Milk_Maid's Profile

From: Davenport, FL USA

Joined: March 24th, 2011

About me: I grew up in a home with a dad who did most of the cooking but rarely used recipes. Many a time I've had to call him and ask, "Dad, how do you make...?" My mom, who cooked mainly when my dad was out of town, taught me the very useful breakfast-for-dinner trick, which I still use today when I'm cooking solo. I tend to favor recipes with budget-friendly ingredients and pantry staples. I have a hard time buying a specialized item that I will only use once, and will usually pass over a recipe requiring such a purchase. I'm also not above substituting for or eliminating a recipe component if I don't have it on hand. Most hated ingredient: bell peppers.

Favorite cookbook: The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

Favorite recipe: Old-Fashioned Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Black Bean Quinoa Salad with Basil Lemon Dressing from My Recipes

This recipe made enough salad to feed an army. Luckily, with a bit of doctoring, it was also quite tasty. I substituted butter beans, since I don't care for limas, but otherwise followed the recipe closely.... read more >

recipe reviews (31)
book reviews (1)
useful review votes (24)

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Milk_Maid's Reviews

Cookbook Reviews

1 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 1Sort by: Rating | Title

The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

By Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Cook's Illustrated - 2009

I am loving this cookbook, in large part because it has inspired me to cook! The recipes are clear and detailed, and I have yet to come to a "what does THAT mean?" moment in preparing a dish. Everything I've made so far has been good to wonderful and I'll will likely return again in the future to the recipes I've already tried.

I will say that the book seems a bit meat heavy. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but I am more drawn to the dishes where meat is an accent and there's an emphasis on veggies or pasta. This is due largely to budgetary constraints, and the fact that I'm only cooking for two people. A large cut of meat is not something we regularly indulge in, except for special occasions. Of course, that could change. My husband is a huge fan of the TV show (the cookbook was actually HIS Christmas present!), and he's more likely than I to prepare the meat dishes, and the things requiring grilling (I think he's got a secret crush on the lady who does the grilling on the show!).

The index has served me well so far, though I've seen complaints about it online. I will say that at least two recipes we've wanted to make from the TV show were NOT in the cookbook, despite claims that every recipe since 2001 is included. There's no Huli Huli chicken (delicious, by the way) or St. Louis-style cracker crust pizza (from the Cook's Country show, which probably explains its absence from this book).

Overall, I am super pleased with this cookbook and I anticipate using it for years to come. Thanks, ATK!