ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cynthia Graubart is a James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and contributor to SOUTHERN LIVING magazine. She travels the South, inspiring cooks through

her appearances on radio, television and her popular cooking classes. Cynthia is passionate about food— from researching its origins, writing recipes, and teaching technique to bringing families together at the table. She lives in Atlanta, GA, with her husband. Find her on Instagram and Twitter (@cynthiagraubart).

Review:

I fell in LOVE with this cookbook the minute it landed on my doorstep! The quality of the pictures and the material that was chosen for the cover and pages is not like any other cookbook I have ever seen. If I saw this in a store I would have purchased it on the spot from the pictures alone. It’s sophisticated but homey at the same time. As I looked through the book I grew more and more excited to try the recipes.

The book is set up with an author’s note and purpose for the cookbook. Over the years I haven’t spent much time in this area of a cookbook but I did find this story captivating.It also had a section on how to use the book which included how to read a recipe, creating a menu, substitutions and creativity, making ahead, reheating, looking for leftovers, pantry and favorite kitchen tools. The part I found the most helpful was a section that discussed how to create and time a menu. The book is divided into five chapters; Just Us, Great Grilling, Company’s Calling, Litter Suppers, and Sunday Upside Down. Each chapter has several menus that can be cooked as a meal or you can pick any of the recipes and put them together to make your own menu.

Cooking the Meal: 

Since the title of the book is Sunday Suppers, I choose to cook and serve my meal on none other than Sunday! I invited some family to join us and decided to make it a true family meal. I decided on Menu nine from Chapter 1 (Just Us) which included Roasted Chicken, Roasted carrots, turnips and Onions, and Homemade Marshmallows for dessert. I won’t lie the Marshmallos sold me. (I had never made homemade marshmallows and was really looking forward to it!)The process for the meal took me a whole afternoon.

I started with the Marshmallows because they had a three hour resting time.

The Chicken was next, with a cook and rest time of 3 hours.

The Vegetables were last. They cooked quickly and should be watched very closely.

It was time to dig in! The chicken was VERY moist and had a wonderful lemon herb flavor. I even went back for seconds! (This recipe makes two chickens. We had a lot of leftovers which we made homemade chicken noodle soup, and chicken quesadillas out of. Just as tasty in the other dishes as it was by it’s self.) The vegetables were really yummy as well. My kids are a little picky when it comes to vegetables but they really enjoyed the carrots. The turnips were my favorite part and I could have eaten a whole bowl of just the turnips!. I served the marshmallows for desert

Serving the marshmallow

Overall the meal was a success! I loved the menu idea! I loved the recipes; they were easy to follow and were star quality! The marshmallows didn’t disappoint either.  Most importantly my family loved it!

This cookbook would make a great gift for Christmas, a birthday or wedding or maybe a just because! 

Looking for the recipe I couldn’t wait to try? Look below!

Homemade Marshmallows

Makes 2 dozen

Total Time: 45 minutes plus 3 hours for drying

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup of Powered Sugar,
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch,
  • 3 envelopes of unflavored gelatin,
  • 3 cups of granulated sugar,
  • 1 cup of light corn syrup,
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt,
  • 2 teaspoon of vanilla

 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Line a 13×9 inch baking pan with wax paper. Combine powered sugar and 1/2 cup cornstarch in a bowl. Sift about 1/2 sugar-cornstarch mixture over wax paper; set remaining mixture aside.
  2. Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup of water in  bowl of a heavy-duty electric stand mixer; let stand 10 minutes.
  3. Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; boil for 1-minute.
  4. Turn mixer on low speed; add vanilla gelatin mixture. Carefully, add hot sugar mixture in slow steady stream. Increase speed to high; beat for 10 minutes or until thick. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. Sift 1/2 cup powered sugar mixture in pan.
  5. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly in pan. Let stand for 3 to 4 hours.
  6. Turn out onto wax paper. Cut into desired shapes. Toss marshmallows with remaining reserved powered sugar mixture in a bowl. Store in airtight container.

Buy this  book: http://amzn.to/2AgVw2C

This book review is contributed by catherinepeel, please visit her blog for more book reviews.