The Mason Jar Soup-To-Nuts Cookbook: How to Create Mason Jar Recipe Mixes [Paperback]

Lonnette Parks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2003

The popularity of Mason jar mixes is taking the country by storm! These beautifully decorated jars are filled with attractive layers of ingredients for making a variety of scrumptious kitchen creations. Topped with an eye-catching square of fabric that is tied on with decorative twine or ribbon, these jars are a pleasure to give and a joy to receive.

If you’ve ever wanted to create beautiful Mason gift jars in your own home, or try your hand at making the recipes yourself, here’s the good news: You don’t have to be a craft expert to assemble the containers, nor do you have to

be a culinary school graduate to prepare the recipes in your own kitchen. Best-selling writer Lonnette Parks shows you just how easy it is. In her first book, The Mason Jar Cookie Cookbook, Lonnette shares fifty of her favorite

cookie recipes. In her second book, The Mason Jar Soup-to-Nuts Cookbook, she presents fifty fantastic recipes for soups, muffins, breads, beverages, cakes, and more. Finally, in The Mason Jar Dessert Cookbook, Lonnette offers

fifty delectable dessert recipes guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Just like the other books in the series, this one is designed for both the cook and the crafter. Each recipe includes easy-to-follow directions for creating the jarred mix. You’ll learn what size jar to use and how to make neat ingredient layers. Then Lonnette will show you how to add those finishing touches that turn the jar into a beautiful gift.

Whether you want to prepare the Mason jar recipes yourself or create impressive gift jars for family and friends, The Mason Jar Cookbook Series is all you need. Enjoy the experience! 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the holidays approach and homemade gifts are in demand, cooks who are also crafts enthusiasts may appreciate Parks's ideas for putting together 50 different kinds of Mason Jar mixes. Dry, nonperishable ingredients are layered in pint- or quart-size jars; the lids are then topped with colorful fabric squares and tied with ribbon and tags bearing cooking instructions. For "Breakfast Fare," "Muffins, Scones and Breads" or "Cookies and Cakes," all the gift-recipient needs to do is add fresh dairy products to create, say, Butter Pecan Bread or Toffee Chip Cookies. Some of the "Soups and Stews" require the addition of meat and canned broth, or the overnight soaking of dried beans (Beefy Bean Soup), but most Beverages (Mexican Hot Chocolate and Southern Peach tea, for example) need only water. Cooks can keep these mixes for themselves, of course, and Parks has cleverly put instructions for preparing the different dishes at home on each left-hand page, while those for creating a gift jar are on the right; pre-written gift tags are included, too, ready for photocopying. While Parks's ideas are quaint and generous, there are too many recipes that call for such ingredients as non-dairy creamer or Tang, to fully enthuse the home cook.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Serious cooks tend to turn up their noses at the thought of commercially packaged mixes, fearing the boxes to be chock-full of chemical additives, but there's no doubt that using them saves time. Parks' The Mason Jar Soup-to-Nuts Cookbook demonstrates that a cook can prepare personalized combinations of ingredients at home and thus enjoy the mixes' advantages without their drawbacks. She produces breakfast bread mixes, cookies, cakes, soups, stews, and a few beverage bases. Each mix fits in a quart or pint canning jar. For those who, a la Martha Stewart, like to create culinary gifts, Parks demonstrates how some fabric, ribbon, and cunningly penned instructions to the recipient enhance the jar. This blend of cookery and crafts will appeal to a cross section of readers. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 134 pages
• Publisher: Square One Publishers (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757001297
• ISBN-13: 978-0757001291
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,422 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book I've seen on this topic, November 7, 2008

By 

J. R. Smithers (Aurora, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Mason Jar Soup-To-Nuts Cookbook: How to Create Mason Jar Recipe Mixes (Paperback)

As the holidays approach I liked the idea of making gifts in Mason jars, especially soups or stews. The end of the year is such a hectic time and often there is cold weather; what better to have on the shelf than a homemade, delicious and fast soup mix?

There are a number of books on the market with this idea and I have several others of these books. The Mason Jar Soup-To-Nuts Cookbook is by far my favorite.

Three pages devoted to each recipe, one for the labeling and each page can be easily copied to pass along. (One such booklet that I own is printed in red so that nothing can be copied. What a pain to have to write out the directions over and over--ugh!).

The recipes are tasty,hearty and delicious. Even my husband has been very impressed with the quality of the soup recipes. Three that we have made: Homemade Chicken Noodle, Very Veggie Pasta Soup, and a great Tortellini Soup that is really a whole meal.

Be prepared to have to buy spices and bouillon. It is very well worth it however and you will not believe the wonderful gourmet flavor achieved. Thyme is in just about every recipe, so if you can only afford one spice, that's the one.

I have made over 18 jars of the soups from this book, some for gifts but most for my own pantry. I love how prepared I feel for emergencies, last minute gifts or surprise dinner guests. I made four jars for a new mother and she was thrilled, saying it was her favorite present!

Hats off to the authors, you've saved me money, time and anxiety. Well done!

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to Use, August 16, 2005

By 

D. Charles - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mason Jar Soup-To-Nuts Cookbook: How to Create Mason Jar Recipe Mixes (Paperback)

This Mason jar recipe book is easy to use. The 'recipe tags' that are to be attached to your Mason jar are printed in this book so that you may conveniently just copy them, cut it out and attach it to your jar. No retyping or writing it out. Also, the little subtitles that Ms. Parks uses under her recipe titles make the recipes more personal.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very pleased!, September 27, 2010

By 

Burgundy Damsel (Albany, New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Mason Jar Soup-To-Nuts Cookbook: How to Create Mason Jar Recipe Mixes (Paperback)

I picked this up for the soup recipes, but ended up most excited over the drink recipes! I was also pleasantly surprised to see that her baked goods chapters were not repeats of her other Mason Jar book, as is so often the case in other authors' works. I'm very happy to have found this!