Cookbook Review

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We have used Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi every weekend since we received it! I originally purchased it as a gift for a friend—but when she told me she was trying to eat healthy for 2021—I gifted Jubilee instead and kept this one for myself.

Why do we love this book?

• Everything is mixed in one bowl—easy clean up!
• You only need a whisk and a spatula—no stand mixer!
• No creaming—the recipes use melted butter!
• She includes ingredient weights—more accurate measuring.
• Each recipe makes a 8” x 8” cake—reasonable size to eat in one weekend.
• Recipes can be doubled, to make a sheet cake.
• Arefi gives specific ideas on how to dress it up or vary the flavor—endless mix and match ideas.
• Each recipe has a photo—engaging for our young chefs.

We’ve been trying to reduce our waste from food packaging and one of the biggest challenges has been the snacks I need to send to school each day. Additionally, due to new found pickiness in my children, I’ve been trying to include them in meal planning and prep, hoping it will translate to better eating (not much luck yet, unfortunately). Snacking Cakes has been an enjoyable way for us to cook together, and then little squares of unfrosted cake make a perfect nut-free snack for school! We’ve taken the recipes with 2 eggs and halved them (so each kid can make their own cake). They still coming out perfectly! 

Avid bakers may find this book too simplistic. However, I am not an avid-baker. I never have room temperature butter ready to be creamed; and though I have a stand-mixer, I hate cleaning it. For me, this is the perfect dessert book! 

We have made about a dozen of the 50 cake recipes. Our favorites include Lemony Olive Oil Cake + Lemon Glaze, Fudgy Chocolate Cake + Fluffy Chocolate Frosting, For undressed cakes, we loved My Best Carrot Cake and Swirled Jam Cake. Lemon, Currant and Rosemary Cake is next on my list, once I can convince the young chefs.

To cook all of the recipes in Snacking Cakes, you will need the following spices:

• allspice
• baking powder
• baking soda
• cardamom
• cinnamon
• cloves
• ginger
• ginger (crystallized)
• kosher flake salt
• nutmeg
• pepper
• poppy seeds
• sumac
• vanilla extract
• vanilla bean paste*

*Make your own vanilla bean paste using our organic vanilla beans!

Other pantry ingredients to stock up on: dried currants, turbinado sugar (or some other coarse sugar), maple syrup, hazelnuts, almond flour, shredded coconut, espresso powder, freeze dried raspberries or strawberries, sliced almonds, cornmeal, pepitas, pecans, dates, pumpkin puree, cocao nibs, mint extract. And confectioner’s sugar…for all that glaze!

Snacking Cakes, paired with a whisk, is going to be our go-to gift option for kids ages 4-10 this year!

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The Spiced cookbook will help you master six techniques:

• Season smarter with salt and pepper. You'll learn about brining, using peppercorns of all colors, and making finishers like sriracha salt.
• Give meat and vegetables a rub. We'll provide blends that you can put to use in our recipes (try juniper and fennel on salmon) or your own.
• Bloom and toast. Bring out ground spices' complexity by cooking them in oil; unlock dried chiles' fruity or nutty flavors by toasting them.
• Finish foods with flair. Spice-and-nut/seed blends likes shichimi togarashi (a mix of spices, orange zest, and sesame seeds) add texture, too.
• Let spices steep. Infuse spices into condiments like pickled fennel that punches up chicken salad or rosemary oil to drizzle over bruschetta.
• Bake with spices. Go beyond vanilla by rolling doughnuts in strawberry-black pepper sugar. Make your own rose water and add it to pistachio baklava.

The cookbook includes 47 easy spice blends and 139 recipes to help you harness the power of spices. To make all of the spice blends in this book, you will need the following spices, as well as a spice grinder or mortar and pestle:

• Aleppo pepper
• allspice berries
• anise
• cayenne
• cardamom
• celery
• chili flakes
• chili powder
• cinnamon
• cloves
• coriander
• cocoa 
• cumin
• dill weed
• fennel 
• fenugreek
• garlic
• ginger
• marjoram
• Mexican oregano
• mustard
• nutmeg
• paprika
• peppercorns (black, green, white, and pink)
• rose buds
• rosemary
• saffron
• salt (kosher flake)
• salt (coarse finishing salt, like Cyprus, Tamise or Lava)
• sesame
• sichuan peppercorns
• sumac
• star anise
• thyme
• turmeric

Note—the spice blends do not contain salt, to allow you to adjust seasoning while cooking and allow for most flexibility. The blends may at first appear more "bland" than store bought as the salt is needed later to enhance flavor.

Other pantry items you may need: dried chiles (ancho, chipotle, New Mexican, arbor or bird), fresh herbs, garlic and ginger, liquid smoke, peanuts, Sriracha, capers, red currant jelly.

Advieh Spice Mix—Adapted by Gneiss Spice:

Advieh means "spice" in Farsi, and the blend is fundamental to Persian cooking. Complexly flavored, deeply warm and floral, it's traditionally used to flavor all manner of rice dishes and stews. Try some in rice pudding!

• 2 tsp cinnamon chips
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
• 1 tsp hulled cardamom 
• 1/4 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp dried rose petals
• 1/4+ tsp Cyprus flake sea salt

Process cinnamon stick in spice grinder until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add cumin seeds, cardamom and peppercorns. Process until coarse ground, about 15 seconds. Add rose petals and pulse until no bigger than 1/8 inch—about 5 pulses. Transfer to small bowl and stir in salt, adjust to taste. 

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Jubilee, by Toni Tipton-Martin is a celebration of 200 years of African American cooking...and teaches us it's much more diverse than soul food. Tipton-Martin gathers recipes from historical cookbooks and translates them for the modern kitchen. Often she includes an original, historic recipe, and we can see how processes and tastes have evolved through time.

In her directions, she tells us to “engage all of your senses the way my ancestors did when they cooked. Taste and adjust seasoning according to your own preferences…these skills, often mischaracterized as a mythicized natural-born talent or a culinary ‘mystique,’ are acquired by observation and practice and intelligence. As you are guided by your senses, you will feel empowered by the skills you have mastered.” May we all feel so empowered in the kitchen, and may this book connect us to the history of American cooking.

Jubilee is organized into seven sections:

• Appetizers: Food for Company
• Beverages: Liquified Soul
• Breads: The Staff of Life
• Soups + Salads: For the Welcome Table
• Sides + Vegetables: A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That
• Main Dishes: Comfort in Dining
• Desserts: The Sweet Life

My seven year old and I meal planned two feasts from this book. The first night featured Rice and Peas with Coconut, Honey-Soy Glazed Chicken, a simple salad with Garlic and Herb Dressing, and Devil’s Food Cake for a friend’s birthday. The second menu was Hibiscus Tea, Sweet Potato Biscuits, Crawfish Bisque, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Biscuits were the favorite, even more than the cake!

To cook all of the recipes in this book, you will need the following spices:

• allspice (berries)
• allspice (ground)
• baking powder
• baking soda
• bay leaves
• cayenne
• celery salt
• celery seeds
• chili flakes
• chili powder
• chipotle powder
• cinnamon (ground)
• cinnamon (sticks)
• cloves (ground)
• cloves (whole)
• coriander (ground)
• cumin (ground)
• curry powder
• dill weed
• garlic granules
• garlic salt
• ginger (ground)
• hibiscus
• jerk rub (or she gives a recipe to make your own)
• marjoram
• nutmeg (grated) or mace
• onion granules
• onion salt
• oregano
• paprika
• paprika (smoked)
• pepper (ground)
• peppercorns
• pickling spice
• poultry seasoning
• rosemary
• sage
• salt (kosher flake)
• sesame seeds
• vanilla extract
• thyme
• west indies curry
• white pepper

Other pantry ingredients you might need: capers, liquid hickory smoke, Scotch bonnet peppers.

Jubilee was my surprise favorite cookbook of 2020. I purchased it as a gift for a friend who works at a local historical society; I thought a book that traces the evolution of cooking in America would be most interesting to her. But I quickly found out while thumbing through, it's relevant to all of us (and quickly ordered myself a copy). Jubilee and Victuals are the most "American" cookbooks I own; cooking these recipes that have been passed down through generations of African Americans—and reading the accompanying stories—illustrates where our country came from and offer inspiration about where we can go. 

“I hope that by the time you finish cooking your way through Jubilee, you will think of African American cooking like a sultry gumbo: built, perhaps, on a foundation of humble sustenance, but layered with spice, flavors, and aromas, and embellished by the whim and the skills of the cook, served with grace and richness as well as love.” -Tipton-Martin

The premise of Green Kitchen at Home is that recipes should be simple enough to make, deeply focused on vegetables and (usually) kid friendly. And, with stunning photography (and great taste) they will make you consider being vegetarian! The recipes are healthy, made with whole ingredients. Our favorites so far: Fridge Favorite Crepes, Turmeric Blueberry Muffins, Banana and Spinach Pancakes, Herby Green Breakfast Bowls, Shakshuka. Flatbread made great pizza dough substitutes (photo attached)—we are totally wheat-eaters, but have switched to this for Friday Pizza nights, as it get our kids extra hidden vegetables!

Pros:

1. Gorgeous photography with pictures for every recipe.
2. Versatile Meals—they understand the changing opinions of kids, and give ideas on how to adapt recipes for preferences or seasons.
3. Recipes separate wet and dry ingredients—so much easier to follow!
4. Vegan alternatives.
5. “Fridge Favorites” section is simple, covers easy recipes needed to keep as staples in your fridge. These favorites are then combined later for different recipes. Many of the favorites are also available at the grocery store (think tomato sauce, pesto, hummus, flatbread…), but homemade is always better, right?
6. “At the Weekend” section includes the harder, more complicated recipes. I appreciated this separation, as a mother of two kids…this is the section I’ll use the least often, lol.
7. No refined sugar!
8. Tools section—I love seeing what people use in their kitchen. David says every vegetarian kitchen needs: spiralizer, mandolin, steaming basket, blender, scale, food processor or immersion blender, muffin tin.
9. Shakshuka! Haven’t tried it? You should + add the homemade za’atar.

Cons:

1. Some recipes call for unconventional ingredients—we live in rural Maine, I’d probably have to drive 70 miles to find halloumi, puffed quinoa, za’atar, nigella (our online shop sells the hard to find spices, so hit us up if you can’t find them near you).
2. Recipe times do not include the time it takes to make the “Fridge Favorites,” so you really do need to plan ahead.

Tip: Read the Fridge Favorites section first, before jumping around.

Spices: To make all the recipes in this book, you will need the following spices:

• Arrowroot
• Bay Leaves
• Basil
• Cardamom
• Cayenne
• Chili (powder)
• Chili (flakes)
• Cinnamon
• Coriander (ground)
• Coriander (seed)
• Cumin (ground)
• Cumin (seed)
• Curry (leaves)
• Curry (powder)
• Dukkah (they give you the recipe to make it)
• Fennel (seed)
• Ginger
• Mustard (black seeds)
• Nigella (seed)
• Nutmeg
• Oregano
• Paprika (smoked)
• Pepper (fresh ground)
• Sea Salt
• Sesame (seed)
• Sumac
• Thyme
• Turmeric
• Za’atar (they give you the recipe to make it)

We've tried about two dozen recipes, and I look forward to more. I review cookbooks for the blog portion of our Gneiss Spice online shop. We started posting them on Amazon, as we thought it might be helpful to shoppers! Thanks for reading. Please let me know what questions you have. ~Beth

To cook these vegetarian recipes, you'll need:

Simple Chef Vegetable Spiralizer (Just got one to try out these recipes. It's super fun and the kids love it!)

Mandoline Slicer (Be careful of your fingers!)

Vegetable Steaming Basket (What an easy way to cook!)

Blender, but really a Vitamin (I finally splurged and use it everyday!!)

Kitchen Scale (Recently bought this cheap one and it's working great. No need to splurge on an expensive scale)

Food Processor or Immersion Blender (I recommend both, and use them for different jobs). 

These gluten-free rice flour crepes are awesome! Make a batch of batter and keep in your fridge for a few days. 

Good Jump Off for Starting Grain-Free—Solid Recipes, But Not Inspirational

The idea behind 30 Days Grain Free-is that you can pick up this book, buy all the items on the weekly shopping list and feed your family for 30 days, grain-free. While this premise is neat, I honestly can’t imagine following a book for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days. I love to cook too much! I used this book for about a month, making about a quarter of the recipes. Here is my experience.

Pros:

1. “Normal” Foods—Comini understands that you might not be ready to give up your favorites, so she has created gluten-free versions of pancakes (pg. 47), coconut flour waffles (pg. 54) and zucchini lasagna (pg. 64), coconut bread (pg. 83), sesame-sunflower crackers (pg. 149). If you’ve done a whole30, many of these foods would be considered “sex with your pants on” and discouraged. I appreciate Comini understands my family might not be ready to eat 30 days of totally new foods, and we’ll need variations of our favorite staples (I have a 3-year old pancake fanatic).
2. Book is organized well. Comini’s writing is fun and funny, encouraging and thoughtful. She really wants you and your family to succeed in eating grain-free. She’s considerate of including ideas for feeding kids in her meal plans.
3. Economic/Efficient use of food—I love that in the morning you might make crepes with berries (pg. 70) and roll ‘em up with nut butter for lunch (pg. 71). You make meatballs at the beginning of the week and use them multiple ways (from the freezer) later in the book.
4. The book is organized day by day, i.e. Day 1 Breakfast, Day 1 Lunch, Day 1 Dinner, etc. so it’s great if your ready to pick up this book and try everything (in order) for 30 days. If you’re new to paleo cooking, and need a place to start and no time to find new recipes, this book is for you. Using the shopping list you’ll have everything you’ll need for the whole week.
5. Good section of homemade staples in the back (ketchup, pesto, salad dressing, etc). Even better were the “sweet treats.” I’ve made the chocolate truffles three time (pg. 176). Althea helping me roll the second batch in shredded coconut

Cons:

1. I found that I have a hard time following the timeline. We live in rural Maine, with limited access to fresh produce, so I would have had a hard time following all the recipes, even if I wanted to.
2. There is a stark absence of seasoning in this book. I find, that when cooking grain-free, fresh spices and other seasonings are essential (once you remove all the sugar and other junk!). I found these recipes great starting places, but I’m not sure I made a single one without adding something. For example, just from the first week: Salmon-Coconut Patties (pg. 28), added lemon pepper and sea salt; Hot Cooked Apples (pg. 39), added lemon and cinnamon; Burgers (pg. 44), added my hamburger seasoning blend of smoked paprika and herbs, etc.
3. Solid recipes, just not inspiring. I’m a cookbook fanactic, and love to look through and drool over the future meals I might make. I dog ear pages. After flipping through this book, I had very few dogged pages. The recipes are solid—just not inspiring! She does push the envelope with cultured salsa (pg. 171). Nice!

All in all, it’s a thoughtful book, considerate of a parent trying to feed their family healthy food. It’s not the book you pick up for inspiration, but for, “I can make that gluten free? OK!” I will return to those lemon poppy seed pancakes before the month is up! It’s also not the book you pick up for meal ideas, as the 30-day organization does not lend its self looking for dinner ideas (I much prefer the organization of the Whole30 Cookbook by protein type).

Tip: She doesn’t introduce “hot-buttered coffee” until page 134…I suggest you start with this on week 1! It’s the only thing that kept me from feeling starved by 10 am.

Spices: To make all the recipes in this book, you will need the following spices:

• Allspice
• Basil
• Cayenne
• Cinnamon
• Chili Seasoning
• Cumin (ground)
• Curry (seasoning blend)
• Coriander (ground)
• Dill
• Garlic (granules)
• Ginger
• Italian Seasoning
• Lemon Pepper
• Mustard (powder)
• Onion
• Oregano
• Nutmeg
• Parsley
• Paprika
• Paprika (Smoked)
• Pepper (cracked)
• Poppy Seed
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Sesame
• Sea Salt
• White Pepper (ground)

Inventive and generous use of spices! 

