French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

Pregnancy weight gain is hard to bounce back from. At least, that is my experience, and I've heard it's other people's experience as well (the women in my community don't seem to have a problem with it. Maybe there should be a sequel to this book called Women in LA Don't Get Fat, Either). 10 months and a 9.5 lb delivery later, I'm still looking for answers, and French Women Don't Get Fat appealed to me on three levels: 1) Weight loss. 2) France 3) Supposedly you still get to eat things other than low carb wraps, vegetable juices, and celery. Could it be true?! Well, ask me in six months, I guess. While I haven't been at it long enough to know whether Guiliano's philosophies are effective, I do think her ideas are sound and well worth a try.

After all, she did start her analyses on why French women seem to stay thin so much better than American women after a study abroad left her 30 pounds heavier and looking like "a sack of potatoes," as her father charmingly stated it when picking her up from the airport. Her pastry devouring while at the Sorbonne didn't help matters until her mother discreetly set up an appointment with a "Dr. Miracle" who prescribed a weight loss program that worked, and that Guiliano shares in her book.

The basic form is that you take inventory by writing everything down and noting patterns of when and what you overeat; have a "Magical Leek Weekend" where all you eat is leek soup, and then spend three months "recasting" -- being stricter than you ordinarily would but knowing that at the end of it you can slowly add in the things you love -- in small doses -- and keep losing your weight. She also stresses the importance of variety -- eating a little bit of a lot of things -- and not restricting yourself overmuch.

I agreed with most of Guiliano's philosophies. Her descriptions of how French food and ingredients are better in every way might have annoyed me, except for the fact that I've experienced it firsthand and it's true. Also, the two months I spent in Paris were spent eating the richest, sugariest, fattiest food imaginable and I lost weight. She includes recipes as well. I did find myself skimming much of this portion of the book but it would be nice to have for reference in the future.

She doesn't have any research other than her own anecdotal experience and that of a few other women, and she can be pretty blunt, but I still thought French Women Don't Get Fat had a lot of good ideas, the crowning one being that food is good and you should feel good about eating it -- and you can, as long as you learn how to use restraint. Check back with me in six months and ask me if it worked.

4 stars

Warnings: None

Book Bloggers Cookbook by Christy Dorrity

Today, I am going to break from my regular routine and bring to your attention a little project that I had the opportunity to get slightly involved with. The author, Christy Dorrity, has taken several of her favorite YA books and compiled them into a lovely little cookbook complete with story summaries, blogger recommendations, and recipes that tie into the stories. I am a big fan of anything that allows me to be immersed more deeply into a story, and I love cooking, so I was very excited about this book. So far, I haven't been disappointed.

So what do I love about it?

First of all, the recipes themselves. I read this cookbook cover to cover and found myself bookmarking recipe after recipe. The cookbook is dessert heavy, offering calico brownies from Fablehaven, Divine Dark-Chocolate-Cherry Cookies from The Dark Divine, and Rose Orange Julius from Princess of the Midnight Ball. However, the entrees also looked interesting to me, especially the District 12 Beef Brisket, which serves 24 and is inspired by The Hunger Games. Some of the recipes tie in directly, and others have a bit more humorous tie ins to their books, but all the recipes look delicious, and even better, doable. These are recipes that can be completed by an amateur cook with ingredients found in your average kitchen.

Secondly, going through this book introduced me to several books that I would like to read in the future. If I make the recipe, I am going to be compelled by my type-A, want-to-read-everything-I've-ever-heard-of personality, and I am excited to get into these new books. The most compelling new addition to my TBR is Impossible by Nancy Werlin, a book inspired by the song "Scarborough Fair."

Thirdly, this book is a great community effort to bring book bloggers together. Opening with a foreword by a best-selling author bearing witness to the fact that book bloggers brought her book to the public's attention, the community here is palpable throughout the cookbook. There are several "blurbs" from various book bloggers, giving an opportunity to find and read more book blogs and expand the community.

If you are interested in purchasing an e-book version of The Book Bloggers Cookbook, visit the website. And please follow the tour to hear what others are saying about the cookbook. Tomorrow's stop is at Tattooed Books.

