Pull up a chair, pour a cup of tea, and enjoy some wonderful cookbooks from one of the largest cookbook sellers in the world! I’ve purchased cookbooks from Jessica’s Biscuit for many years. With over 11,000 titles all discounted 20% - 75% you’ll understand why I love my many cookbooks from this company. And there’s more! Get free shipping with orders of $25 or more to one address. Jessica’s Biscuit also sells posters and coffee. And, with orders of $40 or more, you can choose a free cookbook or T-shirt from their selection.

From time to time, I’ll review a cookbook from Jessica’s Biscuit. Simply use the link on this page to order the book, or to peruse their wide selection of cookbooks. See a cookbook in a bookstore you’d like? Check out the price at Jessica’s Biscuit and save. You help support our site when you use our link to Jessica’s Biscuit, so please come to the Discount Cookbooks section on Future Christian Homemakers first; you’re just one click away from discount cookbooks!


Make-A-Mix: Over 300 Easy Recipes for Every Meal of the Day

This cookbook has sold over one million copies and it’s easy to see why! With over 67 basic recipes you can create over 300 different dishes; you’ll never have to wonder “what’s for dinner?” again! And there’s much more than dinner recipes: you’ll find desserts, appetizers, breads, breakfasts and much more. The recipes are easy to follow and use common ingredients.

Each master recipe, or mix, as they call them, makes a variety of meals. For example, prepare the Mexican Meat Mix with beef, onions, chiles, salsa, and some spices. With that simple mix, you can make 8 different recipes in the book: Chimichangas, chalupas, enchiladas, tacos, chili con carne, and more. 

I especially like the cookie mix recipes. Mix any of these, roll the dough in logs, and have slice-and-bake cookie convenience right in your own freezer or frig.

This is one cookbook I have used often throughout the years, and it makes a welcome and useful gift. At just $12.96, it’s a real bargain. Click here.

I will never forget my very first cookbook! As a girl, I was so proud to have my own cookbook. Now the classic 1957 cookbook is available once again for a new generation of children to enjoy. “Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys & Girls” is sure to delight children today just as it did 50 years ago. You’ll find chapters with recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner plus Campfire Cooking, cakes, cookies and candy. Cooking terms, tools and utensils, basic table setting, kitchen safety, manners, and numerous helpful tips fill this 190 page, spiral-bound book.

This is an exact replica of the 1957 edition. I was struck by the fact that these same recipes are still enjoyed by children today! You’ll find easy to prepare Macaroni and Cheese, Pizza, Pigs in Blankets, Swedish Meatballs, Spanish Rice, Potato Salad, Brownies, a variety of cakes and cookies, and many more favorites. Even the youngest cook can enjoy Tricks and Treats with Cereal, Raggedy Ann Salad, or Bunny Salad. Children of all ages and skill levels will find something they can prepare with a little help from mom or dad.

I like the clear, easy to follow directions and simple layout of the recipes. There are color photos for many of the recipes. Jessica’s Biscuit (ecookbooks) price is just $11.86. Click here for more information.

Please scroll down for reviews for more great cookbooks and the Frozen Chocolate Banana recipe!


Cookbooks are usually just a collection of recipes. The “America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook” is certainly that with more than 1,200 recipes your family will love. But it is so much more! With over 1,500 photos, it educates the home cook on many techniques and shortcuts. Whether you want to shred cabbage, make an egg frittata, or make your own chicken fingers, you’ll find many color, step-by-step photos that take the guesswork out of recipe preparation.

This 850 page cookbook comes in a large, handy ring binder. I remove the page with the recipe I’m preparing and place it in a plastic sheet protector while I’m working in the kitchen.

Ladies often ask me for a recommendation for one good cookbook. This is it! Whether you’re a novice or an experienced cook, all the help you need to prepare delicious meals is here. You’ll find a helpful “Cooking 101: Guide to the Basics” that explains and recommends ingredients, and illustrates and rates kitchen equipment and utensils. This book is from the same people who produce the TV show, America’s Test Kitchen, and Cook’s Illustrated magazine. I have always found their tips and product ratings very useful, and this book is loaded with them.

