The Just Bento Cookbook by Makiko Itoh Usually ships in 3-6 weeks Book – Paperback / Reprint

Normal $19.95 on sale for  $14.97

Bento fever has recently swept across the West, fuelled not just by an interest in cute, decorative food, but by the desire for an economical, healthy approach to eating in these times of recession. A leading light in the popularization of bento has been Makiko Itoh, whose blog, Just Bento, has nearly 160,000 subscribers in the U.S. alone, all of whom love her delicious recipes and practical bento-making tips.

Now, for the first time, Itoh’s expertise has been packaged in book form. The Just Bento Cookbook contains 25 attractive bento menus and more than 150 recipes, all of which have been specially created for this book and are divided into two main sections, Japanese and Not-so-Japanese. The Japanese section includes classic bento menus such as Salted Salmon Bento and Chicken Karaage Bento, while the Not-so-Japanese section shows how Western food can be adapted to the bento concept, with delicious menus such as Summer Vegetable Gratin Bento and Everyone Loves a Pie Bento.

In addition to the recipes, Itoh includes sections on bento-making equipment, bento staples to make and stock, basic cooking techniques, and a glossary. A planning-chart section is included, showing readers how they might organize their weekly bento making.

In a market full of bento books that emphasize the cute and the decorative, this book stands out for its emphasis on the health and economic benefits of the bento, and for the very practical guidelines on how to ensure that a daily bento lunch is something that can easily be incorporated into anyone’s lifestyle. This is the perfect book for the bento beginner, but will also provide a wealth of new bento recipe ideas and tips for Just Bento aficionados.

Pros: The book gives extremely healthy Japanese and american recipes presented in cute form. The basics concept of bento making is to trick kids into eating vegetables and this book doesn’t skimp on that.

Cons: Costly bento supplies. Bento supply’s aren’t cheep and readily available in america so you will be spending some time on the internet ordering products if your plan making these for yourself or your kids.

★★★★

• Deliciously G-free Cookbook Review
• Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches Your Family Will Love for $5 or Less
• Creative Slow-cooker Meals Cookbook Review
• Family Living’s Hooray for Chicken Cookbook Review
• The Just Bento Cookbook Review

In a sense this book is like Julia and Julia for the slow cooker, that some one took on the mad task of actually creating a recipe for all 365 days of the year. The book itself is tight well written and has some nice food porn if you like to look at what you eat before you make it. But really its pretty innovative I think. The recipes are everything from Indian curry to tortellini and most importantly they work and are good. As a home cook this book is going to be breathing fresh life for my slow cooker, Since I basically had to give it up after I found out I could no longer eat pork or beef due to my allergies.  I can honestly say I just like the book, I like the way it feels in my hands its spiral bound rather thick and to me spiral bound cook books are just easier to use because they stay open where you want them.

	The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond Usually ships in 24 hours Book – Hardcover	$20.63
	The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond Will be released on March 13, 2012 Book – Hardcover	$22.50

She’s back! If you haven’t heard of this blogger you have probably been living under a rock. First her first cookbook is still on the best sellers list and now since the launch of her food network television series, Pioneer woman has a new cookbook with even more yummy recipes for all you cow pokes. This book is going to be HUGE!  In general this 293 page hardback should be in your kitchen. It has a whole new recipe collection from a #1 best-selling author covers every course and includes such down-home hits as Homemade Glazed Doughnuts, Ginger Steak Salad, Cajun Chicken Pasta, Creamy Cheese Grits With Chilies, Flower Pot Desserts and others in a full-color book that includes ideas for kids’ parties, potlucks and more. There are only 350,000 first printing so this is going to be one the bookstores are going to be scrambling for and you can get all the info on it here first.

How she describes the book.

I’m Pioneer Woman.

And I love to cook.

Once upon a time, I fell in love with a cowboy. A strapping, rugged, chaps-wearing cowboy. Then I married him, moved to his ranch, had his babies . . . and wound up loving it. Except the manure. Living in the country for more than fifteen years has taught me a handful of eternal truths: every new day is a blessing, every drop of rain is a gift . . . and nothing tastes more delicious than food you cook yourself.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier is a mouthwatering collection of the simple-but-scrumptious recipes that rotate through my kitchen on a regular basis, including Perfect Pancakes, Cowgirl Quiche, Sloppy Joes, Italian Meatball Soup, White Chicken Enchiladas, and a spicy Carnitas Pizza that’ll win you over for life. There are also some elegant offerings for more special occasions at your house: Osso Buco, Honey-Plum-Soy Chicken, and Rib-Eye Steak with an irresistible Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce. And the decadent assortment of desserts, including Blackberry Chip Ice Cream, Apple Dumplings, and Coffee Cream Cake, will make your heart go pitter-pat in the most wonderful way.

