Tacos, Quesadillas, and Burritos

Tacos, Quesadillas, & Burritos
Written by Laura Washburn
published at Ryland Peters & Small

About the book

If you think tacos are greasy, unhealthy fast food – think again. In her exciting new book, Laura Washburn will show you that tacos are so much more than minced beef and grated cheese in a crispy shell; they include fresh, tasty ingredients that are good for you. Tacos, burritos and quesadillas hail from Mexico and traditional recipes generally involve long- simmered meat or poultry, topped with crispy vegetables, wrapped or sealed in a soft flour or corn tortilla and served with a dollop of spicy salsa. It is street food par excellence and as the trend has grown, so have the options for fillings. This book offers a collection of recipes for taco, quesadilla and burrito fillings, with a good selection of contemporary twists to get you hooked on the taco-making and eating craze. Ideas for Tacos include Chipotle Chicken and Ancho Chilli- Roasted Butternut. More substantial Burritos include Chorizo, Bean and Pepper or Chicken Mole. Quesadillas are perfect for sharing – try a Ham and Egg Breakfast Quesadilla. Also included are ideas for Sides & Salsas as, often, a taco is only as good as the extra bits you add to it, such as Guacamole, Tomatillo Salsa and Baja Slaw.

My Thoughts

We love Mexican food.   Anytime we can make some we do.   But sometimes the problem is that we are always doing the same recipes.   So when I saw this title I didn’t hesitate one minute and requested it to review.  This book is small and sport a hardcover binding.  The book contains four sections appropriately titled Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas, Sides + Salsa.  

In it you will find recipes to help you create different types of tacos, burritos, quesadillas as well as salsa and side dishes for your Mexican meal.   Each recipe comes with detailed instructions and list of ingredients as well as a mouth watering picture of the dish completed.  Whether the recipe is for breakfast, lunch or supper time, you will have ideas to develop new flavours in your mouth and discover a new side of Mexican dishes. 

The book is a perfect idea for the cook in your life as a stocking surprise or to encourage your family to expand their taste buds in 2013.    I challenge you to try something new during the new year – why not new Mexican recipes with Tacos, Quesadillas, & Burritos?

Tacos, Quesadillas, & Burritos is available at your favourite bookstore, even amazon.ca and amazon.com.

    

Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Allen for sending me the above mentioned product 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.

Garden Notes

Garden Notes
Published at Cico Books

About the Notebook

Are you planning on starting your first vegetable garden, or a veteran vegetable grower? Whether you're looking for a place to plan your plot layout and crop rotations or somewhere to record the results of experimenting with different seed types or varieties, Garden Notes is here to facilitate your every need. With a specially designed seasonal growing diary for planning out your year of planting, tending and harvesting your crops, and blank pages for sketching new plot configurations or scratching down ideas, this journal will fast become an invaluable companion in the garden. Also included is helpful advice on planning a vegetable patch, where to plant and when, and a 12-month planner – all the bits and pieces that will make you the most organized gardener on the block!

My Thoughts

Gardening is something we would like to do more.   Right now, our backyard is not prepared for such an activity.  I would love to start this year but I don’t think it will happen.   However, I know that my husband is also interested in becoming a bit more self-sufficient with a veggie garden.   

So when I saw this Garden Notes I was curious to see how someone can use a notebook to keep track of their garden plans. Illustrated with vintage images of seed packs and drawing of vegetables and flowers this cute notebook will make your gardening dream a reality.   The book starts with the plot information which help you to note the location, dimensions, soil type and direction of the sun.   You even have some special sheets of paper to plan the plot – what will you plant where kind of thing. 

Chapter two will make you dig into the planting pages – flowers, trees and shrubs, herbs, fruit as well as vegetables.   You have all the pages necessary to jolt down the information about them.

Flowers: Keep track of your annuals, perennials and bulbs with the name, variety planted, seeds sown, germination period, seedling planted out, location and more

Trees and Shrubs: What kind of tree/shrub have you planted lately?   Keep track of it with this notebook.  You can store the name, variety planted, date planted, pruning and more.

