Healthy Easy Mexican by Velda de la Garza

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher The Experiment in exchange for an honest review.

Mexican food is without a doubt some of my favourite food to cook and eat, but I will admit that my own recipes lack that authenticity. I was very excited by the idea of this book as I am always looking for new Mexican flavours to mix things up. I also have a tendency to just pile cheese on everything, which is not ideal now I am trying to eat healthier.

The layout of this book is fantastic. The recipes are split into clear sections, the presentation of each recipe is as simple as possible and it also includes detailed nutritional information which is exactly what you want from a health-focused recipe book. At the top of each recipe, there is also a detailed breakdown of which ingredients are good for you and how they help which was a really nice touch. I think more healthy cookbooks should do this as it encourages education and experimentation.

Now to the recipes themselves. I think there is a fine selection but unfortunately a large portion of them aren't personally suitable to me. The sections are: Salsas & Dips, Appetizers & Sides, Soups & Breads, Salads, Meat & Fish, Poultry, Meatless, Rice & Beans and Desserts. As you can probably tell, the bulk of this book was not main meals which was a bit of a shame as that's what I was looking for. Having said that, I am a little biased in that I don't eat soup or salads and I am unlikely to make dip which already rules out three whole sections. Add in my partner being veggie and you can see I have a more limiting set of circumstances than most.

One thing I liked about the recipes themselves is that they are all fairly simple or at least, contain ingredients which aren't too hard to get. I have a strong preference for recipes I am realistically likely to cook and that tends to mean easy to follow, relatively cheap and ingredients that won't go to waste. This book had plenty of those and a lot of them also provided great opportunity for adaptation and experimentation.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you are looking for a good, all-round Mexican cookbook which also happens to have a healthy skew. I think even if you're not specifically looking for the health aspect, having detailed nutritional information is always a bonus, and the recipes definitely aren't just for people trying to be healthier or lose weight. Advanced chefs might not find enough to offer them here but for most people, it's a great place to start.

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The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook by Ashley Craft

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Adams Media in exchange for an honest review.

I was very curious and a little skeptical when I saw this book. I have never been lucky enough to go to Disneyland USA and so, while I have seen many photos of delicious-looking food online, I have never been able to try any myself. When I saw this book I really wanted to give it a read and I'm so glad I did!

Firstly, this book is perfectly presented. It really captures the Disney feel and I loved how the recipes were divided by park, with a cute map to tell you exactly where each food is sold. I wasn't sure how accurate this book would be in terms of recipes, but it is genuinely all food from the park and it doesn't just stick to the generic recipes either. The effort is clear on every page and it really pays off.

The recipes themselves are pretty varied and there's a great mix. I like how many of them are very accessible and either don't require a great deal to make or else they require things you would likely already have as a cook. I will say, this is an american book and some of the ingredients aren't super common in the UK. This isn't a huge issue as you can usually get the ingredient somewhere (or substitute it) and it was maybe 3 or 4 of the recipes it applied to, but it's something to be aware of as a UK reader.

Overall, this book is a real treat for Disney fans. It was everything I wanted from the title and the recipes themselves seem a whole lot of fun. I definitely recommend it for the Disney fan in your life.

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Mediterranean Every Day by Sheela Prakash

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quarto Publishing Group – Harvard Common Press in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great recipe book with a lot of interesting things to make. It cuts down on the faff whilst still maintaining a sense of charm and warmth from the author. It starts off by explaining what a Mediterranean diet means followed by some simple basics to make for various recipes (flour, sauces etc). Recipes themselves are split into several sections: snacks, soups/salads, grains, pasta, larger dishes and desserts. My favourite sections were probably the pasta and larger dishes as they seemed both the most straightforward to make and also the tastiest-looking.

In terms of the recipes themselves, there's a good mix here. At a first glance a lot of the dishes look fancy but when you read the ingredients, they are mostly simple to make. They included a lot of flavours and things I wouldn't normally cook which is exactly what I was looking for, without the downside of being hard to try to make. There were a few exceptions but for the most part, this makes the recipes very accessible. My favourite recipe was for a base risotto with four seasonal variations to then make depending on the time of year. This was a great idea as it felt like the author put in extra effort to think about what would be in season and easy to buy, and I wish this had been done for other recipes. I appreciate it doesn't always work though.

