• mama_c on November 17, 2015

  My copy has a different cover photo (cherry pie); isbn 0-517-22598-0. Same author and year, 1997

• robm on November 27, 2011

  I like Jean Anderson a lot -- her cookbooks are authentic and solid. This one really does have most of the "big hits" of the 20th century. Yum! American cooking really "exploded," especially in the latter half of the century, incorporating great foods from all over the world. You'll eat very well cooking from this book!

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Artichoke nibbles

  • Rinshin on April 25, 2014

    These are great party nibbles. It's one of the first ones to disappear when I make them. I find the exact same recipes in 3 places including here, Sunset, and Texas Home Cooking.

• Almond cheddar pinecone

  • ethedens on January 31, 2025

    So I screwed up this recipe. I meant to quarter everything but added double the amount of port wine I was supposed to. It was still good but kind of bitter... I assume that was the excess port. 3.5/5

• Picadillo

  • Lindalib on December 24, 2012

    I added a few small red chillis to up the heat. I also drained some of the fat from the meat which the recipe doesn't say to do. I also added probably about twice as much beef stock as the receipe called for because 1/2 cup just didn't seem like enough liquid for 2 lbs of meat. Overall, it was still pretty good.

• Classic tuna-noodle casserole

  • Rinshin on March 19, 2017

    Used leftover busiate al pesto trapanese for the noodle part, clam chowder soup instead of chicken soup, frozen shrimp and squid mixture instead of canned tuna and 3 times more milk along with some white wine to make the mixture more saucy. Skipped on peas and red pepper. For the topping, I added more cheese and thinly sliced green onion. I was using this recipe for an inspiration on what to make using leftover pasta with seafood/fish instead of beef, sausages, pork or chicken. Very satisfying, quick, and good. I can easily see this being served at some trendy Japanese cafes for lunch along with green salad.

• Festive broccoli bake

  • Lindalib on September 27, 2013

    Very easy, quick side dish, although sadly, not particularly festive.

• Turkey (or chicken) Tetrazzini

  • Gio on October 05, 2015

    Pg.188. This was the first recipe we cooked from the book, and it was quite satisfactory. A real throwback recipe it delivered on the comfort factor. I halved the recipe for two people, used the chicken variation, chose to use sherry, and included 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes for oomph. Loved the finished dish with its earthy, soft, and brothy flavors. Served over white basmati rice cooked in chicken stock, Would make again.

• Slow-cooker beef-and-corn-stuffed green peppers

  • Rinshin on October 18, 2014

    I veered a bit from the original recipe but used a lot of the ideas from the original. Subbed ground turkey in place of ground beef and added barley for softness and nutrition as well as fresh tomatoes in place of canned soup. Although not superb, it was nonetheless very satisfying dish.

• Spicy banana-nut bread

  • hillsboroks on October 15, 2019

    The spices add a nice change to the banana bread but it only calls for 1 cup (two bananas) unlike other recipes I use that call for 3 bananas. As a result this bread is a bit drier and has less banana flavor than the usual banana bread. Next time I would add the third banana. Also the recipe calls for baking the bread for 1 hour and it was a bit too done at 55 minutes. Next time I will check it at 45 minutes.

• Zucchini bread

  • ashallen on August 22, 2019

    A good zucchini bread recipe that my co-workers enjoyed.

• Pimiento cheese spread

  • southerncooker on June 04, 2018

    Delicious. A southern classic.

• Mystery cake (tomato soup-spice cake)

  • swegener on January 30, 2015

    I made this about a year ago and I have a coworker who will still not eat anything I bring in since. I couldn't taste the tomato, but I guess knowing it was there traumatized her.

• Reese's chewy chocolate cookies

  • hillsboroks on August 25, 2021

    These cookies do end up tasting like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and boy are they delicious. They are also very easy to make with little fuss. I ended up baking them 12 minutes total with 2 pans in the oven that I swapped around after 6 minutes. I used my 1 oz. cookie scoop and ended up with 5 dozen cookies, even after my husband swiped quite a bit of the dough. The dough is fabulous too!

  • hillsboroks on December 24, 2021

    For my Christmas cookie baking I used this recipe and substituted Guittard green mint white chocolate chips for the peanut butter chips. I added a few snowflake shaped sprinkles on top before baking. These cookies have gotten more raves than any of my fancier, fussy cookies that took much longer to make. With the sprinkles on top they looked great in my cookie boxes and trays. This brand of mint chips is not only a pretty green but they also have a very intense mint flavor which really tasted wonderful with the dark chocolate cookie.

• Praline crisps

  • bching on August 26, 2019

    Delicious, can't stop eating these simple cookies!