Showing posts with label beginners guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beginners guide. Show all posts

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Sabbat Entertaining: Celebrating the Wiccan Holidays with Style Review

Sabbat Entertaining: Celebrating the Wiccan Holidays with Style
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It's so wonderful for the Earth religions to have a crafty entertainment manual of our own! There is terrific information on each of the 8 Sabbats, with recipes, crafts, games and more. The recipes are all vegetarian but could be adapted if one wanted to use meat. The crafts will make beautiful centerpieces, and the awesome cross stitch patterns for each of the Sabbats could be used separately to make something for each Sabbat or together to make a "Wheel of the Year" sampler. I am using them separately to have a towel for each Sabbat. The projects are described beautifully and with lore to make them even more meaningful. The author's tone is also as lovely as the projects inside. I recommend this book highly!

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Share Wiccan traditions with friends and family!- Finding and Lighting the Yule Log- Imbolc Ice Candles- Ostara Painted Eggs- Dancing around the Beltane Maypole- A Festive Light Midsummer Barbecue- Lammas Harvest-Time Pillow Packet Sachets- Mabon Acorn Cookies- Skull Pinatas for Samhain- And much moreGorgeous Color Photos and Illustrations Throughout--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Cooking Know-How: Be a Better Cook with Hundreds of Easy Techniques, Step-by-Step Photos, and Ideas for Over 500 Great Meals Review

Cooking Know-How: Be a Better Cook with Hundreds of Easy Techniques, Step-by-Step Photos, and Ideas for Over 500 Great Meals
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This comprehensive cooking tome focuses on techniques and then builds on the techniques with ideas for hundreds of meals. The authors take you step-by-step through 65 master recipes with 325 instructional photos.
For some, the step-by-step instructions might be too long--perhaps a bit too precise and a little overwhelming. But others may view this extensive offering as a means to answer all the questions one might ask a cooking teacher as they walk you through a recipe and technique. Call-out boxes give general information relating to the recipe. For example, in the "Filet Mignon and Other Red-Meat Medallions with a Pan Sauce" section, call-out boxes explain the three main temperature points for beef and other red meats; what a filet mignon is (even how to pronounce it); and the definitions of blue, rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, and well done.
There is one factor that makes //Cooking Know-How// stand head and shoulders above the crowded cookbook shelf: Following each recipe or technique is a chart with eight additional recipes for similar items. For instance, in the case of the Filet Mignon recipe, it is followed by eight different filet mignon and other red-meat medallion and sauce combinations. Variety is the spice of life, and in the charts one finds variations on the master recipe. Not only will you learn how to make enchiladas, but you will also learn recipes for eight different kinds of enchiladas. For anyone who loves to cook with variety, this is cooking heaven!
//Cooking Know-How// sets a new standard for cookbook organization, presentation, and depth of knowledge. What some skilled cooks may view this as too much information, the novice will appreciate the educational value of the thorough particulars. The charts which follow each master recipe are worth the weight of the book, and definitely worth the cost.
Reviewed by
Jamie Engle

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Eating in: The Official Single Man's Cookbook Review

Eating in: The Official Single Man's Cookbook
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I bought this book in 1996, and it was my introduction to the culinary arts. I truly didn't start using it until 1999, when I found myself in an apartment without roommates. This book taught me how to setup a kitchen, and provided me with the basic know-how required to make some truly delicious meals for myself. It also provided me with much needed confidence in the kitchen.
This book is a treasure, and it is truly unfortunate that it is out of print. If you are a young man, or woman, and need help learning how to take care of yourself by learning to cook this is the book for you. I've collected many cooking books since this one, and still turn to this one the most. It is the easiest and most entertaining "how to" book I have ever read.
My simple recommendation is buy the book and enjoy a wonderful introduction to becoming a true epicurean.


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Light the candles. Pour the wine. Cozy up on the couch.You're in for the night.That's because you've just discovered the quickest route to a woman's heart.Your kitchen.If you've been using the wrong room, here's the inspiration you've been seeking.An easy cookbook.With an awesome goal:"Better Dating Through Cooking."So you can slice, dice and entice.Even if you don't know boil from broil.The secret?Easy illustrated cartoon-strip recipes. So if you can read the comics, you can learn to cook.And not sissy dishes either -- but tempting, romantic homecooked masterpieces that are a cinch to prepare (but look like you spent all day.)Like mouth-watering Dijon Chicken. Succulent Shrimp Scampi. Creamy Fettuccini Alfredo. And the ultra-seductive Steak 'Her Name Here' with the wildly impressive flambe finish!Does it work? Put it to the taste test: if both you AND your lovely dinner date are not 100% satisfied, just send the book back within 30 days (minus the food stains, please!)But we're sure they'll have to pry it from your garlicky fingers after you try out the most rewarding chapter in the book: BREAKFASTS!So click "Eating In" into your shopping cart today...then invite someone verrrry special over for dinner.Because now you can look like Paul Newman in the kitchen.Even if you cook like Alfred E.

