Sukkot Giveaway (& Review) #3: Simply Southern with a Dash of Kosher Soul Cookbook

Welcome to day 3 of the 3-day Sukkot Giveaway. All giveaways will close tonight at midnight and the winners will be notified and announced tomorrow morning! Be sure to enter all three giveaways.

Several week ago, a reader (Hi, Amara!) approached me about reviewing a community cookbook that she was involved with.

With so many great kosher cookbooks out there, I wasn’t sure this was the best fit for KOAB. But when I read the specs on the Simply Southern with a Dash of Kosher Soul cookbook, I was intrigued! (And in all honesty, I’m a huge fan of the Paula Dean style – butter, butter, butter – of cooking.)

A few days later my review copy arrived and I was wowed!

But before I even had a chance to delve into the recipes, my husband and sons had ripped the book out of my hands – I think it was the mouth-watering fried chicken (recipe on p. 145) on the cover that hooked them.

They were furiously dog-earring the recipes they wanted me to make. But I had a better idea: “Why don’t you do the cooking, honey?” I sweetly asked my husband.

Lucky for me, he obliged! He picked out a seafood chowder (pg. 36) and cheese straws (pg. 11) and set off to the grocery store.

The smells in the kitchen were enticing… and the finished product was even better!

Both of my boys gobbled up the chowder – even my picky eater! And while I’m not the biggest fan of corn (understatement), I loved the golden color and sweet flavor it added to the chowder. My husband even sent my oldest with leftovers for lunch the next day and shared a bowl with his good friend, to rave reviews.

I would be lying, though, if I didn’t say that the cheese straws were the hands-down favorite. You can’t go wrong with puff pastry and cheese – at least not at my house.

There are many more recipes on our short-list, including a few that I expect to feature in our Sukkot meal plan, such as:

  •  Arugala, Leek and Potato Soup (p. 37)
  • Chicken, Cabbage and Noodles in Peanut Sauce (p. 70) – a great way to use leftover chicken!
  • Orzo Salad with Dried Cranerries and Caramelized Almonds (p. 72)
  • Southern Belle Pepper Pesto Linguini (p. 107) – with cilantro, my favorite herb!
  • Thai Spiced Cilantro Chicken (p. 136)
  • Salmon with Pistachio, Basil and Mint Butter (p. 157)
  • Potato Parsnip Latkes (p. 186)
  • Zucchini Carrot Terrine (p. 191)

And then there are the desserts… oh, how I love Lemon Meringue Pie (p. 195)… and I’m totally trying the Champion Cobbler from Louisiana Peach Festival (p. 213)… and my kids will absolutely devour the Cowboy Cookies (p. 225), I’m sure!

As you can tell, the recipes in Southern Cooking with a Dash of Kosher Soul are varied – and very mouthwatering!

Simply Southern is a compilation of 300 of the best recipes submitted to the cookbook’s editorial committee at the Margolin Hebrew Academy, a small Jewish day school in Memphis, TN. In addition to the rich traditions conveyed through the family recipes, the narratives in the book provide a wonderful look at the history of Jewish life in the South.  Simply Southern with a Dash of Kosher Soul retails for  $34.99, but because the production costs were all covered by donations, 100% of the proceeds go to funding Jewish education in the Memphis community.

If you would like to order a copy, just go to the Simply Southern with a Dash of Kosher Soul website. Scroll about half-way down the page to the order button. Right now, all books ship for FREE! (It says free shipping is only through Rosh Hashana, but proceed to check-out with Paypal, and you will be charged $0 for shipping.)

One lucky KOAB reader will win their own copy of Simply Southern with a Dash of Kosher Soul courtesy of the Margolin Hebrew Academy. To enter this giveaway, just complete the instructions on the Rafflecopter.

The first entry is mandatory: Leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite cookbook is (kosher or not). 

The rest of the entries are optional – but remember: The more ways you enter, the better your chances are of winning!

(If you are reading this in your email or via Google Reader, you will need to click through to the blog to leave your entries.)


