Joy of Kosher- Jamie Geller's new cookbook

September June ↓

Wed, Oct 16 2013, 8:02 pm

Anyone have it? What do you think of it?

I loved her first cookbook and hated her 2nd so I would like to see if this one is worth buying.
I saw the previews and amazon and the photos are lovely (and her kids are super cute) but I'm not sure about the recipes.

oliveoil ↓

Fri, Oct 18 2013, 1:19 pm

I'm not a fan of her cookbooks.

I don't consider her recipes to be recipes.

They all read, "a bottle of this sauce, a packet of frozen xyz, a can of abc," voila - recipe.

Happy18 ↓

Fri, Oct 18 2013, 1:23 pm

I have both of her cookbooks so far and definitely use the first one more than the second. I think that is mostly due to the fact that the second one isnt organized in a way that I like cookbooks to be set up so I mostly use recipes I know are in there or have discovered when I'm flipping.

Anyone know how the new one is set up?

imato5

Fri, Oct 18 2013, 1:48 pm

hated it!!!! Recipes r nothing special, And she writes all about her life. I wanted a cookbook not a biography.

imamiri

Fri, Oct 18 2013, 2:01 pm

oliveoil wrote:

I'm not a fan of her cookbooks.

I don't consider her recipes to be recipes.

They all read, "a bottle of this sauce, a packet of frozen xyz, a can of abc," voila - recipe.

Is the use of prepared or pre-packaged foods common in kosher cookbooks? I bought Fresh & Easy Kosher Cooking and shelved it the minute I came across, "Save some pasta for the kids and put ketchup on it for them!". It was in a recipe for a lemon cream sauce for pasta.

↑ Happy18

Fri, Oct 18 2013, 4:03 pm

imamiri wrote:

oliveoil wrote:

I'm not a fan of her cookbooks.

I don't consider her recipes to be recipes.

They all read, "a bottle of this sauce, a packet of frozen xyz, a can of abc," voila - recipe.

Most of the new ones are full of recipes using pre-packaged foods.

↑ September June ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:15 pm

anotherima wrote:

why didn't you like the second one?

For a few reasons:

1. I felt like it was walking advertisement for her sponsors (Kosher.com, Hagefen, Fresh and Natural and maybe there is a few more that I'm forgetting).

2. The recipes in her first book were much more family friendly and didn't rely on as store made food items. (Some recipes from her 2nd book off the top of my head: Combine store bought ice cream with store bought granola, buy frozen French fries sprinkle salt and garlic powder bake and enjoy.)

3. I like the format of her first book better, her 2nd book hardly had any desserts.

gold21 ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:24 pm

I have the new cookbook, but I don't know much about cookbooks in general so I don't know how I would rate this one. It looks nice, has lots of entertaining little stories in it about her and her family, the recipes look good. If you have any specific questions, I will try to answer them.

Just off the top of my head, a recipe that looked interesting to me was this fake sushi made from chicken breast wrapped around julienned veggies. It looks exactly like sushi but it's chicken. I thought that was cool. Ok what else... I dunno, I just glanced thru it. Do u want me to go thru it more carefully for you?

↑ September June ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:34 pm

What's the layout like? Does it have recommend any specific brands? Are there any desert recipes (how many?)

I appreciate it!

↑ gold21 ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:45 pm

Yes a lot of desserts! 13 pareve ones and 6 dairy ones.

Not sure how to describe the layout. Its divided into these sections: Soups and Starters, Sides and Salads, Mains (Mains is further divided into Poultry, Meat, Fish, and Vegetarian), Desserts, and Challah (which includes other stuff made with challah dough, like cinammon buns and breadsticks and other stuff), and lastly, Holiday Menus.

↑ gold21 ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:46 pm

The flow of the cookbook is a little broken up by the many personal stories Jamie included. But I found the stories very entertaining- I was cracking up reading it. So I dunno if that's something that would annoy people or that would attract people? I thought it was very cute and made the cookbook more fun.

↑ gold21 ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:49 pm

I did see a few brands recommended. But not a lot of that. Just a few times. She mentioned Manischewitz. I'm thinking what else...

↑ gold21 ↓

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:53 pm

I think the only brand mentioned is Manischewitz (other than where she had to mention the brand, like Jack Daniels! LOL) she mentioned Manischewitz a few times.

↑ September June

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:57 pm

You were very helpful thank you!

Does she use avocado a lot?

Also, if you could update after you try a few recipes, I would appreciate it!

bamamama

Sat, Oct 19 2013, 11:57 pm

gold21 wrote:

FWIW this is the shtick in cookbooks lately - they are more story than substance (which is fine for me as I just like to read them).

↑ gold21 ↓

Sun, Oct 20 2013, 12:03 am

I did see avacado a few times. Not a ton, but like offhand I would say 6 times? Just a random # in my head. One was avacado salad, one was avacado cream soup, one was tropical fruit guacamole... And there are a few more.

Last edited by gold21 on Sun, Oct 20 2013, 12:14 am; edited 1 time in total

MaBelleVie

Sun, Oct 20 2013, 12:03 am

I don't own this cookbook, just looked through it. I read cookbooks for fun, so I enjoyed this one. It's more like a blog, IMO. I use cookbooks for inspiration and don't tend to follow recipes exactly, so I don't stress about that too much. I'd rather get an idea, find something similar online, and read people's reviews on how to tweak it for best results.

↑ gold21 ↓

Sun, Oct 20 2013, 12:04 am

bamamama wrote:

gold21 wrote:

FWIW this is the shtick in cookbooks lately - they are more story than substance (which is fine for me as I just like to read them).

Oh OK! Its kinda like a cross between a cookbook and a humor column or something! :-)