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The Abel & Cole Cookbook - Keith Abel
by daniella2202 ----------------------- Who is Abel & Cole? ----------------------- Abel & Cole is an organic food delivery service to your door which can be found on the website: https://www.abelandcole.co.uk/ Abel & Cole get their seasonal fruit and vegetables from many parts of the UK, where they think it is ... best! Their website also supplies many other items such as meats, fish, tinned foods, cereals, break, milk, eggs, cheese and so on. You could do your entire weekly shop from the website if you wished to. A recent review was written which tempted me to make my first purchase from them! --------------------------------------------- The Price of The Abel & Cole Cookbook --------------------------------------------- The Abel & Cole cookbook I received free of charge with my first Abel & Cole delivery. It is quite a weighty cookbook to receive free of charge. It usually retails for £12.99 so it is worth doing a one off order with Abel & Cole to receive this free as opposed to paying for it as you can on Amazon or off the Abel & Cole website. The Abel & Cole cookbook is by Keith Abel which also states on the front cover below the name 'Easy, seasonal, organic.' This really sums up the cookbook, and Country Living have quoted it 'A kitchen essential.' I really am very impressed with the cookbook myself. Although it is a paperback edition it does not feel like it needs to have a hard cover. This book was previously published as Cooking Outside the Box by Collins in 2006 in case that jogs anybody's memories (it does not mine). The front cover of the cookbook has now been updated from the photograph you can see from Dooyoo. It has a dark grey background with vegetables coming from all angles such as asparagus and potatoes. Although it is a dark covered cookbook it is very eye catching. ---------------------------------- How the Cookbook is Split Up ---------------------------------- The book is very cleverly split up into four very practical sections: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (which I will expand on later on). After the contents is the introduction which includes many sections such as, The Abel & Cole story which is very interesting, light hearted and humorous. It explains how Abel & Cole started and progressed into the fully fledged business it is today. There is also guideline a bit further on about seasonal food and how it seems that supermarkets no longer have seasonal fruit and vegetables, rather they have everything all year around. However, it is reminding us that if we did eat fruit and vegetables seasonally we would of course get much better flavours from them which Abel & Cole as a company of course promote in their weekly deliveries. Another section in the introduction explains the families of fruit and vegetables there are and puts very simply categories if certain fruit and vegetables have not been heard of and what different substitutes could be used if you did not have the exact one in the household. For example, that similar vegetables include: kale, cabbages, pac choi, chard etc. There is also a cooking temperature guide with conversion for different ovens as well as suggestions for where to keep different foods. The pictures throughout the book are beautiful showing nature at its best. I love having a flick through this book just for the pictures. ------- Spring ------- At the beginning of each book section for example Spring it gives a brief list of the fruit and vegetables which are in season. Some examples of recipes for Spring are lemon chicken soup with purple sprouting broccoli, rhubard bread and butter pudding, asparagus eggs Benedict and hummus in a hurry. I have just picked a couple there to show the range of recipes which are shown, there are some really fascinating concoctions of vegetables which I had never thought to make a recipe out of. There are some great ideas for vegetarians who often get forgotten about! But the some of the recipes do include meats as well! --------- Summer --------- There really are a range of recipes from one of the easiest in the summer section of fruit kebabs and smoothies to some slightly but only slightly trickier recipes like rack of lamb with wilted greens and tomato-mint dressing. The recipes are very easy to follow with a brief introduction to each recipe with how many the recipe with serve, the very important part of the ingredients! And of course the actual step by step recipe. --------- Autumn --------- For Autumn examples of recipes include: pumpkin and apple soup with toasted seeds which is a really lovely taste of autumn! Abel & Cole really push the soups throughout the recipe book and when you make an order via Abel & Cole their starter pack includes a booklet which includes how making soups and smoothies is a great way to use up fruit and vegetables which may not usually get used up by the end of the week. Or it is a great way to use up vegetables that you received in your seasonal vegetable box from Abel & Cole which you may not know what to cook with. It is cheap as well because soups can be frozen which is great for an evening you realise you have no food in the house! Other Autumn recipes include roast monkfish with beetroot and goats' cheese salad, and venison sausages with colcannon and wild mushroom sauce... which sounds