The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney

The Slow Cook Book features recipes for both slow cookers and more traditional slow cooking methods. There are recipes for soups, stews, casseroles, curries, chilis, pot roasts, and even a few desserts.

This is a really good cookbook. I don't use my slow cooker as much as I should, but this book has encouraged me to use it more often. I love that there are so many delicious sounding recipes to try. I made a number of them so far and each of them has turned out pretty good.

The book starts off with an introductory section that includes: types of cooking, pantry essentials, choosing ingredients, and some cooking techniques. I particularly like the photos in this section.

The next section is called "Recipe Choosers". It sort of neat, but I'm not sure how useful it's going to be. Along with the recipe titles, there are photographs, page numbers, and cooking times sorted by the main protein used. However, this section doesn't have include all of the recipes in the book. I'm confused as to why the author chose to highlight these, but not others. Also, some of this information is already presented in the index, albeit, not as beautifully. Oh, well. It's pretty to look at.

On to the recipes. Each of them features: the number of servings, the recommended maximum freeze time (if applicable), instructions, prep time, and cooking time for both slow cookers and traditional slow cooking methods. Some of the recipes have photographs of the finished dish, however, sadly, many of the recipes don't.

Speaking of photographs, the ones in this book are quite nice. Not ultra-contemporary mind you, but mouth-watering, nevertheless. It's odd, though, that there's only one photograph of a slow cooker. And there's no food in it. All of the other photos (for cooking techniques and for presenting the dishes) are either on plates, bowls, pots, or dutch ovens. I just find that a bit strange for a book about cooking in a slow cooker.

The instructions are laid out nicely and quite easy to follow. There are a number of recipes that have been labelled "healthy". However, I couldn't find anything to tell me the criteria for this designation. Are they low fat? High fibre? High protein? That would be nice to know.

The book also contains a table of contents and index.

Recommended. If you use your slow cooker all the time, you'll find some new interesting recipes to try. If you don't use your slow cooker a lot, this book will likely inspire you to dig it out and plug it in.

For more information about this book, please visit Amazon's website.

I'd like to thank Chris at DK Canada for this review copy.

The Slow Cook Book by Heather Whinney, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2013. ISBN 9781553632191(Soft cover), 352p.

Energy Bites by DK Publishing

Energy Bites features bite-sized high-protein snack recipes. Each of the recipes contain good-for-you ingredients for "increased vitality and wellness".

This is such a great book. It's small in size and only contains 15 recipes, but it's filled with nutritional information and suggestions for recipe variations. The possibilities seem almost endless. I love the contemporary layout.

The book starts off with an ingredients section. It's not just a list, however. It explains the nutritional importance of the ingredients used in the recipes. Next, there are general directions on how to make the no-bake and baked/pan-fried balls. In addition, there are directions on how to prep (soaking, boiling, roasting, etc.) some of the ingredients before the ball making can begin.

For each of the recipes, there's a list of ingredients, directions for making the balls, some nutritional information, as well as a gorgeous photograph of the finished product.

All of the recipes sound great and I've already made a list of ones I have to make for sure. There's really only one that doesn't appeal to me: Carrot & Red Beet Buckwheat Balls (page 24). I adore beets, but I don't like buckwheat...at all. I'm sure if I substitute another grain, though, they'll be yummy.

Because the recipes look so good, I immediately had to try a couple of them. Both the Peanut Butter & Banana Balls (page 44) and Sweet Potato Spicy Bites (page 34) turned out great. We ate the sweet ones for a snack, and the savoury ones with chicken and Brussels sprouts for supper. My husband thought the sweet potato bites needed a little something and since they are a bit spicy, I quickly made a dip out of Greek yogurt. Yum. My only complaint is that the recipe called for one sweet potato. No size or measurement mentioned. If you've ever bought sweet potatoes, you know they come in varying sizes...from those that fit neatly in the palm of your hand to others about half the size of a football (see Superstore for these ones).

