It’s been a while since I have reviewed a cookbook! I haven’t been interested in using just one lately. There’s a large chance that I accidentally obtained a few more too. 😉 And by chance, I mean, we went to book sales and I was unsupervised in the used book store…

For this cookbook, it took me a while to make the recipes I wanted to try, so they’re spread out over a month or two.

The recipes weren’t hard to follow, but they did have multiple steps and some required specialty ingredients.

This one is Michael Symon’s Holiday Mac And Cheese Casserole. It called for a full pound of bacon, half and half, marscapone cheese, Guyere, and butternut squash.

I had my doubts about the cheese sauce, as it was looking pretty runny, but it thickened up in the oven. I watered down cream for the half and half and used marscapone and a shredded cheddar jack blend. We didn’t enjoy the butternut squash in it at all. I have added squash before and it was fine, but this time it was gross. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too rich! I would make it again, but remove the squash.

This is General Tsao’s Chicken by Clinton Kelly.

It was a pretty quick dinner to make. The recipe had a lot of steps, but they all went quickly. I left out the broccoli for the Husband and made it on the side instead.

I’m not entirely sure I made it right. I think it was supposed to be crispier? It tasted good though. Definitely adding more sauce next time would be good. The rice was a little dry without it.

We tried Carla Phall’s Peach Cobbler. It was alright, but I thought it needed less crust and more seasoning. We ate it with churro flavored ice cream, which made it good. I don’t know if I would make it again. It smelled lots better than it tasted.

We also tried her fried Chicken Recipe. Oh man.. It was probably the best thing we tried out of the book.

We used drumsticks and thighs for it. The breading was slightly too salty for me, but the Husband loved it. The chicken sat in a dry rub for most of the day and then got dipped twice in a seasoned flour mix. It was tasty! The Husband ate it voraciously and declared me “the best wife ever.” Of course, now he wants more of it. 😄

I can’t find a picture, but we also tried the Turkey Meatball Subs by Mario Batali. I don’t remember thinking they were the best thing ever, but I think they were pretty good. If I were going to use them again, I would use less panko crumbs. They were kind of bready. I used homemade Spicy Scillian Pasta sauce instead of making a new batch. We also used turkey Italian sausage instead of the pork. It’s probably a safe bet that if I cannot remember them, I won’t be making them again.

Overall, it’s s good cookbook. The instructions are generally clear. It is arranged seasonally, so you do have to think of that when trying to find recipes. There are little hints and tips, plus the behind the scenes info about the show that are neat to read. It also fits nicely in my cookbook holder.

There are a few recipes that I still want to try. Soda bread, whoopie pies, and a potato leek soup are next on my list. I will be holding on to this cookbook for a bit yet, I think.