Coffee Queen Keeps Busy

Cookbooks #19: Atkins Best Recipes and #21: Atkins: The Complete Cookbook are the next 2 cookbooks in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge . These books are grouped together because despite the different titles and covers they are the exact same book!  Same introduction, same recipes on the same pages, same photos....exactly the same!     About the Book These books are full of recipes that follow the low-carb Atkins plan.  I bought them when I went through a low-carb phase a while back. Some recipes call for ingredients that I prefer not to use like Atkins baking mixes, Atkins bread, various low-carb products, and sugar substitutes but there are a lot of recipes that sound great even if you are not following a low-carb diet. The Recipes I Chose To Make: From Atkins Best Recipes I made the Mexican Chicken Salad from page 90.  I substituted a regular tortilla for a low-carb tortilla but otherwise kept the recipe the same.  This recipe was perfect for a main dish salad. From Atkins: The Comple

Cookbook #18 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is The Asian Cookbook from Parragon Publishing. . The Recipe I Chose To Make I have made several recipes form this cookbook already so I had my daughters decide which recipe I should make for the challenge. They decided on Daam Daam Min (Dan Dan Mian) on page 76. Dan Dan Mian is a Chinese Sichuan dish with a spicy sauce made with preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan pepper, ground meat, and scallions served over noodles. The dish can either be served dry or as a noodle soup, this recipe noted that it is a dry noodle dish. How Was It? I was a little skeptical of this recipe. It called for Sichuan peppercorns, preserved vegetables, and black Chinese vinegar, none of which I had ever cooked with before. It was drier than we are used to for a noodle dish, just as the recipe described, but it was very good. The recipe calls for 2 finely chopped scallions but the directions do not say when to add them to the dish causing me to complet

Cookbook #17 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge  is Amazing Recipe Makeovers from the editors of Cooking Light.   Amazing Recipe Makeovers About the Book This cookbook was sent to me from my friends at Cooking Light and the Cooking Light Diet along with some of their other cookbooks that were not yet in my collection. This cookbook has so many delicious recipes for comfort food, takeout favorites, appetizers, sides, and desserts--all with half the fat, calories, salt, and /or sugar. 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 A photo of the Cheddar Cheeseburgers with Caramelized Shallots is on the back cover of this cookbook and it caught my attention. When this burger was posted on Cooking Light Diet's

Cookbook #16 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is All-Time Best Recipes from Cook's Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes from Cook's Illustrated About the Book This cookbook is a bookazine (single-issue magazine) from 2009.  It is full of recipes that have been tested and perfected by the experts at America's Test Kitchen.  The recipes in this special edition are recipes that the editors at Cook's Illustrated believe are more than worth the expense and effort of making them.  The Recipe I Chose To Make I made Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew from page 49. This recipe called for brining dried cannellini beans overnight; a technique they go over in great detail in the introduction to the recipe.  The result was creamy textured beans that did not fall apart while the stew was cooking.  Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew How Was It? This was a delicious and hearty stew that used many ingredients that I keep stocked in my pantry.  I made this on a rather warm day

Cookbook #15 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge is Cooking Light '86. Cooking Light '86 About the Book (underline) This is one of the earliest of Cooking Light's annual cookbooks in my collection.  It contains 500 recipes that are nutritious without sacrificing taste and texture. It also contains information on healthy living, exercise, and new-at-the-time foods and exercise equipment.  Despite being almost 35 years old most of the recipes stand the test of time. About the Author At the time this book was printed Cooking Light was still a column in Southern Living Magazine and would not become it's own magazine until 1987. Cooking Light became a lifestyle publication that provided 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 Steak Salad with Blue

Cookbook #14 in my Cook the Bookshelf Challenge  is All-New Fresh Food Fast by Cooking Light. All New Fresh Food Fast About the Book   This is a very special cookbook!  It was given to me by my friends at Cooking Light and the Cooking Light Diet.  I started following the meal plan from Cooking Light Diet in 2016 with a lot of success.  In 2018 they flew out to my house in California with a film crew and filmed an interview with me.  It was an amazing time and it was great to meet some of the people behind the Cooking Light Diet.  A short time later I received a package from Cooking Light with some beautiful cookbooks that I did not have in my collection, including this one.  Included was this note that still makes my day--every time I read it I am reminded of what a great time I had!  Apparently I was one of the 'first folks of Earth to have a copy' of this book so I'm keeping the author of the note anonymous just in case mum is still the word.  About