What Can I Bring? Cookbook (Cake Mix Doctor) [Paperback]

Anne Byrn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cake Mix Doctor | Publication Date: November 10, 2007

Potlucks and picnics, dinner parties and church socials, fundraisers, toasts to the teacher, reunions, cookouts—it's the busy age of shared meals, which means with every invitation comes the question: " What can I bring?" Anne Byrn, an inspired cook, problem solver, and bestselling author of The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook and other books with over 2.6 million copies in print, knows exactly how to answer the question. Cutting through menu block—a condition familiar to everyone who cooks—here are over 200 delicious suggestions for crowd-pleasing food that’s designed to travel.

There are finger foods, canapes, and "trios"—Trio of Marinated Goat Cheese, Asian Summer Rolls with a Trio of Sauces, Trio of Pastry-Wrapped Camemberts. 25 surprising salads: White Corn Salad with Fresh Thyme, Asparagus and Grilled Peppers with Asian Soy Dressing. Main dishes for a party, from Southern-Style Pulled Pork to Creamy White Bean and Spinach Lasagne. Desserts (of course, 25 of them), and a full chapter of loaves and other gifts from the kitchen, including Chocolate Sour Cherry Bread and Sun-Cooked Peach Preserves. Each recipe comes with Tote Notes (how best to transport the dish), Big Batch (how to multiply the dish), and When You Arrive (how to put the finishing touches on the dish). Plus there are "Grab & Gos"—super-quick recipes—for each section, etiquette tips for working in someone else's kitchen, and a "Notes" area for each recipe, to jot down tips and log in when you made the dish and for what occasion, so you don't repeat yourself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Whether off to a friend's house or hosting a dinner party, this collection from Byrn (The Cake Mix Doctor, Dinner Doctor, etc.) gives plenty of reliable, tasty and (fairly) easy-to-prepare standards. Grouped by course, Byrn's recipes are packed with information. Easy-to-follow instructions are garnished with tips for packing and transportation; sidebars like her "10 Grab and Gos" can prove a godsend ("Buy a good deli paté and drizzle a little good brandy over it before serving"); and no-cook recipes like Twelve Layer Taco Dip and Layered Crabmeat Stack (cream cheese, cocktail sauce, seafood, cheddar and scallions) can be assembled in minutes. Can't-miss mains like Chicken Enchiladas; Spinach, Prosciutto and Mushroom Midnight Strata; and Oven-Barbecued Beef Brisket are sure to please (though the brisket, among others, does require some planning). Updates on classic party fare such as a Warm Potato Salad with Rosemary and Camembert, grilled Turkey Burgers with Pesto Mayonnaise and baked beans kicked up with chili powder and hot pepper sauce are hardly revolutionary, but guests should notice the extra effort. Rounded out with tips on everything from dressing up ham to table decorations, Byrn has thought of pretty much everything, leaving guests and hosts with quite a bit less to worry about.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

CROWD-PLEASING FOOD FOR EVERY KIND OF POTLUCK—AND WITHOUT THE STRESS

Getting together over a great meal is easier than ever with more than 200 recipes designed to travel. From party entrées like Oven-Barbecued Beef Brisket and Parmesan Chicken Rolls to desserts like Peach and Blueberry Crisp and German Chocolate Cake, plus 30 appetizers, soups hot and cold, three dozen of the best salads, countless sides, and a chapter on gifts from the kitchen, Anne Bryn offers solutions to recipe block with her delicious answers to that age-old question, "What can I bring?" Now you can R.S.V.P. with confidence.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (November 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761143920
• ISBN-13: 978-0761143925
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne Byrn is known to millions of fans through her Cake Mix Doctor and Dinner Doctor cookbooks, which she's promoted in more than 200 television appearances on Good Morning America, Roker on the Road, QVC, and local stations. She is also a favorite subject for lifestyle editors in newspapers across the country. Anne lives in Nashville with her husband and three children. You can visit her online at www.cakemixdoctor.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now I'm prepared for any type of potluck, without the worry!, November 7, 2007

By 

Cilla (upstate NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What Can I Bring? Cookbook (Cake Mix Doctor) (Paperback)

I'm a good cook and baker, but every time I have to bring something to a get-together, I end up obsessing over what to bring. I fall back on the same old things so much that I get bored, even though people seem to enjoy what I bring. Recently, I have been asked to bring food for various organizations/activities--probably at least once a month. This book, which is under $20.00, is well worth the price. It has more than 200 recipes, and there is a very good variety of recipes, including vegetarian ones or ones that could be easily made vegetarian/vegan. That's important to me because I have a vegetarian daughter. It is great that the author provides information on how to increase the amount of servings if practical, and provides a time-line of how long to expect to take to make the dish. Her notes on "how to tote" the dishes are helpful, since getting the dish there intact is important. There are some recipes at the end of the book for gift-giving and they will be wonderful for Christmas gifts. I like that the author did all my trial-and-error work for me--testing what goes over well at a pot-luck, is fairly simply to make, and travels well. I want to buy more of her books after purchasing this one, because her recipes are "real life, without too many exotic ingredients, and food that people would actually eat.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now we know what to bring!, November 30, 2007

By 

Can-Do Cook - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Can I Bring? Cookbook (Cake Mix Doctor) (Paperback)

I'm a big fan of Anne Byrn's The Cake Mix Doctor cookbook, a dog-earred favorite that stays in my kitchen, not on the coffee table. Her recipes continually bail me out when I'm frantically running around in need of a birthday cake, a treat for school, or a fancy dessert. In fact, I've recommended it to plenty of food snobs who are all now cake mix converts.

It's no surprise that I love her What Can I Bring? Cookbook. And who hasn't had a panic attack when uttering those very words? This book is like looking through your best friend's recipe box--a nice combination of nostalgic favorites and new cool easy recipes. There is plenty of advice for toting food around and I especially like the space to jot notes and make the book truly my own. Anne Byrn's books have a nice tone to them. She sounds like she gets it, like she's living a busy life and having some fun along the way. Her books are good friends in my kitchen.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intersting, but a little confusing, December 5, 2007

By 

a Dallas reader (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Can I Bring? Cookbook (Cake Mix Doctor) (Paperback)

I certainly like the idea of this cookbook, and it has some excellent recipes in it. However, the author has tried to squeeze so many things on each page (including the recipe, a column of notes, suggestions for transporting the prepared dish, etc.), that it's hard to decide where to look first. Her directions for making the recipes can also be confusing when trying to prepare a dish that has several parts. It is essential to read through the recipe several times before starting - in fact, maybe that's why the "notes" column is on each page. All in all, it's well worth the money. Personally, I would have liked to see more soups and salads, as that is what I prefer to bring for a covered dish. The book includes some great ideas for transporting each type of dish and a section of recipes to make for gifts.