This book was a surprise hit for me! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, and only bought it because I was actually doing a Whole30 in January 2017. We’ve been vegetarian for about 7 years, so eating and cooking all this meat, well, let’s just say I needed some help. The first thing I was impressed with? The recipes are very creative! They are easy to follow, don’t take a lot of time. As you know, I have a baby and a toddler and work from home, so I particularly loved the slow-cooker recipes that make extra meat that is then used for different recipes later in the week. Genius!  

Melissa make liberal use of spices, and as a spice blender myself, nothing could make me happier. And when I say liberal…I mean, this book uses 50 different spices, herbs and seasonings. Some other reviews mentioned the recipes call for some hard to find ingredients. I did not find this to be the case. Besides the occasional call for capers or fennel bulb, most everything can be found at your local store. Spices on the other hand, there are a few that you might need to source online if you don’t have a gourmet foods market near you. If you were to make all the recipes in the Whole30 Cookbook, you’d need:

• allspice (ground)
• ancho chili
• arrowroot
• basil
• bay leaves
• cajun*
• caraway
• cayenne
• cinnamon (ground)
• chia seeds
• chili (seasoning blend)*
• chipotle
• cloves (ground)
• coriander (ground)
• coriander (seeds)
• cream of tartar
• cumin (ground)
• cumin (seeds)
• curry (powder)
• dill
• dukkah*
• fennel (seeds)
• garam masala*
• garlic (granules)
• garlic salt
• ginger (ground)
• harissa
• herbes de provence
• italian seasoning*
• jerk (seasoning / no sugar)*
• lemon peel (ground)
• mustard (ground)
• nutmeg (ground)
• nutritional yeast
• onion (granules)
• oregano
• paprika (sweet)
• paprika (smoked)
• pepper (ground black)
• peppercorns (whole black)
• parsley
• ras el hanout*
• red pepper flakes
• rosemary
• sage
• sesame seeds
• tarragon
• thyme
• turmeric
• sea salt (coarse)

*Some of the seasonings (cajun, chili seasoning, dukkah, garam masala, Italian, jerk, ras el hanout,) you can blend yourself if you already own the other spices on the list.

Of these 50 spices, the essential, most often used ones are coarse sea salt, cracked pepper, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, cayenne, onion granules, garlic granules and ground cumin. However, you better have ras el hanout (or the spices to blend it) because it was hands-down the best chicken I’ve ever made (Moroccan Chicken with Carrot-Pistachio Slaw, page 143). Here is a photo of this fabulous Moroccan Chicken by From Pasta to Paleo. She also made the dish multiple times! Click here for her review of the Whole30 Cookbook. Other highlight recipes for me: Beef and Sweet Potato Chili (pg. 33)—we ate that all week for lunch, Slow-Cooker Italian Beef Roast (pg 43), Mediterranean Bison Burger (pg. 53), Slow-Cooked Moroccan Spices Shredded Beef (pg. 61), Thai Beef Curry with Green Beans (pg. 77), Pork Posole with Tostones (pg. 87), Chipotle BBQ Chicken Thighs (pg. 128), Grilled Jamaican Jerk Salmon (pg. 192), Mexican Salmon Cakes (pg 198), Dukkah-Crusted Brussel Sprouts (pg. 224)...should I go on?

The first thing you should make from this book? Red Curry Roasted Cauliflower (pg. 242). If you follow Gneiss Spice on instagram, you’ll see tons of posts from this book in January and February. If you're debating a Whole30, don't hesitate to buy this book! Nothing is harder than trying to follow the strict rules, and have no inspiration for what to cook for dinner. With most cookbooks, I usually feel the urge to change the recipes. With this book, I was content and confident to make them just as is. My only complaint about the book would be no mention of portion sizes. I had to head over to their website to find suggestions (they have a cool graphic using your hand to measure portions—not sure why they didn’t include it in the book). Here is it: