Kitchen Concoctions

on a mission to help people gain confidence in the kitchen





  • About Me
    • About Me
    • Featured Work
    • Work With Me
    • Contact
    • FAQ
    • Classes
    • Privacy Policy and Disclosures
  • Recipe Index
  • Crafty Concoctions
    • Crafty Concoctions
    • Party Planning & Entertaining
    • DIY Beauty Treatments
    • Gifts/Gift Baskets
    • Kids Crafty Concoctions
  • Holiday
    • New Year’s
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • 4th Of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Fit Kitchen
    • Fit Kitchen
    • Fitness
    • Healthy Eats
  • Kitchen Adventures
    • Travel
    • Austin, Texas
    • Texas
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Foodie Field Trip
    • Date Night
  • Dishin’ It Up
    • Dishin’ It Up
    • Kickin’ the Bucket
    • Bites with Bloggers

A Week of Gluttony

October 23, 2010

I was so happy with the results of October’s cookbook of the month! Every recipe I made was delightfully delicious! When I choose a CBOM and carefully choose the recipes I will make and feature of course I hope that they will all be a success. However despite my careful and through picking process some recipes don’t turn out as great as I would hope. But I am so happy that all of the recipes from Giada’s Family Dinners turned out delicious!

This cookbook, of course, is chalk full of some fine Italian food! From side dishes, to salads and sandwiches, to main entrees and (most importantly) desserts. The recipes in Giada’s Family Dinners are easy to read, and although there are some specific ‘Italian’ ingredients needed for most recipes, a lot of these ingredients are readily available at your standard grocery store or are pantry staples. This book has a good number of pictures and has servings listed for each recipe but unfortunately does not have prep and cooking times listed (however I did try to include this information on my blog posts). Another great feature of this cookbook is a measurement conversion page and ingredient substation page. I also liked that there were ‘menus’ listed using recipes from the book (what a handy tool for party planning or to plan a big family dinner). This book is so worth the buy and is a total keeper and complete success! I will defiantly be going back to it to make additional recipes and soon!
This Herbed Cheese Polenta is a great Italian twist on a classic Southern favorite.
OMG this Chicken Carbonara was sinfully delicious and surprisingly extremely easy! I think Eric told me that he loved me 5 times while eating it and told me that he loved this dish about 10 times during the course of dinner! With that sort of praise this will be made again and again!
Pasta e Fagioli is a basic Italian soup that is full of flavor and extremely filling despite it’s short and simple list of ingredients. And better yet I made my version vegetarian!
These Espresso Brownies were rich and decadent and got rave reviews from the numerous friends I “pawned” them off on. Believe me you will have BFF’s for LIFE if you share these.
Another great Italian side dish or a fantastic vegetarian main dish is this Penne with Spinach Sauce which is truly versatile. It is extremely easy and will add extra nutrients to your meal with the ‘hidden’ spinach.
This surely was a week fill of gluttony sin but totally worth every delicious, mouth watering calorie!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related


Filed Under: brownies/bars, cheese, chicken, chocolate, coffee, cookbook review, cream cheese, dessert, eggs, favorites, frosting, herbs, Italian, milk, pasta, sauce, side dish, soup, spinach, Uncategorized, vegetarian

« Seriously,How Does She Do It?
Ghoulish Grub »

Hi Y'all, welcome to Kitchen Concoctions!

I'm Heather and I have spent most of my life concocting recipes inspired by the rich southern flavors and Texas grown ingredients I grew up with.

Today, I'm on a mission to help people gain confidence in the kitchen and inspire others to cook, craft and create life long memories with friends and family around the dinner table!

read more...
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Never miss a post!

Subscribe via email!

Blog Archives

©Kitchen Concoctions 2009-2020. All rights reserved. All photography and content are copyright protected. Material may not be duplicated or republished. Please do not use my images without prior written permission. If you would like to share a recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and provide appropriate credit with a direct link back to the original recipe on Kitchen Concoctions. Or simply link to the full recipe on Kitchen Concoctions. Thank you!

Site Design By designer blogs