Food. Glorious Food. I will admit something to you right now – I love new cookbooks. I find them inspiring to try new recipes, new tastes in my mouth and challenge me to be more creative in our menus.
This month, DK Canada has a mouth watering offer for you in its Food & Drink Boutique with numerous cookbooks and other kitchen related books at a special price of 30% off.
To highlight this fun boutique, I have received three titles to present you.
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About the cookbook
A fresh approach to American fare, The American Cookbook features more than 150 classic recipes with a gourmet twist.
Innovative variations elevate tried-and-true classics like mac and cheese, fried chicken, and apple pie. Modern ingredients spruce up old favorites like meatloaf, chicken soup, and coleslaw. International flavors turn regional cuisine on its head, reflecting the rich culture and history of classic American food.
Perfect for foodies or fans of comfort food looking for interesting alternatives, The American Cookbook uses simple, step- by-step sequences to make cooking classic dishes easy and fun.
My Thoughts
This cookbook is celebrating the eclectic, exciting, and bold flavors of the American cuisine. We visit the U.S. often with our kids and every once in a while we try to expose them to the particularity of the American cuisine. But this cookbook will allow us to explore more recipes from our neighbours and discover 150 recipes from the classic American dishes on a new level. This cookbook will allow you to innovate the tried-and-true classics like mac ‘n’ cheese, fried chicken, and apple pie with variations, explore modern ingredients to spruce up old favorites like meatloaf or chicken soup as well as incorporate international flavors which makes the America cuisine full of rich culture and history.
The table of contents is presented in a way that will allow you to find recipes depending of the meal you want to prepare:
- Starters, Soups and Salads
- Breakfast and Light Bites
- Mains and Sides
- Desserts
- Baking, Candy, and Preserves
Throughout the book, you will find pages dedicated to a specific section of the U.S. like the Northeast, the Southeast, the Southwest, the Midwest, and the Pacific Northwest. These pages will provide insightful information about the region, highlight the foods and flavors, and include some of the main recipes of that area. Also, some recipes in the book will suggests variations on how to make a recipe different for a new meal you might plan.
The pictures included in this cookbook are mouth watering to the point that you just want to jump in the car and get the ingredients that you are missing at home to make the recipe. Though this cookbook is presenting American recipes, I think it is a useful resource to have at home particularly during the summer months when you plan barbecues and picnics with the family. This cookbook will inspire you to try something new whether the traditional way or with the variations suggested in some of the pages.
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Vegetables Please – The more vegetables, less meat cookbook
About the cookbook
Vegetarians, meat-lovers, and anyone seeking to add more vegetables to their diet will all find inspiration in this vegetable-centric cookbook.
Vegetables Please: The More Vegetables, Less Meat Cookbook presents more than 200 vegetarian recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, proving that home chefs don't need to include meat to make a delicious and satisfying meal. Readers will also discover helpful produce tips, quick ideas for vegetable basics, and even advice on which meats could pair well with certain dishes.
My Thoughts
When you start thinking about vegetables, you either react badly to it or wonder why you are always stuck on the same veggies all the time. I used to have an aversion on certain vegetables like brussels sprouts for example. But that was before I met my husband and he cooked some that were simply delicious. Besides, everything goes well with salsa.
Anyhow, when I saw this cookbook in the Food and Drink Boutique at DK Canada, I knew that it would be a good cookbook to have around simply because it was solemnly dedicated to vegetables. With over 200 delicious and satisfying recipes which put vegetables as the star attraction, I was sure to be able to find some that my family would like to try. This cookbook is ingenious in a way because not only would it appeal to vegetarians but it give great side dish ideas for those of us who like meat and seafood. Talking about meat and seafood, this cookbook also suggests the meat, fish or seafood that could be great to accompany the dish you are planning to do.
The table of content of this cookbook is simple yet very useful:
- Pantry Essentials – This section will introduce you in all the things that could be useful to make the recipes included in the cookbook.
- Recipes – In here, you will find the recipes in the following meals: soups and salads, pasta/noodle/rice, pan-fries and fritters, curries/stews/casseroles, pizzas/wraps/quesadillas, tortillas/frittatas/omelets, tarts/pies/turnovers, grills and bake, pestos/pickles/salsas/dips.
- Techniques – This section will teach you to slice, dice, seed, peel, pummel, and knead your way to culinary perfection with these essential step-by-step-techniques. Beautiful photos give you a great visual on how to do things.
You will also find marvelous photos on the final results of some of the recipes. Also throughout the book you will find pages with the title starting with the words “Four Ways with…” that will introduce new ways of cooking with specific vegetables like mushrooms, asparagus, potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, eggplants, and onions. I find it is always nice to have new ideas when dealing with vegetables.
So this summer, while celebrating the abundance and diversity of fresh, seasonal produce, why not also explore new recipes like the ones included in the Vegetables Please cookbook? You can be sure that you will get a balanced diet while trying out new veggies.
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About the Cookbook
Curry Cuisine is an authoritative, invitingly illustrated, and completely hands-on guide providing simple cooking methods and tips from some of the world's most celebrated chefs. From mild to fiery hot, and from Malaysia to Northern India, the recipes provide home cooks with authentic and delicious dishes.
My Thoughts
The main reason why I requested this book to review is because my husband enjoys curry food. Personally, I don’t favor it as when at a restaurant I would probably take something that is not curry based. However, I have learned the importance in trying new food and training your taste buds in getting used to certain flavours so why not getting a book where I can experiment from the comfort of my own home new tastes from recipes based on curry. The recipes of this cookbook will introduce fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. You will learn the tips and tricks of top chefs and experts on cooking with curry and creating authentic, taste-tingling dishes at home.
Beautiful pictures highlights this cookbook. However, I am a bit disappointed that not all recipes have a picture of the final product. When I cook, I like to know what it is supposed to look like. But even though this cookbook doesn’t meet my criteria on “show me the end result” I have to admit that the cookbook is well organized. The taste travel of this recipes are organized by country and then regions of the country. Let’s explore the table of contents so that you can visualize what I mean.
- North India – In this section of the book, you will explore recipes from Rajasthan, Delhi & Punjab, Lucknow & Awadh as well as Bengal.
- South India
- Pakistan
- Myanmar & Maritime – This section will highlights recipes from Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines
- Thailand
- Mainland Se Asia – This section covers recipes from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
- Outposts – This section will present recipes from Africa, Caribbean, Britain, and Japan.
Right now the section that is most interesting for me would be Thailand as I just love the meals from that country. I look forward to try out new recipes from Thailand but I am also willing to explore other countries in order to expand my personal preferences when I go out for supper with my husband. The pictures included in the book are mouth-watering to say the least and even my own kids are expressing desire to try new recipes from this cookbook.
If you love curries and would like to learn how to cook with these fabulous spices, I strongly recommend the cookbook Curry Cuisine for you.
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All the cookbooks presented in this post are available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.
Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned titles for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
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