Review: Recipes Across America

Taste of Home Recipes Across America: 735 of the Best Recipes from Across the Nation

About the Book:

Whether sinking your teeth into crispy Southern Fried Chicken, enjoying a Philly Cheese Steak or sampling a slice of Ozark Mountain Berry Pie, you simply can’t beat the comfort of iconic American foods. Now, it’s easier than ever to sample the flavors of the country with Taste of Home Recipes Across America.

This keepsake collection offers 655 recipes that deliver regional flair from all 50 states. Grill up a fiery Southwestern barbecue, stir together a little Texas Caviar, host a New England clam bake or share a Chicago deep dish pizza! You’ll find everything from no-fuss snacks and quick supper ideas to weekend menu items and impressive desserts…each of which left a delicious mark on its part of the country!

Divided into five regions (Northeast, South, Midwest, Southwest and West), Recipes Across America offers all the mouthwatering specialties enjoyed by locals, including unforgettable dishes featuring regional produce. You’ll even discover ethnic favorites passed-down through generations of cultures who established roots in various cities throughout the nation.

As a bonus, you’ll enjoy fun food facts and folklore sprinkled throughout the pages. (For example, did you know that Chef George Crum of Saratoga, NY is rumored to have created the potato chip after a customer complained about the chef’s fried potatoes?) There are even colorful photos and notes regarding regional landmarks, infamous restaurants and more.

With so many recipes, photos and kitchen tidbits, Taste of Home Recipes Across America makes it a snap to take your senses on a culinary vacation you’ll cherish for years to come.

My Comments:

I'll be doing another post on this book showing the recipes we've tried and letting you know what we think about them.  This is strictly about the book itself, which is a winner.  It is hard-covered and stays open easily. The paper is nice quality and there is a color photograph to go with each recipe.  The recipes themselves are generally easy to make and use ingredients commonly found in the pantries of ordinary people and in your local grocery store.  

Each page has a feature called "dishing about food".  From those little boxes you learn such gems as the fact that blackberries grow wild in the Ozarks, that spaetzle dumplings are German dumplings which can be served with butter or caramelized onions and gravy or can be tossed into soup.  My maternal grandmother was a German-Russian and I found a German-Russian recipe for Runza, which appears to be like a homemade hot pocket.  It is on my list to try.  The book also contains numerous photos of buildings throughout the US along with a note describing them.  

I'd like to than FSB Media for making a review copy available.  Stay tuned to learn what I cooked and how we liked it.  Grade:  A. 

Review: Lipstick in Afghanistan

Lipstick in Afghanistan

About the Book:

Roberta Gately’s lyrical and authentic debut novel—inspired by her own experiences as a nurse in third world war zones—is one woman’s moving story of offering help and finding hope in the last place she expected.

Gripped by haunting magazine images of starving refugees, Elsa has dreamed of becoming a nurse since she was a teenager. Of leaving her humble working-class Boston neighborhood to help people whose lives are far more difficult than her own. No one in her family has ever escaped poverty, but Elsa has a secret weapon: a tube of lipstick she found in her older sister’s bureau. Wearing it never fails to raise her spirits and cement her determination. With lipstick on, she can do anything—even travel alone to war-torn Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11.

But violent nights as an ER nurse in South Boston could not prepare Elsa for the devastation she witnesses at the small medical clinic she runs in Bamiyan. As she struggles to prove herself to the Afghan doctors and local villagers, she begins a forbidden romance with her only confidant, a charming Special Forces soldier. Then, a tube of lipstick she finds in the aftermath of a tragic bus bombing leads her to another life-changing friendship. In her neighbor Parween, Elsa finds a kindred spirit, fiery and generous. Together, the two women risk their lives to save friends and family from the worst excesses of the Taliban. But when the war waging around them threatens their own survival, Elsa discovers her only hope is to unveil the warrior within. Roberta Gately’s raw, intimate novel is an unforgettable tribute to the power of friendship and a poignant reminder of the tragic cost of war.

My Comments:

Ever since 9/11 Afghanistan has been in the news.  Unfortunately, the news has rarely been good.  The news has been especially bad for women and the place has the reputation as being one of the worst places to be a woman particularly.  Lipstick in Afghanistan is the story of an American nurse who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Boston who was moved at the plight of refugees she read about in the news.  She volunteered with an aid group and was sent to Afghanistan where she works alongside an Afghani couple, both of whom were physicians.  She makes friends with some locals, and with some American soldiers stationed in the area.  As readers we see the life of the women of Afghanistan through the eyes of Elsa.  

