jherb's Reviews
30 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 30Sort by: Book Title 
| Date | Rating | Recipe Title
Bonnie Stern's Essentials of Home Cooking
By Bonnie Stern
Random House Canada - 2003
We like to make this in the summer. It's good with barbecued meat. We have only ever made it with edamame (fresh soy beans). Definitely use fresh corn if available. Lots of fresh ground black pepper is good, too.
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I love risotto, and this is a good one to make in the summer when fresh corn is available. The chipotle flavoring is essential, as the recipe is somewhat bland without it (having tried it that way). Also, the smoked mozzarella is an absolute must.
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This is a great recipe for kids who love macaroni and cheese. We have made it with different types of pasta (rotini, gemelli), and have substituted the cauliflower and broccoli with boiled and mashed butternut squash. The squash adds a lovely orange color and sweet flavour without being overpowering.
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C is for Cooking: Recipes from the Street
By Susan, M.S., R.D. McQuillan, Sesame Workshop
Wiley - 2007
I rather liked this soup, but my husband found the peanut flavour too overpowering. I don't think my kids even tried it! If you make it for adults then I suggest you pump up the chili powder. Some cumin might be nice, too.
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Canadian Living's Best Vegetarian Dishes
By Elizabeth Baird
Random House Canada - 1997
This is a great pasta dish because it basically covers all the bases so it's super-healthy (and relatively fast to make). There's your veg: onion, carrots, potato, and spinach (though I've done it without spinach). There's your protein: pasta, kidney beans and parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano is best). It sounds TOO healthy, but it tastes great! Even my six-year-old will eat it.
Oh yes, and you don't have to make it with shell pasta as the recipe suggests - I've used fusilli and rotini.
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This is more of a stew than a soup, which is fine with me. It's a nice, hearty dish for a cold day. I found that it could use more rice (1 cup instead of one half). Also, I substituted marjoram for the dried mint, as I didn't have any. A little cumin is also nice. (I shall have to try it with fresh mint, now that I have my own mint plant.) It calls for one can of tomato sauce, but I also added some tomato paste to bring out the tomato flavour even more. The yogurt garnish is a must. Delicious!
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Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
By Jessica Seinfeld
Collins Living - 2007
I made this with my 4-year-old. She did ask what the green stuff was (a cup of pureed broccoli) but I just said, "Green stuff." She didn't say anything about the half-cup of pureed carrot. There are a lot of spices (ginger, allspice, cloves) to mask the broccoli (I presume) so it smells like pumpkin pie while it's baking. Not a bad thing... Both my girls loved it! My older daughter took it school for a snack. I thought it was fine, especially with a slice of old cheddar, but my husband thought it could use raisins. I will definitely make it again.
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Everyday Food
(March, 2006)
The chicken thighs are perfect for this recipe - very moist (keep the skin on!) and succulent. The carrots and cauliflower are delicious cooked in the chicken juices and spices. You can also use different vegetables like parsnips, beets, etc. I like that you can just whip this recipe together and throw it in the oven and just have one pan to clean up.
NOTE: The high cooking temperature is important. The recipe's "Roasting Tips" are very helpful.
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Everyday Food
(December, 2003)
Very yummy! We used dried cranberries instead of cherries - I think they're most easily available and less expensive. These cookies are definitely not too sweet, but my kids still gobbled them up. Easy to make and you can keep the dough in the freezer (up to 3 months) until you need more.
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Everyday Food
(October, 2003)
This is a very easy cake to make - chocolaty and moist and quite elegant in appearance. If you want a great birthday cake for a chocolate lover, this is one to try.
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Everyday Food
(Mar/Apr, 2003)
This is one of our absolute favourites! The meatballs are delicious and we make it using whole wheat spaghetti. I recommend making the sauce from scratch, but you could also use bottled tomato sauce. The meat balls (uncooked) also freeze very well. Form the meat balls on a baking tray and put the tray in the freezer. When the balls are frozen, place them in a Ziploc freezer bag. You can add the frozen meat balls to other pasta sauce as well.
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Everyday Food
(Jul/Aug, 2003)
The recipe makes a nice, firm turkey burger. We usually don't include the scallions. These burgers (uncooked) freeze really well, and can also be used in pasta sauce.
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Everyday Food
(May/Jun, 2003)
This crisp is great when made with nice, fresh local rhubarb - one of the treats of summer. Excellent with ice cream on the side! Don't cut back on the sugar!
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The main problem that we had with this recipe is that the shredded carrot didn't cook very well at all. We made large shreds - perhaps smaller shreds would have been better. But I'm not really inspired the try the recipe again any time soon. Perhaps carrot shreds don't cook well in muffin tins...
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The Good Friends Cookbook
By Fare for Friends Foundation
Key Porter Books - 1993
This is a GREAT soup. The fresh lime is essential. We make this soup at least once every winter. Very quick and simple.
