A few months ago Robert Rose Inc sent me an amazing offer. They allowed me to choose several cookbooks from their newest spring collections to preview. I am a lucky girl what can I saw. So the first books to arrive from my selection were two cookbooks from The Best of the Bridge collection. This is a collection of cookbooks. A group of women who would get together regularly to have some girl time decided since they spent a lot of their time discussing their favorite recipes why not make a cookbook and they series was born. I got to review both cookbooks and liked them both. I made the Vegetarian Texas Tacos from The Rest of the Best and More and made the Southwestern Breakfast Scramble in The Best and the Best and More. I loved both recipes I made but before I get into that I want to go into my overall thoughts on the books. I thought the books were really well done and a favorite of mine is that the books are in spiral bound books so that page lay flat when you are using them which is a huge plus over trying to figure out how to keep the pages open while cooking. Also, although I have only made two recipes from here it is currently filled with sticky notes of pages that I have tabbed that I want to make at a later date. My criticisms of these books are minimal the first is that as those who read my blog know...I am a freak about counting calories and points and there is no nutritional information for their recipes. Which means I have to input it into recipe builder on weight watchers or estimate when using sparkpeople. That is a pain, but if you are not into that these would be great books. Also, most of these recipes are not "diet" friendly they are more Paula Deen, yummy, tasty, and many not waist line friendly. My other critique is that there are not enough pictures. I love cookbooks that are loaded with pictures. Not that there are not any pictures I just like a high picture to recipe ratio.
Well on to the food. The southwestern breakfast scramble was a big hit. It involved yummy hash browns on the bottom covered with eggs, cilantro onions, peppers, and black beans. I made it for Papa Hunt's live draft baseball breakfast thingy..all the boys loved it so I will count that as a success. I loved it so much that I have made it for breakfast twice now and even done some modifications to it with my ingredients and it still super yummy.
The other more recent recipe that I made was the Vegetarian Texas Tacos. I am allowed to share this recipe with my readers so here goes
Ingredients:
1Tbls-Vegetable Oil
1 Medium Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
4tsp Cumin
4tsp Chili Powder
2 Cans of Pinto or black beans-Drained and Rinsed
3/4 frozen corn
Salt to taste
3/4 Cup Monterrey Jack
1/4 Cup Cheddar
Tortillas for wrapping
1. Preheat Oven to 350
2. Heat Oil in the large pan add onion and garlic and cook until translucent (about Five Minutes)
3. Add the Cumin and Chili Powder until they are aromatic about 1-2 minutes more then add the salsa and black beans and mash with a potato masher until it is the desired consistency and add the corn
4. Add the mixture to a baking dish and then sprinkle with the cheeses.
5. Bake for 15-20 until the cheese is all melty
6. Scoop into warm tortillas and top with toppings of your choice
Ok-so first I need to fess up I forgot the corn...oh well it was damn tasty without it. Even before I put in a tortilla it was so good. It was better then most Chili's I make and I make some good chili. Not to mention this was super quick. Yet, when you added it to the tortilla, yum!
My overall Review and Rating 4/5-This a great cookbook for someone who is looking for a cookbook for entertaining or good family recipes, but might not be the greatest selection for someone who is really strict about what they like to eat.