Most of the recipes call for a food processor to chop up or incorporate the ingredients. However, if you don't have one, the book provides some alternatives so that the balls can be made by hand. I like this idea because cleaning out a food processor isn't my favourite job and sometimes mixing by hand is just easier.

There's one other thing I should mention about the book. It contains some ingredients that might be a little hard to find. Things like acai powder, bee pollen, moringa powder, and spirulina, probably won't be on your grocer's shelves. A health food store or online might be the a good place to find these. Don't worry, though, those ingredients don't make up the bulk of the balls. In fact, for one of the recipes I tried, I just omitted the ingredient.

As an added bonus, DK, the publisher, has a page on their website dedicated to one of these delicious sounding bites: Tropical Immune Boosters (page 42). Click here for a video and PDF download of the recipe. These look so delicious and are definitely on my list to try. The only reason I haven't made them yet is because I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand.

The book also contains a table of contents, glossary, and index. I really like the table of contents a lot. It starts with a list of general items, then uses pictures and page numbers for the recipes. Cool idea.

Highly recommended.

For more information about this book, please visit Amazon's website. To take a quick peek inside, click on the book cover!

I'd like to thank Chris at DK Canada for this review copy.

Energy Bites by DK Publishing, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2016. ISBN 9781465451538(Hardcover), 61p.

I Love DK Books!

Once again it's time for the annual I Love DK promotion. From January 1st to January 31st, I encourage all of you who love DK books to use the #ILoveDK hashtag to nominate a favourite DK book either on Twitter or Facebook. If you don't have a blog and would like to write a review (or have written one already), feel free to post it on DK's Facebook page.

On Valentine's Day, DK will select one of the entries and that person will win $250 worth of DK books! One lucky participating blogger will also receive a similar prize.

I personally love DK books. They have so many wonderful books on a wide variety of subjects. There's really something for everyone. Whether you like to cook, workout, learn a new skill, or sit in your favourite chair and read about history, philosophy or other fascinating subjects, DK has a book for you.  Did I mention the travel guides, Idiot Guides (for learning new things), craft books, and parenting books? And that's just the adult books. They also have tons of children's books to keep the little ones entertained, educated, and busy.

It's really going to be hard for me to choose a favourite, but since I adore cookbooks and read them like others read novels, I decided to pick one that hasn't left my side since it showed up at my door.

It's called Grains as Mains. The book is filled with tons of "modern recipes using ancient grains". Things like quinoa, buckwheat, polenta, and more. I love this book because it's so beautifully presented with some of the best food photography I've ever seen and features current and relevant recipes that are OMG delicious. I've made a number of recipes from this book and each one is a keeper. I'll write more about those when I do a full review some time soon. For now, click here for more about the book and to see a great video about whole grains. By the way, the video is filled with some of the great mouth-watering food shots from the book.

That's it for now. I hope you love DK books as much as I do and participate in this great promotion.

Hors d'Oeuvres by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Eric Treuille

Hors d'Oeuvres offers more than 200 recipes for appetizers and several meal plans for throwing the perfect party. There are also step by step instructions for things like croustades, potato röstis, filo tartlets, pastry tartlets and other vessels. The "6 ways with" pages feature different topping/filling/ingredient options for various appetizers.

This is such a beautiful book! It has large stunning photographs of delicious looking bites. The book is nicely laid out with one recipe per page (with the just a few exception). The font is large enough so that you don't have to squint to see the type.

The introduction gives you ideas on what to serve, how much to serve, and what beverages to serve with your appetizers. The 24 different menus using the hors d'oeuvres from this book are presented for different party situations. Where it's a summer party, winter party, afternoon tea, something quick and easy, or one that allows your guests to sample foods and flavours from around the world, there's a menu for it. There's even one for a full vegetarian feast. All of these look delicious. I'm really terrible at putting together dishes that complement each other. I tend to make things that I like regardless of whether or not they "go" together. In this book, the authors have done that work for me.

The recipes have tips and advice on how to make some of the items or perform some of the steps ahead of time, so you can spend more time with your guests. The recipes also list essential equipment if any are needed. It's good to know up front if you need a mandolin or piping bag, for example. Some of the recipes also have variations listed so you can change it up a bit for something different or change it to suit your tastes.