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This is a wonderful, hearty winter dish - especially if you love bacon. The only major comment is that it takes longer to cook than indicated. Mind you, we don't have a stove-to-oven casserole, so everything is transferred to a oven-proof dish before it goes into the oven. It takes over an hour in the oven - not 45 minutes as the recipe suggests.
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How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised 10th Anniversary Edition): 2,000 Simple Recipes for Great Food
By Mark Bittman
Wiley - 2008
It's amazing how easy it is to make this - and it tastes better than the usual store-bought hummus.
I would suggest using a food processor, as I nearly gave my blender a heart attack. It can be quite thick and gluey.
I cooked dried chick peas using the quick-soak method (page 411) - boiling for 3 minutes then soaking for 2 hours, then I put the chick peas in a slow cooker (with more water) for about 4 hours.
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Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006
By Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker
Scribner - 2006
This is a great rice dish to go with refried beans or quesadillas. I have made it before without the bacon - but the onion and the canned tomatoes are essential. If you don't have an oven-proof skillet or casserole that you can use on the stove top, then you can saute what you need to in a skillet and combine with the rest of the ingredients in an oven-proof dish with a lid. But keep in mind that it will take a bit longer to finish cooking that way.
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Moosewood Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1992
This is one of my favourite pasta sauces. It is very rich and chunky. I usually use brown sugar instead of honey. Sometimes I add the fresh parsley and sometimes I don't. Sometimes we add some meat - usually we have a supply of frozen raw turkey burgers (homemade). It's easy to part-thaw one, chop it up, and add it to the sauce. Another vegetarian alternative is to chop up and add a Moneys Mushroom burger or two.
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These refried beans are excellent in quesadillas. I usually throw the 2 cups of dried pinto beans into my slow cooker with some boiling water. They take about 4 hours or so to cook. The cooked beans are very soft and easy to mash up. In the past, I've used 2 tbsp. of cumin rather than 2 tsp. Don't forget the fresh garlic! Yum!
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This is a great recipe to use up lots of veggies at the end of the summer when they are cheap! We used to go to a farm stand in early September and get enormous eggplants, bell peppers, etc. Don't omit or skimp on the spices. Great with olives, which are optional. I haven't tried the spicy version yet.
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We keep this dressing in a glass jar in the fridge. My husband likes to use a grainy Dijon mustard. I prefer to use maple syrup instead of honey. It's a good idea to have a good quality red wine vinegar (or other flavored vinegar) on hand if you want to make dressings from scratch.
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This recipe is VERY healthy sounding, but it is surprisingly tasty. Good for using up any dried soy beans you have sitting around in the cupboard. The feta is essential. Also, it might be good with a few chopped Kalamata olives. It would be interesting to find out if it freezes well.
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More HeartSmart Cooking with Bonnie Stern
By Bonnie Stern
Random House Canada - 1997
This is an excellent, hearty meal. It's almost perfect as it appears in the book. We sometimes substitute other beans for the navy or white kidney beans recommended, but they have to be mild or they affect the flavour. Romano beans are quite good, but we found black eyed peas to be too strong. We often skip the red pepper flakes as they're too hot for the kids, but splash some Chipotle Tabasco sauce in the adult bowls for a nice bit of heat!
This isn't really a classic, creamy risotto, but more of a hearty, stick-to-the-ribs dish, perfect for cold evenings.
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This is a great dish to make for dinner (or lunch) on a hot summer day. I have substituted quinoa for couscous and fresh fava beans for chickpeas. Also, regarding the dressing, you can get away with not using any chipotle or hot sauce, though it is nice with a bit of spice. I also substitute the honey (or molasses) with maple syrup.
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The chicken recipe is easy to prepare and very tasty (good for summer-time barbecue). Make sure to use orange juice concentrate - not regular orange juice. I must confess that we have yet to make the garlic couscous.
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I LOVE this meatloaf! (Can also be make with ground Turkey). Excellent with mashed potatoes and green beans (or peas). It also freezes very well. Make two and freeze one. I have fond memories of eating this (from frozen) as a new parent.
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Very good, and simple. A nice way to use up some left-over chicken. I couldn't find savory so I used a bit of extra thyme.
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The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Risotto
By Pamela Sheldon Johns, Chuck Williams
Free Press - 2002
I love a good mushroom risotto! For this recipe, we used dried porcini mushrooms and for the fresh mushrooms we used crimini (brown). The main flavour of the dish is overwhelmingly mushroom, so if you don't happen to have fresh thyme you can get away with dried. And it probably won't matter too much if you don't add the dry white wine, either.
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This is a wonderful dish to make in the fall. It is a beautiful egg-yolk yellow and tastes amazing. We ended up halving the recipe, as the full recipe called for 7-8 cups of stock and 3 cups of rice. A half recipe makes about 4 full servings.
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