Beatrice A. OjakangasBesprekingen

This cookbook, first published by Rodale Press in 2013, is now being offered in an edition from the University of Minnesota Press. All comments refer to this 2020 edition. Cookbook author Beatrice Ojakangas truly proves there is a soup (and bread) for every season in this collection of recipes. Arranged by season, the offerings run the gamut of chilled fruit soups to hearty stews. Each soup is paired with a bread. The breads run from hearty loaves to popovers to muffins to crackers. Everyone can find soups and breads in this volume to satisfy their hunger. The volume contains an index of recipes and an index by ingredients. If the volume had offered at least some illustrations, I would have given it a perfect star rating. The absence, however, weakens a cookbook in this day and age. I received an advance review copy from the publisher through Edelweiss for review purposes. The opinions are my own. I plan to purchase my own copy of this book as it seems a great way to eat lighter flavorful meals.

Some delicious sounding recipes in here.

Ah, bread and soup, one of my favorite things on a cold day!

This cookbook has many tasty photographs and ideas. The recipes are clearly explained and offer a wide variety. Everything from French Onion Soup to Swedish Yellow Pea Soup (sounds and looks exotic).

However, I think this would be best for intermediate to expert level in the kitchen. Some recipes call for 10 ingredients. Sadly, not a lot of people (my age anyhow) know what to do with yeast.

But definitely collectable or a good gift for the foodie chef in your life!

Quick and easy weeknight meals & fancy favorites for entertaining

Really not what I was expecting, and not nearly as interesting as I hoped. It's a detailed but rather scattered (the same stories and facts told a couple times, in different chapters) memoir, with at least one recipe per chapter. I'm not really interested in the memoir - it sounds like the family stories we tell (The time my brother got hung in a tree. The time I was working as a cook for a rich lady), and is about as interesting to someone who wasn't involved. It might be better if I'd ever read anything by her before - if she was a person to me. Several of the recipes sound interesting, though it's going to be a pain to get to them - I have a PDF version of the book, which means scrolling through or at best searching to find the recipes I want. Actually, aside from the recipes, the part I found most interesting was the chapter about her cookbooks, how she started and continued with them - I admit it, I'm even more of a book nerd than a cooking nerd. I was a little frustrated, actually - in several chapters, she mentions four or five recipes and the one that is actually there is not the one (or ones) I wanted to make. I was amused that I have one of her recipes - from a Pillsbury Bake-off - and their version is quite different from the one in Homemade. I received a copy of the book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in return for a review.

What a thoroughly enjoyable book. Beatrice Ojakangas is a Minnesota author of Finnish descent. She is also the author of 29 cookbooks. This, her latest project, is an autobiographical memoir. She covers, in great detail, her upbringing in Northern Minnesota, the beginnings of her career as a chef/cookbook author, the raising of her family, and her current roles as a wife/mother/celebrity. Ojakangas has a remarkable gift in her ability to tell a story, she makes you feel like you were next to her in the kitchen. Her memory of the details of her childhood is amazing. And her humor is contagious! As I noted in an update of my reading status, I was reading this on a cross-country airline trip, and the people seated next to me were concerned because I kept bursting out laughing and snorting. Great book, highly recommend it!

This book is a compilation of soup and bread recipes paired up as simple meals. The book is divided up by the seasons: Springtime, Summertime, Autumn and Winter.

The book begins with the basics: Stocks, broths and "basic breads". Various tips for making broths, and tips for bread. It covers various seasonings and toppings for bread, how the different additions affect the bread flavor and consistency. Then it provides basic recipes for Fresh Baguette, A Basic Vegetable Soup, and Basic Home-Bakes Bread. This is the basis for what the rest of the book builds on.

Spring brings pairings like Spicy Mango Melon Soup & Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Summer presents Lemon, Corn and Shrimp Broth & Asian-Style Flatbread. Enjoy Yam and Sweet Onion Soup & Buttermilk Corn Muffins in the Autumn, and snuggle under a blanket in Winter with some Onion Barley Soup with Mushrooms & Honey Bran Muffins.

My final word: I love the idea of this book. I'm a big fan of soup and bread for dinner or lunch! There is a great variety of soups and breads to be found, and the book abounds with beautiful color photos. I also love the way that it is divided by seasons. That makes it so simple to pick something for dinner!