FTC disclosure: Received from the author for review

Party for Two (Cookbook) by Bruce Cadle

Title: Party For Two
Author: Bruce Cadle
Genre: Cookbook
Publisher: Self-published, 2011
Source: Received from author

Ooh, my first cookbook review. The premise of the cookbook Party For Two is author Bruce Cadle's desire to spread his recipe (pun intended) for a healthy happy marriage - by incorporating a weekly date night to take stress off the relationship and enjoy time together. He suggests his "fun, fancy & easy romantic recipes" provide a great activity for the weekly date night.

The book is divided into two parts. First, Mr. Cadle talks about his positive experiences with having a date night and what he thinks a date night has to offer. He also describes ways to make a dinner at home seem like a fancy date night, including plating, atmosphere, scheduling, etc. The second part has recipes for sauces, appetizers, salads, entress, pizzas, paninis, vegetables, and desserts.

I really appreciated Mr. Cadle's thoughts on the weekly date night. This is something my husband and I have always planned to do in our (so far short) marriage; it is something our parents did before us. When I was reading a marriage book in preparation for my wedding last summer, I was surprised at the advice given to set aside at least twenty minutes a day for each other. I couldn't believe that twenty minutes was something some couples had trouble finding! Granted, I don't have children yet and am not working full time or anything. Still, spending at least a few minutes each day seems like a pretty basic ingredient for a successful marriage. Anyway, I think a date night is an obvious extension of this. If you want your marriage to be happy, if you want a good relationship, you need to dedicate time together. Mr. Cadle's date night tips are conducive to children, no babysitter, and not being over stressed over a fancy dinner. I think his ideas and tips are relevant and useful.

After reading the introduction and part one, I planned a meal from the different sections of the cookbook and made it for my husband. The original plan was to follow the book's recipe for a perfect date night, but my mom was in town unexpectedly for the weekend, so we ended up having what I made on a Monday night.

The menu:
Chili-Roasted Garbanzo Beans
Arugula Salad with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette
Chardonnay Chicken with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto
Key Lime White Chocolate Margarita

The results:
Chili-Roasted Garbanzo Beans - These did not turn out well, which disappointed me because they sounded delicious. They were so spicy that I couldn't eat them, and my husband only had a handful or two. We do eat a lot of spicy food in general, which makes me wonder if the proportions were wrong.
Arugula Salad with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette - This, on the other hand, was fantastic. I am not really a salad eater, but my husband and I both love arugula, and the vinaigrette dressing was also fantastic. I am looking forward to try more of Cadle's salad recipes to encourage myself to eat more salad.
Chardonnay Chicken with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto - I knew this one would be a winner because, as I lived in Paris for a summer and my husband lived in northern Italy for two years, we love stinky cheese and prosciutto and already use them often in our cooking. The Chardonnay was another story - I don't drink (although I'm not opposed to using alcohol in my cooking) so I spent quite a long time trying to find some Chardonnay or any kind of white wine while grocery shopping. Apparently in Utah, you can't sell wine in grocery stores, but my mom brought me a bottle of white wine she had for cooking. It wasn't Chardonnay, but the sauce for the chicken still tasted great, and I'm assuming it was at least in the neighborhood of what was intended for the recipe. One thing I loved about this entree was how easy it was to prepare. It only took about 20 minutes from start to finish to stuff the chicken, make the sauce, and saute them together.
Key Lime White Chocolate Margarita - This was also fantastic, and something we have continued to make. I am going to include the recipe for anyone else who wants to try this one:

1/4 cup key lime juice
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons white chocolate chips (we have tried this with or without... it is fine without although slightly better with the chocolate chips)
4 ginger snap cookies
whipped cream
1 egg (wash the outside before using)

In a small mixing bowl blend the key lime juice, milk, and egg. Break two of the cookies into large pieces. Add the broken cookies and white chocolate chips into the filling and stir.

Divide the filling into two margarita glasses (which we did not have... so we used normal glasses).
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight. Top each glass with whipped cream and a ginger snap right before you serve this dessert.



(Attribution: Bruce Cadle is the bestselling author of Party For Two: Fun, Fancy, and Easy Romantic Recipes from the Date Night Chef. His website is http://www.DateNightChef.com).

Each of the recipes have little tips and hints, as well as the occasional anecdote. I would have liked to see pictures in the cookbook. The author does mention that more information is available on his website, mentioned above, but having to look up the pictures is inconvenient. Still, overall, I enjoyed this cookbook and am excited to plan more date nights. I especially like the fact that these recipes serve two, instead of the recipes meant to serve whole families.

Overall: 3