Here’s one great tip for shaping burgers: To avoid hamburgers that puff up in the center leaving overcooked, crumbly edges, make a depression in the center of the patty when you shape the raw meat. Then the meat will cook up to an even thickness.

Recipes cover all categories from soups & stews, grains & beans, fish, poultry and meat, to frozen desserts, pudding & custards, all manner of baked goods, and much more. I found the section on sauces especially helpful, and the quick and easy refrigerator jam has been a real hit at our house! Below you’ll find an easy recipe from the book for a delicious summer treat, Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Bananas.

Jessica’s Biscuit (the ecookbooks company) offers the book at the great discount price of $20.97 (retail is $34.95). Whether you need a gift, or want a copy for yourself, this book is a treasure you’ll turn to often.

Click here for more information:


Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Bananas

   2 Cups semisweet chocolate chips
   2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
   4 bananas, peeled & halved crosswise
   1 Cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped fine (or sprinkles, crushed cookies or shredded coconut)

1. In a wide, shallow, microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and oil in the microwave on 50% power, stirring often, 1 to 3 minutes. Let the mixture cool and thicken for 5 minutes.
2. Insert one popsicle stick through the center of each banana half. Spread the peanuts (or other topping) out over a dinner plate.
3. Tip the bowl slightly. Dip bananas, one at a time, into the melted chocolate and spin to coat evenly. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off the banana back into the bowl. Roll the bananas in the chopped peanuts (or other topping) and set on a plate lined with waxed paper. Freeze until firm, about 1 ½ hours.
Yield: 8 half bananas

The dipped bananas can be kept in the freezer, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 weeks.

Test Kitchen Tip: Adding a bit of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate prevents it from becoming tough and brittle when frozen. Because you need to swirl the bananas in the chocolate to coat them, you will have some chocolate left over. Use your imagination! Try chocolate-dipping and freezing any number of treats: Marshmallows, cookies, ice cream cones.

Reprinted with permission of America’s Test Kitchen.
http://www.americastestkitchen.com


My first review is of a reprint of one of the most influential books from the post-Civil War era. “Mrs. Hill’s New Cook Book” was first published in 1867. Annabella Hill, born in Georgia in 1810, wrote this 400+ page detailed cookbook to help ladies in the South who had relied on servants to do the cooking in the past. Many were ill-prepared to take over the household duties after the war. Besides hundreds of recipes, Mrs. Hill gives advice and encouragement to the homemaker that still speaks to us today.

“Thousands of young women are taking upon themselves the responsibilities of housekeepers, a position for which their inexperience and ignorance of household affairs renders them wholly unfitted…. Youth and inexperience are lamentable drawbacks which cannot be set aside by the brave hearts that would overcome the trials that assail them in the outset of their domestic career; and they must content themselves to ‘begin at the beginning.’”

“I hope it may be said of my readers that they are not among those who are ashamed to know how to make a loaf of bread or to stir a batch of biscuit with their own hands. Even the kitchen is a place of dignity and honor in their presence when love sanctifies the baking and boiling.”

Often advice is given in the midst of a recipe. In the directions for broiling meat, I found this: “Men grow sated of music, are often too wearied for conversation, however intellectual; but they can always appreciate a well-swept hearth and smiling comfort. A woman may love her husband, may sacrifice fortune, friends, family and country for him… but a melancholy fate awaits her if she fails to make his home comfortable, and his heart will inevitably forsake her. Better submit to household duties, even should there be no predilection for them, than doom herself to a loveless home. Women of a higher order of mind will not run this risk; they know that their feminine, their domestic duties, are their first duties.”

You’ll find little jewels of wisdom like this sprinkled throughout the book: “Method is the soul of management. It is essential to the dispatch of all business; for what is well arranged proceeds with ease and regularity.”

Many of the recipes are of historical interest only, but if you like to read wisdom from the past as I do, you’ll thoroughly enjoy this book. History students and those who take part in Civil War re-enactments with find this book a special treasure.

427 pages, Paperback, $10.46

Check back with us often for more reviews. Share your favorite cookbooks with us!
E-mail the title of your favorites to info@futurechristianhomemakers.com and tell me why you like the book. If we use your recommendation, I’ll send you a free bookmark!