I think that the cold rainy weather, the fact that it’s Monday and our Christmas decorations call for a Pioneer Woman snack fest.
Of course, there’s never a bad time for nachos. Especially when you make them like Ree.
I’m taking a cue from my amazing friend Tanya’s blog and showing you some great recipe books you’ll be glad you bought when you taste how yummy the food is.
- Top Chef: The Cookbook - $21 - This cookbook is an absolute must-have if you’re a fan of the show. Even if you’ve never seen the show, though, it’s got delicious recipes on every page with a glossy photo to match. The recipes are a bit harder than some (with some hard-to-find ingredients), but it’s worth it when you cook something that won a Quickfire challenge on the show!
- Great Food Fast: 250 Recipes for Easy, Delicious Meals All Year Long - $17 - This is one of my favorite Martha Stewart cookbooks. I gave it such good reviews that Ellie bought it as well and has had great results with the recipes too! Keeping with my decision to never buy a cookbook unless it has a photo for each recipe, this has great photos accompanying each dish and separates out meals and sides for each season, if you decide to buy ingredients from a farmer’s market or CO-OP. Some of my favorite dishes are the Risotto with Peas & Zucchini, the Greek-Style Lamb Burgers, and the Pesto-Goat Cheese Pasta.
- America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook - $25 - My mother-in-law saw me spying her copy and bought me my own and it is truly fantastic. First, it’s published three-ring-binder style so you can easily flip through or remove the recipe you are cooking from the book for easy access. Second, it has more tips and tricks than one cook could ever possibly need. Want to poach the perfect egg? Covered. How long do you cook meat? That’s there too. This is the ultimate cooking handbook.
- Nigella Express: Good Food Fast - $25 - I don’t have a lot of time to devote to cooking by the time I get home from work (no four hour roasts for me!), so any cookbook with “fast” in the title is a winner. Nigella’s delicious, decadent recipes are shockingly easy to put together and this book-with a photo per page and tons of personal ancedotes-is my favorite of her’s.
- The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl - $15 - THIS BOOK IS RELEASED TOMORROW. I am so excited about this book, I can’t even tell you. Ree has saved my butt so many times with her quick and easy and OMG-DELICIOUS recipes. She uses a stick of butter in everything and salt galore, but it’s all worth it in the end when you sink your teeth into her fabulous food. To tie you over until you get your hands on a copy of this cookbook, check our her personal cooking blog and her MSN recipe website Tasty Kitchen.
Here are some of my additional cooking tips:
- Wear an apron. Oil spatters, messy hands—an apron solves all these problems. And you know how impossible it is to get oil stains out of clothing!
- Check the time. One of the hardest aspects of cooking multiple dishes is timing them to serve. Check all the estimated times of your recipes before starting and if you happen to finish one dish long before another is ready, keep it covered, on a low burner or slightly warm oven.
- Don’t be intimidated! If a recipe calls for a prepared ingredient that you aren’t sure how to “prepare,” just do a quick Google search. A good example of this is leek preparation. They are hard suckers to clean, but a quick web search will help you get them ready.
- Print off recipes you find online. It’s annoying to run back and forth from a laptop to the oven—and it’s even more annoying if you spill something on the computer. Use paper! It’s cheaper!
- Get a sous-chef. It’s much easier when preparing difficult recipes to have a helper cut and prepare veggies or sauces. That’s when my husband Brandon comes in handy! He may not be great at grilling a steak, but he’s fantastic when it comes to peeling potatoes for a side dish!
- Crispy Yogurt Chicken
- Fluffy New Potatoes
- Both from Ree’s website, The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Brandon and I are cooking together tonight and I’ve got him hooked on Ree’s fantastic recipes.
I happen to have all but three of the ingredients for the above two recipes on hand, so it’s a quick stop at Safeway and then we’re good to go!
One note: we’ll be using boneless chicken instead because Brandon dislikes eating meat off the bone.
