while the author lived in both Melbourne and London. There are recipes for soups, light and main meals, tray bakes and desserts. There is also a section with recipes specifically from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Not all recipes have pictures, but each starts out with a short personal note.

While standard Nana's Old Fashioned Casserole, Meat Loaf and Roast Vegetable Lasagne are listed, there were several unfamiliar dishes to my taste buds including Vegetable Cottage Pie, Victory Fish Pie and Parsnip and Maple Syrup Cake.

This is a book that brings about a hygge moment in the kitchen with hearty meals and plenty of sweet treats.

PeekAbook:

I tried the Chicken Stir Fry with Cashew Nuts without the red pepper which turned out yummy (recipe is here). This was an easy and quick fix.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of book tour

Excerpt: Comfort Food by Julia Chen

Comfort Food
by Julia Chen
-Food, Recipes
Release date: February 13, 2018
Amazon
There's nothing quite like Comfort Food to put a smile on your face and a feeling of contentment in your stomach.

Chef Julia Chen is passionate about feeding people; from the students in her university kitchen to guests and family at home.

From recipes that are as simple as a sandwich to as technical as a fruit cake, she knows the importance of creating delicious meals that are full of flavour and which always have budget in mind.

Her recipes include easy to make classics and mouth-watering family favourites, using easy to find products that are fresh and economical.

Fun, fast, indulgent and nurturing, there's a time and a place for Comfort Food in every kitchen.


Excerpt:

Chicken Stir Fry with Cashew Nuts
I got this idea simply from seeing an advert of children asking their father for a takeaway dinner. Instead the father cooks up a dish similar to this recipe but pretends it’s takeaway food by slamming the front door and presenting it in take away containers. The children are fooled, saying: “Thanks for the takeaways, Dad.” But he tells them, “Actually I cooked it myself.” This is simple, quick, delicious and cheap to make.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast fillets
150g button mushrooms
150g young corn
100g sugar snap peas
1 red pepper
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
½ cup roasted cashews
Serves 4 to 6.

In a wok or a deep fry pan place about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Dice the chicken into small cubes or strips, thinly slice the mushrooms and also slice the pepper into thin strips. Heat the oil and add the chicken. Cook the chicken until it is a golden colour. Then add the mushrooms and the peppers. Add the sauces. Then stir in together until the mushrooms are cooked and the pepper is al dente. Then add the sugar snap peas and the corn and stir until they are warmed through but still retain their colour. Finally add the cashews just before serving.
Serve with steamed rice.


Caramel Cookies
I am a devil for punishment when it comes to caramel-flavoured things. So when I came across the idea of caramel-flavoured cookies I went weak at the knees. These cookies are just delicious and one is just not enough in a sitting.

Ingredients:

4oz butter
4oz sugar
1 dessertspoon golden syrup
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
8oz plain flour
½ cup sultanas or raisins
Pinch salt
½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Melt the butter over a low heat, with sugar, syrup and milk. Once butter has melted and sugar dissolved, add the soda. Do not boil but allow to fizz.
In a bowl place the flour, fruit, salt and vanilla, and add to cooled wet mixture.
Place in small teaspoonfuls on a tray on top of baking paper. Press lightly with a fork and bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.

About the author:

Growing up in Wellington, New Zealand, British born Julia Bettelheim enjoyed an early start in the catering industry and as a teenager took lessons from a private chef. Her family then moved to Melbourne, Australia where she lived for the next twenty-two years and worked as a tupperware sales representative travelling the city providing cookery demonstrations and sharing recipes that were suitable for storing. After her divorce in 2008, Julia moved back to England where she now lives in Chatham, Kent and works as a chef in the kitchen of the cafe at UCL in London.

~*~
* courtesy of book tour

Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat by Chrissy Teigen

Cravings:
Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat
by Chrissy Teigen

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Instagram
Pinterest of recipe pics
Twitter

Published: 2016
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Genre: Cookbook, Recipes, Celebrity
Hardback: 240 pages
Rating: 5

Maybe she’s on a photo shoot in Zanzibar. Maybe she’s making people laugh on TV. But all Chrissy Teigen really wants to do is talk about dinner. Or breakfast. Lunch gets some love, too.

For years, she’s been collecting, cooking, and Instagramming her favorite recipes, and here they are: from breakfast all day to John’s famous fried chicken with spicy honey butter to her mom’s Thai classics.