delicious! That may be next for me to make! -------- Winter -------- Lastly some of the winter recipes include bang-in-the-oven balsamic roasted winter vegetables which sounds delicious and simple! As well as apple, pear and brandy crumble! This recipe really sums up this beautiful cook book, it gives simple yet quite quirky recipes, it adds bits and pieces which you have never tried before at home, but which sound like they will absolutely work! There are a complete mix of starters, snacks, mains, desserts and drinks in this book. But I love how they are not under the traditional markers of what they are: starters, mains etc. But under the season! It is a very easy way of making seasonal dishes. At the end of the book is acknowledgements and an index. ---------------------- What is the verdict? ---------------------- As you have heard this is a fab cookbook and it definitely up there with Nigella and Jamie Oliver on my cookbook shelf! I am really looking forward to making different dishes with my seasonal vegetables which I will be receiving in the future from Abel & Cole. I have already used vegetables like kale which I would never normally purchase in a supermarket and it is very tasty indeed! I have tried out a soup, smoothie, swede chips and chicken breasts with blood orange sauce from the recipe book so far... which all tasted great! They were all very easy to make as well, I would especially recommend the swede chips, a healthy alternative to regular chips! Order your first, organic, seasonal delivery from Abel & Cole to receive your free cookbook, I am thrilled with it! Read the complete review |
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Easy Meals - Rachel Allen
by redhead78 I love Rachel Allens books, her cooking is nearly always fast and simple and uses "normal" ingredients that you either have already in your pantry or can get easily enough. I like that fact that she seems like a natural cook, wholesome and unfussy. Whilst this probably isn't my favourite Rachel Allen book, it is ... definitely worth buying. I've tried several of the recipes from it and they were all lovely, the biryani, chowder and lentils with sausages are now all firm favourites in our house and definite "againers" as my husband calls them. The layout of this book is great, clear and simple with lots of pictures (even if my cooking doesn't end up looking like the photos it's nice to know what it's meant to look like!). I had already bought Jamie's 30 minute meals, but if I'd seen this one first I wouldn't have bothered. It's set out much more simply and doesn't confuse instructions for 3 or 4 different dishes at a time. And the best bit about it is there never seems to be much washing up to do afterwards! So, whilst Nigel Slater will always be my favourite, Rachel is fast creeping up behind him! Read the complete review |
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The Secret Ingredient - Sally Bee
by MrsD76 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Healthy and hearty ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This was a book I bought on whim if I am honest while doing a bit of online shopping on amazon. I am always keen to cook healthy, hearty meals so this book caught my eye. What makes this book special is that that author, Sally Bee, has a pretty remarkable tale to ... tell. A perfectly normal and healthy mum of three, Sally suddenly, at 36, suffered three heart attacks in a week. Despite being given a slim chance of survival, Sally lived to tell the tale - and write this book. She explains in the introduction that she realised she had to take complete control of her lifestyle to ensure she stayed around. She says: "Food and exercise became my saviour ... I knew I had to take control of everything I ate in order to give myself the best possible chance of survival." At the same time, she wanted to ensure that she could cook food that was not only good and healthy, but that the rest of her family, including her three young children, could enjoy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What's on the menu? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are six sections in the book, and they are interspersed with useful information from Sally, such as her views on fast food and so on. This helps break the book up and keep things interesting. The six sections are: * Soups and starters * Salads, sides and vegetarian * Chicken * Fish * Beef, lamb and pork * Desserts Each recipe also clearly says what is suitable for eating everyday, and what should be considered a treat - or as Sally says to be eaten only once every week or two. This is easy to see at a glance and is a great idea I think, as it stops the book feeling too 'worthy' and also ensures that you don't end up eating the 'treat' foods every day! ~~~~~~~~~ Lovely layout ~~~~~~~~~ The book is really nicely laid out so you have the list of ingredients to the side and the method taking up the main portion of the page, and opposite pretty much every recipe is a lovely big picture of the finished dish. I really like to see what I'm going to make so I think the pictures are a lovely touch, and it makes this book really bright and appealing to flick through. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Off to a terrible start... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I think the first section of this book is really disappointing. There are two soups and two dips and .... that's it! As I love soup and think they are one of the easiest healthy suppers you can make, I was really disappointed with this! It isn't a great start to the book and this chapter is basically pointless with so few recipes to choose from. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ... but getting better! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luckily, however,the next section is much better, with a wide range of veggie friendly dishes and salads. One recipe I have now made as a side several times are the Italian style courgettes, which are lovely and simple, using onion, garlic and herbs, and add a nice accompaniment to lots of meals. Best of all, they are really easy to cook and the instructions are perfectly straightforward to follow. There is also a lovely coleslaw recipe which includes apple and yoghurt - so a bit different to the shop bought variety but much healthier and, I can attest, tasty too! This is a really nice section with a wide range of dishes to try, and this helped the book redeem itself after the soup and starters disappointment! ~~~~~~~~~ Meaty feasts ~~~~~~~~~ The following three sections - the fish and meat ones - also have a few gems, of the recipes I have tried. A great one is the chicken casserole, as this is one of those great recipes where you more or less throw everything into a pot and leave it in the oven for an hour or two! It's a great winter warmer and my little girl enjoys it too which is an added bonus. You can sevre it with a range of accompaniments such as mash or rice, as well as lots of nice veggies! There is also a gorgeous seabass recipe that uses my fave ingredients, chilli and garlic, and is served on a bed of noodles. It's oh so simple but has become a staple supper in our house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More cheese please! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The one dish I am yet to try is the "healthiest ever lasagna", which uses only a sprinkle of cheese on the top and not the usual gallons of creamy cheese sauce! Although I do plan to try this I just wonder if it will be anything like the real thing without the extra calories! ~~~~~~~~~~ Sweet tooth? ~~~~~~~~~~ Now I am not a big pudding fan so I have to confess I haven't made anything from this section but, as you would expect, it is very heavy on the use of fruit! A few recipe examples are orange and peach filo parcels, apple puff squares and a red berry meringue pie. The final section - drinks - is a bit like the first in that it's a bit rubbish. It is literally one page with a list of three drinks on it! Although I have tried - and loved - the ruby red smoothie that Sally lists here, I feel like this is just a page stuck in at the back for the hell of it and really adds nothing to the book. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A nice mix of recipes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There is a great mix of recipes in this book but there is definitely a Mediterranean influence throughout, with lots of healthy Italian-style recipes. However there are some Asian meals thrown in for good measure which helps keep things mixed and interesting. Of the meals I have tried I haven't had any disappointments - everything is simple and straightforward, and it is great to know that what you are cooking is healthy and good for all the family! ~~~~~~~~~ Inspirational ~~~~~~~~~ Overall this is a lovely recipe book. The fact it is written by someone who has experienced what Sally has been through makes it quite inspirational and motivational - it does make you think differently about food and it gives a lot of advice on changes you can make to live a healthier lifestyle. The use of big, bright, bold photos in the book is great and makes it a real treat to look through - it is really nicely designed and easy to look at. There are some great recipes in here and it is easy to adapt items if you want to jazz them up a bit too! However I am knocking off one start for the useless opening and closing sections. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bag a cookbook bargain ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is currently on amazon for £3.90 with free postage which is an absolute bargain If I am honest! So if you fancy some tips on healthier eating, or need a Christmas present idea for someone who could do with a healthy diet, then snap it up while it's still at this price! Read the complete review |
Collins Cookbook |
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Author: James Martin / Cookbook / Hardcover / 224 Pages / Book is published 2011-03-31 by Collins |
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Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Denis Cotter / Hardcover / 320 Pages / Book is published 2011-04-14 by Collins |
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Genre: Food & Drink / Cookbook / Dieting / Author: Rose Elliot / Edition: New edition / Hardcover / 400 Pages / Book is published 2010-03-04 by Collins |
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Author: Katie Quinn Davies / Cookbook / Hardcover / 304 Pages / Book is published 2013-02-28 by Collins |
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| Collins Cookbook Recommendations 1 2 3 back | ||
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