I love cookbooks. Even if I don’t plan to use them often, they seem like such pieces of art. I remember going through my grandmother’s collection on a weekly basis, just looking at the photos and daydreaming about making such fancy things. After I earned my Master’s degree in publishing, my dream jobs were to either work in publicity for a romance imprint or for a cookbook imprint. Kissing and food are my favorite things in life.
I also happen to follow Chrissy Teigen on Twitter. I think she’s so smart and funny. Also…try not to drool over her food blog. So when I heard that she was coming out with a cookbook, Cravings, I knew I had to have it, which is a big deal because I haven’t experienced a “had to have it” book in a while.
The book came out toward the end of February and I remember texting the Cute Boy™ (we’d been dating about a month and a half at that point) if he wanted to get this cookbook with me, and then we’d cook something from it for dinner that night. Anything that involves food, he’s on board.
So I grabbed the book and we flipped through it before settling on one of the most intimidating recipes: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage, listed in an aptly named chapter: “Things That Intimidate People But Shouldn’t.”
Though the process seemed arduous, it was fun. And while my little pillows looked like they’d been heavily slept on, they were so delicious.
Since that recipe, making things from Cravings became a regular occurrence. We’ve made dinners and snacks and side dishes. Her cheesy guacamole recipe is one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten. I’ve made it for parties, for dinner to put on her Capon’s Chrissy Burger, or just to devour on my own. To put it plainly, I’ve given this cookbook a very thorough test drive.
If you’re curious about the meat and potatoes (heh) of the book, the chapters are as follows:
Breakfast All Day
Soupmaster
Salads (For When You Need Them)
Noodles and Carbs
Thai Mom
Party Time
Sh*t On Toast
Vegetable Things
Things That Intimidate People But Shouldn’t
Supper
Plus there are the pre-recipe stuff like general cooking information and post-recipe stuff like the acknowledgments and index. (Sidenote: I love a nicely structured index.)
While so far, everything I’ve (or we, if the Cute Boy™ is involved) has been pretty tasty. We’ve fudged a couple things, but made notes how to alter the recipes for our own tastes – less pepper here or small burger patties because my stove is temperamental. But the main thing I love about this cookbook is its personality. It’s something I felt that is lacking in a lot of the cookbooks I’ve acquired.
While I adore my behemoth Good Housekeeping Illustrated cookbook, it’s pretty dry.
The introduction is funny and touching, as well as all of the photos inside with Chrissy and her family. Each recipe has a quick, entertaining paragraph. Take this one for Cauliflower Mash with Roasted Garlic and Ricotta:
Whenever anyone asks me what my diet secret is, I say one word: trickery. So much of my life is tricking myself into thinking I am getting that so-desired dish that I can’t actually have at the moment.
Potatoes are my heart and soul. I get a physical and emotional rush when potatoes are making their way down my gullet. Sometimes I can’t have potatoes and so I mash cauliflower instead. But dare I say I almost prefer these fake-ass mashed potatoes? Actually, you know what, they are different and I need them both. They are my sister wives. My creamy, garlic sister wives.
And I can vouch that this cauliflower mash is pretty similar to mashed potatoes, though Cute Boy™ almost ended our relationship because I am a chunky mash over creamy mash sort of girl. And well…he has no clue what he’s missing by daring to choose creamy mash.
This book isn’t perfect though, at least not for me. I don’t eat seafood and I have a huge sweet tooth. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of seafood dishes on account of Chrissy’s mother being Thai. And I was really disappointed by the lack of a desserts chapter, but if Chrissy were to ever put out a baking cookbook, I’d be all over it.
If you’re interested in a copy of Cravings for your very own (and I hope you are because it’s officially my favorite book in my cookbook collection), I have an extra one that I’d love to give away! And we will send you a very special Smart Bitchin’ in Your Kitchen apron, too!
Standard disclaimers apply: Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. A sharp knife is a safe knife. Anything involving gnocchi is automatically 200% more awesome. Keep all your bits and bobs covered in case of any grease splatter. Comments will close at noon on Friday 17 June 2016 and winners will be announced shortly afterward.
