YummyEats review of “My Prairie Cookbook : Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours” written by Melissa Gilbert, with recipes as well as anecdotes from the “Little House on the Prairie” TV show. 😛
My Prairie Cookbook is a lovely cookbook, written by actress Melissa Gilbert, who starred as Laura Ingalls in one of my most favorite TV programs of all time – the period drama “Little House on the Prairie”, based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder. As a young teen in the 1970s, I used to look forward each week to a new Little House episode — oh, the drama – mixed with a good touch of humor! A great show I have seen in reruns many times over the years. Now my love of cooking brings me this great cookbook. I have made a number of recipes from the book (and have marked many more I would like to try!) and all the recipes have been great – this is becoming one of my favorite in my collection of cook books and other cooking and foodie-related books. Melissa is obviously very skilled in the kitchen, the recipes are mainly her own favorite recipes that she loves to prepare for her family and friends (I should note these are not historic, or “pioneer/frontier life” recipes but modern-day comfort food). Here are some of the recipes I have tried:
THE RECIPES – Comfort Food at its Best, Made from Scratch!
The recipes in this book are divided into chapters titled Breakfast, “Soups and Stews”, Casseroles, Main Courses, Sides, and – yum – Desserts. The book includes just under 80 recipes, many are accompanied by a full-page, yummy looking photo of the completed dish.
One of the very best of her recipes featured in this book is called “My Tuna-Noodle Casserole” which Melissa says in describing this recipe “Quite simply, this is the Best. Dish. Ever.” – okay, I’m sold. I have made it twice now (second time a special request by hubby!) and it came out great both times. It’s a recipe that takes a bit of time to prepare, has a lot of steps, and uses a lot of pans – but the results are definitely worth it! I recently made the “Asian Glazed Carrots” as a side dish for this, also very tasty, easy, and something I will make again. Julienned carrots cooked with a simple glaze of sake, soy sauce, and sugar – oh yum, yum.
I also really liked the recipe for the “Gilbert Family Meat Loaf” which was deliciously yummy. This recipe called for 4 slices of bacon, but I used less (to cut down on the bacon fat) and it still tasted great. I marked this recipe in the book with the notation “Real Good!”.
The “Shepherd’s Pie“, a hearty dish made with lamb shoulder, was another great recipe that I loved (I even reduced the amount of butter in half, and it didn’t change the goodness level of this).
The recipe for “Easy-Peasy Split Pea Soup with Ham” was easy to make and another one I noted down in the book as “Real Good!”.
I loved the recipe for “Cowboy Cookies” – yum, yum, yum! I love baking cookies, these came out so good – chock full of things like peanut butter, rolled oats, bran flakes, and chocolate chips. It’s suggested that you can easily adapt this recipe by adding “your own fixin’s” like M&Ms or crushed walnuts. I think I’ll do that next time I make these – I’m also thinking maybe some peanuts and/or raisins.
This book includes so many recipes that sound good, I have bookmarks all over the place for the ones I still want to try — “Fig-Date-Nut Bread”, “Porky Chops and Appleysauce” (I love the cute names that Melissa has called her recipes), “Smoky Spicy Beefy Chili”, “Best Stuffing Ever”, “Spicy Spice Cake”, and many more. Oh yes, when holiday season comes around there’s even a recipe for “Prairie Christmas Gingerbread”.
LIFE ON LITTLE HOUSE – Behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes from the Little House TV Show
At the beginning of each chapter of recipes, this book features a section of Melissa Gilbert’s memories, cast and behind-the-scenes photos, as well as fun anecdotes and tidbits all based on her years of work on “Little House on the Prairie”. With headings like “Little House: The Early Years”, “My Pa”, “My Top Ten Favorite Little House Episodes”, “Little House Bloopers and Goofs”, etc., this part of the book is a real walk down memory lane and gives a real inside scoop of Melissa’s take on the episodes and working on the show, the layout of the photos looking like you just got a peek into her personal scrapbook. Very interesting.
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