I love that some of the recipes are quick and easy and are labelled as such. These would be good ones to make when time is short or when unexpected guests show up. Of course, there are many more involved ones that require long marinating times or require many steps to complete the hors d'oeuvre.

Besides being beautifully presented, the "6 ways with" pages offer a number of recipes to make that are quick, easy and varied. Two examples: a two-page spread for "6 ways with oatcakes", which features different toppings; and another for "6 ways with wraps", which features different fillings. The "step-by-step" pages feature many photographs and explanations on how to complete the recipe. For example, the book shows the reader how to make parmesan shortbreads from start to finish. All of these pages are terrific!

Most of the ingredients used in the recipes are readily available at larger supermarkets. However, a few of them are going to be harder to find. These include: quail eggs, gram flour, duck, smoked eel and micro cress. Also, some of the recipes feature seasonal ingredients that may not be available year-round depending on where you live. I don't think my supermarket carries eggplant or butternut squash all the time. Even if they did, the price would probably be cost prohibitive.

I love that one of the authors is a caterer and has selected these recipes based on actual experiences. She made sure "the recipes work, not only for the cook but also for the guest". I don't entertain a lot, but I know that some foods can be annoying and messy to eat while trying to hold a glass of wine in the other hand. From the looks of these recipes, it appears that the authors have thought of that.

So far I've only tried one of the recipes, Piquant Peppery Hummus.  Instead of putting on top of oatcakes as the book suggested, I bought some crackers from the store and used those instead. I loved it, however, some people I served them to thought the jalapeño chili in the hummus would have been enough heat for them. They didn't need the chili garnish as well. I'd definitely make it again, but the next time I'd adjust the heat.

For my next book club get-together I plan to make the following:

• Oven-dried Root and Fruit Chips (page 94). I might even make these for just me and my husband.
• Sweet Potato and Ginger Rösti with Cilantro Pesto (page 148) I'll definitely make a few changes to this one because I despise cilantro, but as a whole, the appetizer looks and sounds delicious.

Besides all of the savoury bites offered in this book, there's also a chapter on sweet ones. It's kind of short, but it's filled with yummy recipes.

I have two small complaints about the book. The first is that not all of the recipes have photographs. That usually doesn't bother me, but with hors d'oeuvres the presentation can be just as important as the taste. Even a small photo would have sufficed. The photographs that are included, though, are so gorgeous, that they almost makes up for the ones that are missing. My second complaint is that one of the recipes in the quick & easy menu planner requires marinating for 8 hours. I don't think it's "perfect for those impromptu guests" as the section suggests.

The table of contents is a little sparse. It lists only the chapter heading, the "step by step" and "6 ways with" items. It's probably good enough, though. The index looks pretty good. It has lots of entries for ingredients as well as recipes.

Highly recommended for those who love finger foods and for those who like to entertain. I have a number of friends and neighbours who love to have people over. I'll definitely be recommending this book to them.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

Hors d'Oeuvres by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Eric Treuille, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2012. ISBN 9780756698362(Hardcover), 224p.

Curry Cuisine by Vivek Singh, Corinne Trange, David Thompson, Das Sreedharan, Mahmood Akbar and Sri Owen

Curry Cuisine presents curry recipes from around the world: India, Pakistan, South-East Asia, Thailand, and several outposts. It also offers information and history of the area as well as information about the ingredients used in that particular area of the world. The book also contains many large photographs.

I adore curries. However, my knowledge of them is limited. I had no idea so many existed, nor did I know that they came from so many different parts of the world. This book opened my eyes to so many possibilities. This is a terrific book!!

The book is organized into regional cuisines. There are sections for North India, South India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Maritime South-East (SE) Asia, Thailand, Mainland SE Asia and Outposts. Each section starts off with an introduction, followed by a section with a photograph, list, and explanation of the ingredients used in that area. This section is definitely one of my favourite parts of the book. Some of the ingredients used are either foreign to me or a little exotic, so seeing what they looks like or learning what they are before having to find them in a store, is invaluable.