Salty, spicy, saucy, and fun as sin (that’s the food, but that’s Chrissy, too), these dishes are for family, for date night at home, for party time, and for a few life-sucks moments (salads). You’ll learn the importance of chili peppers, the secret to cheesy-cheeseless eggs, and life tips like how to use bacon as a home fragrance, the single best way to wake up in the morning, and how not to overthink men or Brussels sprouts. Because for Chrissy Teigen, cooking, eating, life, and love are one and the same.

My two-bits:

Comfort foods with some asian flavors makes this one yummy one.

Good amount of photos of both the dishes and personal makes for entertaining eye candy.

Chrissy's comments and presentation of the recipes are personable and fun.

~*~
* part of Foodies Read Challenge (here)

On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis

On Rue Tatin:
The Simple Pleasures of Life in a Small French Town
by Susan Loomis

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter @SHerrmannLoomis/

Published: 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: France, Travel, Cookbook
Paperback: 304 pages
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
The story of our adventure, our move to Rue Tatin, began some thirteen years earlier, when I first went to live in Paris.

Beguiling, aromatic memoirs of a cookery writer, settling in a small Normandy town, very similar in flavour to Under the Tuscan Sun.

The second house that Susan Hermann Loomis looked at in the small town of Louviers was perfect. Dilapidated, rambling, crumbling walls which were covered with faded paper, it had been a convent. So Susan, her husband, luckily a sculptor and builder, and small son, moved in – to spend a year and more, rebuilding, finding new hidden treasures of their house, and discovering their neighbours, and the life of a small French town.

Some of the great pleasures of the book come from sharing in Susan Loomis’ daily journeys: to the market, to the butcher and the baker, talking to the shop keepers and the teachers at the school, and meeting the clergy who tramp through their garden. As her son joins the local school, as Susan’s cookery work gets underway, so the reader is part of all the human – and gastronomic – experiences that shape this very French town.

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:

This tale presents food (french flavors), people (mostly local) and small town idiosyncrasies in a charming way that one can't resist but add it to a future European travel itinerary.

I could see how the process of setting up house and learning the culture of this area can provide inspiration to creative souls.

Delicious recipes are shared along the way to tempt non-cooks (like me) to give a try.

~*~
* part of SF Travel Book Club

Spotlight & Giveaway: Go Clean, Sexy You by Lisa Consiglio Ryan

Go Clean, Sexy You
by Lisa Consiglio Ryan
Release date: November 17, 2015
Amazon | Goodreads

Go Clean, Sexy You not only serves up a collection of delicious recipes, but offers a holistic approach on how to live a healthier life—putting whole foods into your body, detoxing every season to regularly cleanse your system, associating with those who fuel you not bring you down, and managing stress with activities that bring you back to balance.

A certified health and nutrition coach, author Lisa Consiglio Ryan provides straightforward guidance on how to overcome the obstacles that keep you from losing those last ten pounds, make you feel exhausted every afternoon, and compel you to indulge in unhealthy habits. Spending years struggling with a growing arsenal of health-destroying conditions that ranged from fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, candida and rosacea to cystitis and tons of allergies, Lisa decided to turn to nutrition and lifestyle to reclaim her health. Then pursuing her education with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, she turned her personal quest into her vocation with the launch of Whole Health Designs.

As a nationally acclaimed wellness expert, Lisa has worked with thousands in her detox programs. Her approach incorporates easy-to-adopt eating habits, free from counting calories and fat grams. As you navigate through the seasons with Lisa’s whole food–based detox plans, you’ll be tapping into your body’s wisdom, forming sustainable habits, and developing loving, respectful relationship with your body. Not only will you feel better, you’ll look better too!


--~ Blog Tour Giveaway ~--
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Offer ends: November 30, 2015

TO DO: (2-parts)

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2. LEAVE a comment.

AND, leave your email.

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A Feast of Ice and Fire by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel

A Feast of Ice and Fire:
The Official Game of Thrones
Companion Cookbook
by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, Sariann Lehrer, George R.R. Martin (Foreword)

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt & Recipes
Blog

Published: 2012
Publisher: Bantam
Genre: Cookbook, TV
Hardback: 240 pages
Rating: 5

Ever wonder what it’s like to attend a feast at Winterfell? Wish you could split a lemon cake with Sansa Stark, scarf down a pork pie with the Night’s Watch, or indulge in honeyfingers with Daenerys Targaryen? George R. R. Martin’s bestselling saga A Song of Ice and Fire and the runaway hit HBO series Game of Thrones are renowned for bringing Westeros’s sights and sounds to vivid life. But one important ingredient has always been missing: the mouthwatering dishes that form the backdrop of this extraordinary world. Now, fresh out of the series that redefined fantasy, comes the cookbook that may just redefine dinner . . . and lunch, and breakfast.

