EVERYDAY DINNER IDEAS: 103 Easy Recipes for Chicken, Pasta, and Other Dishes Everyone Will Love by Addie Gundry

PUBLISHER: St. Martin's, 11/2017
GENRE: Cookbooks/Main Dish
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: With plenty of one-pot meals, dinners ready in under half an hour, and innovative flavor combinations to spice up your go-to proteins, Everyday Dinner Ideas author Addie Gundry has the answers. This third book from the RecipeLion collection is poised to become a go-to resource for singles, couples, and families. Driven by the recipes home cooks search for most on the web like lasagna, salmon, pork chops, and ground beef, this book presents 103 great everyday dinner ideas that real people are searching for daily.






Catagories: Appetizers and Salads, Soups and Stews, Poultry, Beef and Pork, Pasta and Vegetarian, Side Dishes, Grilling Made Easy, Dessert.

THINGS I'VE MADE

DANIEL'S MEATLOAF

I made half the recipe using 1 lb. of ground beef. I divided the mixture in half and added diced green pepper to half. It cooked in 45 minutes. The meat is too firm for my liking. It needed some moisture added to the raw meat, like ketchup, tomato sauce, or milk. Flavorwise it's fine. I wouldn't make this one again or recommend it because it's not as good as the other one I make.

AU GRATIN POTATOES

These are made with three russet potatoes, salt, pepper, whole milk, one egg, and two types of cheese. I used a 10" baking dish instead of a 9" one. I added a very small amount of finely chopped onion too, and dried parsley. I omitted cooked bacon. 

I'd grade this recipe a B because it needs improvement. It's a little too dry and needs more cheese. I'll try it again using more cheese that's melted into a 12 oz. can of evaporated milk and omit the egg and I'm sure they'll be perfect. 

EXTRA CHEWY DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Bitter, bitter, and bitter is what these are because they have too much cocoa powder in them. I knew they did and still made them anyway. I had to use double the salt and double the vanilla. They're made with equal parts butter and vegetable oil and a small amount of flour. They're fully cooked but are sticky and gummy, and are just horrible. I had to dust the tops heavily with powdered sugar just to add some much needed sweetness only to end up throwing them in the trash after eating just one. Thank goodness I didn't waste chocolate chips in the batter for waste money on frosting that was supposed to go on top.

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

I made half of this in a 2 qt. pot on the stove, not in a slow cooker. I left out the rosemary because I don't like it and left out lemon juice because I didn't want to use it. I used 3/4 c. medium egg noodles and two baked and shredded chicken tenderloins. I used 1 1/4 t. salt since no amount as given. This is alright, nothing special and a little bland. It's very simple to make.

MY THOUGHTS: This is a large, full color paperback. There's a large photo of each recipe too that takes up a whole page. There are a few other things in here I'd like to try, like macaroni and cheese, but they'd take some tweaking and when reviewing recipes you shouldn't really change much of anything so reviewing four things is all I'm comfortable with.

I'm not really happy with this book. The title is very accurate with calling these recipes "ideas." You can pick out a meat/fish/poultry dish and pair it with something else in here. I guess I'm more of a casserole/one pot meal-type person so I don't find this book particularly useful.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.