Cookbook Review: Let's Eat! by Denise Burroughs

Let's Eat is a debut cookbook by Denise Burroughs. Denise combines her Italian heritage and love for cooking into her cookbook. Let's Eat is a small cookbook, about 50 pages and in addition to recipes it includes some fun extras such as Cooking Tips, Substitutions, Is it done yet? and a few others. There are a variety of recipes that look quick and easy and family friendly such as Sheperds Pie, Lasagna, and Casseroles. I am a fan of cookbooks and enjoy trying new recipes so I was excited to have the opportunity to review Let's Eat. There are some nice color pictures of a few recipes. There are sections in the book for main dishes, salads, desserts and drinks although only the drinks sectioned was labeled.  In all honesty, I was disappointed with this cookbook. There was no table of contents or index to follow or find recipes which I like in a cookbook. The style and writing of the book wasn't smooth and flowing and some of the recipes were hard to follow. Measurements weren't always clear, one recipe for chicken casserole just lists bone in chicken breast without an amount. There are no recommendations for the amount each recipe serves which I believe is essential in following a recipe. In my opinion, this cookbook could have benefited from more editing to make it easier to use for the reader.

I did choose a recipe to make that I thought my family would enjoy. I chose to make a recipe called  "Beef & Noodles".  It sounded similar to goulash and it was made in the crock pot which sounded good to me. I had a few issues with the recipe as I didn't know how much it would make but I figured out afterwards that it would serve a family of four (regular servings not hearty ones). With that said, my family did enjoy the Beef & Noodles meal and I would definitely try a few more of the recipes in this cookbook.

Beef & Noodles 

Ingredients:

1 pound stew meat (I used 1 1/3 pounds stew meat)

1/2 onion (I used a whole medium onion and chopped it)

1 Tsp Canola Oil (I used 2 tsp and used it to cook meat & onion)

1/2 cup ketchup

1 Tbs Worcestershire (I used 1 Tbsp soy sauce as I didn't have Worcestershire)

1 Tsp Paprika

3 Tbs. all purpose flour

1 1/3 cup water

1 Tbs. light brown sugar

1 Tsp butter (I added it to crock pot ingredients)

1 bag egg noodles

salt & pepper to taste (added to meat after cooking as well as garlic powder)

Directions:

In a large skillet cook meat and onion on high heat until meat is medium well and onions are translucent. (I cooked this on medium/high and cooked in the canola oil). In your crock pot (I used a 3 1/2 quart crock pot, no size recommended)combine the remainder of your ingredients, combining well with a spoon. (I used a whisk to mix in flour and ingredients and added butter last)

Add your beef and onions. Cook on low 4-5 hours until meat is tender and sauce is thick (I cooked it 5 hours and meat was tender). Serve over egg noodles. 

Note: My family liked this very much and would definitely like me to make it again. I found the sauce a bit on the sweet side and may add less brown sugar. You could easily double the recipe for a larger family and/or servings.

For more information about Let's Eat check out the author, Denise Burrough's website. There are recipes listed there as well.

(Thanks to Pump Up Your Book for sending me a copy of this book for review. I am an Amazon and Indiebound associate.)