Herbs: In this section you can track the name, variety planted, seeds sown, germination period, seedling planted out.   I suspect that we will use this section more because we love having herbs.    We are eyeing cilantro as one of the main herbs we would like to have this year.

Fruit: Oh!  I so wish I would have enough space in my backyard to plant a fruit tree.   This section will help you keep track of the fruit name, variety planted, pruning and harvest.

Vegetables: Root vegetables, legumes, brassicas, salad leaves, onions, and other vegetables are covered in this section.  Once again, you can track their name, variety planted, seeds sown, germination period, seedling planted out and harvest.

Finally, there is a weekly diary for the whole year where you can jolt down anything about your garden – invading insects, birds that came to visit, what you did to protect the garden. 

Also included in this notebook, you have a Keeping Organized section which allows you to write down the visits you have done to other gardens, an address book of the places where you can purchase plants,  and a section to write down the useful gardening websites you have found on the internet.   They even included a plastic sleeve to insert the seed pouches you want to keep.

Garden Notes is probably a great tool for a gardener.    You would have everything under one book.   If you know someone who loves to garden, think  how useful this book might be for him/her.    Wouldn’t it be a great gift for that person?  Though I doubt we will build a garden this year for specific reasons, I am keeping this book close by because when the times come I will be ready for our first year of gardening!

Garden Notes can be found everywhere where you can buy journals and notebooks.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes from Thomas Allen. 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.

Popcorn Treats

Popcorn Treats – delicious recipes for savoury snacks & sweet treats
By Hannah Miles
Published at Ryland Peters & Small

About the book

Too long hidden away in dark cinemas, popcorn is a treat that's ready to take a leading role! And on hand to give this humble kernel a star makeover is the wonderfully creative Hannah Miles, who shows how popcorn can be dressed up in a riotous variety of fabulous flavours!

Sweet nibbles range from classic Butter Toffee to indulgent Raspberry and White Chocolate. For those who prefer Savoury flavours, the Pumpkin Seed, Chilli and Thai Spiced varieties are all great healthy snacking options. But it is the Gourmet flavours that are not to be missed: try Margarita, Black Truffle or Salted Caramel popcorn for a truly decadent treat. Or simply combine this favourite snack into other treats such as Cookies, Cupcakes or Lollipops for the best of both worlds. The possibilities are endless and the preparation is simple, so join in the fun and start popping!

Who is Hannah Miles?

Hannah Miles was a high-flying legal eagle working for a top City lay firm when a friend emailed her with details of a “dream cottage” in the Bedfordshire countryside.  Instantly besotted with the thatched stone cottage, Hannah and her husband ditched London life and headed for their rural idyll.  In 2007, Hannah competed in BBC television’s hugely popular MasterChef programme, in which she won the hearts of the nation and the adulation of the judges: John Torodo said of her: “I think Hannah is one of the most naturally gifted cooks I have seen in a long time.”  One of the three MasterChef finalists, Hannah’s food career has since taken off, though she still also practices law.  She has a monthly column in Country Kitchen and Country & Town House magazines, writes for delicious magazine and continues to make both television and MasterChef Live (Good Food Show) appearances.  She is the author of Milkshake Bar, Mini Cakes, Sundays & Splits, The Gluten-free Baker and Whoopie Pies, all published at Ryland Peters & Small.

Our Thoughts

When I saw this title in the catalogue of Ryland Peters & Small, I immediately thought that my husband and kids would love it.   Why?   Well, popcorn has a place of honor in our house for snacks.    I was looking forward to discover the fun recipes included in this little book.     In this out-of-the-ordinary cookbook (after all it is all dedicated to popcorn!), you will find sweet popcorn recipes which will calm your sweet tooth, savoury popcorn recipes which will open up a whole new world of flavors, popcorn treats recipes which will incorporate popcorn in desserts as well as gourmet popcorn recipes which will expand your taste buds in your mouth.

There are many recipes that caught our eye while we flipped through it.  The first reaction of my husband was: “Cool! Something different…”   Once everyone had gone through the book to check out the recipes, we agreed to try out the Banana Maple Popcorn.

