Gooseberry Patch's "Simple Shortcut Recipes": Review and Giveaway

Spread love wherever you go;

first of all in your own house.

~Mother Teresa

Are you like me? Are you tired of looking at cookbooks and seeing recipes that take up an entire page or, worse, more than one page with long lists of ingredients that will require a trip to the grocery store and also blocking out a period of time on your schedule so that you can actually prepare the dish? Those kinds of recipes are interesting to read but are impractical for the most part. I don't have the time or motivation to pull off those elaborate recipes and I'm guessing that you don't either.


That's why we need a cookbook like Gooseberry Patch's Simple Shortcut Recipes in our lives. It is filled with simple, delicious recipes that require very few ingredients and very little time. I love to take shortcuts in my cooking. Store-bought rotisserie chickens have become my best friends lately. In this cookbook, you'll find plenty of recipe shortcuts as well as helpful time-saving tips to make your cooking and your life easier to manage.

The cookbook is divided into six chapters: Beat-the-Clock Breakfasts, Simple Soups, Salads and Sandwiches, Fast-Fix Sides and Breads, Dinner Express, Oh-So-Easy Entertaining, and Piece-of-Cake Desserts. Each chapter holds tempting recipes such as Hearty Sausage Squares, Margarita Chicken Soup, Sweet Onion Casserole, Tybee Chicken, Mingling Mini Quiches, and Creamy Lemonade Pie.

Because there are so many wonderful recipes in Simple Shortcut Recipes, I’ve decided to feature them throughout the month of March. Let’s start with appetizers (my favorite course).

Jezebel Sauce

Submitted by Diane Price, Nappanee, IN

10-oz. jar apple jelly

10-oz. jar pineapple preserves

8-oz. jar prepared horseradish

1 tbsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. cracked pepper

8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

Snack crackers

Combine all ingredients except cream cheese and crackers in a bowl. Cover; refrigerate overnight. To serve, spoon sauce over cream cheese; serve with crackers. Serves 10 to 12.

 

Hocus Pecos Dip

Submitted by Tracee Cummins, Amarillo, TX

2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened

1 c. picante sauce

1 c. green onions, finely chopped

2-1/4 oz. jar dried beef, finely chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. garlic salt

In a bowl, beat cream cheese and picante sauce until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover; refrigerate before serving. Serves 10 to 12.

Gooseberry Patch provided me with a preview copy of this book. Views expressed here are my own. No additional compensation was received.

***Giveaway***

I am so fortunate to have been asked to review Gooseberry Patch’s Simple Shortcut Recipes and want to share my good fortune with you. Gooseberry Patch has sent me an extra copy to give away to one of my readers.

Here's How to Enter:
If you would like to enter to win a free copy of the cookbook, you may enter by simply choosing to follow my blog through Google Friend Connect, Linky Followers or Networked Blogs (in right-hand column) and by commenting on this post to let me know you're interested in the cookbook. Also, include your e-mail address so that I may contact you if you're the winner. If you are already a follower, just leave a comment here letting me know you're interested in the contest.

Entry deadline:
March 24, 2012

Thanks and Good Luck!!!