Comments

  1. Joy of Cooking. It has everything.

  2. Enlightened Kosher Cooking.

  3. Brooke Weiss says

    I am from New Orleans, and many of the local traditional foods are in no way kosher. There is a great cookbook by Marcie Cohen Ferris called Matzoh Ball Gumbo that has fantastic kosher recipes in a local style. The gumbo is terrific!!!

  4. Spice and Spirit

  5. I’m also for Spice and Spirit

  6. My absolute favorite cookbook is the original Lubavitch Cookbook that I got about 30 years ago! It is updated and the receipes are just fabulous.

    Carolyn

  7. Spice and Spirit. Even though I lost mine and they are no longer in print 🙁

    • I was just given one last year, brand new, when I got married. It’s the fifteen printing from 2008.

      The phone number in the front of the book for teh Lubavitch Women’s Cookbook Publications is 718-771-3663. If you call them, I’m sure you can get one!

  8. I don’t have a favorite cookbook, since I found the best place to find recipes is on the internet. I love that people comment on whether or not they liked the recipe and what changes they made.

  9. Joy of Cooking. The ‘Bible’.

  10. kosher palette II is a new fav

  11. thegreen cookbook “the balabustes choice” is my favorite and used all the time

  12. The World of Jewish Cooking

  13. Kosher pallete

  14. Joy of Cooking.

  15. Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen: An Indispensable Guide for Anybody Who Likes to Cook. The blackberry crumble recipe is TO. DIE. FOR. So good …

  16. I don’t use cookbooks. I find my recipes on-line, from friends, and come up with my own ideas and tweak everything to fit my family’s needs. If I had to say one, I’d say my mother’s Mediterranean non-kosher cookbook. Gorgeous pictures and many recipes that can be adapted to kosher and the food is amazing!

  17. You’re going to make me choose?! lol I dabble with most of my cookbooks, I don’t have a “bible”. However, I do find allrecipes.com to be very useful, since the reviews not only share whether the recipe was popular or not, but people can describe how to improve the recipe.

  18. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but it is hard to kosherize some of the recipes.

  19. i have a bunch of cookbooks but no favorite, i just pick out the best recipes from each one

  20. Spice and Spirit is my go-to.

  21. Miriam Leah Schwartz says

    kosher palette and one my elementary school put out years ago-someone got it for me for a wedding gift and i have used it SO much

  22. Truth is, my favorite cookbook is the one I’m slowly compiling for myself. 🙂 Over the course of the past several years I’ve been finding and categorizing recipes that I like (including many of my mother’s personal recipes), printing them, putting them in protective plastic and compiling them into two (so far) binders. I have everything in there from main dishes to sides to desserts to drinks to clones of things like Thin Mints and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups! My personal forte of cheesecakes even has its own section!

    Although, I do also have a really great grilling cookbook I got a couple years ago that I really like! Nearly every recipe in there requires A1 sauce!

  23. Jennifer Barnes says

    Favorite cookbook hands down “Kosher by Design; Short on time”. There are a solid 8-10 recipes that I make and always a hit!

  24. No favorite just a collection of recipes from all of them and of course online!!

  25. Good Housekeeping – my Grammy’s copy with all her notations

  26. I love the “Book of Jewish Food” by Claudia Roden.

  27. my favorite cookbook is actually my notebook of recipes I’ve compiled from relatives and friends, after that the one I probably like the most is Jeff Nathan’s first one. But I use all of them all the time.

  28. Selena Treister says

    My favorite cookbook is The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden. Here is a link to it. http://www.amazon.com/Book-Jewish-Food-Odyssey-Samarkand/dp/0394532589

  29. I have many favorites quick and kosher and persian cooking for the nonpersian bride and of course the kosher palettes/by design

  30. Kosher by Design for 20 somethings! LOVE IT!
    Easy, simple recipes that taste amazing! (I plan to keep using it long after I’m through with my 20’s…..)

  31. The Kosher Gourmet put out by the 92nd Street Y. Amazing recipes from Jewish communities from all over the world.

  32. few cookbooks put together from various high schools, and communities

  33. Joy of Cooking. Even though I find a ton of recipes online, I still find myself referring to Joy on a regular basis, especially if I have questions about technique, ingredients, etc. It’s such a great resource. I also love the original Moosewood cookbook. The recipes are good and the hand drawn pictures are so whimsical.

  34. My favorite cookbook is Quick and Kosher by Jamie Geller. Everything is so simple and I love the challah recipe!

  35. Yum! I was raised on Southern/non-kosher food and would LOVE to get some adaptions! I’m always trying to make some of my old fav’s kosher!

  36. Mark Bitman’s “How to Cook Everything” and “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” are my go-to books when I need to find a recipe. Mollie Katzen’s “Still Life With Menu”, “Enchanted Broccoli Forest”, and “Moosewood Cookbook” are the books when I want to cook a memory of home.

  37. Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My home to Yours”

  38. I love the Kosher by Design series, but my favorite has to be the one my mom has compiled over the years. It has all our favorites!

  39. The Kosher Palette.

  40. Norene’s Healthy Kitchen. My very first cookbook, given to me by my in-laws during sheva brachot.

  41. My favorite changes all the time. When I get a new one, it’s my favorite. It all depends on how many recipes I like from that cookbook. My current favorite is Dining In Again.

  42. Gatherings!

  43. Liked you on Fb and subscribed to the emails! Thanks!

  44. Shayndy Abrahamson says

    Dining In!

  45. spirit and spice i call it the bible cookbook
    basic recipe and basci cooking

  46. Olive Trees and Honey- vegetarian kosher recipes from around the world. I have NEVER made anything from this cookbook that we didn’t love and never had anything not-quite-turn-out-right.

  47. I use (almost) all of my cookbooks. My favourite is a little notebook in which my grandmother wrote down all of her most important recipes so she could easily take them when she traveled to each of her children. Of course I also have my favourite recipes from my mom in my recipe box.

    Two of my favourite cookbooks are Passover, by Pamela Reiss (the Greek Stuffed Mushroom Caps are sooooooo good!), and the Italian kosher cookbook titled Cucina Ebraica, by Joyve Goldstein.

  48. I’m not sure I can choose 1 either. Susie Fishbein cookbooks & recipes online and from friends.

  49. count me in as another joy of cooking fan 🙂

  50. proudmommy0f4 says

    Lately I’ve been using the internet more than hard cookbooks, but I’ll go with the classic Joy of Cooking. Or Marcy Goldman’s Jewish Holiday Baking

  51. my favorite cookbook is Kosher by Design Short on Time, although I do have favorite recipes in every cookbook I own…

  52. My aunt made up a book of our family recipes. And then gave it to me as a wedding gift. I love having all of the recipes together in one place. Definitely something I’ll pass down to my girls.

  53. I love an old Weight Watchers cookbook I have from the early 90’s – all of my faves are there!

  54. it’s a tie:
    Gatherings (by Netivot HaTorah day school in Toronto)
    and The Silver Palate cookbook

  55. Natural Foods Cookbook by Mary Estella is hands down the easiest to use healthy vegetarian dairy free cookbook. And then there is Spice and Spirit for all else! It is good to be well rounded!

  56. Usually anything that stresses fast. Quick and Kosher, Kosher by Design: Short on Time.

  57. I love the Amit Chicago cookbook. The best, simple recipes ever!

  58. Spice and Spirit

  59. Aish Hatorah’s Taste of Shabbos- Simple & Classic.

  60. I use the Kosher Pallet and Kosher by Design Cookbook a lot. Kosher by Design Lightens up is my current favorite

  61. My favorite cookbook is definitely Kosher by Design Short on Time. I love the pictures in the book, it motivates me to cook!

  62. Jennifer H. says

    My favorite is California Kosher.

  63. My fave is Quick and Kosher by Jamie Geller!!!!! Love it!!!!!!

  64. Eve Ben-Horin says

    I really love the kosher by design – lightens up.

  65. spice and spirit and a taste of shabbos

  66. Favorite is Kosher By Design.

  67. gatherings. love that book! but the truth is, i like to read cookbooks like they are novels…i can sit and read cookbooks all day 🙂

  68. Missfrizzly says

    I love good to the grain by Kim Boyce – all the recipes use whole grains, including interesting ones like amaranth, teff, quinoa, etc – it’s all baked goods, though…I also just started reading Alice waters’ cookbook, the art of simple food and I love it – I love her philosophy on food ( I like mark bittman, too).

  69. Kosher by design the original

  70. Usually a toss up between Tke Kosher Palette and Kosher by Design.

  71. Evelyn Behar says

    My favorite kosher cookbook is “Gatherings” – everything I’ve tried has turned out beautifully!

  72. My favorite is Where’s Mom now that I need her? It’s a great book I got in college. Now we use it for easy recipes that we build off of.

  73. My favorite cookbook is kosher by design kids in the kitchen. i love cooking and have even more fun when I can share it with them.

  74. My favorite is the Kosher by Design Entertains-the apple gallette and squash pie are fabulous!

  75. My favorite cookbook is the one that I have been compiling over the last few months. It contains recipes from my mother, grandmother, sister, sisters in laws and good friends and from magazines, websites, etc. It started out as a way to organize my recipes but it has become much more that just that. Hopefully it will become something I can share with interested parties.

  76. I LOVE cookbooks, I have a friend from memphis who owns this cookbook and she always makes the most amazing stuff from it! My favorite that I have right now is probably Kosher by Design.

  77. I love the pampered chef cookbooks, but mostly get most of my recipes on line or through friends.

  78. ”gatherings” from a jewish school from toronto. Its one of my favorites!

  79. Sandi Jarrett says

    My current favorite cookbook is Vegan With a Vengence. Although I am not vegan, there are so many great recipes in the book. Some are great as sides (and because they are vegan can be used with either meat or dairy dishes) and others are great as main dishes.

  80. The original Moosewood cookbook is SO awesome.

  81. Meal Makeover Moms–family friendly recipes with slight variations to make them healthier. For example, oatmeal cookies with oil instead of margarine. Lots of simple ideas. It really changed how I cook.

  82. Betty Crocker cookbook. Simple. Straight foward.

  83. joy of cooking. teaches you about food.

  84. Jamie Geller’s “Quick and Kosher”

  85. Love this giveaway. Although I have a bazillion cookbooks already, I can always use another. My favorite cookbook at the moment is Baking by Dorie Greenspan.

  86. Quick and Kosher! helps get dinner and shabbos ready so quickly!

  87. Rebecca starr says

    Kosher by design by Susie fishbein for sure! They are the best!

  88. The Kosher Baker by Paula Shoyer. My wife has taken cooking classes from her and I must say everything she’s made has been yummy!

  89. Pillsbury Cookbook

  90. The Dairy Gourmet (not sure if that’s the right name) by Sarah Lasry. Every recipe is heavenly and it has some great basic recipes (like the pizza sauce, crepes) that I use with other combinations not from the book.

  91. Spice and spirit

  92. Simply the Best.

  93. Spice and spirit.

  94. I have sooo many favorites. Spice & Spirit is a must (mine needs to be rebound…can’t get a new one because of all my treasured notes I’ve written in it), but I love KBDE Entertains, Kosher Palate, Mark Bittman’s HTCE & HTCEV, and we can’t forget Norene Gilletz…I take out a big stack when planning special menus. I’ve gotten into Joan Nathan too, and would love me some Dorie Greenspan if I had the time.

    Never mind the 600+ recipes I’ve collected on my hard drive!

  95. My favorite cookbook is Kosher by design short on time.

  96. I end up using Kosher Palette and Quick & Kosher most often.

  97. How to Cook Everything is my go-to book – always – and I love everything Mark Bittman has ever written. I have most of his books! 2nd fave author is Joan Nathan….

  98. The cookbooks my mother z”l wrote out by hand and typed on a typewriter in the early – late 1980s. Treasures!

  99. Rob Rothenberg says

    Fix-it and Forget it for Diabetics (Crock pot cooking)

  100. Kosher by desgin short on time

  101. Kosher by design- I love the zucchini carrot bread.