Julia Rutland

This cookbook might not release until September, but with the amount of "Christmas in July" emails and social-media posts I've seen lately, reading it now felt timely and apropos! Of course, I'm also officially starving now, and really want some festive food. :D

The whimsical photography throughout is utterly gorgeous, and probably my favorite part. (Can whoever came up with the decor please come decorate my place come Christmas?) :)

I love the menu ideas to round out a given viewing show more party--brilliant! (And all themed, no less!)

The variety of recipes mean there's truly something for everyone--and same goes for the movies. Given that, there's plenty kid- and family-friendly...and plenty that's not. I personally don't drink, and go for cleaner movie options--so there's enough I'll skip--but the author does a good job at making it (thankfully) fairly clear which is which here. She includes helpful movie recaps and clear instructions for making the recommended dish.

I might have geeked out at the inclusion of _Last Holiday_ and a cassoulet to go with it--both are definitely being earmarked for my December festivities! _A Christmas Carol_ and roast goose also sound particularly good...as do, frankly, all of the desserts. Chocolate-pecan snowballs! Sugar plums! Spiced pumpkin tarts! Linzer star cookies! Oh, man ... now I'm drooling. Ha!

For ongoing cookbook/movie enjoyment, I'd lean toward Rachel McMillan's A Very Merry Holiday Movie Guide; I'm a sucker for Hallmark-style movies!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. show less

I loved this book.

My culinary imagination is limited in the kitchen and even more limited when grilling. Potatoes, and eggplant are about the only things I can ever remember wrapping in tin foil to put on my (husband’s) grill. This book opened a whole new world for me. My testing was done in the oven since I never light the grill unless it is absolutely necessary (when being booed and pelted by peanuts from the peanut gallery). BBQs are within the purview of my husband’s set of culinary show more skills. Next time he lights the grill I will toss on a few foil pack fish dinners, since they are the easiest to put together and the quickest to cook. In the meantime I'll stick to my oven grill.

What did I love most about this book? I LOVED the concept, the photos, and most of the combinations of seasonings and ingredients. The construction and beauty of the colorful “meals” left me drooling over each and every recipe – even those that I will never make or eat.

A warning here for those people who do not mix meat and milk or eat pork and seafood in their kitchens. About half of the recipes fall into those categories and even the most adept at making substitutions will find it hard to do so and still remain somewhat faithful to the recipes.

That being said, at least half of the book will be tried in my kitchen. Most of the recipes do not require much or difficult preparation.

Tonight we tried a fish recipe (baked salmon with orange and herbs) and yesterday we tried the Chicken Thighs with Broccoli and Rice – both were delicious. Based on those two successes we will be trying the Basic Hobo Basket recipe next and we will definitely be trying all of the fish recipes. I have earmarked another 10 recipes (chicken, turkey and vegies) that I am anxious to try.

My husband and I have not eaten out in nearly five months, since the outbreak of corona virus in the west. NetGalley has been kind enough to provide me with ARCs of at least 10 cookbooks – all of which I have read and enjoyed. Both my husband and I are thankful for the variety of tasty dishes this has afforded us. We are a little less thankful the subsequent weight gain.

Thank you NetGalley and Tiller Press for this beautiful book by Julia Rutland show less

101 Lasagnas & Other Layered Casseroles by Julia Rutland is an ideal combination of the old and new (style wise and recipe wise) and will be a useful addition to any kitchen.

Maybe I should start with what I mean by old and new style. I grew up with recipe books that had wonderfully written recipes that were easy to follow but with few pictures. In fact, the more pictures I usually found to be an indication of less well explained steps in the written recipe. This is all broadly speaking, the show more presence or absence of pictures is not a guarantee of anything except how many pictures there are and, sometimes, how much prettier the book is to display. I don't display my cookbooks and I care far more for well-written recipes. So, in this book, we have fewer pictures than many of the prettier display recipe books but more than when I was growing up. But the recipes are well written, easy to follow, and don't require a picture for either each step or the final result if you're an experienced cook. Visually, results vary no matter how well one follows a recipe, so aiming for a picture rather than a delicious meal might not be the best approach to cooking.

That said, if you really like pictures, you may be disappointed in that aspect of the book but the recipes themselves will not disappoint. This weekend we had rainy cool weather (ideal for this kind of food) so we tried two of the recipes since we had the ingredients on hand. By the way, one of them did have a picture and my result did not look just like it, but it was certainly delicious. The other did not have an accompanying picture, so as far as I'm concerned, it turned out looking perfect.

I recommend this to people who like to cook and eat casseroles and lasagna. The variations are fun and even the tips in the front of the book are useful. While there are not a lot of pictures, the book is still very attractive, so if you have your cookbooks on a shelf in a visible place, it won't embarrass you.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Fifty recipes are included in the small cookbook for cooking food over a campfire. From savory to sweet, there is sure to be some recipes that will appeal to nearly everyone. The book includes tips on cooking with skewers and building a campfire as well as equipment that will ensure your success. Some of these recipes could easily be adapted to inside cooking on a stove if campfire cooking is not your idea of fun. Still, even if you don’t embrace the idea of cooking in the great outdoors, show more this cookbook is a fun read. show less