Triumphant and Unfussy New Favorites - Smitten Kitchen Every Day

As a fan of the Smitten Kitchen blog, I anxiously awaited this cookbook. It's fabulous and I can't wait to start making recipes. Deb writes in a voice that makes it fun to read. She gives great background to help navigate the recipes.

I was disappointed upon receiving this cookbook as I thought it would be a good option for weeknight cooking. Many of the recipes have lengthy, complex directions and require more time to make than I was hoping for. May be great for some people but I didn’t see the healthly recipes or practicality I was looking for.

Probably you should check this out in person, at a bookstore or library, before purchasing. As so many have pointed out, this is not "unfussy" -- at least in my universe.

My favourite recipe is for meringues that are coloured/flavoured with freeze-dried strawberries, ground to powder. I buy the berries (in a reclosable bag) at Trader Joe's. I must've looked at such a bag on my pantry shelf a gazillion times, and never once thought to add them to any of my meringue recipes. Worse yet, I must've looked at the residue crumbs at the bottom of such a bag a DOUBLE gazillion times and never once thought of any use except to sprinkle the tiny fragments on yogurt. A truly triumphant recipe, Deb.

Why not five stars? I would've liked this cookbook MUCH more if it had included estimated prep times. I like to know in advance roughly how much time to allow before I start cooking/baking.

Her bloggy-style introductions are wonderful -- like a good friend standing next to you in your kitchen, talking about what you're about to cook together.

These recipes are delicious, but NOT Unfussy!!!! They are filled with weird ingredients you are unlikely to have on hand. These are wonderful no doubt for special occasions, which also makes them NOT Every Day! Not what was expected, I’m afraid!

Liked the blog, loved the first book. This one was pretty disappointing. Like many of her followers I like her vegetable dishes— that was the initial reason I bought the first book— as I wanted a go to book for vegetable sides and mains. I also ended up liking most of the meat recipes in the first book and have made them on multiple occasions. This book falls short in both categories and in my opinion has too many breakfast and dessert recipes. Also too many gimmicky recipe names but the dishes are not as interesting. Hope this is a sophomore slump and that the next one(s) are as good as the first.

I worship at the Smitten Kitchen altar, and over the years have mostly stopped using other cookbooks and recipe blogs to favor SK's, since they're the ones that turn out best anyway. That's why I'm heartbroken to report that this cookbook feels tired and uninspiring, that most of the recipes feel utterly unappetizing or simply like they should go on the SK blog (where they can more easily be ignored) rather than on a cookbook for which you shell out over $20.
Sorry, Deb-- really wanted to love this. I'll stick to your previous book, and to the many beautiful recipes in your blog.

I was not familiar with the smitten kitchen before this book. I like to cook and bake but I"m not extremely adventurous. This has recipes I want to try. I also enjoyed Ms. Perelman's writing style. She was fun and engaging. At the end she is encouraging the use of a scale.She mentions by using a scale you can get rid of alot of measuring tools and then you'll have more room--to store more chocolate! this woman gets me.

This is my first Smitten Kitchen cookbook and I really like it! I have made a number of things, and a few of them I have put into my regular rotation. Overall I really like this book, but I've found that I am not cooking from it as much as I thought I would. The things I've made I *really* like, but then I am not totally excited about a number of them.

Make the bucatini with bread crumbs it will change your life. I make it like once a week. Oh and the sushi cobb salad dressing is a very delicious and very filling vegan salad (which is not something I normally attribute to vegan food).

Since purchasing this book last fall, I have derived hours of enjoyment from it, both reading for fun and cooking from it. The "triumphant" part really shines through, because it has made me excited to cook and taken the "drudgery" out of weeknight cooking for a family, as promised in the intro. The writing feels lush and generous. The book seems endless (in a good way), like there's always another happy recipe to try. The joy it has brought me and the spark it has given to my every day life is priceless.

