Robin Takes 5 Cookbook Review and Giveaway

I love being in the kitchen (does that go without saying though?) and any chance I get to talk to you about a kitchen product or cookbook is always pure joy for me! As a baker, I’m trained to follow a recipe to the “t” but when I’m in the kitchen by myself I like to play around with measurements and ingredients. I rarely do this when baking, but I do it often when I’m cooking.

Before I go on too much longer, allow me to introduce you to Robin Miller, author of the new cookbook Robin Takes 5. Robin is a Food Network star and trained nutritionist, so her recipes are not only tantalizing, they’re also delicious and healthy. In her new cookbook, everything is based around the number 5: 500 recipes using only 5 ingredients each (or less) all under 500 calories so you can get your family meal on the table by 5pm 5 nights a week! Sounds like a tall order, but I was very pleased with this cookbook as I felt she really lived up to all the 5’s she promises!

The first thing I do with any new cookbook is flip through cover to cover uninterrupted. Typically, I’ll jot down a few notes here and there, especially writing down recipes that interest me. With Robin Takes 5 I found myself writing down page after page of recipes I wanted to try. After spending hours flipping through each section carefully deciding which recipes to try first, I managed to narrow it down to two. I have made all three and loved all them! But for me, the best part about this cookbook is that I was able to adapt each recipe to what I had on hand – substituting ingredients, adding more or less quantity or adding additional ingredients to pack more punch!

The first recipe up was the Chicken-Asiago Casserole with Orzo and Tomatoes. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Well, I looked in the cabinet and realized I didn’t have any orzo on hand, but I had rigatoni so I subbed the orzo out for larger pasta. Next, I added a little extra asiago because it’s one of my all-time favorite cheeses. I realize I likely went over the 500 calories per serving, but it’s worth it for asiago! Lastly, as I was mixing my ingredients together in preparation for the oven, I decided to add some dried herbs – basil, parsley and oregano weren’t called for in Robin’s recipe, and they didn’t add any extra calories so I added a couple shakes here and there. The result was delicious! Here’s a picture of my pasta casserole before the oven…my nose was so overwhelmed after it came out of the oven that I dug right in without snapping another pic, sorry!

After the great success of the pasta casserole, I wasted no time in trying out the second recipe: Chicken en Croute with Brie and Raspberry Jam. Are you seeing a trend that I like chicken and cheese recipes? I also had to put a little spin on this recipe as well. It calls for chicken breasts to be wrapped in puff pastry dough with brie and jam. In preparation for making this recipe later in the evening, I reached into the freezer and pulled out a package of chicken (which was inside a plastic bag). I didn’t think to check that it was chicken breasts, but it actually turned out to be chicken thighs. That’s okay, adapt and overcome. I’ve found that after baking, the thighs let off a bit of fat, so I’m thinking the breasts are much better for this recipe than the thighs, but it’s good nonetheless. Also, no raspberry jam on hand, so I swapped it out for apricot preserves, which proved to be a delicious substitution!

I have tried others recipes as well – some I’ve stuck straight to her written recipe and others I’ve adapted to my liking, but no matter what I’ve enjoyed them all. This cookbook is great for entertaining at home too, as there are easy-to-find symbols denoting recipes that are fancy-looking but easy preparation for you!

And just in time for the holidays when you’re likely to have guests over, you can enter to win your own copy of Robin Takes 5: 500 Recipes, 5 Ingredients or Less, 500 Calories or Less, for 5 Nights/Week at 5:00 PM!!

To Enter:
Check out the recipe index (available on Amazon thru the “look inside” feature) and pick out what recipe sounds the most delcious to you. Leave a comment below letting us know what you want to try! As a side note, I LOVE the index in this cookbook, it is so thorough and helpful!

Extra Entries:
Share this giveaway on your blog, facebook or twitter with a link to Mommy PR and get an extra entry for each that you do daily.
 Enter any of our Christmas Wonderland giveaways and get an extra entry for each!

Contest ends 11:59 pm Pacific Time on 12/02/2011

See Contest Rules for More Entries

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I did receive products or services to keep for my testing purposes.

I was not paid in any form of cash for this posting.

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