Two New Delightful Spring Cookbooks

I am totally thrilled - like mouth-watering-thrilled,

to be able to share two new cookbooks with you

this spring.  

As you know, I am a lover of cookbooks - 

well, cookbooks with great pictures!!  I have to

have great pictures to get me inspired to try a recipe,

and both of these new cookbooks from 

Harper Collins Publishing

had me at first glance.  Literally, my mouth was

watering and I was grabbing anything I could

to mark recipes that I wanted to try.  

I love to read cookbooks like a novel, but when I

am marking the recipes I want to make, you know

I am really excited.  

As I literally just got back from London and Paris,

(Hardly have had a chance to unpack yet!)

I decided to try this chocolate packed croissant

bread pudding.

Of course, every day in Paris (and London)

saw us having croissants and chocolate.  I have

to admit that the absolute best croissant we had

was in London, at one of the train stations, and

it was split open and filled with Nutella.  So

this recipe caught my eye, and let me tell you,

it doesn't disappoint.

I felt like I was somewhere in Europe, having 

the perfect breakfast!!

I am sure, this is meant more as a dessert, but

I think bread pudding with croissants, chocolate

and more chocolate is perfect for breakfast.

This recipe comes from The Quick Six Fix

by

Stuart O'Keefe.

Stuart grew up in Ireland and his new cookbook,

which makes you want to head to the kitchen,

is based on six minutes of prep work,

six minutes of cleanup, and six key ingredients.

I don't know about the six minutes of cleanup,

I will leave that for hubby to take care of,

but the recipe went together really easily.

The only thing I had to go to the store for,

was the package of croissants, (and I checked to make

sure they were made with real butter - not some fake

nasty stuff!)

I raided the pantry for chocolate that I had on hand,

so I combined some Godiva and Amano and

chopped it up for the chocolate.

Chunk heaven!!!

It was worth using good chocolate in this.

Black and White Croissant Bread Pudding Recipe

1 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 medium eggs, plus 3 additional yolks

1 C heavy cream

1 C. whole milk

1/2 C. plus 1 T. light brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

5 one-day-old croissants

(I bought little ones and used 12 of them)

5 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (70% cacao)

5 oz. white chocolate chips

1 C. creme fraiche or whipped cream (for garnish)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Butter the bottom of a

9x5x3 inch baking dish.  (I opted for spraying with Pam.)

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolks, cream and milk,

and the brown sugar and vanilla.

Tear up the croissants and mix with the egg mixture

until well combined.

Spoon half of the egg croissant mix into the baking dish,

sprinkle with half of the dark and white chocolate.  Top

with the remaining croissant mix and sprinkle the

remaining dark and white chocolate on top.  Finish

by sprinkling the remaining 1 T. brown sugar

on the top.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (I did 20)

or until firm to the touch.  

Remove from oven.  Serve with a dollop of cream.

This was amazing!  I still have a few pounds to take

off from two weeks in Europe, and shouldn't have

been indulging, but I couldn't stop eating this.  Wow!

I highly recommend this cookbook.  I want

to make a lot more of the recipes like:
Thirteen Spice Chicken with Creme Fraiche

Pork Curry in a Hurry

Stuart's Irish Yankee Mac and Cheese

Angel Hair with Lemon, Kale and Pecans

and

Jumbo Shrimp Roll with Spicy Chile Butter

(Picture from cookbook)

Can you see why I am excited about this book?

The recipes not only sound fabulous, there are

gorgeous photos that make you have to try them.

Now on to the cookbook that I need to focus on

while I take those few pounds off!

The second cookbook Harper Collins sent

me to review is,

Lose Weight by Eating,

by

Audrey Johns.

Audrey has a blog by the same name, and

now has a cookbook showing you how you can

be successful at losing weight by eating delicious

foods.  

She says in her introduction, "This book is all

about making the naughty nice."

Let me tell you, her pictures and recipes were 

just as mouth-watering, and I was marking just

as many recipes to try in her book.

We ate at a wonderful Italian restaurant while we

were in Paris, so I was craving Italian when I 

came home.  I decided to try these Meatball Sliders,

featured in Lose Weight by Eating for part of an

Italian feast for our Sunday dinner.  

Of course, being a good cook, I had to have one ahead

of time.  Fantastic!!  So of course, hubby had to try

one before the kids came.  Hands down, this was a hit

and they were the first dish to disappear.

I hadn't cooked with ground turkey in a long time.

and it was delicious, and made such a moist, tasty

meatball.  I can't wait to try more of Audrey's 

recipes.  She gives you menu ideas and includes

the calories, fat, fiber, protein and carb information.

I also had never cooked my meatballs in the sauce before

and I loved the ease of that, especially using low fat turkey.

They were so moist and delicious.

These were amazing, and a huge hit with all ages!

Audrey will motivate you to make great food

while you lose weight with recipes like:

Blueberry Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup,

Rosemary Olive Oil Wheat Crackers,

Pear, Rosemary and Goat Cheese Pizza

Jalapeno Poppers with Cool Dip

Citrus Boost Water

and

Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes.

(Picture from cookbook.)

I have already picked up the ingredients for these

Jalapeno Cheddar Scones, that I want to try.

I am thrilled with both cookbooks, and I

know you will be too.  Both can be found

on Amazon for around $15-16.

A thank you to Harper Collins Publishing

for sending me these beautiful cookbooks

filled with mouth-watering pictures of

recipes that I think you will love.