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There are always plenty of cookbooks to choose from to give as gifts at anytime. Here are a few you might consider picking up for someone on your Christmas list!
From bestselling author Wanda E. Brunstetter is "Amish Friends From Scratch Cookbook" (Barbour Publishing, $16.99.)
This collection of recipes submitted by Amish and Mennonite cooks are more than 270 recipes of breakfasts, beverages, breads, salads and sides, main dishes, desserts, snacks and candy. There are also chapters to help around the house, such as dairy products and miscellaneous things.
Make a breakfast casserole for the holidays like Stuffed French Toast or Egg and Potato Casserole. Make your own Cappuccino or Hot Chocolate Mix. Try your luck at making Mom's Dinner Rolls or go classic with Aunt Elma's Buttermilk Corn Bread. Make some Broccoli Salad or Potluck Potato Casserole. Try out some Main Dishes like German Stuffed Cabbage Rolls or use up leftover turkey with Cordon Bleu Casserole. And who doesn't love Amish desserts? There's plenty to choose from like Coffee Shop Brownies, Hawaiian Cheesecake Bars and Cookie Sheet Whoopies. Snacks and Candy might find some perfect holiday foods like Black Bean Dip, Sausage Mushroom Appetizers, Homemade Twix Bars and Easy Caramels. The Dairy Products section has Cottage Cheese, Martha's Yogurt and also Honey Ice Cream. Miscellaneous things include Apple Butter, Marshmallow Cream Fluff, Strawberry Freezer Jam, Sandwich Spread and more kitchen staples, but also household recipes like Fruit and Veggie Wash, Window Cleaner and an All-Natural Insect Repellent.
This is a great treat for those that enjoy Amish books or even old-fashioned recipes.
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Do you have a Dungeons and Dragons player? Get them something they will never expect with "Heroes' Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook" by Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson and Michael Witwer (Ten Speed Press, $35.)
Now when you get together for DnD night, you can make recipes your characters might actually eat at a local tavern! The 80 dishes are broken up into the various races and what they might eat. There is Human, Elven, Dwarven, Halfling and Uncommon Cuisine, as well as Elixirs and Ales for drinks at your local watering hole. Humans might eat a simple Traveler's Stew with a side of Dark Molasses Nutbread, while Elves might have some Feywild Eggs with Cherrybread. Dwarves might go for some Smoked Sausages and Kraut with Dwarven Mustard and some Dwarven Flatbread. Halflings might make some Chicken-Something Dumplings and Honey-Drizzled Cream Puffs. Uncommon Cuisine has food for various races like Orc Bacon, Deep Gnome Trillimac Pods and Fire-SpicedAbyssal Chicken Kebabs. You can wash it all down with a variety of drinks, including a Delayed Blast Fireball and The Mindflayer.
This is a fun book that could definitely change game night!
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Fans of Jamie Oliver will welcome him back with a new collection of recipes, "7 Ways" (Flatiron Books, $35.)
This collection of 120 recipes looks at staple ingredients and ways to reinvent old favorites. Each recipe has a maximum of 8 ingredients and there are many recipes with a 10 minute prep time.
He looks at 7 Ways to do a staple ingredient, say for example, broccoli, and then focuses on different ways to maximize it in a dish, like Broccoli Quiche, Creamy Broccoli Risotto, Broccoli and Cheese Pierogi and more. Staples include Broccoli, Cauliflower, Avocado, Chicken, Sausages, Salmon, Sweet Potato, Eggplant, Eggs, Ground Meat, Potato, Peppers, Shrimp, White Fish Fillet, Whole Chicken, Steak and Pork.
For those that enjoy Oliver's style of cooking, this is a treasure trove that will get you cooking during the weekend.
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For the vegetarian or vegan on your list is Meera Sodha's "East" (Flatiron Books, $35.)
A collection of 120 recipes made with easy-to-find ingredients for the vegan/vegetarian that focuses on a wide range of Asian cuisine.
There are 11 chapters of recipes: Snacks and Small Things, Salads, Noodles, Curries, Rice, Tofu, Flour and Eggs, Legumes, Sides, Condiments and Sweet that will get dinner to the table without too much fuss. Try a Mushroom Bao for a snack, Thai Salad with Grapefruit and Cashews for a salad, Ben Ben Noodles, Sri Lankan Beet Curry, Coconut Rice with Eggplant and Pickled Cucumber, Scrambled Tofu Akuri, Mashed Potato Paratha with a Quick Lemon Pickle, Quick Coconut Dal with Tomato Sambol, Roasted Carrots and Cabbage with Gochujang and Milli's Matcha Roll Cake with Raspberries and Cream.
For those who enjoy Asian flavors or those who want to try out some new vegetarian recipes, look no further than this book.
Contact Amy Phelps at aphelps@newsandsentinel.com.