In addition to detailed step-by-step photographs, all the recipes in this book have one other important quality in common: They’re guaranteed to make your kids, sweetheart, dinner guests, in-laws, friends, cousins, or resident cowboys smile, sigh, and beg for seconds. (And hug you and kiss you and be devoted to you for life.)

I hope you enjoy, devour, and love this book.

I sure did love making it for you.

Pros: Donuts you had me sold at donuts. I’ve been making donuts for a while and my last donuts fiasco. Well lets just say it wasn’t to pretty.  I can make the Chinese kind easy, but I have yet to be able to master a buttermilk donuts.

Cons: Its not out till March Thirteenth. Its probably going to have another bunch of beef recipes which I will dream about eating and can’t because of my stupid allergies.

★★★★★★

• Mastering the Art of French Cooking Review
• The Pioneer Woman Cooks Cookbook Review

Family Living’s Our Favorite Desserts by Inc. Leisure Arts Available eBook – Blio

$0.50

Family Living Our favorite desserts, is a a recipe cookbook with 72 recipes for the novice cook. It contains chocolate dipped peanut butter crackers, and a set of desserts that are made with around the house ingredients and are easily assembled. For a cookbook its more of a pamphlet, and is the perfect thing to buy in digital format.  There is a number of different thing that most of us grew up with like a version of ding dongs, made out of brownie mix and several recipes using store bought cake mix. Overall the book is worth it if you can get it on sale. The book toughts itself by saying:

Nothing highlights a delicious meal better than a sweet surprise at the end. Whether your tastes run to velvety chocolate pies and rich, moist pound cakes or luscious, fruity treats and refreshingly tart sauces, the recipes in this extravagant collection are sure to satisfy. The hardest part will be deciding which to try first! There are cakes, pies, puddings, fruit salads, and more to top off your meals with sweetness. The 72 recipes include Ultimate Chocolate Pudding, Cherry Cream Cheese Dessert, Easy Peach Cobbler, Cookie Pizzas, Mexican Chocolate Angel Food Cake, Fuzzy Navel Cakes, German Chocolate Cheesecake, Mocha Brownie Pies, Lemon Fruit Dip, Apple Spice Cake, Tunnel Cake, Southern Pecan Pie, Vienna Torte, and other favorites

Pros: Overall your not going to learn to be a pastry chef with this little book, but it is great for new cooks. I picked this recipe book up from popnovels for $0.50 and I’m not talking about the rapper.

Cons: Dang it publish all the books together as one recipe book and you might have something worth more than three dollars. Family living is great at publishing impulse buy books.  But the quantity of 72 recipes per book is pathetic. Maybe if you combined all the books together the collection would be worth something. Until then just pick up the digital copy if your a kitchen noob with no skills. Otherwise, don’t buy this book except in digital format.

Family Living’s Hooray for Chicken by Inc. Leisure Arts Available eBook – Blio

$0.50

Hooray for Chicken, is probably one of the better recipe books to purchase from family living. The cookbook recipes are all chicken, something that you really can’t have to much of considering most Americans consume more chicken recipes over any other protein. The book is once again the quality of something you would get at a check out line so it makes the perfect ebook to download. Its small, handy and doesn’t have too many pictures, you can expect to see recipes like “spicy almond chicken” and good old “creole style chicken”. Like most of family living cookbooks these are super simple recipes, for beginning cooks. Great for husbands and college student’s who may not cook for themselves often, or are wanting to learn cooking and haven’t started a cookbook library.

Pros: Short sweet and cheep and full of chicken recipes to eat. Super simple recipes for beginners.

Cons: Its more of a pamphlet you would buy at a check out line, and its only got 75 recipes.

Family Living’s Hooray for Quick Meals by Inc. Leisure Arts Available eBook – Blio

$0.50

This is another one of those super market impulse buy books like they have up at the front of the register. Its short and too the point, and it allows you to create a meal side and dessert all from one page.  There are 75 no brainier recipes and a few spectacular desserts like “Pots de creme” and “Fudge Pie.” That are worthwhile, but in essence I already had most of the recipes, and they were things I made on a regular basis already. Like steak stir fry. In essence its a good dollar spent if your a novice have no cookbooks and know how to cook nothing, and would like to learn how to make a few good things. The dishes are relatively healthy accept for the desserts. But the parring of sides, and food is what makes this book.

