A little while ago I entered a competition on the Lovely Living Presents: Cook.Eat.Play Blog and won a copy of the cook book Frost Bite. I was very excited as I was planning on getting a copy anyway as it looked great. I have had the book for a little over a month and have been busily working my way through the recipes so that I could tell you all about this book. I have not been asked to review this book I just love it and wanted to share it with you all.
Frost Bite is written by Susan Austin a home cook who swears by her freezer as a place to save time cooking everyday meals and even make entertaining easier.
The cook book includes the following sections: Baby Food, Brunch, Lunch, Lunch Boxes, Snacks, Soups, Finger Food, Entertaining, Weekday Meals, Kid’s Parties, & Desserts.
Each recipe lists all the ingredients (and there is no super expensive or ultra hard to find ingredients), then how to cook the recipe up until freezing time. There are then instructions on how to freeze, how to defrost and how to serve.
So far I have cooked these recipes from the book:
- Chicken Sang Choy Bow
- Chicken Balls
- Cheesy Scones
- Fried Rice
- Lemon & Blueberry Mini Cheesecakes
- Soy Glazed Chicken Skewers
- Chicken Wrapped on Prosciutto with Creamy Pesto Sauce
- Eggplant & Roasted Pumpkin Lasagne
- Chicken with Coriander Peanut Pesto & Turmeric Rice
- Cream Tuna Pasta Bake
- Pasta with Pesto Sauce
- Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
- Brownie & Coffee Ice Cream Cake
All of these recipes are straight forward and easy to cook and those that have made it into the freezer have defrosted and served really well. However most of the time I have just served the meals up as they looked too yummy to store in our freezer.
So far my favourites have been the Chicken Wrapped on Prosciutto with Creamy Pesto Sauce which we served to guests and it was absolutely delicious and so simple to prepare, and the Brownie Ice cream cake (we used the snickers instead of coffee option). This cake did not last long in our freezer, little by little pieces kept disappearing and when my sister-in-law and her family came to stay we served it to them and they loved it and took the recipe.
One other great thing about these recipes is my kids who are both under three have eaten every meal we have served them from this book. They are not fussy kids generally but often won’t eat anything too fancy (for example the Thai Beef Salad I recently tried to serve them...I don’t really know what I was thinking), but Susan’s book has been a winner 100% of the time so far.
I have been trying to think of what I don’t like about the book and there is not much. If I was being really picky I would like to see more beef recipes that are not mince (but I say that because we had some steaks in the freezer and I wanted to cook them). Although, there is the Thai Fillet of Beef but I did not think the kids would eat it.
I can highly recommend Frost Bite as a cook book, it is simple to follow and has lots of lovely recipes that can be made in advance when entertaining or just made in bulk to save time during busy weeks. I like it as it has provided me with different ideas for our church freezer which we like to keep stocked for when people have babies, get sick or just need some time off cooking.
To find out more about Frost Bite, get other recipes or to order a copy visit Susan's blog http://www.frostbitefood.blogspot.com/and you can also follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/frostbitefood
