BeckyL's Reviews
101 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title | Date | Rating 
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Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes
By Sam Zien
Wiley - 2008
This is a great, simple recipe. It turns out perfectly every time that I make it. You can't go wrong with such a simple side.
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YUM! This is simple and cheap to put together. Pairs well with just about anything, especially in place of traditional cole slaw side.
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Make It Italian : The Taste and Technique of Italian Home Cooking
By Nancy Verde Barr
Knopf - 2002
This is one of my favorite comfort pasta dishes in this book. I've tried both variations and found them each to be equally fantastic depending on what veggies you have in the house and what you're in the mood for. Easy to make as well.
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Excellent vegetarian lasagna. This does not use traditional red sauce, but it's fabulous anyway. Easy to put together and bakes up great.
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Easy and inexpensive salad option that tastes great every time. Warning, though, do not dress too early or the arugula will begin to wilt. Prepare and serve immediately.
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Cooking With Cajun Women: Recipes and Remembrances From South Louisiana Kitchens
By Nicole Denee Fontenot
Hippocrene Books - 2002
These are amazing! Everyone loves them. My grandmother says they're the closest recipe she's found to what she remembers having as a child.
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Living Raw Food: Get the Glow with More Recipes from Pure Food and Wine
By Sarma Melngailis
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2009
These were fantastic. Vegan and raw, and full of flavor. The salsa itself can be used in many ways.
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Vegetables Every Day: The Definitive Guide to Buying and Cooking Today's Produce With over 350 Recipes
By Jack Bishop
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2001
Bishop gives excellent directions, especially for the base of this recipe -- Roasted Beets. They can be used in so many other dishes once you get this method down, and it couldn't be easier.
This is still my favorite way to eat beets, though, with just a little olive oil and sherry vinegar.
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Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals
By Jamie Oliver
Hyperion - 2009
Excellent. Again, Oliver gives instructions that are simple to follow so that your dish turns out exactly as you'd expect it to. So often, I've tried to make roasted veggies and come out with the wrong texture and very little flavor. Not at all the case here.
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THANK YOU, JAMIE OLIVER! I have never in my life successfully made an omelet. Each and every attempt has become scrambled eggs until now. This is the best set of instructions for making the perfect omelet that I have every come across.
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The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine
By John D. Folse
Chef John Folse & Company Publishing - 2004
I have yet to make the oyster accompaniment to this dish, but the soup is utterly wonderful. I use fresh mushrooms from the farmers market, in season, and dried, rehydrated mushrooms when they're not. Turns out great either way.
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We have frozen crawfish tails (Louisiana farmed) flown to us so that we can make this. It's a favorite amongst all of our friends. Don't be intimidated, it's super easy to make as long as you follow Folse's instructions, which include making the roux. Simple.
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A Louisiana favorite! Another dish that may seem intimidating, but as long as you do what Folse says, it will turn out great every time. You can play with the main proteins a bit, as this is essentially a paella style dish.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
These were amazing! I made them for Superbowl Sunday and they were a HUGE hit. They were pretty easy to put together and cheap to make a ton of them.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Oh, man! These are amazing! They are a bit time consuming to put together, but they're rich and flavorful. Very worth it!
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
I've never attempted brisket before. Now, this is not a bbq brisket, but rather more of a roasted brisket. It came out fantastic! It was much easier than I'd expected cooking a brisket to be. Perfect if you're looking for something to feed a large, hungry crowd. It does take time to prepare, however.
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Tyler's Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time
By Tyler Florence
Clarkson Potter - 2006
I was a bit intimidated by this recipe at first. Some of the ingredients were things that I hadn't used before and I couldn't find Thai Bird Chiles to save my life. I substituted another kind of chile and found the recipe to be pretty easy to follow. The dish came out amazing. We served it with a coconut rice and it was heaven.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
As soon as the mushrooms hit the pan of hot butter, I knew these were going to taste amazing! Pretty easy to put together, but I'd recommend doubling the recipe since they tend to go fast!
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
These crostini are truly wonderful and completely addictive! Couldn't be simpler either. I used a fresh, homebaked loaf of bread and all of the actual pesto ingredients go right in the food processor.
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Website: Savory Spice Shop
This is one of my favorite dishes. Serve it with Cinnamon Lemon Couscous.
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Website: Savory Spice Shop
This is another absolute favorite of mine. I buy Savory Spice Shop's spicier jerk and make these with ground turkey. They are amazing and you absolutely have to make the Grilled Pineapple Avocado Dip to go along with it.
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Website: Savory Spice Shop
I make this as an accompaniment to the Jamaican Jerk Burgers. This dip is just as good as an appetizer with tortilla chips, but the cool pineapple and avocado cut the heat of the jerk burgers so well, you just have to try them together.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
These are amazing. Super easy, super tasty, and my new favorite way to eat kale.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This really is the simplest apple tart ever! And it tastes so good.
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Website: JamieOliver.com
Summer is soon arriving and this is one my favorite recipes for salad. I use it as a guide for making my own versions, but the dressing is always the same.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
I've been having high altitude issues with my usual banana bread recipe and decided to try something different. Ree's recipe (her mom's actually) has sour cream in it, which I figured would solve one of my problems: dry banana bread. I was so right! This one is rich and cake-like and super moist inside.