Banana Maple Popcorn

This popcorn ingredients are essentially: banana chips, butter, maple syrup and popcorn kernels.   After putting part of the banana chips in the food processor and crushed them in a fine powder and melting the butter with the maple syrup in a pan, you pour all of it on the freshly made popcorn and include the rest of the banana chips.   The recipe is easy to do – even my oldest son could do it.   However, I am uncertain of the result.   The popcorn taste different – more sweet – but the texture is bizarre as the butter has shrunk the popcorn when I poured it.     Maybe we just are a family who are not enjoying sweet popcorn that much…

Crumbled banana chips.

Maple syrup with butter.

The final product.

The next recipes we will more than likely do is the paprika smoky bacon popcorn as well as the thai spiced popcorn.   And one of my boys really want to try to popcorn nachos topped with tomatoes, avocados and cheese.  The picture looks fabulous so we will more than likely try it as well.

Each recipe has a photo of the final product which is a wonderful thing because I like to see what the recipe should be looking like in the end. 

I think this little recipe book contains interesting recipes and that there are a wide range of them to please any popcorn lover.    If your family loves popcorn but is a bit tired of the regular popcorn that you eat every time you make some, I would suggest that you try out the Popcorn Treats cookbook.  You might find a new favorite for your family!

Popcorn Treats is available at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes from Thomas Allen. 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.

Nature Notes

Nature Notes
Published at Cico Books

About the book

Spending time outdoors is one of life's greatest pleasures – and now you can keep a note of all the wonderful animals and plants you encounter on your adventures with this excellent journal. Using the specially designed pages you'll be able to note down all those exciting sightings – which birds, animals and insects you spotted and where – and make a wishlist of nature hotspots to visit, so you can be organized and get the most out of your time spent outdoors. There are enough pages to record a whole year of trips into nature, with both lined and blank pages for notes, drawings, plant pressings and bark rubbings. The journal includes special pages to press your flowers. Also included is a pocket and plastic sleeve to store anything small you might collect, from feathers to leaves – all the bits and pieces to help you remember all those special walks.

My Thoughts

I love nature.   Plain and simple.   The peace that can surround you when you watch a yellow finch going from branch to branch or the discovery of robin’s eggs in a nest is the best kind of all.    And this year, I have decided to lead my kids in the exploration of nature that surround us either at home, at the campground or in expeditions.   

I was debating on how we would track our discoveries.  With four kids, I am sure that they will want to have their own notebook to sketch or color what they see as well as make notes of their own.   But I wanted to have a family note book of some sort.   When I got the opportunity of review books from various publishers distributed by Thomas Allen, I carefully selected some of the titles I would like to have.   Imagine my delight and excitement when I saw the Nature Notes in one of the catalogues.   I loved the cover and knew this would be perfect for our family!

This was one of the first book I opened up when I received my delivery.    As I suspected, the Nature Notes is a guide to keeping a nature journal.  Translation for me: A perfect tool to get in the habit to write in a nature journal.  Ideal for beginners!   (which we are in a way…)

You will find three chapters in this notebook – Birds, Insects, and Animals; Flowers, Plants and Trees'; and Nature Walks.   You can write in it with specific lines like date, where you were, special features, route taken, and best moments.   You can also sketch what you see if you want to take the moment to do so.    The journal also includes a plastic sleeve at the back to store specimens as well as blotting paper for drying your flowers later (I wish there were more of these in the journal!).  

The size of the journal is perfect to carry with you in a backpack.   Although it is strongly suggested to bring along the following items when going on a nature walk – pen, pencil, coloring crayons, ruler to measure the finds, magnifying glass, binocular, camera, reference guides, mason jar to transport insects and small things to study, a spray bottle to spray things and see greater details (Great idea!).

I’m totally excited to start our explorations and find what nature can reveal to us.    I will definitively bring this notebook with us when we go outside and discover the great world God has made for use to enjoy.  Experience something new this year, learn to appreciate nature and don’t forget your nature journal to take notes about your discoveries.    

Nature Notes can be found everywhere where you can buy journals and notebooks.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review purposes from Thomas Allen. 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.