Looks yummy!
The Tasty Planner homepage.
It's easy to find your Meal Planner.
Some recipes I added.
These synced automatically with iCal!
Pretty easy and handy!
I’ve visited Tasty Planner before, but never signed up—well, today was the day. I’ve been looking for a great website or app that will allow me to add recipes, sync with my calendar and provide grocery lists and menus. It’s harder to find than you might think! (Any suggestions are welcome, by the way.)
Some final thoughts after using it to plan a couple days of menus:
- It seems a little static—there’s not much user activity, which is too bad. It definitely does not have the community feel that AllRecipes or Tasty Kitchen have.
- Adding recipes is easy and quick. I added recipes from other sites that I’ve had my eye on because I couldn’t find any right away on Tasty Planner that appealed to me.
- Once you’ve added a recipe, you can either add it to your Meal Planner or to your Recipe Box. I added mine to my Meal Planner, because I knew exactly what days I wanted to make which recipes.
- The Meal Planner syncs with iCal! That makes the website completely worth using to me.
- The Shopping List print-out is fairly accurate, easy to read and makes grocery shopping so much easier (and cheaper).
Do you have any favorite tech-y methods for saving recipes and creating menus?
Daily Recipe : Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas
This year, I want to mix it up a bit and add in some new dishes to our delicious family Thanksgiving classics. The turkey and pie are off limits though—that’s my dad’s territory!
- Brandon’s-Way Mashed Potatoes (Photo from Martha Stewart) — Brandon’s mashed potato recipe has lots of butter, heavy whipping cream and a couple other secret ingredients. So delicious!
- Sauteed Sweet Potato & Spinach — A great twist on yams.
- Kale with Garlic & Cranberries — Lots of leafy greens in this dinner! Kale is my second-favorite green (spinach takes first place). The cranberries will add a nice flavor.
- Brussels Sprouts Vinaigrette — I know my mom doesn’t like brussels sprouts, but I’m going to win her over with this.
- Green Beans with Vinaigrette — Green beans are a Thanksgiving staple, but usually in casserole form (blech). I’ll make them fresh and tasty with this mustard-infused recipe.
- Mashed Potatoes & Turnips with Pear Puree — This is a little more intense as recipes go, but I may forgo the pear puree and simply make it without.
- Glazed Squash — Need I say more?
Do you have any suggestions for delicious, new Thanksgiving dishes?
Daily Recipe : Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil & Goat Cheese Salad from Epicurious.com
Oh man. Look at that deliciousness just ready to get eaten fast, fast, fast! Pumpkin is most definitely the flavor of the fall season and I’d never think to add it to a salad, except perhaps in seed form. This is much easier to make than you’d think, and you’re sure to impress all at the table with your skills.
I’m totally making this for a Thanksgiving appetizer!
When I studied abroad in London during my junior year of college, I made this Jamie Oliver salad…a lot. More nights than not, actually. It’s cheap, it’s satisfying, and it combines three things that I really, really love: potatoes, avocado, and lemon juice.
BOILED POTATO, AVOCADO & CRESS SALAD
Cut up peeled potatoes (new potatoes are best, but you can use any kind you like, really) into chunks and boil in salted water until tender.
Cut up an avocado as you like - slices or chunks are both fine.
Toss the potato and avocado in a large bowl with a couple large handfuls of cress.
Dress with a couple of glugs of olive oil, the juice from an entire lemon (less if you don’t like it too lemon-y), salt, and pepper, if desired.
Looks so delicious! Get in my belly!
Holy Heart Attack!
Ree has a cookbook coming out on October 27, y’all. This is gonna be on my Christmas list for sure.
Daily Recipe : Tapenade Tarts by Ishanahan
This recipe looks to-die-for yummy and is so easy (and cheap) with only four ingredients to add to your shopping cart. Also great if you have unexpected company since you can whip it up in about 20 minutes.
