Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have all Ree's cookbooks and found them fun and instructive (steps illustrated out) with regular pantry items. So far, I made three items in the book and they were spot on and delicious. *The taquitos with pulled chicken and they were delicious. *The coconut shrimp with mango dip (I baked instead of fried) *the crunchy breakfast wrap (minus the tator tots) - scrambled eggs, sausage, and avocado in tortilla. My favorite two chapters in the book are the SALADS and the SPEEDY SKILLETS because they have more of the food I prefer. These chapters reminded me of the best of the pioneer woman. Unfortunately, about 1/3 of the book I could do without. Why could I do without them? --- Regarding the techniques - some techniques sound helpful for a larger family (for example the pancake recipe made in a sheet pan. I could see how this would be helpful to not be standing over a stove - the pancakes rose nicely and you can cut individual wedges for serving). While other techniques presented seem like they would be fast in a skillet rather than the way presented in the book. For example, there is a recipe for microwaving separate mugs with individual portions of scrambled egg instead of scrambling in a skillet. It just seems faster to cook on a skillet and add your toppings (i.e. Denver, cheese). A second example of this is wafflewiches. At the end of the day it is faster to put 2-5 grilled sandwiches on a skillet or in the oven than it is to cook them individually in a waffle pan that is actually more of a hassle to clean than a skillet. --Some recipes are a mash up of traditional breakfast items and to me would be more appealing in their original form. For example, in the book there is a recipe for bagels cut in half on a sheet pan, eggs are cracked in the bagel hole, the sheet pan is baked in the oven until eggs are set. Once fully cooked the sheet pan is drizzled with hollandaise, and topped with capers, chopped red onion, and smoked salmon pieces. With smoked salmon in NE United States running $24 a pound I just don't think I'd treat the ingredient like this. --I didn't expect health food here - I also didn't expect the book to have recipe for something that didn't need a recipe and that was so blatantly unhealthy. For example adding white chocolate chips to pancakes, drizzling the pancakes with white chocolate syrup and adding whipped cream. --Some ingredient were just items I don't prefer (tator tots). I am also trying to be sensitive to recipes as I try to lower carbohydrate intake and many of the recipes didn't appeal to me ("tator tots," fried pasta chips (bow tie pasta deep fried), baked wings with habanero honey, pepperoni fried rice, ---Some repetitions just puzzling (two brie appetizer , 2 tator tot, 3 pizza) recipes I am listing some of the chapters because I would have appreciated reading this before I ordered the book online. SALADS Mason jar dressings Salad bar salad Roasted Greek salad (Italian, ranch, tahini greek, raspberry) sheet pan salad big festive salad arty bread Italian chopped salad Market basket salad so good for you salad SOUPS AND STEWS 11 can soup Speedy dumpling soup Cheesy tomato soup White chicken chili Brocco-flower soup (broccoli and cauliflower soup) Tuscan chicken soup Creamy ramen soup White lasagna soup EASY SKILLETS Beef noodle skillet (think hamburger helper from scratch) Stir fry with scallops Pork scaloppine (with a scratch caper sauce) Loaded crash hots (tator tots) Salmon burgers Steak pizzaiola Chicken with mustard herb sauce Lemon garlic spinach - utilizes fresh spinach Bruschetta chicken Chicken curry