A passion project from superfans and amateur chefs Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer—and endorsed by George R. R. Martin himself—A Feast of Ice and Fire lovingly replicates a stunning range of cuisines from across the Seven Kingdoms and beyond. From the sumptuous delicacies enjoyed in the halls of power at King’s Landing, to the warm and smoky comfort foods of the frozen North, to the rich, exotic fare of the mysterious lands east of Westeros, there’s a flavor for every palate, and a treat for every chef.

These easy-to-follow recipes have been refined for modern cooking techniques, but adventurous eaters can also attempt the authentic medieval meals that inspired them. The authors have also suggested substitutions for some of the more fantastical ingredients, so you won’t have to stock your kitchen with camel, live doves, or dragon eggs to create meals fit for a king (or a khaleesi). In all, A Feast of Ice and Fire contains more than 100 recipes, divided by region.

RECIPES INCLUDE:

• The Wall: Rack of Lamb and Herbs; Pork Pie; Mutton in Onion-Ale Broth; Mulled Wine; Pease Porridge

• The North: Beef and Bacon Pie; Honeyed Chicken; Aurochs with Roasted Leeks; Baked Apples

• The South: Cream Swans; Trout Wrapped in Bacon; Stewed Rabbit; Sister’s Stew; Blueberry Tarts

• King’s Landing: Lemon Cakes; Quails Drowned in Butter; Almond Crusted Trout; Bowls of Brown; Iced Milk with Honey

• Dorne: Stuffed Grape Leaves; Duck with Lemons; Chickpea Paste

• Across the Narrow Sea: Biscuits and Bacon; Tyroshi Honeyfingers; Wintercakes; Honey-Spiced Locusts

There’s even a guide to dining and entertaining in the style of the Seven Kingdoms. Exhaustively researched and reverently detailed, accompanied by passages from all five books in the series and full-color photographs guaranteed to whet your appetite, this is the companion to the blockbuster phenomenon that millions of stomachs have been growling for. And remember, winter is coming—so don’t be afraid to put on a few pounds.

Includes a Foreword by George R. R. Martin

My two-bits:
Something for each season.

Love this theme of medieval fare. Some ingredients substitutes are offered for certain recipes so that they can be recreated and sampled.

Mostly comfort foods are offered with plenty of pictures to help decide whether or not you want to give it a go - usually a major factor for me.

Each recipe starts with a quote from the book series.

Based on tv show: Game of Thrones

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook by Judy Gelman

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook:
Inside the Kitchens, Bars, and
Restaurants of Mad Men
by Judy Gelman, Peter Zheutlin

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website
Blog (includes some recipes)
i.food.tv
Facebook

Published: 2011
Publisher: Smart Pop
Genre: Cookbook, TV
Paperback: 288 pages
Rating: 5

Dine like Draper and Drink like Sterling with More Than 70 Recipes from the Kitchens, Bars, and Restaurants Seen on Mad Men

Ever wish you could mix an Old Fashioned just the way Don Draper likes it? Or prepare Oysters Rockefeller and a martini the way they did fifty years ago at one of Roger Sterling’s favorite haunts, The Grand Central Oyster Bar? Ever wonder how Joan Harris manages to prepare a perfect crown roast in her tiny apartment kitchen? Or about the connection between Jackie Kennedy’s 1962 White House tour and Betty Draper’s Valentine’s Day room service order?

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook serves up more than 70 recipes to satisfy a Mad Men appetite! From the tables of Manhattan’s most legendary restaurants and bars to the Drapers’ Around the World dinner, this book is your entrée to the culinary world of Man Men-era New York.

Packed with period detail, The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook provides invaluable historical and cultural context for the food and drink featured in the show, tips on throwing a successful ’60s cocktail party, and even a guide to favored Mad Men hangouts. Every recipe inside is authentic to the time.

Whether you’re planning a Mad Men-themed dinner party, need to mix up some authentic Mad Men cocktails, or just can’t get enough of the show itself, this is your essential resource, a guide to all foods and drinks Mad Men. So hang up your coat, pour yourself a cocktail, and get ready to dine like Draper and drink like Sterling with The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook.

Includes a color photo insert of 16 dishes, plus additional black and white photos and other images of bars, restaurants, and food advertisements from the 1960s.