Overall, this is a well put-together recipe book with a lot of neat things to try. It's easy to follow and it is clear a lot of thought has been put into how it has been constructed and the content of the recipes. It looks far fancier than it is and I recommend giving it a read if, like me, you're wanting to expand what you cook without breaking the bank.

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The Geeky Bartender by Cassandra Reeder

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quarto Publishing Group – Race Point Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

What an amazing treat for boozy nerds! I had high hopes for this book based off the gorgeous cover and amazingly it managed to match every single one. This is a beautiful collection of really interesting cocktails based off various nerdy and geeky properties. All the big names are here and there's bound to be one fandom for every type of geek. The majority of drinks are attempts to make real-life versions of drinks found in the series (for example, Butterbeer from Harry Potter or Soulstorm Brew from Oddworld). Some are generic geeky drinks (red health potion) and others are inspired by geeky worlds (Sonic Screwdriver).

The presentation of this book really impressed me. It's clear from the foreword that the author wants to make the cocktails as easy and as cheap to make as possible, and this shines throughout. No brands are used and while there are certainly fancy drinks here, there are also plenty of affordable ones. Every cocktail photo is stunning and no detail is too small to not include when it comes to presenting them in an appealing and fandom-relevant way. My little nerd heart was so happy to just view the pretty drinks and I really appreciated the care and love the author shows for each property she mentions.

The book also starts with some great general advice. Unlike some cocktail books, this is written in a very straightforward manner and once again, the tips for improving the appearance of the cocktails were incredibly simple but effective. Instead of assuming you're willing to spend hours prettying up your drinks, the book gives you several effective but easy methods to make them beautiful in almost no amount of time. These methods are then referenced in later recipes as suggestions but can easily be ignored if you want to keep things even simplier.

Overall, this book is by far the best cocktail book I have ever read in terms of including ingredients which are easy to acquire and also making drinks which are simply exciting to look at. This would make a wonderful present for the nerdy drinker in your life and I look forward to making a few of these at my next geeky party. I am very impressed!

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Fresh Flavors for the Slow Cooker by Nicki Sizemore

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Storey Publishing in exchange for an honest review

And now for something completely different!

I have never reviewed a cookery book before but I saw this on Net Galley and I couldn't resist. My slow cooker is one of my favourite kitchen tools and I am always on the lookout for new, simple recipes. I was a bit hesitant when I started flicking through and saw what looked like a lot of fancy stuff but thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.

This book does so much right and it really deserves kudos for it. You can tell Nicki has been writing recipes for a long time and she really does include a lot of fantastic detail. It starts off with a general introduction followed by some slow cooker tips. These weren't all new to me but it was still useful to include them and it shows the attention to detail put in.

Now onto the recipes themselves. They are divided up into 5 sections: vegetables, chicken/turkey/pork, lamb/beef, seafood and brunch/breakfast. I was actually glad not to have a dessert section since I never tend to use these parts of my recipe books but I can see some people potentially wishing it had one. This structure makes sense for the most part, although the pork does seem a little out of place with the poultry.

Each recipe is laid out fantastically. It starts with an overview of the dish, followed by ingredients which are sorted by where you use them (most dishes are slow-cooker focused but may require some stove work or other elements). Beneath this is a little box which contains information about which ingredients/steps you can plan up to days ahead. I found this incredibly useful as people using a slow cooker are often pushed for time, so it's great to know what can be done earlier. After this comes the method, followed by fridge/freezer instructions (again, incredibly useful) and finally there is a little additional tip.

As mentioned above, I really was a fan of the content of the recipes. There's a fair range of dishes but I was impressed by how the main slow-cooker dish was usually simple but the side dish would be fancier/involve rarer ingredients. Firstly, the inclusion of a complementary side dish for every main one is something that added a wonderful touch to this recipe book and showed the skill of the chef behind it. Secondly, by doing it this way it means that you can easily skip the side dish if you only want a tasty simple meal, but have the option for more extravagance if you're hosting or have money/time to spare. Not counting sides, I would happily try making 24 out of 46 recipes which sounds low until you realise I don't eat beef or lamb. Excluding those, it has a much higher ratio than any other recipe book I've bought.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book and will certainly be checking out the author's food blog as a result of reading it. The layout and attention to detail is phenomenal, the recipes are varied and tasty, and the tips and other notes are useful on the whole. A wonderful find for anyone with a slow cooker.

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