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Alison Housten

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The Crabby Cook Cookbook Review

The Crabby Cook Cookbook Review

The Crabby Cook Cookbook Review

Cooking doesn’t have to be boring! Why not laugh a little while you are standing over the stove, feeling slightly resentful for being the designated chef of the house!

The Crabby Cook Cookbook is for the home cook who has better things to do than stir and simmer all day. There are dozens of tasty recipes that range from delicious choices for breakfast to great dinner possibilities. Award winning actress and children’s book author, Jessica Harper finds herself like most other Mom’s, cooking several times a day, including two dinners, an early one for the kids who will eat only six things and a later one for their father who will eat only eight things, none of which correlate with the kids’ six. Her husband just happens to be the CEO of Fox Studios, often bringing impromptu guest home for dinner and sometimes, that guest is Richard Gere or Jack Nicholson. This once enthusiastic cook has turned certifiably crabby.

An award-winning actress—her movies include Pennies from Heaven, Stardust Memories, My Favorite Year, and Minority Report—and children’s book author, Jessica Harper is the mother of two college-age children and lives with her husband in Los Angeles. You can follow her on twitter (@thecrabbycook) or on her blog, www.thecrabbycook.com, which features videos of Jessica displaying her cooking avoidance skills.

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Her cookbook is a new kind of survival guide: a book of wonderful recipes and snarky, laugh-out-loud scenes of family life centered on food. She chronicles the agony of feeding three picky eaters three-squares a day, how to deal with a counter-surfing dog (who one year had the whole Thanksgiving turkey to himself), or the pain of H.A.S. – Hostess Anxiety Syndrome. This cookbook is a compilation of recipes that have been home-tested for acceptability by very picky people (her family), funny – but true- cooking adventures and survival tips from one fed-up cook to the legions of others.

MY THOUGHTS: The first thing I loved about this book was the unique recipe names. This is not your ordinary cookbook of indexed categories such as “fish, breads, entrées”. No, each recipe has a catchy name like “Killer Pumpkin Pancakes”, “Pain in-the-Ass Minestrone”, “Dreamy Veggie Pasta”, the “Tuna Melt of ’96”, etc. Not only is this cookbook filled with a wide variety of delicious recipes but throughout the book, Jessica shares personal stories about her cooking adventures and table time meals. To be honest, this is much more than a cookbook. If you sat down and just read the stories, you would be encouraged, find hope through reading about someone else’s similar experience and of course, laugh and I mean LAUGH!! There are even conversion tables in the back of the book for people like me who never can remember how many tablespoons are in an ounce?!

Shrimp linguine recipe, pasta recipes using shrimp
I decided to try out one of her recipes and chose the Shrimpesto (pg. 126-127 in the book) simply because the note said “you can find excellent frozen, shelled, deveined shrimp to keep in the freezer for days when buying fresh shrimp is one errand too many.” and I already had a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer that I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Also, I had never made homemade pesto before so this was going to be a totally new experience for me. Not only was the recipe easy to follow and smelled delicious while it cooked but the dish turned out beautifully as well and tasted great. You could easily serve the Shrimpesto over a bed of linguine noodles, a bowl of rice or put them on skewers while they are warm.

Shrimp pesto recipe, pesto linguine sauce

The only thing I was slightly disappointed in was that a lot of the recipes called for at least ten ingredients and some called for lots more. As a SAHM Mom to 4 kids who live on a tight budget, it is not always economical for me to buy long lists of ingredients just so I can cook a recipe each night of the week. While the recipes sound delicious, I don’t see me cooking the ones whose ingredient list cover an entire side of the page. I will be sticking to the shorter ingredient recipes. Overall, this is a fantastic book that I highly recommend if you enjoy cooking, need new recipes and want to enjoy a good laugh while you decide what to cook. And hey, with a group of recipes called “Miracle Food” that absolutely everyone will eat without complaining – you can’t go wrong with The Crabby Cook Cookbook!

 

THE GIVEAWAY ended March 18th.

*By entering this giveaway, you confirm that you have read and agree to my giveaway rules. Please allow 6-8 weeks for deliver of prize {though it is usually much sooner}.

Please see Eighty MPH Mom giveaway rules for further information.

 

** Gretta was sent a copy of this book to facilitate this review. All opinions are those of reviewer only.

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120 Responses

  14. I would like this book because I am always looking for new recipes to serve my family and with this book I would have some humor added.

  31. I think this book would be a hoot to read. Also, I would like to have meals that are somewhat easy to make…:)
    Thank you for the excellent giveaway!

  33. hehe… I need this because I’m tired of throwing foods together and having no clue what to call it… ☺ (not to mention, I must try the acon-bay olls-Ray)

  43. I need this book because I’m always looking for new recipes to try out! captainliss40(at)gmail(dot)com

  52. I need this because I’m not a good cook, I’m more of a baker, so I need good and simple recipe ideas for meals! Thanks for the chance into this giveaway.

  55. I need this cookbook to share the laughter with my family and learn what the Miracle Food recipies are.
    gourdsrmylife(at)yahoo(dot)com

  71. I would like to win this book because I HATE to cook and I hate when recipes call for things that a NORMAL house wouldn’t have

    pattifritz2000 at yahoo dot com
    thanks

  75. I would LOVE this book because I need new dinner ideas and I HATE cooking – so this seems like a match made in heaven!

  85. i need this because so many recipes turn out to be too complicated, have too many “foreign” ingredients or my picky family won’t eat it! this sounds like a great fix!

  90. This looks like a fun cookbook to read and get recipes from. I’m in need of ideas for new foods to make around the house. Thanks.
    partymix25(at)hotmail(dot)com

  113. I love to eat and i am always looking for new food to try. I figured this would come in handy

ABOUT AUTHOR
Eighty Mph Mom
Lyric Spencer

I’m all about sharing great products, recipes, home decor, and parenting hacks for busy moms.

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