Notes about Recipes in this book

• Chocolate-hazelnut brownies

  • Astrid5555 on February 18, 2022

    These brownies are quickly put together and perfect for Nutella lovers. I halved the recipe and baked them in an 8x8 pan. They ended up quite flat and also a little greasy, still tasty though.

• S'mores cookie bars

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    Decadent to the max. I thought it was made better with a sprinkle of sea salt at the end. Also, the graham crackers would be great to scoop it up while warm, because their flavor isn't very strong.

• White chocolate-pretzel cookies

  • EmilyR on September 24, 2021

    I had to settle for pretzel circles and balls over traditional pretzel shapes. These are good, but don't over bake them or they are rather crunchy - unless you like that.

• Saucisson pasta salad

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    Be prepared to feed a lot of people. The quantity of leeks seems a bit substantial (I made them all and then only used about 1/2). This has the flavors of an Italian sub sandwich meeting a perfect picnic pasta. The balsamic dressing is also excellent and makes a sizable quantity, too. // I've since made this recipe again and even omitted the leeks and just used some thinly sliced shallots or red onion for similar flavor, which also cut the time substantially. Sometimes I also replace the bread for panko for less carbs with a bit of texture + flavor.

• Balsamic vinaigrette

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    Great flavor and makes plenty for the salad and extras. Creamy and delicious!

• Roasted carrot soup

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    Be prepared to have a lot of soup. There was far too much to be contained in my vitamix. It's a nice and healthy soup with a bit of spiced up flavor.

• Red wine, mushroom, and onion soup

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    I needed a tiny bit of red wine for the roasted carrot soup and then decided to dive into making this one, too. It's a fancied up version of French onion soup, but it works so nicely. The mushrooms give a subtle umami flavor and heartiness.

• Banana-lavender cornmeal waffles with vanilla mascarpone

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    Wonderful flavors and the mascarpone really sends this over the edge to sublime.

• Crème fraîche pancakes with lemon-basil coulis and pecan-pretzel crumble

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    This recipe sounded unique and interesting to me. The result is wonderful! The salty sweet mix is something special.

• Cherry-rosemary crumble

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    We were all surprised how nicely the rosemary and cherries paired together. It's not very sweet, which is nice, too.

• Crêpes with mushrooms, Gruyère, and herbes de Provence

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    I know mushrooms can be divisive. I'm usually more on the "only when necessary" side, but this sounded promising and it lived up to the expectations. My mushrooms didn't completely cook until dry, so I had to sift them out of their liquid and re-season a bit.

• Marion's zucchini bread with cheddar and leeks

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    Nice flavor, but needs eaten quickly.

• Jessalyn sandwich - halloumi with eggplant, cucumbers, and pickled red onions

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    I love halloumi and this sandwich is a great mix of Mediterranean flavors. The eggplant spread is also nice with crackers or whatever you can dip into it.

• Phyllis salad - apple and cashew spinach salad with curry vinaigrette

  • EmilyR on September 15, 2021

    All around a great and simple salad. The curry vinaigrette is superb and really completes this dish.

  • Lepa on November 05, 2021

    This a great salad- especially popular with the kids, who couldn't resist the sweet curry dressing. We ate this with roasted salmon, which was a great combination.

  • bwhip on October 29, 2021

    Excellent salad. Loved the vinaigrette!

  • hbakke on July 09, 2023

    Delicious! We loved the curry dressing combined with the tart apples/dried cranberries and crunchy cashews/sesame seeds. Great textures and flavors in this easy salad.

  • hlange on August 06, 2023

    A must try salad. So flavorful and addictive with wonderful textures. 5 stars. Will be incorporating this one into our rotation for sure.

• Pistachio loaf cake

  • Lepa on April 21, 2023

    Not a fan of this cake. It's greasy (2.5 sticks of butter for a loaf!) and too sweet. The icing makes the entire cake much to sweet. It's almost sickening.

