Just Tacos: 100 Delicious Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

This title will be released on October 18, 2011.
I reviewed an advanced/reviewers copy of this title.


Okay, Tacos are my go to dinner in the summer when I have 15 family members over.  Throw several skirt steaks and chicken marinated for at least 3-4 hours and onion and peppers all on the grill.  They love them, but next time will be a little different because of this book.

First i'm going to make my own Tortillas. I saw Guy Fieri do it once on his show and thought, why take the time- still think that for just plain tortillas- that is why I'm breaking out some of the recipes like the Chile-Flavored Corn Tortillas and the Black Bean- Flavored Corn Tortillas.  Hey all you food trucks out there servicing tacos, what are you not giving us a flavored matched tortilla with your tacos?

Here is another thing, I have two teenagers.  They think Taco Bell is the only fast food joint in the world, we have millions of teenager who grew up with Taco Bell- their palate will grow and they are going to want some of the tacos in this book.

My son works at ZEST, you may know the place because it was featured on Dinner's, Drive-in's, and Dives.  His two, go to meals. The veggie burger and FISH TACOS... I've tried to recreate, but now I believe I can do it one better.  They have Chopped Fish with Tomatillo Salad taco,  a delicate shrimp and grilled shrimp in adobo sauce, and a Baja Fish Tacos recipes, and then there is the Lime-Chipotle Mayonnaise to put the taco's in another category.  OKAY and they have a lobster taco!  Why am I not seeing this on menus, at least on the coasts?!?!

The book covers all the meat groups, and it is full of salsas and sauces (which we all know are the keys to make the home cook a rock star chef, with food to impress).

I like towards the end of the cookbook we have Mini Quesadillas, Cheese Quesadillas, and some really good recipes that are appetizer worthy.

Product Description

Once a staple of Mexican street food, tacos have crossed the border to great popularity. Taco’s endless variety of great-tasting flavors satisfies any time of day—in all kinds of ways. Convenient, portable, and affordable, tacos are equally welcome at a dinner party, for brunch, or as an afternoon snack. Just Tacos celebrates this versatility with 100 original recipes featuring beef, pork, lamb, seafood, vegetables, breakfast ingredients, and more. Easy-to-make and easy-to-eat, adults, teens, and kids can all try their hand at turning out a tasty taco (or making their own tortillas), whether it’s filled with ethnic ingredients or pantry staples. And in these pages tacos don’t go it alone—information-packed sidebars offer up excellent salsas, sauces, fun drinks, and solid how-to techniques. Just Tacos is a great showcase for this much-loved comfort food.

Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes

When you include BIBLE in the title you better be putting out a book that no one will ever get rid of...and this is a keeper.

Food network stars put out cookbooks like magazines, themed books with about  100-150 recipes and we eat them up based on their style and likability.  This cookbook is complete and her legacy.

My mom made a cookbook for my sister and I for Christmas.  It contained all the favorites that we grew up with.  I would ask her where she got her lasagna recipe, and she'd say the Akron, Ohio paper back in the 50 or 60s. More than once this was the answer.  50-100+ years from now children and grandchildren will be asking the very same question and the answer will be, The Paula Deen Bible.

If you have watched her show, seen her on anybody else's show and liked what she was cooking get this book.

Party coming up, the appetizer section of this cookbook will be the first cook book (out of hundreds) I will thumb through.

Another story.  I go on food quests.  I spent months perfecting the perfect french fry, burger, lasagna, and the hardest quest to date, the biscuit.  If I would have started with this cookbook, it would have been a much, much, shorter quest.  You could just go to the Angel Biscuits and be done with it... and then you could keep on going with the other biscuit recipes- SAUSAGE BISCUITS! and Chive and Cheddar Biscuits.  This is just one part of many parts.

I could go on and on about each section, but I think it would be best for you to check out the table of contents, you will be hooked.  When most of us shop for cookbooks we are looking for 2-3 recipes we want to try right away, this one has 2-3+ per section, and another 3-4 we just want to read because it sounds interesting, like the Dr.Pepper Pecan Cheese Straws

If you have a son or daughter leaving the nest, get them this book.

It covers everything, start to finish, north to south, east to west.

Paula Deen, you are one of the best of the best, and this cookbook is in the best of the best category.    

Product Description

Hi, y’all!

This book is my proudest achievement so far, and I just have to tell y’all why I am so excited about it. It’s a book of classic dishes, dedicated to a whole new generation of cooks—for every bride, graduate, and anyone who has a love of a great Southern meal. My family is growing and expanding all the time. We’re blessed with marriages and grandbabies, and so sharing these recipes for honest, down-home dishes feels like passing a generation’s worth of stovetop secrets on to my family, and yours.

I’ve been cooking and eating Southern food my whole life, and I can tell you that every meal you make from this book will be a mouthful of our one-of-akind spirit and traditions. These recipes showcase the diversity and ingenuity of Southern cuisine, from Cajun to Low-Country and beyond, highlighting the deep cultural richness of our gumbos and collards, our barbecues and pies. You may remember a few beloved classics from The Lady & Sons, but nearly all of these recipes are brand-new—and I think you’ll find that they are all mouthwateringly delicious. It is, without a doubt, a true Southern cooking bible.

I sincerely hope that this book will take its place in your kitchen for many years to come, as I know it will in mine. Here’s to happy cooking—and the best part, happy eating, y’all!
Best dishes,
Paula Deen

My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking

This title will be released on November 1, 2011.
I reviewed an advanced/reviewers copy of this title.


This cookbook is a gentle mix of technique recipes (Risotto of Almost Anything, Creamy Any Vegetable Soup, Warm any Fruit Crumble, and Quick Pickled Vegetables are among some of the standouts) to standouts that would be served in the best restaurants (Braised Veal Brisket, Crown Roast of Pork with Dirty Rice Dressing, and Roast Goose).

The chapter titles are like a family tree that moves from branch to branch, Sunday Supper, Dinner from a Cast Iron Pot, School Nights, Breakfast with my Boys, How to cook a Fish, Fried Chicken & other Classics, Barbecue Wisdom, Jazz Brunch, Goose for the Holidays, and Drew Makes a Cake.  Each section contains a blend of recipes that will appeal to the beginning cook as well as the culinary school graduate.

Some standouts that match my style are:

• Potato Latkes
• The Pickled Shrimp has my interest.
• Roast Beet Salad
• Pork & Sausage Jambalaya
• Sloppy Joe Sliders made with the Braised Beef Short Ribs recipes

Angel Biscuits are my new go to Biscuits for my world famous biscuits and gravy.

I have spent countless hours researching how to achieve the best french fries, and the technique in the recipe for Perfect French Fries is only technique that should be utilized: blanch, and then double fry.

Product Description

Renowned chef and James Beard award-winner John Besh invites us into his home and shows us how we can put good, fresh, healthy food on the table for our families every day.In My Family Table, the Iron Chef champion makes a case for the importance of home-cooked meals. "If I can help make a difference by cooking simply and sharing what I love to cook, I can possibly help us all use our passions and skills to make our lives better at almost every meal."

From organizing your kitchen and stocking your pantry to demystifying fish cookery, John Besh shares his favorite recipes he cooks with his family every day. Master recipes Risotto of Almost Anything and Creamy Any Vegetable Soup show you how to make the food without worrying about having the right ingredients or mastering complicated techniques. Filled with mouthwatering photographs of each recipe as well as showing John in his kitchen with his wife and four sons, My Family Table captures the spontaneity, intimacy, and fun of home-cooking and will inspire the nation back to the family table.