Williams-Sonoma The Weeknight Cook: Fresh & Simple Recipes for Good Food Everyday (Spiral-bound)
Oxmoor House; September 29, 2009

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Call me a reluctant chef. When I choose a cookbook, I get nervous at the sight of truffle oil or leeks. But, to my great relief, I have to applaud Williams-Sonoma on their latest two cookbooks - Family Meals and The Weeknight Cook. The recipes are inventive but really simple and use basic ingredients. I loved this cookbook’s tips for planning ahead including a weekly meal plan and a well-stocked pantry. I may still avoid cooking with leeks, but I am getting more adventurous.

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Enjoy Life’s Cookies for Everyone!: 150 Delicious Gluten-Free Treats that are Safe for Most Anyone with Food Allergies, Intolerances, and Sensitivities by Leslie Hammond and Betsy Laakso
Fair Winds Press - June 2009
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
If you’re familiar with the Enjoy Foods brand, you possibly jumped for joy when you saw this cookbook. And, for the food allergic, intolerant or sensitive, you know the title is right on - finally, the cookies at birthday parties, schools and parties really can be for everyone to eat. Even though my family is very fortunate to not have any severe food allergies or sensitivities, these recipes are, bar none, delicious for everyone. Way to go, Enjoy Life!

Book Description:
Cookies for Everyone! offers allergy-free cookies, brownies and bars that are safe and delicious. Each of the 150 recipes are free of gluten as well as the eight most common allergens, thus taking the guesswork out of determining which recipes are safe-and which are a risk. Culinary expert Leslie Hammond teaches readers how to use naturally allergy-free ingredients and substitutes to add richness, texture, pizzazz and nutritional content to cookies and bars without losing the “yummy” factor.

Each recipe is vetted for taste and safety by the Enjoy Life® company, a leader in delicious and healthful allergy-free foods.

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Organic and Chic: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets That Taste as Good as They Look by Sarah Magid
HarperCollins Publishers, June 02, 2009
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
You just have to love any mom who is being hounded by a three-year-old son to buy Twinkies to just say no and dash home to create her own healthier version of those use-by date of forever junk food icons. Let’s face it, kids often want junk food and are bombarded by its images, so Sarah Magid found her way around the madness and created a dessert cookbook full of delicious doubletakes on some of the more ubiquitous sweets that line grocery store shelves.

Product Description:
This book that comes out in June is a collection of 60 recipes for organic cakes, cookies, and other goodies that are as exquisite as they are healthful and delicious. The book is filled with recipes for children that are fun to bake and sure to make lasting memories. Her son and daughter make appearances throughout the cookbook!

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Sweet Temptation by Nicki Trench
CICO, 2009

Kiwi Magazine Review:
There is nothing I love to receive more than my sister’s homemade fudge or the famous Mortelliti chocolate chip cookies. Not only are they delicious, but it just warms my heart that someone made something so special for me and packaged it so lovingly. The Sweet Temptation cookbook is exactly that. Not only are the recipes creative and delicious (we tried several), but her ideas for adorable packaging, many using recycled bottles and ribbon, are just as sweet. This book is like a giant hug from a friend. In today’s economy, there is still no need to cut out gift giving when you have such lovely options for a DIY dessert.

Product Description:
Do you remember staring up at the glass jars filled with the mouth-watering delights you used to love as a child, pocket money at the ready? Well, now you can recreate your candy-store picks with this delicious book packed with recipes for all your old favourites. You could make a batch of wonderfully decadent rum and raisin fudge, elegant chocolate truffles or some tooth-testing toffee to be enjoyed on a winter evening. Or how about sweet coconut ice, sugar roses or peppermint creams? For children, there are classic candies such as lollipops, sugar mice and marzipan rabbits. Whether you want to make gifts for friends and family, or to indulge yourself, here youll find recipes for all these popular treats and plenty more retro-inspired ideas, perfect for evoking those scrumptious memories from the past.

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Birthday Cakes for Kids by Annie Rigg
Ryland, Peters and Small, 2009
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Anyone can buy a cool birthday cake, but then you completely miss out on all of the fun, mess and creativity. Not to mention, you get to eat your mistakes! We’ve switched from bakery cakes to home made from scratch because we simply like to know exactly what the ingredients are and it’s also a special way to involve the little ones in a creative project. Now, we didn’t say these are necessarily healthy, but they certainly are fun. This book has some amazing and very do-able ideas for cakes ranging from princesses to puppies. You don’t need special cake pans because the recipes also include a cake-cutting pattern which enables you to build your dream cake out of shapes cut from typical baking pans. We’re attempting the butterfly for our next bash. Enjoy!

Product Description:
At last, here’s a beautiful book full of fuss-free imaginative cakes to make for children of all ages. Annie Rigg shows you how to make various cake mixes in different quantities, as well as frosting and decorations for fabulous but effortless cakes. She then takes you through some Simple Cakes such as Princess Cupcakes, a Meringue Mountain, and a Just Fantastic, Chocolate Cake to end all chocolate cakes! Chapters on Animals, Wigs and Wheels, Fantasy, and Wildlife offer all sorts of cake ideas for novice and confident bakers alike. From a fluffy marshmallow Sheep to a pirate’s Treasure Chest, and a Ladybug to a Hot Air Balloon, there’s something here for every occasion, whether you’re short of time or you are prepared to spend the afternoon in the kitchen baking, icing, and decorating.

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Fruits of the Earth: Jam, Preserves, Jellies and Pickles by Gloria Nicol
CICO Books - 2009

Kiwi Magazine Description:
My mother grew up in the Depression but always said that her family ate well because her mother canned, preserved and pickled everything from their vegetable garden and fruit trees. What is old becomes new again as the desire to grow our own gardens and store our own food is becoming more and more popular. As we all know, sometimes you just end up with a bounty of berries or tons of tomatoes, and this book has the perfect recipe to save some of that goodness in your pantry.

