Gooseberry Patch Big Book of Home Cooking and Recipes

Calling all Gooseberry Patch Cookbook fans! Is this you? Even if you are just finding out about Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks you can enter to win this HUGE cookbook which is co-published with Gooseberry Patch and Oxmoor House. This book will be released for sale 9/20/2011 and you can find it on Amazon. (giveaway over)

Big Book of Home Cooking which to say the least is BIG! I thought big would be 200 pages but no this book really is BIG. It has over 350 pages, over 450 recipes, hard back with over 200 beautiful, mouth-watering photos. I really had a difficult time narrowing down what recipes to try first. Here is a picture of all my sticky tags on the pages AFTER I removed over half of them:

As with all my Gooseberry Patch reviews, below you will find a list of the Chapters in this book as well as some of the soon-to-be tested recipes for my family and for you! Hope they sound good to you, too!

• Munchies & More-Daffodil Banana Crush Punch, Summer Sparkle Punch and Healthy Hummus
• Breakfast Anytime-Farmhouse Quiche, Sunrise Granola, Apple Cider Syrup and Sugar Plum Bacon
• Weeknight Favorites-White BBQ Sauce, Salmon Patties and Risotto with Asparagus
• Casseroles Galore- Easy Cheesy Enchiladas, Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna) and Hashbrown-Pork chop Casserole
• Slow Cooker Sensations-Spicy White Cheese Dip, Russian Beef Borscht, Hot Fudge Spoon Cake
• Scrumptious Soups & Sandwiches-Pumpkin Chowder, The Ultimate Shrimp Sandwich and Grilled Cuban Sandwich
• Savory Sides & Salads-Fried Okra Salad, Melon Salad with Honey Dressing and Mom's Antipasto Salad
• Blue-Ribbon Cakes & Pies- Caramel Cake, Easy Pumpkin Roll and Peaches & Cream Cheesecake
• Cookies & Candies- Blackberry Lemon Squares, Butterscotch Candy and Caramel-Coffee Tassies
• Bountiful Breads- Autumn Spice Bread w/ Glaze, Soft Bread Pretzels and Blue Cheese Cut-Out Crackers
• Potluck Pleasers- Gruyere Rolls, Layered Cornbread & Turkey Salad and Creamy Banana Pudding
• Gifts from the Kitchen- Carrot Cake Jam, Savory Popcorn Topper Mix and Toffee Peanuts
• Menus for all Occasions- over 40 menu ideas!

For this review, I made Healthy Hummus, Easy Cheesy Enchiladas, Fried Okra Salad and Vickie's Gazpacho Dip. The Fried Okra Salad is below. Click each recipe to go to the other recipes.

Fried Okra Salad 

Ingredients

2 lb pkg. frozen breaded okra (or use your own okra recipe)
10 slices of bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled
6 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. sugar
2 T. vinegar

Directions

Fry okra as directed, drain. Combine okra, bacon, tomatoes, and green onions; set aside. Mix together remaining ingredients; pour dressing over okra mixture. Serve immediately. Serves 8.

My Kitchen Notes
This  has to be one of the tastiest salads that I made this summer. It was a huge hit with everyone in my family and I can't wait to make it again. It will always be on my recipe list of salads.

I do not like to crumble bacon after it is cooked so I cut my bacon into pieces with kitchen scissors before frying. For the vinegar, I use balsamic vinegar which went perfect with the salad. No other changes were needed. You do need to eat this once you pour on the dressing. It is not as good the next day because the okra is no longer crispy. So plan on eating all of it!

Thanks to Gooseberry Patch and Oxmoor House for providing the cookbook for my early book review. My own tasty opinions are expressed here!