The first time through the book, I read the introductions and looked at the ingredients all the while noting a few recipes I wanted to try. Mostly things I was familiar with. I also learned a lot. The second time through, I found a bunch more recipes for things I had enjoyed in the past and added those to the list. It seemed that every time I picked up the book, I either learned something new or found another recipe to try.

For the purposes of this review, I picked Chicken Tikka Masla (page 330) to try. It's from one of the outposts, Britain. I figured I might as well as start with something I sort of know. The chicken is marinated overnight in yogurt, lime juice and variety of spice and other ingredients. The creamy, spicy, tomato sauce is made the next day and combined with the cooked chicken. The process was a little long, but I think it was worth it. It didn't turn out perfect or exactly how I pictured, but it was pretty good nevertheless. The smell from the freshly roasted and grinded cumin and coriander seeds was heavenly. However, the whole dish was a bit too acidic and the chicken had a slightly odd texture. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs. That may have done it as I don't think breasts need as much tenderizing or marinating. Anyway, next time (and there will be a next time) I'll either use thighs or cut down on the marinating time and perhaps use a little less lime juice.

Other recipes I want to try are: Doubles (Bara and Curried Chickpeas), page 316, from the Caribbean; Khamiri Roti, page 146, from Pakistan; Murgh makhami (Old Delhi-style Chicken Curry), page 42, from Delhi and Punjab; and lots of others. They all sound delicious.

The table of contents is very detailed and lists all of the recipes in the section. However, page numbers are only given for major sections or countries within areas. That's okay, though, because the index is quite extensive and should help the reader find items in the book. The glossary is very limited and only covers some basics. However, there's a lot of explanations within the book itself, so this is too bad. It's still well-worth the read.

The book also contains a list of suppliers. Most are websites, but a few have actual brick and mortar locations. Unfortunately, these are mostly in New York City or California. I'm sure I can find most of these ingredients here, but it's good to know that online suppliers are available to fill in any gaps.

Highly recommended for curry lovers like me!

For more information about this book, please visit DK's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

Curry Cuisine by Vivek Singh, Corinne Trange, David Thompson, Das Sreedharan, Mahmood Akbar and Sri Owen, Dorling Kindersley (DK), ©2010. ISBN 9780756662073(Trade Paperback), 352p.

Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook

In Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook, the author presents recipes previously featured in the Hannah Swenson mystery novels as well as some newly created ones.

This is such a fun book! I haven't read all of the Hannah Swenson mysteries, but I have read a few of them. It's neat to see all of these recipes all in one place rather than scattered in the many books. There's a story running throughout the book and parts of it are presented before each section. It's sort of a novelized cookbook. Many of the recipes are for sweet tweets with only a few savoury ones. If you are familiar with the series, this shouldn't be a surprise as most of the recipes in the books (at least the ones I've seen) are sweet.

For the purposes of this review, I made one of the recipes, Lovely Lemon Bar Cookies (page 294). It turned out great except that I think I over-baked it a little. I've had lemon bars before, but I don't think they had lemon zest in them. The addition of it made the lemony flavour intense and wonderful. Yum. I'll definitely be making this again.

The end papers are awesome! They feature a map of Lake Eden with all of the points of interests labeled. There's The Cookie Jar, Hannah's Condo, City Hall and many more. I love maps and really appreciated this one.

Even though I enjoyed reading and flipping through this book, I did have a few problems with it. The author's note at the beginning mentions that recipes "written in mixed case and are preceded by an asterisk are new recipes". However, as far as I could tell all of the recipe titles were written in capitals. Some of the recipes in the book are preceded by an asterisk, but the mixed case was missing and misleading. I finally figured it out when I got to the end of the book and saw the list of recipes. In that list, the new recipes are written in mixed case. Perhaps the author's note should have been written differently.

The other thing that bothered me was the instruction for measuring flour. I've done lots of baking in the past and this is the first time I've seen the instruction "pack it down in the cup when you measure it" when it comes to flour. Brown sugar, yes. Flour, no. I'm not even sure what to say about it other than I find it very odd.