I enjoyed the book, but the ending left me unsatisfied.  Perhaps I'm not brave enough, or perhaps I haven't been in a position of just being sick of all the restrictions on me, or maybe I haven't become immune to the horrors of war or the dangers of it, but I just found the climax scene  unrealistic.  I'm surprised the women put themselves in that position. I'm surprised that things happened like they did.    I don't want to say more because I don't want to give any spoilers.  Still, the book is a worthy read and I'll give it a B. Thanks to FSB for sending me review copy.

Book Review: The Shortest Way Home

The Shortest Way Home: A Novel

About the Book:

Sean has spent twenty years in Third World war zones and natural disaster areas, fully embracing what he’d always felt was his life’s mission. But when burnout sets in, Sean is reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts, the setting of Fay’s much-loved Shelter Me. There, he discovers that his steely aunt, overly dramatic sister, and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own. When he reconnects with a woman from his past, Sean has to wonder if the bonds of love and loyalty might just rewrite his destiny.

My Comments:

If I offered you a chance to know your future, would you take it?  Most of us aren't offered that opportunity in any reliable way, but some are.  A prenatal test can tell you that you will spend the next years caring for a special needs child, or the next  months mourning a child who will not live long after birth.  A test for Huntington's Disease will tell you if you are going to develop a progressively debilitating disease, a disease that is genetic, a disease for which there is no cure, a disease for which there are no symptoms until you middle-aged, a disease that will kill those who have it.  Sean's mother died of Huntington's so there is a fifty percent chance that he has it.  Should he get tested?  Sean was one of three siblings, none of whom have chosen to know for sure what the future hold,

I won't pretend to know what it must be like to know that disease is in your family.  Sean was old enough to remember his mother and her illness.  He decided to live his life fully before middle age.  He had a vasectomy so he would not transmit the gene (if he had it) to any offspring.  He chose a career as a nurse to disaster areas--famine victims, areas hit by earthquakes, war zones.  He'd stay in one place a while and then head to the next place that needed him most.  At first he thought it was a calling from God; now he isn't sure God exists.  He is burned out and heads back "home" to decompress, and when he gets there he is forced to take a look at where his life is, has been and where he wants to be in the future.  He again has to decide whether to take "the test", though he realizes he is now older than his mother was when she got sick.

This is a story about a family.  It is a family that is not normal by most people's standards, and much of that abnormality can be blamed on Huntington's but they also have much more common challenges--aging elders, teens who don't fit in, those who feel trapped by family obligations, divorced adults who have become estranged from their children.  When Sean gets home he has to make a choice--does he stay and get involved in the messiness of the lives of his family or does he head off to the next disaster to deal with the messiness of the world?

Sean is Catholic; at least nominally so.  He is going through a crisis of faith in this book, but the book is not really religious fiction.  It asks far more questions than it answers.  

Sean's nephew suffers from sensory processing disorder.  In short, he has very sensitive senses and the input from them can overwhelm him easily. He hates being jostled, smells in the school cafeteria overwhelm him and he refuses to wear socks.  While Kevin in not autistic, he shares many traits that go with autism and the book has some good information on this condition.

I'd like to thank Leyane Jerejian  at FSB Media for sending me a review copy of this wonderful book.  Grade: A.  

You can view a video trailer here.

For Discussion:

As noted above, Huntington's disease is a progressive genetic disease that generally ends up killing those who have it.  Everyone has the gene on which Huntington's is carried.  If your gene has a particular defect, you get the disease.  In order to get the gene with the defect, you must have a parent with that gene, and if you have the gene there is a 100% chance you'll develop the disease if you live long enough.  Symptoms do not appear until middle age, generally somewhere between 30 and 50.  In short, you are not at risk for the disease unless one of your parents has it, and if one of your parents has it, there is a 50% chance you do.  There is now a test that can be given to those at risk to determine if they have the gene.  If you watched a parent die of Huntington's disease, would you get tested?  Sean and his siblings decided not to -- they didn't want to know for sure if they were going to get it.  Other people want to know.  If the test is negative, they can live a normal life and not worry about the gene.  If it is positive they know they don't have to save for retirement, they know they need to do what they want to do early in life because late isn't likely to come.  They may want to forgo having kids.  What about  you, would you want to know?