• Maman's nutty chocolate chip cookies

  • bwhip on October 29, 2021

    This are exceptional. One of my favorite cookies ever. I used Ghirardelli 70% chocolate that I chopped into large chunks. I chickened out and mixed the dough in the more traditional sequence, as it seemed weird to add the eggs last - but maybe next time I’ll do it their way and see how it changes the results.

  • Kinhawaii on August 24, 2023

    Very good but not my favorite. I used wafers, mixed Ghirardelli & Guittard, but I think chunks, like bwhip mentions, would give an appearance closer to their photos. I did ad the eggs last but I didn’t think it made them different. I had more like 90g cookies so got 16. I also flattened the dough to a generous 1/2 inch thick but I would leave them thicker in order to get the appearance of theirs. At 12 minutes the centers of my cookies looked like raw dough so I left them in longer. I think it’s the amount of chocolate & nuts that I like.

• Claudia sandwich - balsamic mushrooms with Calabrian chile-feta spread, basil pesto, and arugula

  • bwhip on February 12, 2022

    Delicious and interesting sandwich, we enjoyed this very much. Pretty easy to put together. I think the feta spread quantity could be reduced by half and still be plenty.

• Provençal eggs ratatouille

  • bwhip on September 06, 2022

    Delightful! Very nice dish. I made a couple of tweaks - I used three tsp of thyme since five seemed like quite a lot, and it tasted just right to me. I used a 12” stainless skillet, and six eggs seemed like enough, so I went with that. Quite delicious with some crusty toast.

• Smoked salmon bowl with avocado and waffle-iron hash browns

  • bwhip on February 11, 2022

    These were great! Who knew that a waffle iron could produce such tasty, crispy hash browns? Not me! They turned out excellent, and were quite easy to make. Combination of the salad with the crispy potatoes and smoked salmon was quite delightful. And the balsamic dressing recipe was nice too. We’ll have this again for sure.

• Tawni salad - farro, sweet potatoes, red cabbage, feta, pickled onions, and fried eggs

  • hbakke on June 06, 2023

    Delicious! All the different components came together for a tasty grain bowl "salad" that we served as a main course. I would make this again.

• Smoky cocoa hot sauce

  • hbakke on June 06, 2023

    Nice smoky hot sauce with a mild/medium spice level. I would make this again.

• Pickled vegetables

  • hbakke on June 06, 2023

    Simple pickled veg recipe. I subbed distilled white vinegar for white wine vinegar and that worked well.

• Pain d'épices

  • BrendaD1962 on June 14, 2023

    We enjoyed this cake very much. I was in the mood for a spice cake and had all the ingredients to make this, so gave it a try. Delicious! It’s easy to make and came out of the pan beautifully. It’s not too sweet so the icing sugar on top is perfect. The spice flavours are perfect. Will be making again.

• Quiche Caitlin with asparagus, feta, and dill

  • BrendaD1962 on September 27, 2022

    This quiche is delicious. The combination of asparagus, feta and dill is outstanding. I had to cook it about 10 extra minutes, but that just might be my oven. Even my husband, who isn’t a huge quiche lover, really enjoyed this. A keeper.

• Ashleigh's carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

  • BrendaD1962 on September 30, 2021

    Wonderful! The cake is moist and delicious and the brown sugar-cream cheese frosting puts it over the top. It took about 45 minutes to bake, vs. the 30-35 minutes suggested in the recipe. I also added the chopped walnuts and raisins which were optional. Delicious, would definitely make again.

• Brandy brioche French toast with espresso mascarpone

  • hlange on August 26, 2023

    The french toast itself was absolutely delectable - like a fried bread pudding. Using homemade vanilla extract sent it over the top. I used rum instead of brandy since it's what I had on hand and gave it a very long marinate (about 16 hours), turning the brioche once. Will absolutely make again. The espresso mascarpone however was too bitter for us. Next time I would either sweeten it more or more likely just use plain mascarpone since the espresso distracted from the wonderful flavors in the toast. But the bread itself is so rich and custardy, we were happy eating it totally on its own with a breakfast side.