Coffee Queen Keeps Busy

Cookbook #9 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is 400 Calorie Recipes from Cooking Light.
400 Calorie Recipes from Cooking Light
About the Book
400 Calorie Recipes is a single issue magazine (a 'bookazine') from the editors of Cooking Light. It has  recipes for quick dinners, one-dish meals, multi-cookers, sheet pan dinner, summer salads, meatless mains, recipes for grilling, and desserts. I bought this cookbook last summer when it was on display in the check-out aisle of the grocery store.  There are so many recipes that are perfect for warmer weather!

About the Author
Cooking Light is a lifestyle publication that provides delicious low-calorie recipes and tips. The monthly magazine is no longer available but they do publish 4 single issue magazines a year that are filled with their delicious recipes and healthy eating tips.

The Recipe I Chose To Make
I made the Petite Meatloaf Dinner from page 50. I was craving an easy but comforting meal and this recipe sounded delicious.  I wa…

Ginger Breakfast Cakes with Quick Strawberry Jam, recipe from Year-Round Fresh from WW.


These scone-like breakfast cakes were so delicious and summery!  Perfect for a light breakfast on the patio.   I used the candied ginger I made in the cakes and local strawberries from the stand on 8 Mile Road and Davis in Stockton for the strawberry jam.  
1 cake and 1/4 cup of jam come to 9 WW SP on the Purple plan.

Cookbook #8 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is ‘365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners’ by Rachel Ray
365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners by Rachel Ray
About the Book 365: No Repeats is based on Rachael Ray’s Food Network show '30-Minute Meals'.  There are 365 different dinner recipes that take about 30 minutes to cook.  This book has a ‘learn one and you get some’ concept. For example, once you learn how to make the Southwestern Pasta Bake and you'll be able to make a few substitutions and make Smoky Chipotle Chili Con Queso Mac (the recipe I made) the next time. 
About the Author Rachael Ray is a cookbook author and the host of several cooking and lifestyle shows on Food Network.  She is known for her quick, easy, and fun cooking style.
The Recipe I Chose To Make All of Rachel Ray’s recipes sound delicious to me and I had a hard time deciding what to make.  Due to the lock-down I am limiting my grocery shopping and my meat choices we…

Cookbook #7 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is  Southern Living Cooking Light by Susan M. McIntosh.
Southern Living's Cooking Light
About the Book This book is the very first Cooking Light Annual Cookbook!  The recipes are from the Cooking Light column in the 1982 Southern Living magazines and were compiled into a cookbook published in 1983. Cooking Light eventually became it's own magazine in 1987.  I bought this cookbook at the Pawtastic Thrift Boutique on Miracle Mile in Stockton, a great local store that supports local animal rescues and sells all books for only $1.00! I had previously made the Brandied Cherries Jubilee recipe from this book.
About the Author Susan M. McIntosh was the first registered dietitian to work at Southern Living Magazine. She worked there for several years and wrote the first Cooking Light Cookbook. She has compiled, edited, and contributed to over 25 cookbooks for Cooking Light and Southern Living. 
The Recipe I Chose To Make I was feeling adventu…

I have a recipe coming up that calls for candied ginger.  I was going to add it to my online grocery order but a 2 ounce bottle cost $8.94!  The bulk spice bins are gone at my go-to grocery store and due to the lock-down I did not want to drive from store to store looking for a better price. Instead I headed to my cookbooks and found a recipe for Candied Ginger in my new edition of Joy of Cooking. The recipe seemed easy enough and I had plenty of sugar on hand.  I added fresh ginger to my grocery order for $1.00 a pound, quite the savings!
The recipe calls for peeling and slicing the ginger, boiling it in water until soft, boiling it in a mixture of sugar and water for 1 1/2 hours, then coating it with sugar. The whole process took a few hours but the work was mostly hands-off and very easy. The house smelled delicious!
Here is the finished product!

So delicious! The ginger is crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. Sweet but with a spicy bite.  I was able to fill an small mas…

Cookbook #6 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is 365 30-Minute Meals from Better Homes and Gardens.
365 30-Minute Meals
About the Book This book was published in 2012. I bought this book back when I had a very busy schedule with minimal free time but still wanted to make quick and delicious meals. This book is full of quick, family friendly, and healthy recipes that can be made in about a half hour. There are recipes for breakfast, sandwiches, pizzas, soups & stews, main dish salads, pasta, meatless, and grilling.  One of my previous favorites from this book is the Quick Skillet Lasagna.
About the Author This book is from the editors at Better Homes and Gardens.  The Better Homes and Gardens headquarters and test kitchen is in Des Moines, Iowa and is the oldest media company test kitchen in the United States. They first started testing recipes for the magazine in 1928 and published their first cookbook in 1930. If you are interested in the recipe testing process here is a link with…