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Website: Homesick Texan
www.homesicktexan.blogspot.com
This New Orleans style BBQ shrimp is soooo good. Super easy instructions to follow and pretty quick to put together, too.
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Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals
By Jamie Oliver
Hyperion - 2009
This dish is amazing. So simple and so rich! If you're a big fan of cheese, you definitely have to try this out. The mix of the garlic and rosemary with the oozy camembert over pasta is comfort food at its best.
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Mighty Spice Cookbook: Fast, Fresh and Vibrant Dishes Using No More Than 5 Spices for Each Recipe
By John Gregory-Smith
Duncan Baird - 2011
The filling on these is reminiscent of a dish I had at an "authentic Mexican" restaurant in Austin recently. The meat is well seasoned and I love that this is a great alternative to the same old stuffed peppers recipe I've been using for ages. I almost think the meat could use a little sweet addition (maybe some raisins).
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Oh, my. This is fantastic! Granted, the dumplings are not the plain dough dumplings my grandmother made (but don't tell her!). These are seasoned drop style dumplings and the cornmeal adds a wonderful texture!
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Wow! Burgundy has got to be the best marinating liquid ever. I've now had steaks and these fabulous mushrooms soaked in the stuff and I can't even begin to describe how amazing.
These mushrooms take a bit of planning, but they are so incredibly worth it!
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Website: The Food Network
I never would have thought to combine these ingredients in a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, but they work together so wel!
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Website: Boulder Locavore
The tomatoes alone would make a great side dish. This was so good, I'm a bit ashamed to say that my husband and I polished off an entire pie crust's worth. We ate it as a main and I used leftover tomato filler on a salad.
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Website: The Food Network
Jeff Mauro really captures all the classic gyro flavors in this simplified Greek pita "taco." We added a little extra spice by making a harissa hot sauce to go with it.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I've been trying to add different sides and salads to our meals and came across this one after purchasing an abundance of peppers at our local farmers market. The capers add the perfect tang to the dish. An excellent and easy salad option.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
This pesto sauce is rich and creamy -- super easy for a quick dinner when you don't want to mess with something that has a lot of steps. Leftovers don't hold up so great -- I find the sauce tastes best while it's still warm.
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Sam the Cooking Guy: Just a Bunch of Recipes
By Sam Zien
Wiley - 2008
These are great appetizers. The one thing is that you must use the puff pastry sheets. I've had a hard time finding them and have tried to substitute both phyllo sheets and crescent roll dough. Neither works as good as puff pastry sheets.
Also, if you can find the HP Brown Sauce (a UK condiment) to use in place of steak sauce, it's a real treat.
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I was looking for something easy for a New Year's Eve party and these were perfect. I was, of course, leery about the grape jelly, but the meatballs turned out super tasty.
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Make It Italian : The Taste and Technique of Italian Home Cooking
By Nancy Verde Barr
Knopf - 2002
I love this simple soup. Others find the egg a bit strange, but on a cold day with just the basics in the cabinet, this is perfect!
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This is a great alternative to pasta salad when you're looking for a warm weather pasta dish. The raisins add an interesting element that I really enjoyed.
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Definitely one of my favorite ways to serve broccoli.
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'wichcraft: Craft a Sandwich into a Meal--And a Meal into a Sandwich
By Tom Colicchio, Sisha Ortuzar
Clarkson Potter - 2009
As breakfast sandwiches go, this is a great combination of flavors to get you going. One of my favorites that I actually had the pleasure of having in the restaurant itself.
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Cooking With Cajun Women: Recipes and Remembrances From South Louisiana Kitchens
By Nicole Denee Fontenot
Hippocrene Books - 2002
This sweet dough recipe is just like my grandmother's. Use it as a base for all kinds of sweet dough pies.
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Living Raw Food: Get the Glow with More Recipes from Pure Food and Wine
By Sarma Melngailis
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2009
This is a totally vegan, raw candy. They actually turn out very well and have a great amount of flavor.
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Vegetables Every Day: The Definitive Guide to Buying and Cooking Today's Produce With over 350 Recipes
By Jack Bishop
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2001
Though the artichokes require a bit of time and handling, this recipe is well worth it if you aren't in a hurry. Super tasty and great flavor combination.
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Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals
By Jamie Oliver
Hyperion - 2009
I've never had Yorkshire Puddings before. I was a bit intimidated, but they turned out magnificently.
We ate them as a side with our Traditional Beef Roast.
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With Jamie's easy-to-follow instructions and pictures to help you along the way, I don't think anyone could mess this recipe up.
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Admittedly, I had to make a few substitutions with this recipe since I didn't have exactly the ingredients called for. It was excellent, though, so I've no doubt that with the appropriate ingredients, this breakfast dish is to die for.
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The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life
By Ellie Krieger
Taunton - 2008
I was surprised at how great these turned out. I followed everything exactly and was pleased with the seasonings and the flavors. Very tasty and healthy to boot.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
This was a really easy salsa to put together. The flavor was pretty good -- I tend to like things saltier than most recipes and haven't quite adjusted that balance here, but otherwise it's really a great salsa.
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