Cookbook Review: Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook

Taste of Home: Cooking School Cookbook: 400 + Simple to Spectacular Recipes

About the Book:

No matter what you crave, cook it with confidence with taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook! Whatever your skill level in the kitchen, you will learn step-by-step techniques and discover new favorites with more than 400 best loved recipes and over 600 full-color photos from our expert instructors. Create a memorable game-day-get-together with nacho dip, hot wings and yummy pizza. Master the grill with succulent ribeyes, monster stuffed burgers and a whole salmon fillet that’s a real showstopper. Whip up sumptuous holiday meals with all of the trimmings from citrus-rosemary rubbed turkey with artichoke stuffing to chipotle sweet potatoes and caramel apple trifle. The Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook features delicious dishes from breakfast to lunch to dinner and including dessert, of course.Sample recipes include:

• Eggs Benedict Casserole
• Brie Phyllo Cups
• Sweet-Tangy Wings
• French Onion Soup
• Lemon Chicken Tortellini
• Taco Lasagna
• Roasted Chicken with Oyster Stuffing
• Sizzling Ancho Ribeyes
• Creamy Parmesan Spinach
• Chocolate Mousse with Cranberry Sauce
• Easy Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie

Contemporary topics are comprehensively explored with techniques ranging from simple basics to true wow-factor recipes. Each recipe has been tasted and reviewed in the Taste of Home test kitchen, plus there are over 140 practical, proven tips from our Cooking School experts—so you’ll enjoy perfect results every time.

My Comments:

This is a cookbook for people who have to cook dinner every night, not necessarily for gourmet cooks.  In making the recipes in this book, you will not need to go to the fancy gourmet food store to buy ingredients, you will not dirty every pot you own, and, if you have the basic cooking supplies usually given via wedding showers, you will not need to buy new kitchen equipment that you will never use again.  You will not spend all day in the kitchen and, if you can read and follow simple directions, you will not end up with a failed dish.

As far as ingredients go, I'm a pantry keeper.  I keep a large variety of staples in my house so that I can cook what I want when I want.  If I want to try a new recipe, it is best if it uses things I usually have on hand; if it needs something else, my preference is that it use a purchased unit of it--in other words, I don't mind buying a leek for a recipe, but use the whole leek, not a sliver of leek.  Spices that I'll never use again if we don't like this dish make me hesitant to try things; more than one of those spices practically guarantees I won't try a recipe.  I decided to look up the recipes above and see if I could make them with what I had in the house or by buying something that would be pretty much used up with the recipe.  I found:

• Eggs Benedict Casserole--yes
• Brie Phyllo Cups--yes
• Sweet-Tangy Wings--needs 2 teas. fresh gingeroot, 1/2 cup apricot jam
• French Onion Soup--yes
• Lemon Chicken Tortellini--needs 1/2 small sweet red pepper, 2 teas. lemon peel
• Taco Lasagna--yes
• Roasted Chicken with Oyster Stuffing--yes
• Sizzling Ancho Ribeyes--yes
• Creamy Parmesan Spinach-- needs 1/2 c whipping cream, 1/8 teas. red pepper flakes, 2/3 cup croutons
• Chocolate Mousse with Cranberry Sauce--needs 11/2 cup whipping cream, 1/3 cup light corn syrup, 1/3 cup cranberry juice, 1teas. lime juice
• Easy Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie--needs 5 cookies, 1/3 cup Junior Mints (of course the left-over extras here won't mold in the back of the fridge).

If you are familiar with the Taste of Home magazine or website, you are familiar with the types of recipes and ingredients used (yes, they use condensed soups, packaged seasonings and packaged stuffing mixes).  The book is printed on reasonably heavy glossy paper and each recipe has a color photograph of it.  Besides recipes there are quite a few sidebars that give "how tos" on various cooking techniques.  There are pages about basic needed kitchen equipment and on using herbs and spices in cooking.  The book lays open  well, making it easy to actually use as a cookbook.  

I'd like to thank FSB Media for providing a review copy.  Grade:  A.

I'll be back soon with more posts about this book.

Other Taste of Home Books: