For me, there is no better way to show someone that I love them, than to cook for them. I love to bring baked goods to family, friends and coworkers as small “thank you’s” and enjoy creating freezer meals for friends who have been sick or recently expanded their family. When looking for new recipes that I can share with people through meals – I look for recipes that create a “homey” feel, something will fill your stomach and your heart at the same time! I know, sounds silly, right? But seriously, food can make or break a relationship – you don’t want to be “that house” that people avoid because you serve them weird things! With that in mind, I knew that this next review would help me achieve “let’s go to Krista’s house for dinner every night” status very easily. I received “The Melting Pot Cookbook” by Mrs. Belle Serbin Fields in exchange for my honest opinion.
What did I think?
This cookbook is just what I needed, full of recipes written in easy-to-understand directions with everyday kitchen essentials. I have tons of cookbooks from different ethnicities, levels of chef and anything else you can think of – but my go-to cookbooks always tend to be the ones written by everyday people using everyday ingredients. Likely because that is who I am and what I have!
The Melting Pot Cookbook is a wonderful and timeless collection of recipes written by a 100-year old Jewish grandmother. Don’t let the Jewish grandmother part fool you though, these are by no means all-Kosher recipes – in fact, they are an interesting and eclectic collection that she shares throughout how she came by them.
This cookbook covers everything from appetizers to soups, salads to entrees, breads, desserts and more! Your mouth will salivate as you read through the recipes and realize just how easily you could make these!
As a gluten-free family, I found that most of the recipes had ingredients that were easily substituted with their gluten-free counterpart and there was not much where I was stumped and felt I could not make something. Some of our favorites so far have been the Cheese-y Spuds, Onion Soup and the Butterscotch Brownies – yum, yum and YUM!!
The Verdict
If you are looking for a cookbook that will expand your cooking repertoire to include many different cultures and variety, without expecting crazy cooking skills or hard to find (or expensive!) ingredients– The Melting Pot Cookbook is for you! I think this would make a wonderful gift for any newlywed couple, new homeowner or even the college student with their first apartment (let’s cheer for eating something other than microwaveable foods!)