This Book Cooks This Book Rocks

Old fashioned cookbooks are hard to find. Nowadays, they're embracing the latest trend or cuisine instead of focusing on the basics.A new cookbook, however, is  shining through all that. It promotes using farm fresh ingredients  with old fashioned cooking methods. This makes for some delicious dishes for both humans and even their canine companions!

This unusual cookbook is This Book Cooks (Artichoke Publishers, ) by Kerry Dunnings,who is also a food columnist, culinary consultant as well as a food judge and recipe developer. She is a Ben Franklin award winner for a previous cookbook, Tasting The Seasons. Chef Dunnings is refreshingly  different in that she uses old fashioned cooking methods to create yummy dishes, There is no mention of microwaves anywhere, nor plastic containers.either. She also has a 365 day ecological challenge.It involves growing your own fruits and veggies along with making the daily diet more colorful. This last is done by incorporating  a larger variety of fruits and veggies into meals.  There's also a section on repurposing  - a good idea to pass onto the younger home chefs in the household. This saves on waste and promotes household sustainability There is also the old fashioned challenge  that involve making foods such as cakes and cookies form scratch and of course getting rid of that microwave . This last can be considered a danger be cause of electromagnetic radiation leakage.

Since this is really an old fashioned kind of cookbook, the recipes are blissful   throwbacks to early 20th Century cooking Yet they also are  pretty trendy too. There is a spicy spinach and polenta lasagna that could be seen in any hip Manhattan eatery while her Oriental Flank steak is reminiscent of a cozy Saturday night dinner at home. I love her marinated beef tenderloin  recipe. This is a labor intensive one that requires  marinating, rubbing and saucing. It is a flavorful one  also, with a pineapple marinade, followed by a savory dry rub and sweet and peppery barbecue sauce. Of course she had delicious veggie recipes too, such as baked spinach and cheese and her spin on ratatouille featuring potatoes. There Is a great section on not only homemade human treats but canine ones too..Chef Dunnings gives us healthy whole wheat treats made with all natural wheat germ, wheat flour and molasses along with every pup's dream peanut butter treats. For us people there  is her mother's Old Fashioned  sugar cookies and pear cake, made with the ripe fruit , apple cider and cloves for an aromatic dessert. Chef Dunnings has a tasty ginger stuffed date recipe that would be perfect at any Christmas dessert table.

This Book Cooks is the perfect book for the home chef wanting a more old fashioned style of cooking and baking.The recipes are honest and pure as well as being delicious for both human and dog. Buy it today and create tasty meals and treats for you and your canine child.