Customer Reviews

Circle of Friends Cookbook - 25 Savory Pie Recipes

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Are you already thinking about how you can use that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving? Well this cookbook has a delicious recipe for "Old-Fashioned Turkey Pot Pie." It is simple to make because you use pie crusts you buy at the store, frozen mixed vegetables and cream of chicken soup. How easy is that? Some of the other recipes that will be great to try out this winter include: Sun-Dried Tomato and Parmesan Quiche, Asparagus Shepherd's Pie (ground beef, potatoes, cream of asparagus soup and asparagus), Spaghetti Pie and Beefy Slow-Cooker Pot Pie. Most of these recipes have vegetables in them which is good for you but they have some convenience ingredients like soups as well. This is a great collection of recipes for family cooking.

~The Rebecca Review

P.S. I tried the "Upside Down Mexican Pot Pie" and it needed a bit of help. I added 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt (no salt is called for in the recipe), 1/2 teaspoon parsley, 1/4 teaspoon paprika and lots of freshly ground black peppercorns. Also if you use a 2-quart casserole dish as advised you are going to run into an overfill problem. You need a 3-quart casserole dish! I also left out the zucchini. Once you get everything into the frying pan it is a good idea to keep it there cooking for about ten minutes so everything cooks down a bit before you pour it over the cornbread batter. I may also add some tomato paste next time I make it. Anyway it is full of healthy vegetables so I'm glad I was able to adapt it. The words my husband said as he dug into this dish were: "This is really good." I think I'll be making it again. But do adapt it otherwise it will have no flavor.

Well, most of us here like food. I doubt seriously that if a "food hater" wakes up in the morning and says to themselves, "gosh, I hate food so much I think I will go and read a bunch of reviews on cookbooks." Nope, food is good stuff and with the literally thousands upon thousands of cookbooks we have available to us these days, the availability of millions of recipes via the web and the plethora of food shows on several different T.V. channels, you might ask yourself why on earth would you want to read or buy or download yet another? Hmmm, well I haven't a clue. My wife and I are setting here (we both cook) on several hundred volumes we have collected over the years and about a week or so I download this free one....go figure.

Well I am happy to report that the price of this little work was certainly right and with winter weather coming on the offerings here go right along with the season. Now before I go on there are a couple of things to note.

First, the recipes found in this short little work, as has been pointed out by other reviewers, does indeed rely heavily upon canned and packaged food things such as frozen or canned veggies, frozen pie crusts...you know, the stuff you actually use but don't admit to using most of the time. Now don't get me wrong, cooking from scratch using fresh ingredients and doing it yourself most certainly is the best way to go. I would say that the majority of the dishes we prepare are made this way. But that being said, we have the time and in inclination to do so; alas though, not everyone does. Nor does everyone have all that fresh stuff available all of the time. Life is not perfect.

Sometimes we simply want something fast, relatively cheap, easy to make and filling; along with simply tasting good. This little book is just the ticket for that sort of quick and easy meal.

Old-fashioned turkey pot pie, Cornbread chicken pot pie, speedy shepherd's pie, sun-dried tomato and parmeasan quiche, ham and potato pie, golden shepherd's pie, pizzeria pot pie, slow-cooker sausage pie, crispy noodle pie, rooster pie, flaky chicken pot pie, asparagus shepherd's pie, upside-down Mexican pot pie, spaghetti pie, yummy meat pie, beef pot pie, vegetable patch pie, BBQ chicken quiche, potato pie with peppers, breakfast pot pie, homestyle tuna pot pie, beefy slow-cooker pot pie and deep-dish sausage pizza pie. This little free book offers quite a selection and if you are into making and eating various pie dishes you are bound to find something here that will appeal to you.

The directions are easy to follow in this book. The ingredients are, for the most part, readily available. The dishes are relatively hassle free and the end product is quite tasty.

I would suggest that if you do not care for using canned or frozen ingredients you probably will not want to download and read this free book, or you could always modify most of the offerings here, using fresh stuff...if available.

I feel I got my monies worth out of this one.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

This is all main dish, veggie, etc. recipes. It's HEAVY on convenience foods (frozen veggies, a can of beef gravy on top of potatoes in a crock pot?, cream of .... soups). There is typically too much of everything in these convenience foods to combine them to the extent they have here, and have any semblence of balance left in a meal.

One tip for anyone who may be interested: Some of these recipes are very adaptable to doing without crusts if you so desire. I make "crustless quiche," etc. all the time, and this is one way to remove some of the "heft" from these recipes. Line the bottom of the plate with the protein (ham, etc.), and you have a good crust substitute. Post a comment here if you want more info, and I'll be happy to get back to you.)

If you're OK with the ingredients, then you may be OK with this book, but I don't find it anywhere near the caliber of the other Gooseberry books I've purchased. Most of their books have wonderful, creative tips in between the recipes. This one does not.

I hope this helps!

I was able to download this ecookbook for free and I was very happy to find lots of recipes I'm interested in trying! I'd been looking for new ideas for meals and this cookbook certainly has lots to offer. Plus I've been a fan of Gooseberry Patch for a long time. Thanks to whomever for the opportunity to get it for free, but it's definitely worth the regular price.

I am a big fan of savory pies, and I found this book had some decent recipes (tried one tonight). It was definitely worth the price (free). The only complaints I have is that the table of content is at the end of the book, which isn't very helpful. Also the book did not have proper page breaks between recipes, which made the formatting seem less clean. Will definitely try a few more of the recipes in the future.

This book has a great collection and selection of "potpies" as we used
to call them. Something for every taste I believe. Gooseberry has put
out a lot of specialty cookbooks and this has to be the only company
that I have seen that has one out on savory pies...very good for this
time of year!

I am always looking for quick and easy dinner ideas that I can make before hand and freeze until I am ready as a working mom with kids who are just as busy as me. good freebie from mommysavers.com

While this is a nice book, it would be better if it had a table of contents. Especially in turning pages on the kindle, it would be nice to be able to go right to a recipe of choice.

This is a great little book for pot pies and the like. Some tasty one at that. When someone says pie,I think of the sweet kind. So for the main course this book is great, for dessert pies I recommend All Time Best Pie Recipesto finish off your meal. These two books will cover all your pie needs.

I browsed through this quickly, it seemed pretty decent. Not much to my taste, but a solid old fashioned pie recipe book. Great for the price(free) lol!