Pros: Cheep and Easy to use cookbook of normal thins you can make in about thirty minutes.

Cons: Too short. Not enough variety, Definitely for absolute beginners.

Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley/ Amy Treadwell Paperback

$12.72

Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley/ Amy Treadwell Available eBook – Blio

$9.99

Well Whoopie Pies. Probably one of the fastest growing food trends since the french macaroon and the cupcake. Whoopie pies are popping up everywhere and what is there  not to like about them cake sandwiches filled with marshmallow fluffs and icings.  Maybe you even got one of those Whoopie Pie appliances for Christmas, that seemed to be in every department store from Costco to Macys. Well let me explain a little about this book. Obviously these cute handheld sandwiches have made it out of the south and into trendy american bakeries so why shouldn’t some one capitalize on making a cookbook on them. Its well illustrated offers a number of cake recipes and fillings and is overall a cute book for some one who is pining to use that $30 dollar william sonoma pan they bought or that whoopie pie maker I mentioned before. But other than that this book is a unitasker. You can only make sweet decadent whoopie pies with it and for me thats not enough to pop out  the cash for what is a essentially a overpriced eBook even though the recipes are good. Now if you are going to a bridal shower and are planning on giving a whoopie pie as a gift maybe this might be a good purchase. Essentially the fluffy cakes are all fluff and just the newest trend food who will disapear from your vocabulary in about a year.

Pros: Its a well written nicely illustrated book on just whoopie pies. It would make a good gift for a baby shower, bridal shower, or a item in a nice gift basket. In the case you are buying it as a gift you should probably get them a printed edition.

Cons: Unitasker cookbooks score low on popcookbook, they are impulse buys that turn into dust collectors no matter how pretty the books is.

Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches Your Family Will Love for $5 or Less by Erin Chase Available eBook – Blio

$0.99

This cookbook is from the blog at 5dollardinners.com, and its just what it sounds like. Cheep eats, for starving familys. Its not the most healthy food in the world, lot of carb dishes, beans, pasta, pizza, casseroles. But it does have quite a few winners.  It was previously published as part of THE $5 DINNER MOM BREAKFAST AND LUNCH COOKBOOK.
The $5 Dollar Dinner Mom?savings guru, savvy supermarket shopper, and mommy extraordinaire Erin Chase of www.5dollardinners.com ?shares favorite recipes for sandwiches, soups, quiches and salads that use her fool proof system for cutting your weekly food budget and putting a healthy and delicious $5 meal on the table for your family. With the help of Erin, you can create delicious meals for less than $5 that are easy and kid-friendly too!

Pros: $0.99 Great price two cookbooks in one at one point in my life this was a great thing.

Cons:  Portions are loaded with carbs. Not enough veggies, too many can goods, high sodium.

1001 Low-carb Recipes by Dana Carpender Available Paperback

$19.99

1001 Low-carb Recipes by Dana Carpender Available eBook – Blio

$19.99

Woo hoo! I love it when a author compiles there work! This is technically seven cookbooks compiled into one, and boy does this one have a lot of recipes. Little things like this makes me want to own it, not just find it electronically. Though you can get it for pop cookbooks electronic reader, BLIO this book is perfectly good to have on a shelf. Its major feature is the ability to break monotony of eating low-carb lifestyle.   Here is what the gurus are saying about the book:

Carpender, author of the best-selling 500 Low-Carb Recipes, now compiles 1,001 recipes from her seven cookbooks. She writes that the number-one reason people give up a low-carb diet is boredom, and she presents a wealth of dishes. While many items are easy to obtain, the breads call for ingredients such as vital wheat gluten. If your library doesn’t currently have a low-carb cookbook, this is a smart purchase for a good price.

[Page 89]. Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Staying the low-carb course will be easy all year long with a seemingly endless choice of everything from barbecue and simple-to-prepare slow-cooker fare to internationally inspired dishes and snacks.

Pros: Big book over 500 pages, what a cookbook should be. Skip the electronic edition on this one and go straight for the paperback. Unless you just got to have it now.

Cons: Expensive ingredients, that some times are hard to track down.