Sunday, July 17, 2011

The America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook Review

We all have a "go to" cookbook.  One we use all the time.  One we know that no matter what we make it will a) work and b) be delicious.

This is my current "go to" book for cooking:

My sister introduced me to The America's Test Kitchen years ago.  If you haven't heard of the series on PBS you should check it out.  It's great; entertaining, informative and educational.  She recently bought this book and then made several recipes from it for us when she was here visiting. My mom bought it and bought one for me.  I've been cooking out of it several times a week for a month. So far everything I've made from it has been good.  Really good.  And don't let the "Healthy" part throw you.  The recipes don't sacrifice taste for health. 

You may have seen my sister and I messaging page numbers on Facebook of what we've tried and liked.  I guess we have been raving so much about it we've already peaked the interest of my aunt and cousin because they just ordered it, too. 

Just like the show this book is filled with tips and tricks and reasoning behind the cooking methods.  It's tabbed dividers make it easy to find what you are looking for and the photos are super helpful.

The one downside to a lot of these recipes is that they involve a lot of chopping and if you have kids at home like I do it may mean you spend nap-time doing food prep.  The end result is worth it to me but I did think it's worth mentioning.  

Here are some of my favorite's so far:

* Southwestern Black Bean Salad (I could eat this every.single.day.)
* Vegetable Enchiladas (supposedly my sister made these for a "meat-eating" friend and they said they wouldn't have known there wasn't meat in it if they hadn't been told)
*North African Style Chick Pea Salad
*Baja Grilled Fish Tacos
*Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

I originally titled this post:  The Next Cookbook You Should Add To Your Collection.  I would recommend it to anyone.  You can get it here.  If you do buy it I'd love to know what your favorite recipes are. You can post here or message me a page number on Facebook :).