I have been on a cooking/baking spree since the holidays and now I’m venturing out to recipes and cookbooks that are a bit different or new to me. Thanks to great cookbooks that I’ve been able to download for review, I have had plenty of marvelous new treats to try!
The Botanical Kitchen by Elly McCausland is a stunningly illustrated book full of recipes using natural ingredients. Since I’m trying my best to use locally grown produce and herbs from my own garden, I thought this would be a treasure. Sadly, while the recipes all revolve around healthy, beautiful foods, most of them are imported from all over the world. My point in having a “botanical kitchen” is to avoid excessive transportation costs for my food and to use primarily, if not wholly, locally produced ingredients. Make no mistake, the recipes are very good, very beautiful and quite healthy but the title is a bit misleading. It does, however, make a gorgeous coffee table book!
Last year I had the pleasure of reviewing another cookbook by Amy Cotler, The Little Women Cookbook. This series of cookbooks is based on recipes and foods that the characters of these books might have eaten or that the book mentioned. The Little Women Cookbook was a finalist in the Goodreads’ Choice Awards for 2019. Now we have The Secret Garden Cookbook full of new and delicious recipes to try – and try them I did!!
I’ve been baking “biscuits” since I was a tiny girl – young, not skinny, I’ve never been skinny. These, however, are far and away the best that I’ve ever made or eaten!! Okay, so their official name is “Savory Muffins Spiked with Cheese,” but I call them AMAZING. If you live in the US and have eaten the Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits then you will love this recipe! I’ve tried every “knock off” recipe on Pinterest and they all failed. We baked these and TADA – the best cheddar cheese biscuit – ever!
There are recipes for a Proper Pot of English Tea, Cucumber Sandwiches for your garden party and so many puddings among them Sticky Toffee Pudding and Yorkshire pudding. Some of you may bake these on a regular basis but just try finding a good recipes for these here in the US. It can’t be done! My favorite, however, was The Best Sticky Gingerbread Parkin! My friends, you have not tasted a proper gingered bread until you have tasted this! It is was to die for and absolutely perfect for cold winter nights!
Isn’t it gorgeous? The parkin, not my son, although he is gorgeous as well! There are simply too many recipes to name them all but I can assure you, as someone who owns a Bed and Breakfast, this is a must own cookbook for those who love to bake as well as anyone who loves The Secret Garden!
Thank you to #QuartoPublishing, @Netgalley and #BloomsburyPublishing for these delicious cookbooks!
Let’s Get Cooking! The Botanical Kitchen The Secret Garden Cookbook I have been on a cooking/baking spree since the holidays and now I'm venturing out to recipes and cookbooks that are a bit different or new to me.
