"Food Family Style" by Leigh Oliver Vickery Review

I had received another invitation from Revell Books to review a book for their blog tour.  When I saw it was a cookbook, I jumped on it.  You see, I have this thing for cookbooks, actually recipes in general.  I LOVE to collect recipes - just ask Tony!  I have HUGE binders of recipes, multiple totes filled with recipe magazines and recipes that I have printed off of the Internet, cut out of the paper, you name it, if there is a new recipe, I'm going to pounce it!!!!  That's when I started using Pinterest, I was hooked because it was much easier to keep track of new recipes!!!

I anxiously watched my mailbox for this new cookbook and couldn't wait to look through it!  There were so many good looking recipes and most of them didn't require a lot of ingredients - extra BONUS!!!!!

So, first, let me share a little bit about the author of this cookbook:

Leigh Oliver Vickery is creator and founder of Leigh Oliver's, a specialty "fun food" company with numerous products on the market in at least twenty-five states and grocery chains, including Whole Foods Market and Costco. She is the former food editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Tyler, Texas, and now blogs at www.onebighappytable.com. Leigh also has a regular twice-weekly segment on two local TV stations called "One Big Happy Table with Leigh Vickery." She lives in Tyler, Texas, with her husband, two sons, and three dogs.

This cookbook has 365 "simple and tasty recipes for everyday life."  So you could actually have a new recipe for every day of the week.

Ms. Vickery has provided easy symbols to indicate recipes that "double easily, freeze well, are gluten free or vegetarian, can be made in a slow cooker, or are favorites contributed by moms around the country."  A lot of the recipes contributed by moms from around the country are MOPS moms.

I decided to try the Slow Cooker Ham and Green Bean Bundles first.  Both were very good.  A friend had come over the night had made this for dinner and she liked it all.  She then later told me that she generally does not eat green beans, but liked them.  Her two kids even liked it all.  Caleb, my very picky, child with Autism, even ate all of it!

As part of this review, I am going to share with you the recipe for the green bean bundles and hope you enjoy them!

Green Bean Bundles, page 203

3 (14.5 oz.) cans whole green beans, drained
2 cups reduced fat French salad dressing
12-16 bacon slices, halved

Gently toss greens beans with French dressing. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to overnight.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 deg. F.  Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Divide beans equally among bacon slice halves to make bundles.  Wrap bacon slices around beans and lay bundles, seam side down, in bottom of casserole dish.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until bacon is browned.  Serves 6-8.

Here is a picture of the finished dish:

This is definitely going to be one of my go to cookbooks!!!!

This cookbook is available  August  2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. I was provided with a copy of "Food Family Style" in consideration of my posting this review.  All comments are my own and have not been influenced in anyway by anyone else.