Book Review: Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites

Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites
More than 100 Year Round Recipes
by Sara Wells & Kate Jones

Background: A little over a year ago, I discovered the website Our Best Bites. One of my friends had posted a link on facebook to their recipe for Cadbury Mini Egg cookies. Cadbury Mini Eggs and I are kind of soul mates, so this recipe caught my attention. After browsing their site, I fell in love immediately. The site is by 2 young moms who love to cook and share great recipes that are DELICIOUS. Their first cook book is amazing, and now that their new cookbook is out, we’re thrilled to be reviewing it. Alright- at this point you may be asking yourself “What does this have to do with Food Storage?”. Well, we did a post using Our Best Bites recipes last year that shows you, you can use Food Storage in all your favorite recipes. Just because a recipe isn’t labeled as “Food Storage” doesn’t mean you can rotate some of your food storage through with it. See the post “Our Best tips for using Food Storage”.

What I Liked: It’s hard to say what I liked most about the book. I like so many things. I LOVE the pictures. I like that the recipes are broken out by season. I like that there are lots of tips and personal tid bits spread through out the book. There are really, fun and kid friendly food craft ideas for all sorts of holidays. The index is awesome- it is split my meal types, food types, sections like freezer meals and make ahead meals etc. There was one unique thing that I haven’t seen before in a cook book that I think may be my favorite though. They have a section called Rollover ingredients. I don’t know about you, but when I make new recipes I’m usually buying an ingredient or two I don’t always just have on hand. Then after I have made the recipe, the rest of it usually goes to waste. Well in this cookbook it has a list of all their recipes that use those “uncommon” ingredients. So if you buy a bunch of fresh cilantro for a recipe, you can use it in a few other of their recipes too! I need to add here though- while the rollover ingredients may be uncommon, they are totally normal! I hate making recipes with a whole list of ingredients I have never even heard of. These recipes are still simple and gourmet all at the same time.

Features: The bullets below highlight the different features of the cook book. One of the things not highlighted, that I would like to point out is that this is a physical book. If you’re like me, you may use recipes from the internet more than cookbooks, however in case of emergency, or even just website failure, you need to have your recipes in some hard copy form. I suggest having a few go to books with recipes actually written out, and this would be one of them. Here are the features:

Over 100 all-new recipes categorized by season
Mouthwatering, full-color photos for every recipe
Illustrated, step-by-step tutorials
Fun, creative, kid-friendly food crafts for the holidays
Ideas for using leftover ingredients
Tips for preparation and cooking
Instructions for make-ahead, freezer, and slow-cooker meals

Summary: This is a great go-to cookbook with amazing recipes you don’t have to be intimidated to try. The food photography is incredible, and recipes delicious. A great addition to any recipe book library. “Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites”