Home-Cooking with Trisha Yearwood is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I've received this year! I was completely surprised when I opened up the book and saw the most beautiful pictures, gorgeous hand-written notes, and the most wonderful home cooking recipes. Nestled on the couch with my new book, I was ready for a new adventure in home cooking and this book did not disappoint. Page after page, this book was like a new adventure in good old southern-style home cooking. I was instantly enamored with this book, and it has spent lots of time by my side since I received it last week.
Armed with my pen and paper, I started writing down a list of all the recipes I wanted to try. Usually one piece of paper is more than enough to jot down all the recipes I'd like to try from one book. In this case, I needed two sheets of paper. The list just kept going and going. A wonderful sign of another fabulous cookbook! If you love to do home cooking, then you simply MUST BUY this book! In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you are going to have one home cooking book in your collection, this is THE ONE!
The book is broken down into nine chapters: Breakfast; Snacks and Appetizers; Soups and Salads; Beef and Pork; Chicken and Fish; Sides; Breads; Cakes and Pies; and Cookies, Candy, Etc. As mentioned earlier, gorgeous pictures and hand-written notes accompany almost every recipe. Some of the recipes I want to try are: Garth's Breakfast Bowl; Monkey Bread Muffins; Georgia Pate; Chicken Poppy Seed Salad; Cowboy Lasagna, made with pepperoni; Chicken Pizza; Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese; Cabbage Casserole; Spoon Rolls; Key Lime Cake; and Venita's Chocolate Chip Cookies. Of course, there are many more recipes that I'd like to tell you about, but then this post would be way too long!
For this review, I chose four recipes and all were delicious. From the Snacks and Appetizers chapter I made Trisha's family recipe for Sweet Tea. Iced Tea, with or without sugar is a favorite of mine. However, when the weather warms up, there is no better drink than sweet tea and this one does not disappoint. A combination of family-sized tea bags, water and sugar and you will be enjoying one fabulous, thirst-quenching glass of heavenly sweet tea! NOTE: Trisha adds a double dose of sugar to her tea, making it really sweet. Just the way I like it!
For dinner we enjoyed Trisha's Tennessee Jambalaya from the Soup and Salad Chapter. The jambalaya is dubbed Tennessee Jambalaya because the recipe comes from a friend in Tennessee and also because the jambalaya doesn't contain any seafood. Kielbasa, also called smoked sausage, is cooked in bacon drippings and then bathed in black beans, tomato sauce, green chiles, seasonings, and shredded carrots for 45 minutes until thickened. Served with rice and crumbled bacon bits, this is one hearty meal that is sure to please.
For a real treat, we baked up Trisha's Charleston Cheese Dip, also from the Snacks and Appetizers Chapter. Trisha obtained the recipe from a fan while on tour years ago. A tangy combination of cream cheese, monterey jack, cheddar, mayo, green onions, cayenne, crushed ritz crackers, and bacon this is one delicious treat! Trisha says that this dip serves 10, but I think it serves more like 2!! I'd like to think I had a reasonable portion. It was my husband that ate at least 3/4ths of the dip. At least that's what I'm telling myself;-)
Lastly I made Trisha's Strawberry Salad, from the Soups and Salads Chapter, which is one of the first recipes that stood out to me when I first went through the book. A crunchy topping is made from crushed ramen noodles, sunflower seeds, and sliced almonds. A combination of romaine lettuce and spinach is topped with sliced strawberries, Parmesan cheese, the crunchy topping; then drizzled with a gorgeous dressing made of red wine vinegar, canola oil, sugar, minced garlic, and paprika. Crunch, sweet, tangy, deliciousness! I could quite literally eat this salad every day!
I am submitting this Strawberry Salad to my friend Deb over at Kahakai Kitchen for her Souper Sundays roundup.
I highly recommend Trisha Yearwood's new book! It is definitely one of my top ten favorite cookbooks, earning a spot up there with the best of them. I see myself cooking from this book A LOT in the future and I know I will continue to page through it over and over again for it's wonderful stories, pictures, and hand-written notes.
It would make a wonderful Mother's Day present!!
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