My favorite recipes so far: cauliflower wedge, pear baked oatmeal, coconut cake (even unfrosted is amazing)

Recipes that didn't work out for me: stuffed cabbage (too much water in the rice), the dense grain bread (I probably baked it too long, it was essentially a brick)

Deb Perelman still has it! these recipes are delicious and interesting. I think the ones in this book tend to use more of the things one might find in one's kitchen and less of the specialty ingredients, but this is not at the cost of taste. I highly recommend this book.

Received as a gift and will be returning. I consider myself an adventurous eater, as are my children. Have made a few SK recipes from her blog but after flipping thru this cookbook, I only saw 2 recipes that looked good. These look very time-consuming, which I don’t mind if something is delicious, but nothing entices me enough to try. Glad others have found success with these recipes, but this is a no from me.

Some interesting recipes. I have made the cauliflower wedge and spatchcock game hens and loved the both recipes.
I like to prepare my food with more of a healthy slant, but you can easily adjust recipes that seem too heavy.
I like this book more than the first one.

I tried six recipes from this book. The sheet pan chicken was fantastic. Broccoli melts excellent. Sweet potato steaks were very good. Kale dusted popcorn was not that good. The dense grainy bread was not good at all. And the coconut meltaways flattened in the oven.

What a bummer. Huge Smitten Kitchen blog fan so put this on my Xmas list. Agree with others that there are very few recipes that sound appealing and I am in the middle of one of them (chicken and rice, street cart style) and had to stop to write my FIRST EVER book review because I'm so annoyed. The format of the cookbook with the lengthy narrative preceding the actual recipe is driving me nuts b/c I have to keep flipping between the ingredients page and the instructions page on the "Chicken and Rice, street cart style" recipe. While I love sitting at my computer reading her funny life stories while I contemplate a recipe, there's just no space for that when I'm ready to roll.

I’m very disappointed with this cookbook! I absolutely love the blog. I follow it regularly and recommend it to all my friends. However, the recipes in this cookbook are very unappealing. Flipping through I hardly could find any I actually wanted to make in part because of their unusual ingredients or time consuming methods. I’ve tried 4 or 5 recipes so far and I haven’t liked any of them. It’s a real shame because the first cookbook was so good. I use that version regularly. If you are going to buy one, buy her first.

Very disappointed. Her first book was excellent, this one is so unappealing because the ingredients are not something most of us have on our kitchen and unless you live near a special market, they can’t be found. I got it for a present, not happy with it!

What a bummer. Huge Smitten Kitchen blog fan so put this on my Xmas list. Agree with others that there are very few recipes that sound appealing and I am in the middle of one of them (chicken and rice, street cart style) and had to stop to write my FIRST EVER book review because I'm so annoyed. The format of the cookbook with the lengthy narrative preceding the actual recipe is driving me nuts b/c I have to keep flipping between the ingredients page and the instructions page on the "Chicken and Rice, street cart style" recipe. While I love sitting at my computer reading her funny life stories while I contemplate a recipe, there's just no space for that when I'm ready to roll.

I’m very disappointed with this cookbook! I absolutely love the blog. I follow it regularly and recommend it to all my friends. However, the recipes in this cookbook are very unappealing. Flipping through I hardly could find any I actually wanted to make in part because of their unusual ingredients or time consuming methods. I’ve tried 4 or 5 recipes so far and I haven’t liked any of them. It’s a real shame because the first cookbook was so good. I use that version regularly. If you are going to buy one, buy her first.

Very disappointed. Her first book was excellent, this one is so unappealing because the ingredients are not something most of us have on our kitchen and unless you live near a special market, they can’t be found. I got it for a present, not happy with it!

I don’t understand all the rave reviews. Sure, the pictures were nice, but I thought the recipes were unimaginative and dated. If you’re a home cook, look elsewhere. If you’re a foodie or food professional, run. Away. Now.

I have been a fan for years and purchased several copies of her first book for gifts as well as a copy for myself. I've emailed Deb Perelman a few times for her expert advice. Because she doesn't respond to emails, I 'm no longer a fan.