April Book Club | Eat Dessert First

EAT DESSERT FIRST

“Eat dessert first!” is a credo I live by.

I mean, if the occasion calls for dessert (and what occasion doesn’t?!) why wait until the end of the meal?

Elise Thomas seems to feel the same. The first section of her cookbook, “Eat Dessert First”, lists 15 recipes that include cookies, bars, cakes, pies, and other sweet treats. A very complete collection (135 more recipes!) of both sweet and savory offerings follow.

Elise is known for her famous signature gourmet cookies she first started baking in her home kitchen and quickly turned into a highly successful chain of bakeries, “Cookie Co.” Yes, they’re THAT good! But cookies isn’t all she knows… Her first cookbook contains delightful breakfasts and brunches, lovey lunch offerings, and delicious dinners, PLUS breads, soups, salads, and all the extras. It’s a one-stop experience for recipes that any novice cook or experienced meal-maker will treasure.

From fluffy sour cream pancakes, to wedding shower chicken pasta salad, to black beans burgers with chipotle sauce, you’re mouth will be watering and you’ll be making a long shopping list the first time you flip through the full-color glossy pages. The slow cooker ranch chicken baked potatoes look like something the kids and I could dig into after a day full of work, school and activities. But first, dessert!

Pick up your copy, and a few for friends here:
EAT DESSERT FIRST

Kneaders Bakery & Cafe | October Book Club

Wow! Wow! Wow! Have I chosen the PERFECT book for my October Book Club!

Kneaders Bakery & Cafe: A Celebration of Our Recipes and Memories by Colleen Worthington.

This big, heavy, hard cover volume contains all the recipes you’ll need to see you through the coming months (including the holidays!) and beyond! So many delicious artisan and sweet breads, as well as the soups, sides, and salads you want to go with them! Then they add scrumptious sandwiches, dips, and desserts too. And if that weren’t enough, there’s a whole section on drinks and smoothies!

The recipes are accompanied by the most stunning full-page, color photographs that will make your tastebuds tingle just looking at them.

How does Turkey Curry Chowder sound on a cold winter’s eve? That’s one of the many soup recipes I’m looking forward to trying with and on my big brood! I’m sure it will be a hit, especially paired with the Kaiser Rolls (which we could also use for sandwiches or burger buns.) There are just so many intriguing ideas between the covers of this book!

“The story of Kneaders Bakery & Cafe began with Colleen and Gary Worthington baking traditional European bread in their kitchen. After mastering old-world bread-baking techniques and testing countless recipes, Colleen, Gary, and their growing team of bakers moved onto their signature artisan bread.

But bread is just the beginning. Kneaders is well-known for their mouth-watering soups, sandwiches, and breakfast as well as their delectable pies, cakes, and pastries. For the first time, home cooks have access to popular recipes such as Overnight Chunky Cinnamon French Toast, Artichoke Portobello Soup, and Blueberry Sour Cream Pie. Beautiful and appetizing photos accompany each recipe.

What began in Colleen Worthington’s kitchen a little more than twenty-five years ago has grown into a successful family-owned bakery and cafe business with time-tested, delicious recipes gathered in this one-of-a-kind cookbook.

Kneaders also has 48 restaurant locations.
Find the one closest to you here: KNEADERS LOCATIONS

You’ll want your own copy of Kneaders Bakery & Cafe: A Celebration of Our Recipes and Memories of course and I suggest you waste no time before placing your order!

ORDER: Kneaders Bakery & Cafe

20-40-60 Minute Dinners | April Book Club

When daylight starts stretching into the evening hours, it’s time to celebrate! It’s also time to start doing all the things we forgot about during the winter months. Like gardening, Little League and Spring Soccer practices, and all kinds of other fun activities! But then the dinner hour sneaks up on us and all of a sudden we’re cruising through a drive-through groaning inwardly or outwardly…

That’s why I’ve chosen “20-40-60 Minute Dinners; Meals to Match The Time You Have” for my book club this month - to help take the anxiety around “what to fix for dinner?!” down a notch or two!

Arranged by the time it takes to prepare a meal, rather than alphabetically, author Kate Otterstrom, (who also, btw, is the creator of the Dinner in Real Time blog,) has put together a beautiful and oh-so-helpful cookbook full of meals to match the time you have to get them on the table! Kate is the busy mom of four, so you know that she’s got some practice at pulling together tasty and healthful meals in-between demanding schedules!

Anyone who finds themselves getting take-out far more often than they’d like will appreciate the abundance of fabulously simply ideas found between the pages of 20-40-60 Minute Dinners. I’ll be gifting a copy to one of my daughters, herself a mom of two active littles, because I know she’ll love the ideas it holds, and also because the recipes include gluten-free alternatives, which she must adhere to.

I appreciate how there’s nothing fussy about this cookbook, because delicious food that meet our dietary requirements does not have to be fussy! Even for folks like me, who’ve been at this dinner game for too many years to confess, will find some great reminders between its pages. For example, bagels with lox and cream cheese with a green salad? Yes! Perfect. A quick, filling, and fun dinner when you need to throw together something FAST. Kate suggests too, that served make-your-own bar style gets her kids more excited and up for trying new things like a sprinkling of capers. Note taken!

Here’s to a beautiful spring and summer and to getting dinner on the table, deliciously, in the time that you actually have, be it 20, 40, or 60 minutes!

Pick up your copy - and another for a gift - here: 20-40-60 Minute Dinners

SCRUMPTIOUS | DECEMBER BOOK CLUB

Scrumptious

Oh December, delightful, decadent, delicious December!