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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Cheap and Easy Cooking: The Survival Guide for College Students Review

Cheap and Easy Cooking: The Survival Guide for College Students
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If this book would be helpful to you, THAN YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN COLLEGE!!! This "book" was an absolute joke. For starters, it is no bigger than a pamphlet; it is thinner than your average magazine (and far less wide and long also) and on top of that, it apparently wasn't edited b/c it is full of typos. Here is a quote from the FIRST sentance of the introducion, "I decided to write this cookbook because I couldn't get job after college.... Just kidding." I don't think that he is kidding since most jobs require elementary knowledge of the English language and here we say we couldn't "GET A JOB" not we couldn't "GET JOB". The "book" is full of these very obvious mistakes. I don't claim to be a world-class writer myself, but I would at least get someone to proofread a book I wanted published! The worst part though is easily the recipies. When I read the first recipe, I thought that the author was just trying to be funny; the instructions were to pour cereal and milk into a bowl! Unfortunately though, this was not a joke, and the majority of the "recipes" to follow were just as ridiculous. I am as clueless as the next college student when it comes to cooking, but for the love of God, I've known how to make things like "Waffles the Easy Way" since I was 7 - this consists of buying frozen waffles, toasting them, and then putting butter and syrup on them. "French Toast the Easy Way" is the same exact recipe, however, you will need to substitute frozen french toast for frozen waffles. Or, how about "Cream Cheese Bagel" which consists of slicing a bagel in half and then SPREADING CREAM CHEESE ON IT?!? Then there is the recipe simply titled "Bacon" which expalins the complicated process of cooking bacon in the microwave on a paper towl for those of us college students who can't read the instuctions on the bacon packaging! GIVE ME A BREAK! There are even "recipies" for how to make sandwiches that consist of ONE ingredient, for example, "Tuna Sanwich". This recipe has ONE step, I quote "1. Spread the tuna on the bread". If you don't know how to get tuna onto bread, you don't need this cookbook, you need to go back to kindergarden. Ever wonder how to make mac and cheese from the box you buy in the store? Well, here are your options, buy a box and read the side of it, or waste your money on this book, buy the box and then read THE EXACT SAME INSTRUCTIONS (including buying the box of coures). Unless you are sending a 4 year old off to college, don't waste your money on this insulting "cook book". I mean, look, you've already managed to surf the internet and locate a book and read the reviews, surely you can manage to make a "Micro-Melt Quesadilla" (3 slices of cheese heated in the microwave on a tortialla) without the help of this book. Some books that I DID find helpful, never ever having actually cooked before, were Desperation Dinners, Better Than Take-Out (& Faster, Too), and The (Reluctant, Nervous, Lazy, Broke, Busy, Confused) College Student's Cookbook. The recipies in these books are quick, easy, and delicious and they actually won't insult your intelligence. I would recommend The (Reluctant, Nervous, Lazy, Broke, Busy, Confused) College Student's Cookbook if you really need the fundamentals (such as how much is a teaspoon/tablespoon/cup) but Desperation Dinners had the most recipies and a really good variety - they are almost fool proof too and they all take 20 min. or less to prepare! With these cookbooks, I've found myself eating less fastfood and more dishes such as Italian-style Hamburger Steaks with Garlic Cheese drop biscuits. My third attempt to cook was for my mom when she came to visit and now she keeps hounding me for my recipies! I encourage you to try and learn how to cook for yourself, it adds some variety to the standard dorm food and/or fast food diet and it can be fun and rewarding, but please, don't waste your time and money on this pamphlet - college students have better things to waste their time and money on ;-) !!

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Are you new to apartment living, or a student fresh out of the dorms; or are you just sick of spending your money on unhealthy fast food? Then here is your guide to cooking. Designed and written by a recent college graduate. This cookbook is packed with practical, down-to-earth, easy to use information and advice for you. You will learn basic cooking know-how, get some shopping tips as you learn how to easily prepare low-cost, but tasty meals. This outstanding guide to food and the kitchen is helping people all over make cheap and easy meals, while learning how to cook-right now. It's the feel good cookbook of the nineties!

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Saturday, October 29, 2011

Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-By-Step Cookbook (Better homes and gardens books) Review

Better Homes and Gardens Complete Step-By-Step Cookbook (Better homes and gardens books)
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This is an excellent cookbook for beginners. It takes you through each step to a complete meal. The meals are easy with on hand items and also has instructions for more elaborate meals, if needed for entertaining. It is out of print but is worth the search to find one.

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Friday, August 12, 2011

The Healthy College Cookbook: Quick. Cheap. Easy. Review

The Healthy College Cookbook: Quick. Cheap. Easy.
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This was my first cookbook, and I can now cook and bake almost anything I try. My mother gave this to me when I was studying abroad in Ireland and found that, being vegetarian, I couldn't eat most of the food in restaurants. I had never liked cooking much before but this book sparked an interest in me that has become my primary hobby.

The book consists of multiple sections, which include Breakfast, Poultry, Beef, Seafood, Vegetarian (yay!), and Desserts. And even though most of the above don't apply to me, this book is still splattered and marked with my always successful attempts at these recipes. The ingredients are usually on hand in a well-stocked kitchen, and, for further assistance, the authors give you thorough advice on how to stock a kitchen in the first place. In addition, the book includes a glossary on cooking and baking terms in case, like me, you didn't know and couldn't place international calls to your mom every five minutes.

But the absolute best thing about this book, after you take into consideration the creative recipes, the simple delicious taste of each finished product, the ease of use, and the lasting power of the recipes - I still come back to this book for the recipes listed further below, is the universal quality the authors cultivate. Each recipe gives both metric and standard measuring units (and in my case, it was essential) and thorough nutritional information with each recipe.

Key recipes that I still use, many many dinner parties later: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Carrot Cake, Baked Ziti, Garlic Green Beans with Tofu, Tomato Basil Sauce, Mushroom Pasta Sauce (try with linguine), and Mushrooms Parmesan.

Drawbacks to this book: Not many. And there aren't even any pictures, which I usually find upsetting. For this book, it works. If I had a photo of what the dish was supposed to look like in front of me, I would have been upset if my final product didn't resemble it completely.

If you are searching for the perfect gift for a student with a first apartment, consider this book. It was a gift to me, and I am still grateful.

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Written by students and for students, this creative collection of nutritious, easy-to-make, and inexpensive recipes will fuel even the most inexperienced cooks through those demanding college years. Illustrations throughout.

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