Also, I will be traveling until the 24th, so the book and apron won’t be mailed until the week of the 27th!
Good luck and happy cooking!
ETA: 17 JUNE – We have a winner! Congratulations to Christina, keeper of the Eet Smakelijk cookbook, who has won our giveaway! Thank you to everyone who entered!
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I love Chrissy Teigen and I’ve been eyeing this book! One of my favorite cookbooks is actually a family heirloom. It’s a highly annotated copy of the extremely Dutch “Eet Smakelijk,” which resided in my grandmother’s kitchen for almost 50 years. After she passed, it came to me. I love to open it up and look at her beautiful cursive when I’m feeling sentimental.
If I’m looking at modern cookbooks, though, Hearlandia by Adam and Jackie Sappington is a great one!
I got the Pioneer Woman’s “Dinnertime” cookbook for Christmas, and it has some seriously delicious recipes (plus gorgeous pictures).
Martha Stewart’s baking handbook is my favorite.
!!!!! I have been looking forward to this review FOREVER. I actually think this would become my fave cookbook in my collection if I had it. I already use her recipes from her blog for Caesar salad dressing and for sesame noodles. As a side note, your cons about it having seafood recipes and not having dessert recipes are EXACTLY my pros. That’s the reason I returned the Smitten Kitchen cookbook — nearly half of the recipes were for baking or for dessert. I’m not into either!
My cookbook recommendation is a good cookbook but not very fun/personality-filled. I like America’s Test Kitchen’s Slow Cooker Revolution. It at least gives you shortcuts for slow cooker recipes. For personality, I like Alton Brown’s cookbooks, but OHMYGOD they are so nitpicky in the actual recipe, no thanks!
America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook is my go-to bible.
My all-time favorite is Alice Medrich’s BITTERSWEET (re-released and updated as SERIOUSLY BITTER SWEET, though I’d say there’s not a ton of difference between the two.) Chocolate has a character arc in it, starting as an ingenue-like ingredient that everyone loves but no one takes seriously during Medrich’s childhood, and becoming the multifaceted medium that surprises everyone now. I’ve cooked nearly everything from it many times. I also love the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams books by Jeni Britton Bauer; it’s so refreshing to see a successful impresario want her fans to replicate her recipes at home. The food science is gorgeously explained, and the results are fantastic!
I confess to loving the Barefoot Contessa recipes. Ina Garten is a bit snobby, but she has amazing flavors. And a lot of her recipes are actually pretty easy. I have six of her cookbooks and will probably buy the seventh, Cooking for Jeffrey, which will be out this year. But the one I use about once a week is her first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. The roasted chicken recipe is one I make about once a week and is *super* easy. And then there’s the mid-range recipes like the French Onion soup (the only way to make it IMO), and the bit-more-work-but-totally-worth-it recipes like Parker’s Beef Stew and Beef bourguignon. My friend always asks for “that beef thing” when I make the latter.
I’ve been wanting to get Cravings, so if this works for me, I’ll be even happier!
I have to say that I really love Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, from Food Network, and her cookbook is great! Filled with lots of recipes like she shows on her tv program, this cookbook is a yummy, fun read!
The cookbook with personality I want to recommend is Roots, by Diane Morgan. It is has a lot of great recipes on what-to-do-with-that-thing you never tried before, or have gotten via the CSA. Not only does it give recipes, but also history!
For personality, excellent taste, plus all the science of cooking you can’t go wrong with any of Alton Brown’s cookbooks. The trilogy from his Good Eats days are delightful! The caveat is time. We have yet to have any of his recipes be anything other than delicious, but don’t think 30 minutes before you want to eat, you’ll look in one of his books and find something to make for dinner. My husband made AB’s corned beef recipe. It took 2 weeks. None of the recipes are hard, just time consuming and much of that time is just you waiting.
I love to look at the pictures in Bobby Flays cookbooks. I’d never make one because I have no idea where to find some ingredients and they look time consuming.