I would also have loved it if Fluke would have included a table of contents that at least listed the major sections. Without it, it's hard to find the various sections and the different parts of the story. I don't know anyone who reads a cookbook like a novel.  Also, for previously published recipes, a nice addition would have been a note stating which book the recipe appeared in.

Recommended for fans of this mystery series. I hope to make a few more recipes from the book before passing it on to a friend who's a huge fan of the mystery series.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the Kensington Books website.

For more information about the author and her other books, please visit the Hannah Swensen Mysteries website.

Thanks to those nice people from Kensington Books for this review copy.

Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook by Joanne Fluke, Kensington Books, ©2011. ISBN 9780758234971(Hardcover), 368p.

Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen: Cookin' for Trouble by Nadia Giosia

Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen: Cookin' for Trouble is a cookbook featuring seventy-five recipes from Nadia Giosia, the star of Bitchin' Kitchen on Food Network Canada. Besides the recipes, there's also tons of "Nadvice" as well as snippets from the other Bitchin' crew members: The Spice Agent, Panos and Hans.

This is such a fun cookbook. The recipes are unique and beautifully presented. The photography is outstanding. The organization of the book is a little different from other cookbooks in that the recipes are grouped by outrageous themes (Student Shkoff-Fest, Bitchin' Booty Camp Xtreme, etc.) rather than conventional ones. If you are at all familiar with Nadia, this won't be unexpected.

Each chapter starts with an introduction and a photo of Nadia in some outrageous outfit. No doubt about it, she's hot. Each recipe has an ingredient list ("grocery list") and equipment ("gear") to complete the dish. It's also written in Nadia-speak, as in "Shkiaffing it together". Don't worry if you that word is foreign to you, the book also includes an Italian slang dictionary that should help decipher some of the terms used.

The last chapter of recipes is a community chapter featuring recipes from fans selected in a nationwide contest. I like this community involvement angle. I wouldn't buy the cookbook just because of it (unless it contained my recipe, of course), but I think it's interesting.

Both the index and table of contents look good and should be helpful in finding recipes.

Both my husband and I watch the Bitchin' Kitchen on Food Network Canada and enjoy it. I love that I recognize a few of the recipes from that show.

I do have a few complaints about the book. My one major complaint is the lack of page numbers on every page. I like using the index and it's considerably less helpful if it's hard to find the page it lists. That's not cool.

My second complaint is about one of the recipes. I was planning on making "Chana Dhansak" on pages 31-33 for the purposes of this review. As it so happens, the episode (Veg Head Extravaganza) featuring this recipe was on not too long ago and I decided to watch it to get some additional tips. However, the episode left me confused. For the dhansak spice blend, the recipe in the book calls for 1/2 teaspoon of 7 different seeds and spices (plus varying amounts of other ones). However, on the TV show, Nadia used 1 tablespoon of those 7 seeds and spices. That's a *huge* difference. I also noticed some slight variations in the procedure as well, but that's not as concerning as the ingredient amounts. [By the way, the recipe on the Food Network site, matches the cookbook.] Anyway, I decided against making the recipe for the time being because of this. I know I shouldn't fault the cookbook because of the show, but I find it all a bit troubling.

I also had some concerns with the "Back-of-the-Fridge Bachelorfest" chapter. This chapter is supposed to "conquer the challenge of the bachelor fridge! The good news is that some of the tastiest dishes in the world are peasant dishes, so you don't need fancy-pants ingredients to make a good meal." Sounds great, right? However, these recipes include ingredients like a vanilla bean, Crana Padano cheese, Scamorza cheese, and 7-year-old aged balsamic vinegar. Really? In a bachelor fridge? I cook all the time and I don't even have these ingredients...haven't even heard of the cheeses.

Despite my complaints above, I plan to make some of the recipes at some point. I'd still recommend this cookbook for fans of the show and for those looking for an unusual and fun cookbook.

For more information about this book, please visit the Random House website.