RECIPES INCLUDE:

* Playboy Whiskey Sour
* Sardi’s Steak Tartar
* Connie’s Waldorf Salad
* Sal’s Spaghetti and Meatballs
* Pat Nixon’s Date Nut Bread
* Lindy’s Cherry Cheesecake

My two-bits:

I liked the history, anecdotes and trivia related to the food and cocktails of the 1960s in this book. Certain recipes included references to Mad Men episodes which made me want to re-watch some.

Black and White pictures of New York bars and restaurants and random 1960s images sprinkled throughout the book. Color pictures of a handful of recipes appear in the center of the book.

Growing up during this period and being familiar with a lot of the dishes, I found the recipes to be in my comfort food zone.

Interesting to note that most of the recipes are pulled from popular cookbooks of the time period.

Based on tv show: Mad Men

The Snacking Dead by D.B. Walker

The Snacking Dead:
A Parody in a Cookbook
by D.B. Walker

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
BookExcerpt
Website

Published: 2013
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Genre: Cookbook, TV
Hardback: 160 pages
Rating: 5

For fans of AMC's The Walking Dead, Max Brooks, and all things zombies, the clever creators of Fifty Shades of Chicken hack a new parody cookbook filled with snacks for every occasion, tips for cooking under duress, and a love story that will send ripples down your spine--all accompanied by food photography that will ignite your palate.

At the heart of this cookbook is Pam Beaumont, who must fight the dead and feed the living. The apocalypse is no picnic, but she survives on quick bites—and on her love for Daryl, a backwoods badass with a crossbow who reminds her that she has more than one appetite. From brain food to finger food, and from sticky sweets to killer cocktails, the 50 recipes in this cookbook parody are guaranteed to grab you.

The zombies have their snack plan—do you have yours?

SNACKS include:

Sweetish Fleshballs
Nachos of the Living Dead
Elbows Casserole
Crabby Prepper Puffs
Survivalist Hero
Dire Ham Biscuits
Cold-Blooded Ice Cream Sandwiches
Gratuitous Violence Jello Mold
and more.

PeekAbook:



My two-bits:

I was totally tickled reading this cook book. And yes, actually read this all the way through unlike how one usually skims through cook books to find interesting recipes to try.

Most of the snack/appetizer recipes included color pictures. Also, zombie survival tip related to food or food preparation.

But the special treat of this book is that between the recipes is a mini-zombie story that incorporates Daryl (character from the tv show, The Walking Dead).

Based on tv show: The Walking Dead

~*~
* Are you watching the show? If so, how are you liking the second half of this season?

Kosher By Design Teens and 20-Somethings by Susie Fishbein

Kosher By Design Teens and 20-Somethings:
cooking for the next generation
by Susie Fishbein

Just Published: Oct 2010
Genre: Cookbook
Paperback: 233 pages
Rating: 4

Series:
see the complete Kosher By Design series here with a comprehensive index of over 900 featured recipes

Description from the amazon:
You're young, busy, don't have a lot of time, but like to cook - or would like to learn. Then here's the cookbook you've been hungry for!

Susie Fishbein knows fun cooking; her best-selling Kosher by Design series has revolutionized kosher cuisine. Susie also listens; so when teens and young adults asked for a cookbook that fits their lifestyle - fun food that's delicious and quick to prepare - she responded. Kosher by Design: Teens and 20-Somethings is just for them - just for you.

Want to make amazing food at home instead of ordering another takeout meal? Thinking about surprising your mother with a superb full course dinner, but need help? Need creative ideas to plan a great party at home - even on short notice? Looking for simple-to-do recipes that don't require fancy kitchen gadgets? You're in luck! Here are 100 uncommonly delicious alternatives to common fast food!

Students, newlyweds, young people at home, in their own apartments, or in dorms - (and the older adults who often feed them) - will all welcome Kosher by Design: Teens and 20-Somethings, the newest and most anticipated member of the KBD family.

100 easy-to-prepare brand new recipes

Large Full-color photo featured with every recipe

Icons to indicate vegetarian, nut-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free recipes

Unforgettable party ideas: a backyard bash, game night and more

Comprehensive cross-referenced index

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): yummy
This is definitely a good starter cookbook for new cooks. A lot of favorites are in this one.

There is a recipe for my favorite warm drink -- Mexican Hot Chocolate!

I tried the following...

Ellie's Onion-Crusted Chicken - it turned out delish and was very easy to prepare

~~*!~~ Book Giveaway ~~!*~~

Open to US only.

Offer ends: December 26, 2010

TO DO:
Tell me what your favorite holiday appetizer or dessert is AND leave your email in comments (if I don't already have it).

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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* review copy courtesy of publisher

~~*!~~ Dandies & Delectables schedule ~~!*~~