Description
The beauty of preserving is that if you time it just right, you can capture the flavors of fruits and vegetables when they’re at the peak of freshness. Flip through the beautifully illustrated pages of Fruits of the Earth and you’ll discover so many ways to enjoy nature’s bounty all year round. Recipes for jams, jellies, curds, nectars and marmalades are ideal when nothing else will satisfy your craving for something just picked. And when you can’t enjoy a sun-warmed tomato or a beet pulled straight from the earth, something pickled or made into a spicy chutney is the next best thing. Anyone who enjoys the satisfaction of making something delicious to enjoy and share anytime will appreciate this, the fruit of Christina Strutt’s labor!

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Mollie Katzen’s Recipes: Desserts
Easel Edition
Ten Speed Press, 2009

Kiwi Magazine Review:
Mollie Katzen has alot of shelf real estate in my kitchen. We fell in love with her and her delicious recipes more than a decade ago when she was our tour guide through the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, and she has slowly but surely filled our dedicated cookbook cabinet with more of her wonderful, handwritten love letters to food. Now, an easy easel of dessert-only concoctions that will tempt every taste bud. Mollie - your desserts are well worth the extra 20 minutes on the treadmill!

Ten Speed Press has graciously allowed Kiwi Magazine to offer two recipes in this posting. Chocolate Honeycake and Moosewood Brownies. Reprinted from Mollie Katzen’s Recipes: Desserts. Copyright © 2009. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA. www.tenspeed.com

Publisher’s Description:
From the best-selling author of the MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK comes this signature collection of 50 dessert recipes in an appealing, compact easel format for easy reference.

Mollie Katzen has been credited with moving vegetarian cooking from the fringes of American kitchens to mainstream dinner tables. She knows there are few pleasures greater than pulling perfectly moist brownies out of the oven or polishing off the perfect cheesecake. Celebrating the MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK’s 30th anniversary, the third easel book in the MOLLIE KATZEN’S RECIPES series brings together Mollie’s much-loved sweets from the MOOSEWOOD COOKBOOK and the ENCHANTED BROCCOLI FOREST in this convenient stand-up easel format. Each recipe is lovingly hand lettered and illustrated with Mollie’s distinctive pen-and-ink drawings, making this timeless collection the perfect kitchen countertop companion.

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The Accidental Vegan by Devra Gartenstein
Ten Speed Press, 2009
Cautions: None

Kiwi Magazine Description:
Normally, my day starts with a cup of coffee and a banana, and I can’t even contemplate ‘real’ food until mid-afternoon. But, I picked up this cookbook at 7am and instantly started drooling for the delicious dishes in this simple cookbook. Don’t let the title deter you if you are not a vegan; summer is here with its bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables and Devra knows just how to put all of these ingredients together in a satisfying way. The book seems to have a decidedly Mediterranean slant, but ventures from basics (tomato soup) to Borscht and then, happily, into desserts. I tried several recipes and found them simple and completely non-threatening to my basic kitchen skills. Most recipes have only 5-7 ingredients with many kitchen staples, so dive right in.

Product Description
In the last decade, veganism has moved into the mainstream as home cooks seek out healthy, fresh, economical, and environmentally sustainable foods. Omnivorous author Devra Gartenstein’s pioneering classic vegan cookbook, first published in 2000, gets a timely make-over with 20 new recipes, simplified instructions and a focus on fresh and local ingredients. “The Accidental Vegan” includes appetizers, soups, mains, sides, and desserts inspired by Indian, Thai, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Mexican, and Italian cuisine. And with Devra’s special brand of simplified instructions and no-fuss ingredients, even accidental chefs will be able to whip up this healthy fare.

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Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s

 Kiwi Magazine Review:

For those of us who live near a Trader Joe’s, there is almost a cult-like following to their offerings. So, despite their notoriously bad parking lots, the devotees would flock there weekly like lemmings to buy their favorite products and spy what’s new.  Trader Joe would throw a bone or to to us with their weekly online recipes, but this new ingenious cookbook is like manna to the masses—every ingredient in the recipes can be found at Trader Joe’s.  And, as a Joe-nus, you can interact with the authors, Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati. via their blog http://blog.cookingwithtraderjoes.com/.

 Publisher’s Description:

Mortal beings can now create the stuff of chefs, in minutes, using ingredients all from Trader Joe’s. Use Trader Joe’s as your “prep kitchen” to make delicious home-cooked meals in just minutes.

From quinoa to capers, Marsala to Masala, tofu to turkey, it’s all here. Each recipe features Trader Joe’s products, easy steps, and mouth-watering photos.

Congratulations to Donna who won this cookbook!

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Sam Stern’s Real Food Fast

Candlewick, 2007

Recommended readers- Ages 10+

Cautions:

Publisher’s Description:

British teen Sam Stern is a great cook, and he’s on a mission to get everyone else doing it. Now that his COOKING UP A STORM has stirred up a storm of attention, he’s offering REAL FOOD, REAL FAST to lure all those time-pressured teens away from their fast-food fixes. Once again, with his engaging conversational tone — and the help of his friends — Sam breezily runs through dozens of recipes, using real ingredients and simple techniques. But what makes these dishes a cinch for even cooking-resistant kids are the cool tabs that indicate preparation times of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 minutes. Brilliant!

KIWI Bookworm Description:

This British teen follows his first book (Cooking Up a Storm) with this fast and fun cookbook organized by preparation time, ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. Stern, 15, knows that teen schedules are tight, but he creates healthy meals in record time. Somehow, cooking is cooler with Stern.
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