According to the book, there are two websites for Nadia G. and Bitchin' Kitchen. However, I couldn't access either of them when I was writing this review. The first one was active at one time and contained some great stuff, but I don't know about the second one. Anyway, I'll list them here in case they come back online at some point. They are: bitchinlifestyle.tv and nadiag.com.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Random House for this review copy.

Bitchin' Kitchen Cookin' for Trouble by Nadia Giosia, Ballantine Books (Random House), ©2011. ISBN 9780345531827(Trade Paperback), 208p.

Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh by Emeril Lagasse

Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh features recipes focusing on fresh, organic and locally grown produce and ingredients. There's an introduction by the author, Emeril Lagasse, touting the benefits of buying fresh local ingredients while supporting farmers and their farmers' markets.

This book is filled with scrumptious recipes. While fruits and vegetables take up a lot of the book, there are other sections featuring dairy, poultry, fish and grains. Some of the recipes are very simple; other are more complex. The simple ones show that good fresh ingredients don't need a lot of preparation to make them taste good, while the complicated ones show the versatility of the products. It's all good.

As a test recipe, I made Roasted Brussels Sprouts (page 137). Basically, after the sprouts are crisp-tender and lightly caramelized and cooked you toss them with olive oil, garlic, lemon zest and Parmesan cheese. Can you say delicious? Anyway, we love brussel sprouts so I make them a lot. While I loved this version, I'm not so sure about my husband. He kept saying he liked them (he didn't want to hurt my feelings), but when I pressed him he said 'they were different' and preferred my own method of roasting them. That's his way of saying it's not a keeper recipe. I'll definitely be making them again when he's not around for supper. There are a few other recipes I want to make: Curry-scented roasted Cauliflower (page 140-141) and Creamy Spiced Rice Pudding (page 207) and a number of others.

With a book that features mostly fruits and vegetables, I bet it's a bit of a challenge on how to present them in an interesting fashion. Personally, I found the chapters, as well as their order, to be a little odd. For example, corn, beans and squash are lumped together in a chapter labelled "The Three Sisters". Nice, but why? I understand some of the other groupings (Nightshades, Cole Crops, Leafy Green), but not others. Dairy is presented at the beginning, while other non-vegetable chapters are at the end. A sentence or two in the introduction about the organization of the book along with an explanation at the beginning of each chapter explaining why these items were grouped would have been helpful.

It's a little hard to tell much about the photographs by looking at the uncorrected proof (which has them in B&W), but I can say that there are quite a few photos in the book, which is great. I love seeing photos of great looking food. Some of the recipes don't have any photos, which is ok for some of the simpler recipes, but not so good for some of the more complex ones. Some of the recipes are accompanied by a photo of an ingredient. Now I think green peppers are beautiful, however I'd rather have a photo of the finished dish (for example Sausage Stuffed Bell Peppers) so I know what the dish should look like.

The table of contents of this book is great. It lists all of the recipes in each chapter. The index wasn't included in this uncorrected proof. If it's created with the same care and attention as the TOC was, I'm sure it's going to be very useful.

Honestly, I don't pay much attention to buying locally. If I have a choice, I will buy veggies grown here, but that's not always an option. We really enjoy eating a large variety of fruits and veggies; a lot of those come from faraway places because they can't be grown here. We probably wouldn't starve if we only ate stuff that was grown within 100 miles of us, but our diet certainly wouldn't be as varied as it is now. Anyway, this book may make me more conscious of locally grown/raised food.

Recommended.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the HarperCollins Canada website.

For more information about the author, his other books and everything Emeril, please visit Emeril Lagasse's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins Canada for this book.

Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh by Emeril Lagasse, HarperStudio (HarperCollins), ©2010. ISBN 9780061742958(uncorrected proof), 304p (plus index).


Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.

For more information, see the Welcome post on Beth Fish Reads.

For other food-related posts this week, click here.

Martha Stewart's New Pie & Tarts

Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts is jam packed with recipes for just about every kind of pie there is. It offers "150 recipes for old-fashioned and modern favourites" from classics like pecan, pumpkin and apple to Vanilla Bean-Pineapple Tart(page 228) and Persimmon Tartlets with Caramel Cream (page 208). The back of the book focuses on basics, which includes tips and techniques as well as advice on ingredients and equipment. There are also some recipes for crusts and other common pie items.