I use my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (plaid cookbook forever!) more than any other one I own. I actually have three editions, one that belonged to my grandmother, one belonging to my mother, and the one I got for Christmas when I moved out and went to college. It is nostalgic for me, because it was the book I used when learning how to cook.
My trusty old favorite is Joy of Cooking too.
I love the Smitten Kitchen blog and the cookbook is on my wishlist. Also Moosewood is great. No pictures, but lovely doodles and great recipes.
I’m in love with The First Mess by Laura Wright. It is my favorite for inspiration when I’m trying to eat healthy & her photography makes everything look dreamily delicious.
My Puerto Rican husband was bemoaning the loss of childhood recipes a couple years ago so I snagged “Cocina Tropical: The Classic & Contemporary Flavors of Puerto Rico” for him. He’s made a couple dishes out of it, and everything has been so delicious. It could be the coquito has gone to my head, but I think not!
My go-to book is Heritage of Southern Cooking by Camille Glenn, which I bought as a newlywed living in the South. The pumpkin bread, cheese straw, and fried oyster recipes have been made regularly in my kitchen for over two decades.
I really like the cookbook What the F*@# Should I Make for Dinner? It cracks me up everytime I open it.
I’ve been trying to use my slow cooker more so I’ll recommend the Mexican Slow Cooker Cookbook.
I really like Reel Cuisine by Nami Iijima. She was a food stylist on several movies and the recipes from the book are all dishes that are featured in some movie or another. They range from burritos to Japanese cuisine to apple pie. They each have a blurb about their movie appearance or her personal experience making that dish for said movie.
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. even if you’re not vegan (i’m not!) or don’t think vegan cupcakes sound delicious (they ARE) you should give these recipes a shot. the book has lots of personality AND PLUS you can just eat the batter without even pretending to worry about raw eggs. win win.
I’m not much of a cook at all but I totally love Susan Mallery’s Fool’s Gold Cookbook. It’s divided into the four seasons, easy to understand and full of gorgeous pictures. The added bonus of Ana Raquel and Greg’s love story novella interspersed throughout makes this my favorite cookbook!
I love cookbooks created locally. The taste of home, from the county nursing home, the Methodist church cookbook, the yearly cookbook from the local library’s monthly recipe round up, and of course th he look hall schools cookbooks.
I’m a big fan of Nadine Abensur’s Cranks Bible. It’s a tiptop veggie cookbook arranged into seasons.The recipes produce the goods, and though most are simple to follow the end results are deceptively elaborate.
A recent find but one I know I’m going to get good use out of: Sweet and Vicious, Baking with an Attitude by Libbie Summers. I love baking but get tired of the same old, same old yellow cake with chocolate frosting recipe that seems to be in every damn baking cookbook. You definitely won’t find a boring traditional recipe in Libbie’s book. Most involve unusual ingredients like habanero, gold beets, and Atomic Fireballs. Not only are the recipes fabulous, but the pictures are stunning and really put me in the baking spirit. Out of the recipes I’ve baked so far, I’m in love with the “Girly-Girl Lavender Cake”. I will say however, there is a section on canine treats. Yeah. Dog food. With so many delicious recipes, I coulda done with more people recipes and less recipes for my furry food hogs.
The Budget Bytes cookbook is as useful as the site! Love it.
Everything I’ve made from Easy one-pot has been pretty good, although I usually need to increase the spices, because it’s mild. Tapas, by Penelope Casas has quirky recipes and a good personality.
I’m totally obsessed with Chinese Dim Sum and found this cookbook from my local library. Lee Anne Wong’s Dumplings All Day Wong has recipes for potstickers, shrimp and pork dumplings and so many other delicious dumplings. She shows the different folds used to make them and the countless fillings you can include plus all the different ways of cooking them (pan-fry, steam, deep fry). It is one of my favorite cookbook finds.
The Cake Doctor Bakes Gluten Free by Anne Byrn is one of my favorites! It allows me to have desserts again!
Stir Frying to the Sky’s Edge is definitely a new favorite. It’s got a huge variety of recipes that I grew upwith but never figured out how to do, plus actual techniques for how make it all good!