So many things to do! So many things to make! So many things to eat!!! But if you (like me) have grown a little tired of the same-old, same-old, I’ve got a treat for you; a SCRUMPTIOUS treat!

My book club pick for the month of December is a big, beautiful cookbook, “Scrumptious”, by Christy Denny.

Christy has years of experience as a recipe writer for both Betty Crocker and General Mills, and writes the very popular blog, “The Girl Who Ate Everything”. (Woman after my own heart!) Her love of eating is life-long, and as one of 10 siblings, a wife, and mother of 5, cooking took it’s natural place in her life.

Scrumptious, is her second cookbook and it’s filled with over 100 recipes that are extremely family friendly! They are tasty, and thankfully, not overly-complicated. She heard her followers when they said they needed recipes to make their lives EASIER, and filled this cookbook with all the answers to the question of what to make for dinner, breakfast, and sweet treats. There are pages and pages of gorgeous photos, which are a feast for the eyes before even making it to the belly!

I’m especially happy with the big selection of One-Pan recipes, because, as a mom to too-many-to-count I’m usually looking to feed a big crew, fast! The ability to do this deliciously (and make a pretty presentation to boot) has me nearly breaking my arm patting myself on the back so enthusiastically! Scrumptious even has a whole low-carb/Keto-friendly chapter that Christy’s husband was heavily involved in making, that’s given me some great ideas when a few members of my big extended crew comes to visit.

This cookbook will make an EXCELLENT Christmas gift for anyone who, well, EATS. Young adults living on their own for the first time, couples, young families, established families, grandparents… Truly, it’s chock-full of fresh, fabulous ideas than anyone and everyone will find useful. And the results are absolutely scrumptious!

Get your copy HERE!

Christy Denney and her family.

Raised In The Kitchen | May Book Club

I looooove cooking for my large crazy crew!

Seems like I’m always in the kitchen with kids underfoot, over foot, beside me, betwixt me, on stools, and perched on a counter. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Cooking and eating is more than simple nourishment, it’s a time of togetherness; bonding, talking, laughing, and loving.

That’s what popular cooking blogger and author, Carrian Cheney, and I have in common! But the similarities end there, because I am anything BUT organized and thoughtful about my processes. She, however, is! And it’s our good luck that she has the ability to break things down into easily understandable steps, write it out, and share it with all of us. On her blog, and in her new book, Raised In The Kitchen, my May Book Club pick.

Carrian knows that cooking together as a family is the secret to not only raising children well prepared for adulthood but also to mixing ingredients beyond just the dough for cookies--love, unity, and combined hearts. She is well aware that family and memories are made one recipe at a time.

Raised In The Kitchen is a step-by-step guide that covers food prep to clean-up. It includes ingredient lists and easy-to-follow recipes as well as “dollops of heartwarming family stories, insights, and kid-friendly food activities to keep everyone from the tired and overwhelmed mom to the littlest of picky eaters focused on deliciousness in the kitchen.”

It’s got a whopping 75 recipes from basics (like fried eggs & baked potatoes) to beyond (like steak fajitas and chocolate cake,) with a natural progression as cooking skills are developed. Recipes include tips and tricks in the kitchen to build capabilities and confidence.

“Raised in the Kitchen is a cookbook for parents and kids about much more than learning to love to cook. It's about bringing families together and then one day sending those little hands off to their own kitchens, where they will teach their own children the recipes, laughter, and love that shaped their lives.”

Tips on Salt * Breads * Breakfast
Meat 101 * Side Dishes * Knife Safety 101
Main Dishes * Family Bakeoffs * Desserts

Raised In The Kitchen deserves a place in your cookbook library and will become thumb-worn with use as you and your children or grandchildren bond, and grow, and eat your way through every page!

Get Your Copy of Raised In The Kitchen!

Live Life Deliciously | November Book Club

Buy Live Life Deliciously

It’s fall, the tastiest time of year, and I’ve got a treat for all you foodies, holiday meal providers, and everyone who finds themselves in the position of putting dinner on the table every night!

Live Life Deliciously by Tara Teaspoon, is a large, sturdy, hardback cookbook that will stand up to the demands of new idea seekers, and the realities of a kitchen scene full of ingredients that often stray from their tidy confinements.

Subtitled,, “Recipes For Busy Weekdays & Leisurely Weekends”, I’d add to that “and great ideas for the holidays!”

It lets you in on some kitchen secrets for success, like an updated list of pantry staples, as well as kitchen essentials from pots & pans to parchment paper, and the convenience of mise en place. Novel appetizers and starters will have your family - and in ensuing years, your party guests - eagerly awaiting what’s next to come.

Pork Tenderloin with Adobo Lime Glaze

Some pages that are of keen interest to me, and I can’t wait to give a whirl, are the Roasted Cauliflower and Smoky Romesco veggie side, the Pork Tenderloin with Adobo Lime Glaze (Mmmmm), and the simplistic beauty of the Milling-Spice Christmas Tree Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Salads, dressings, and breakfast goodies are included too!

Give yourself the gift of Live Life Deliciously, and pick up copies for all your friends and family members who enjoy making new dishes or those who come home and stare into a fridge despairingly in the evenings.

It’s the season of abundance and Live Life Deliciously is FULL of all the good stuff needed to feed your family and your spirit. It’s been a long time since I’ve come across a cookbook I wanted to rave about, and this is it!

Order Live Life Deliciously