About that book Paul Young released...

Remember a couple of posts ago, I said Paul had released a cookbook and I "can't wait to get my little paws on it"? Well, I did. :)

Here's the long and short of it: Paul released it, it's called "On My Travels", it's a collection of his favorite recipes, I burn scrambled eggs, and he explains it in a way that even I can get it right, so there ya go. And yes, one of the recipes I've tried called for eggs. 5 of em. And I've noticed a lot of the recipes, at first glance, look like they'd be really hard to make, and they're not!!! He has pictures of everything in the book, and to look at the pics, I'm thinking "there's no way I can make that!" and then the recipes are written, like I said, in a way that probably anyone could do it. And I have a lot of fun with his "Stuffed Pork Chop" recipe, because it calls for use of the blender, and my daughter loves running the blender! She loves putting the ingredients into the blender, lol! And of course, one time she thought it would be cute to take the lid off while the blender was running....the walls got a good washing after that...

I'm not going to blab any recipes here, as those belong to Mr. Young, but I will say that the one that called for the eggs goes by the name "Buccatini Alla Carbonara" and it is unreal. Really, really good. You make your own sauce for it, and the way it's written, even I couldn't screw it up, lol! I've gone through cookbooks before, gotten recipes off the internet before, and half way through making something I'm standing there reading the directions over and over and thinking "huh???" while my poor stove is left to fend for itself with a pan about to catch on fire. He's written his so normal (I'm normal?? ;) ) people could figure it out. And his recipes never seem to be for just one or two servings when it's done, it's meant to make enough for the family. Works for me! I have a family, and I love it when a recipe makes enough for leftovers, because leftovers = "I don't have to cook tomorrow night!!!!" :D

So far, I've tried three. I've tried the Buccatini, mentioned above, and it is awesome. My little girl, who won't eat but a very small variety of food, absolutely inhaled it. I've tried the stuffed pork chops, which are also awesome, a little spicier than what I normally fix around here, but it is really good. My daughter isn't a big pork chop eater, but she loves the stuffing! And I made the pasta pomodoro recipe from his website. (I wonder why it didn't make it into the book??????) But a similar sauce recipe is in there. It's my favorite, lol! And, again, my daughter likes it too.

My husband likes most of it, but I'm more concerned with expanding the very slender menu my kid will choose from. I try to make things everyone likes, but it worries me to see my daughter sit there with her plate in front of her and she won't touch it. So far she has not turned her nose up at ANY of Paul's recipes!!! So as a side note, my daughter will eat macaroni, bacon, Cheerios, cheese, and so far anything out of that book! LOL!!!

And with the holidays soon approaching, I'm going to give his strawberry pie recipe and his sweet potato pecan pie recipe a try.

So the verdict: Money well spent on a VERY nice book, and I now know of at least 3 things besides macaroni and cheese that my daughter will actually eat!!!

Oh, and at the back of the book, he has some stories of his touring, and some nice pictures!!!

And if I'm going to post about it, wouldn't it be an intelligent idea to put the link here.... http://www.paulyoungonmytravels.com/ Give it a peek. :)

Ok, I'm off. My review of the book is done, lol. Goodnight all!

Oh, and one more thing, and I know it may not seem like much, but this is coming from a parent whose child will be hospitalized if she eats even a small amount of peanuts: He has a recipe in there that calls for peanuts, and he has it noted at the TOP of the page, right there at the beginning of the ingredient list: "Contains Peanuts". That deserves a big thank you. Pointing it out was thoughtful of him. I'm sure there are other people out there who have bought the book and have someone in the family with a peanut allergy, and to me that little note makes things a little easier when planning dinner. So that one will be a good one to fix when Shorty is spending the night at her grandma's house. So from one parent to another, thank you Paul.

Ari