The I HATE TO COOK Book – Giveaway & Review
Fifty years ago, Peg Bracken wrote THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK - and helped change women's lives forever. At that time her message was a revolutionary one for housewives: You don't need to spend all day in the kitchen to host parties or feed your family. Cooking can be easy and, more important, it's okay if you'd rather be doing something else!
Now this updated and revised edition introduces Peg's delicious recipes - along with her wry sense of humor - to a whole new generation of women. While we're no longer expected to slave away in the kitchen, more than ever, women (and men!) still need meals that taste like great home cooking and can be prepared with minimal effort. Peg's mouthwatering recipes are quick and easy - and many dishes, like her "Stayabed Stew," can be popped into the oven and ignored for an hour or so while you take a nap. Best of all, they all come salted with Peg's side-splitting and timeless humor.
Updated for today's pantries and with a touching foreward from Peg's daughter Jo, THE I HATE TO COOK BOOK is sure to fill your kitchen with wonderful smells and even more wonderful laughter - whether you hate to cook or not!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR...Peg Bracken spent her life writing when she could, cooking when she had to, and seeing the world as only she could see it. In her passing, she leaves behind nine books, a multitude of articles, columns, pieces of light verse, and a family whom she loved...and who loved her.
Johanna Bracken is a retired entrepreneur who devotes considerable time and resources to various charities, including working with incarcerated men and women, supporting primate sanctuaries, and of her local chapter of the American Red Cross. She and her husband live in Long Beach, California, with their growing brood of dogs and cats.
FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS...Never have I read a cookbook beginning to end. Who does that? Normally we just read the recipes that caught our eye in the table of contents. However, this cookbook was actually rather entertaining! Not only did it contain some easy recipes that could be thrown together (in many cases, literally), but the writing in between the recipes had me grinning and at some times laughing. The only thing I wish was different was that it was spiral bound to make keeping open a page easier. Otherwise, this one's a keeper for my cookbook shelves.
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How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Jane Doiron: Author Guest Post
Your busy mom lifestyle dictates quick get-on-the table meals, but how do you prepare and cook a delicious meal at the end of your busy day when you are simply out of time and energy?
It’s simple! Here's how: Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms Cookbook. This is Jane Doiron’s cookbook of savory, family-favorite recipes that were individually home-tested and selected. Make Ahead Meals are:
- Simple to prepare.
- Simple to assemble ahead of schedule.
- Simple to freeze ahead.
- Simple for the whole family to enjoy.
Jane Doiron helps you, a very busy mom like herself, to put a fabulous dinner on the table every night for friends, or just for the family, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of flavor. - FROM AUTHOR SITE
AUTHOR GUEST POST...How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Home baked cookies are a perfect dessert for holiday gatherings, birthday parties and your children's school functions, but having to make them on the same day you need to do one million other things, like working a full time job, or cleaning your house, can be a major challenge for a busy mom! Fortunately, many cookie recipes can be frozen for later use. With cookie dough that you’ve made ahead and frozen, you spend less time in the kitchen, which stays clean, and you have some delicious homemade cookies to offer your guests (or to send off to school) in a snap. Here are some guidelines for freezing cookie dough.
Flash Freezing
Yes, there is a method to freezing cookie dough! Simply putting your cookie dough in a plastic container and throwing it in the freezer will work, but I don’t recommend it. What happens when you are ready to cook, but your cookie dough is a solid chunk of ice? You will be waiting hours for that huge mass to thaw! There is a better way, and it’s called flash freezing. For flash freezing, you will need a cookie tray, plastic wrap, parchment paper, a small cookie scoop, and a gallon size freezer bag.
Once you’ve assembled and mixed your cookie dough, use a tablespoon cookie scoop, to scoop out the dough into balls and then place them onto your cookie sheet very close together. A cookie scoop will save time and produce perfect balls of dough for perfectly shaped cookies. Your fingers will stay clean, and you won’t have to deal with sticky tablespoons! Once you’ve filled your tray, cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer for two to three hours, until partially frozen.
Label Your Freezer Bags
While your cookie dough is freezing, label your freezer bag. Most freezer bags have a white area for labeling. If you prefer, you may use freezer tape, available at most grocery stores. Using a permanent marker, label your freezer bag with the name of the cookies, the date they were frozen, the oven temperature and cooking time, and any other specific cooking directions, so that you don’t have to search for the recipe, when you’re ready to cook.
Once your dough is partially frozen and no longer sticky to the touch, place your dough into the freezer bag and put it back in the freezer. By flash freezing, your pre-formed cookie dough won’t stick together, and will be ready for the oven when you are.
On the day you are ready to cook, take the dough out and place the balls of dough on your parchment lined cookie sheet. The dough should thaw for at least 30 to 45 minutes and then you are ready to bake according to the instructions on your freezer bag.
Make Ahead Cookies
I have used the flash freezing method for many cookie recipes and have had fantastic results. Some of my cookie recipes include: big ginger cookies; brownie cookies; macadamia nut cookies; oatmeal cookies; peanut butter chocolate chip crackles; peanut butter kiss cookies; snickerdoodles; and everyone’s favorite, chocolate chip cookies.
You can find these great make-ahead cookie recipes, as well as specific flash freezing instructions, in my cookbook Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, now available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
For homemade cookies in a flash, I highly recommend flash freezing. Enjoy!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR...Jane Doiron is a busy working mom of two boys. She is an Elementary School teacher with a passion for cooking and experimenting with recipes. With her busy schedule, Jane has found that make-ahead meals (meals prepared in advance) are time-savers, money-savers and are the best alternatives to eating "take-out." Jane's cookbook is the result of her years of seeking out new recipes, experimenting with family-favorite recipes, and turning them into make-ahead meals. Make-ahead meals can be frozen ahead, assembled ahead, or cooked ahead and reheated. The recipes in her cookbook are a combination of all three and were specially modified without compromising the food's taste and texture. Along with make-ahead meals, in her book, Jane also shares her favorite dessert, appetizer and side-dish recipes, as well as helpful tips, like, make-ahead tips for the holidays, freezing, must-have items for freezing, and many more useful cooking tips for making recipes ahead. Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. An E Book is also available for download at makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.com.
YOU CAN FIND JANE HERE TOO:
- BLOG...http://makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.blogspot.com/
- FACEBOOK...http://www.facebook.com/janedoiron13?ref=ts
- TWITTER...http://twitter.com/janedoiron
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