From what I've seen, this is a pretty typical Martha book. Beautiful from the first page to the last and filled with mouth-watering photographs and delicious sounding recipes. When I first opened it up, I didn't want it near my kitchen lest something gets spilled on it. It took awhile, but I got over that. Then I got so wrapped up in reading it, I didn't ever think I was going to have time actually to make something from it. The photographs are so wonderful. Just when I thought I'd seen the most beautiful pie the next page was even more stunning.

I love that the two-page spreads features a recipe on one side and a large photograph of the finished product on the other. It's great that each recipe only takes up one page, but there's a downside to that. Some recipes contain references to other recipes or ingredients on other pages. For example, Poppy-Seed Tartlets with Lemon Curd (page 194) requires the baker to turn to three other pages to make the crust (page 333), lemon curd (page 339) and candied lemon slices (page 339). It's a bit of a pain, but I can live with it.

The book is filled with great tips and more recipes than I'll ever need. I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of crusts. If you play around a little with the crusts and fillings, you could probably make a different pie or tart every day and not run out of recipes any time soon.

My husband will be thrilled to see a recipe for grasshopper pie (page 250) which is one of his favourites. However, he's really attached to the old recipe; I'm not sure he's ready for this updated version that features coconut in the crust and fresh mint in the filling. It sounds yummy to me, though.

There are several pies/tarts in the book that piqued my interest:
Cheddar-Crust Apple Pie (page 138)
Chewy Chess Tart (page 150)
Rhubarb Crumble Pie (page 154) I'll have to wait until my rhubarb is up, which will be never if this weather continues the way it has been.
...one or two of the savoury ones.

For a test recipe, I used the Maple Nut Tart (page 272) with the Pâte Brisée crust (page 322). Think Pecan Pie with walnuts, pecans and maple syrup. [I tried to replicate the photo in the book. At least the layout is similar.]






















It was delicious, but I wasn't entirely happy with it. The crust tasted more store-bought (which I don't like) and less homemade (which I love). I did have a little trouble with the crust because our house is very dry (a typical symptom of winter). I had to add a little more water than the recipe called for and ended up working the pastry a little too much. It wasn't as flaky as I would have liked and I'm not sure how much my overworking affected the outcome.

I've made lots of pastry before. I used to use lard or vegetable shortening, until my husband's weird cholesterol and a trip to a dietician changed all of that. Now, I normally use Becel margarine, which works wonderfully well and makes a beautiful, light and flaky crust. The Pâte Brisée crust in the book calls for butter, which I purchased especially for this recipe. Since I don't usually use butter, I'm not sure exactly how the crust should turn out or how different it should be from my normal crust. Besides all of that, we enjoyed the pie.

I still have half of the Pâte Brisée crust in the fridge. I'm thinking a nice quiche for lunch on the weekend.

The table of contents is beautifully presented and the index is extensive. Both should aid the baker in finding items in the book.

Highly recommend, especially for pie and tart lovers. If you've enjoyed Martha's other books, I'm sure you'll enjoy this one too.

For more information about this book or to take a peek inside, please visit the Random House website.

For more information about the author and her other books and all things Martha, please visit Marth Stewart's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Random House for this review copy.

Martha Stewart's New Pies & Tarts by Martha Stewart, Clarkson Potter (Crown Publishing Group, Random House), ©2011. ISBN 9780307405098(Trade Paperback), 352p. (includes index).



Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.

For more information, see the Welcome post on Beth Fish Reads.

For other food-related posts this week, click here.

Bobby Flay's Throwdown! with Stephanie Banyas and Miriam Garron

Bobby Flay's Throwdown! is a companion cookbook to Bobby's TV show on Food Network. The book offers a selection of recipes from the show as well as information about the episodes. There's also an episode guide and a introduction written by the author.

