Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Michelle Boucher-Ladd,
This review is from: Tasty Temptations (Paperback)
If you haven't heard about Connie Bandstra then you've been missing out! This dynamic woman who produced the popular Yankee Candle Company, served on the Board of Director's for Gift Mart, and now owns Teacups and Tiaras, a popular tearoom in Des Moines, has just release a new and unusual cook book called Tasty Temptations. It is a fabulous cookbook filled with classic dishes done up in astonishing new ways.
My family and I live on a small farm and raise our own pigs, so I am always on the look out for interesting pork recipes. The first recipe I tried from Tasty Temptations was called "Smothered Pork Chops with Blue Cheese-Applejack Gravy." Now, this might not be the healthiest recipe in the book but how can you not like anything cooked in bacon, booze and blue cheese! My family really enjoyed it and we used the left over gravy on grilled chicken the next night, which was also really good. If you are looking for something a bit healthier Tasty Temptations has a wonderful soup and salad section. I am a fan of all things crunchy and the "Winter Salad" does just that. I like how this book includes recipes for different salad dressings as well. Also, I can't wait to try the "Fabulous Cranberry Salad." It sounds like it would make great side dish for Thanksgiving. If you are looking for something a bit different for the holidays check out the soup section. Several of her recipes have the classic fall flavors with ingredients such as apples, squash, pumpkins, cranberries, and sweet potatoes. The most interesting recipe in this entire book is "Dill Pickle Soup." It is so strangely good! Of course you can't live on food alone. One of the most charming things about this book is that it has some wonderfully funny quotes between each recipe. They add a colorful mix of whimsy and sass to this book. My favorites are ""it's not the men in my life that count, it's the life in my men" - Mae West, and ""Never eat more than you can lift" - Miss Piggy. Connie Bandstra might not be as widely known as Rachel Ray or the Bare Foot Contessa but. after reading through Tasty Temptations and trying a few of the recipes. I found her to be just as entertaining and her recipes are wildly wonderful.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't be without it!,
By Reader Views "Reviews, by readers, for readers" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tasty Temptations (Paperback)
Reviewed by Shalley Malchior for Reader Views (10/06)
Simply delicious. Delicious made simple. Connie Bandstra's new book, "Tasty Temptations," explores how you can easily make some delectable, truly tempting delicacies, such as you might find in an exclusive tearoom, right in your own kitchen. Bandstra is the owner of the world famous Teacups and Tiaras Tearoom and Trinkets cafe in Des Moines, Iowa. In her new cookbook, she offers the reader a chance to concoct some of the very same recipes she offers in her shoppe. For those of us who live too far away and rarely have a chance to visit Teacups and Tiaras in Des Moines, this book provides an excellent opportunity for us to enjoy the same dishes that have people coming from far and near to visit Teacups and Tiaras. I sampled a few recipes presented in the cookbook, and it earns a high mark of approval from me. I tried the recipe for Bow Tie Pasta, a pasta salad that is a bit more high-class than your everyday pasta salad. With Feta cheese, Kalamata olives, colored peppers, and other fresh ingredients, it is a dish that will be perfect for any occasion, from a casual picnic in the park, to your Red Hat luncheon, to your backyard BBQ, to a dinner party to "butter up" your boss for a promotion! For dessert, I tried both the Sour Cream Coffeecake and the Lemon/Raspberrry bars...both were amazingly delicious! So good...and wait until you try the Scrambled Eggs and Wild Rice in Phyllo Cups! I've never been a huge fan of wild rice; yes, I do prefer the minute white rice, believe it or not, but, I have to say, made in this way, I enjoyed it a great deal. And, the best part, unlike most recipes including phyllo dough, this recipe is very simple to make. A real plus in my book! Also, besides the delicious recipes included in this book, Bandstra has included quotes and random thoughts opposite each recipe. Many of these quotes will make you laugh, and some will make you laugh until tears stream down your face! And the book lacks nothing aesthetically. I enjoy the departure from the normal cookbook. How many other cookbooks on your shelf are hot pink? This is the one cookbook you will be pleased to leave out on your countertop! Connie Bandstra is certainly qualified to pen this book. She has been a chef from a young age when she baked pies and sold them to customers in her mother's beauty shop. As they were leaving, they would pick up their pies, made to their specifications, from Connie, and then would place their orders for the following week. In short, "Tasty Temptations" will perfectly fill that space on your cookbook shelf. Don't be without it! Book received free of charge.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
