Cooking Light Superfast Suppers

I love love love this cookbook! I don't even know where it came from...it seems to have just appeared on my shelves one day, but it is fantastic. The title certainly doesn't lie as all the recipes are very healthy, and very fast to make. They also happen to be delicious which is a rare thing when combined with the words healthy and fast.

I made the White Bean Chicken Chili. It's beany and cheesy and chicken-y and was a huge hit with my husband. My absolute favorite recipe here is Barley-Black Bean Burritos. It's a crockpot recipe and is chock full of protein, fiber and flavor. I could seriously eat this every day for a month. It's that delicious.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it includes a menu plan of sorts for each of the main dish recipes. This is usually either a short recipe for a side dish or for a dessert. Many of the recipes also include several variations or additions so that you can mix things up avoid boredom. I will absolutely be keeping this book and cannot wait to put it to better use.

The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever

The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever is a great little spiral-bound book that I've found invaluable for quick crock-pot recipes. I've found the most crock-pot success cooking soups and meats, and used this book for recipe sources for both.

I made Cabbage Soup with Rice and Dill which while it didn't look very appetizing, had a great flavor and was very healthy. I also made the Barbeque Beef Brisket which turned out absolutely fantastic and is the worlds. easiest. dinner. Seriously. You dump a beef brisket and a load of BBQ sauce in the pot in the morning and by the evening you have a fantastic melt-in-your-mouth brisket ready to feed your family.

One recipe I did not have rousing success with was the Red Bean Beef Chili. It called for dried beans, and even after soaking overnight and then cooking on low for 9 hours, the beans were still too hard to eat. Had to transfer them to a stove top and simmer for another hour and a half before they were edible. I also made Beans Slow Cooker Style and had a similar problem. I'm not sure if this is an issue inherent to the recipes in this book though, or just an adjustment I need to make for my crockpot.

The book also includes recipes for appetizers like Spinach Artichoke Dip and Glazed Cocktail Sausages, Vegetarian Main Courses like Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole, and desserts and beverages like Candy Bar Cheesecake and Hot Mulled Cider.

There's also a fantastic section at the beginning of the book for basic crock-pot information. It includes information about different makes and models, and hints on getting the most out of cooking in a crock pot such as how to get the best flavors and textures, using the appropriate size pot, etc.

The one main drawback to this book is that many of the recipes do call for convenience or processed foods. However, using ingredients like that can definitely make for faster-made meals and there are quite a few recipes using healthier ingredients and whole foods. I've found this book to be a valuable addition to my shelf.

Kitchen Aid Bowl Lift Stand Mixer

This handy little spiral-bound book is the manual that came with my Professional Kitchen Aid mixer. I have yet to really broach adapting traditional recipes for use in the KA, so I've been steadily relying on this book. So far, the recipes are pretty solid, and I'm learning to rely quite heavily on it.

The majority of my efforts here were spent on bread recipes. I've made several variations of their basic white bread, which includes options for cinnamon bread, quick rolls, curlicues, and cloverleafs. Depending on the weather, I've found I frequently have to add extra flour. Typically the recipe is foolproof, although I did have one disaster loaf that was absurdly sticky, and although I ended up adding more flour, the final loaf ended up incredibly tough and spongy. I'll probably have to play around with the recipe some more to gain a consistent bread. I've also made the Honey Oatmeal Bread an Dill Batter Bread. The Honey Oatmeal Bread was delicious and made a great all-purpose loaf for sandwiches. The Dill Batter Bread was probably the oddest bread I've ever made, seeing as how it was both a yeast and a batter bread. It was absurdly sticky and took a lot of heat to rise, but surprisingly turned out great, and oddly tasted a bit like rye even though there was no rye in it.

The only recipe in here I've made that wasn't a bread, was Peanut Butter Cookies. It was an absurdly easy recipe to make, but the dough was insanely soft, and I'd definitely need to add more flour if I was to make them again.

In addition to breads and cookies, this also includes recipes for cakes, candies, appetizers, quiche, and meatloaf.