This is a great book and a great companion to the TV show. Throwdown! has been around for several seasons, but I just started watching recently. The premise of the show is quite simple. Each week, Flay competes against another cook who has a signature dish and is well known in their communities for that dish.

In the book, each "episode" is introduced with information about the competitor (along with contact information) and the food. I especially love that both recipes are represented with the winner of the Throwdown! clearly marked. There are also large, clear, appealing photographs of the completed dishes and the competitors.

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet because I can't decide which one to try first. They all look so good. Another reason I haven't made anything yet is that these recipes are not simple. If you've familiar with Flay's recipes, you'll know that he loves big, bold flavours (as do I) and uses lots of ingredients or specialty ingredients to achieve get them. After I decide which recipe to try first, I'm going to have to go shopping.

The flyleaf invites readers to make both recipes and choose a favourite or to challenge friends and family in their own throwdowns. That might be kind of fun.

The table of contents is pretty basic. It lists the Throwdown! theme (i.e. lasagna) and the page number. The index looks good and should aid in finding the recipes. It not only has the recipes under the name, but also under different categories. For Cheesecake, can also be found under "cakes". There are also some ingredient categories, such as coconut, lobster, black beans etc, under which recipes are listed.

Highly recommended. I'm definitely going to get good use out of this cookbook.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the Random House website.

For more information about the author and his other books and activities, please visit Bobby Flay's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people from The Recipe Club on Facebook for holding a giveaway and for sending me this book. For more information about "The Recipe Club", see their Facebook page or their website.

Bobby Flay's Throwdown! by Bobby Flay, Clarkson Potter/Publishers (Crown Publishing (Random House)), ©2010. ISBN 9780307719164(Hardcover), 272p.

Cook's Country: Best Grilling Recipes

Cook's Country: Best Grilling Recipes features more than 100 recipes for those who like to cook outdoors using a charcoal or gas grill. There are recipes for: real BBQ (items cooked low and slow), steaks, burgers, chops, ribs, poultry, roasts, seafood and side dishes...just about everything you can put on a grill. Also included are recipes for accompaniments such as sauces, butters, salsas, relishes, mayonnaises and pickles. Besides the recipes, the book is filled with tips and tricks for successful grilling as well as an introduction that covers a range of topics that include: lighting the grill, tools and how to avoid mistakes.

This is a great cookbook. I loved that each recipe has directions for both gas and charcoal grills. Many of the recipes also include an explanation of the recipe's (or ingredient's) origin and the steps the editors took to arrive at this particular recipe (usually through testing, testing and more testing.)

I loved all of the sidebars that were scattered throughout the book. These feature techniques with great photos, shopping and product suggestions, as well as lots of other interesting tidbits of information.

While I loved this cookbook, it might not be for everyone. Those interested in cookbooks with lots of glamorous food photos may find it a little lacking. This one is pretty light on photos compared to others I've seen. It is, however, heavy on explanations. It would be perfect for those interested in recipe origins, techniques and ingredients. Of course, anyone looking for some awesome grilling recipes to try out this summer will not be disappointed. With all of the testing that goes into each of the recipes, you can be sure it's going to work the first time.

The one thing missing is a dessert section. I know that some dessert can be made on the grill so I would love to have seen some recipes included in this book.

A great cookbook would not be complete without a great index. I find that I really don't appreciate an index until a book has a limited one or a badly organized one. For me, it's invaluable when it's done right; next to useless when it's done wrong. In this book, it's done right. You can look up recipes by their names, by the main ingredients or by the type of dish it is. For example, I can find the recipe for "All-American Potato Salad" by using its title, under the potato listing, or with the other Salads. Priceless.

With the nice weather just around the corner, this cookbook will be well used in this household.

Recommended.

For more information about this book, please visit, America's Test Kitchen Bookstore website. For recipes and other cool stuff, visit America's Test Kitchen website or Cook's Illustrated website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins Canada for this book.

Cook's Country Best Grilling Recipes by the Editors at America's Test Kitchen, America's Test Kitchen, ©2009. ISBN 9781933615424(Uncorrected Proof), 244p(including index).