I love to make soup, usually without using a recipe...just throw some stuff in a pot and call it good and then there is the bread, I have a bread machine and I use it constantly. I can not tolerate eating regular bread from the store so I am always on the lookout for a great bread recipe. It doesn't matter if it is for a bread machine or not, I can usually just use the ingredient list and modify it for the machine.

This awesome cookbook has wonderful pictures, easy to follow recipes and is separated into five sections, the basics which include tips on how to make stocks, broths and basic breads, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. There are also recipes on sandwiches, pretzels and bread sticks.. a recipe that will appeal to everyone.

As I was looking through this cookbook, I found a lot of great sounding recipes for bread and soup that I will definitely be making, with fall on its way I think that this book will be used a lot.

The cookbook that makes you go “Awww”

Who knew baking could be so cute? But every time one of my co-workers sees this cookbook on my desk, they say, “Awww.” Then, they flip through the pictures and say, “Yum!” And then they fling it away and say that it’s making them hungry, LOL.

So, basically, this is book full of recipes of adorable, miniature desserts. The idea behind mini-desserts is that you can eat a smaller portion because it’s healthier, because you don’t want any more than just a little somethin’, or because you want to sample lots of mini-desserts. These are all good thoughts in my book! And on top of that, the presentations of these charming sweets, thanks to lots of wonderful photos, is inspiring enough to make me want to whip up a few of everything in the book.

Petite Sweets contains chapters on Basics; Little Cakes; Petite Pies and Tarts; Fruit and Berry Desserts; Mousses and Chilled Desserts; Creams, Custards, and Frozen Desserts; and Pastries and Sweets. I think you’ll agree that that pretty much covers the sugary territory. Most of the recipes are fairly simple—in some cases a little more basic than I might have chosen, but the author, Beatrice Ojakangas, offers useful advice on how to adapt other favorite recipes for miniature versions. And some of her shortcuts are just plain clever, such as using a whole vanilla wafer as the base of a miniature cheesecake.

A lot of the recipes call for specialized mini baking dishes, but there are helpful substitutions like to use mini muffin tins with foil cupcake liners for those of us who don’t yet own 24 miniature baking ramekins. And who are you kidding? You know you’ll be prowling Williams-Sonoma waiting for a variety of mini pans and dishes to go on sale. How can you resist, when the results are so darn cute and scrumptious? Soon you too will be turning Coconut Rum Butter Cakes out of the mini Bundt cake pans. And you’ll be filling up that old shot glass collection with Chocolate Espresso Mousse. And you’ll be collecting vintage parfait glasses to hold your Vanilla Banana Cream Pies.

Have I not tempted you yet? Can you resist the Miniature Bread Puddings, the Whoopie Pies, the Angel Cakes with Lemon Sauce, the Mini Chocolate Soufflés, the Strawberry Bruschetta, the Fresh Ginger Carrot Cakelets, the Greek-Style Honey-Nut Pastries, the Blueberry Cobblerettes, the Crispy Cream Puffs, the Mango Mousse, the Chocolate Truffle Tarts…? As you can see, the list goes on and on. Resistance is futile. Get to baking!½

In Petite Sweets Ojakanga shows us how to make miniature versions of some of the most decadent and sinful desserts and sweets around. From planning the dessert menu and equipment basics to tips on ingredients it’s all covered with large full color photos.

Cooking and baking have always been hit or miss with me. I love to do it but even if I follow the recipe exactly I don’t always get the best results. Some of my more memorable dishes have been my Lemon Meringue Soup when trying to make my favorite pie and most recently when following my grandma’s light and fluffy gordita recipe I ended up with what my husband called “biscuits with meat”. LOL My son even nicknamed me “burner girl” because he was always scraping the burnt parts off his favorite grilled cheese sandwiches.

Petite Sweets has plenty of easy to follow recipes and for my review I tried the Mini Cream Puffs. There were just a few basic ingredients and I filled mine with vanilla pudding so in no time flat I had a tiny version of one of my favorite treats with almost no mess to clean up afterwards. My cream puffs were light, fluffy, golden brown and perfectly flaky and I actually surprised myself at how good they tasted.

One major plus is that since I’ve been dieting I’ve cut all sweets and goodies out of my diet. With Petite Sweets I was able to satisfy my sweet tooth without all the guilt that I would have had with the full size version.

In each of the categories below there are many more great recipes that have caught my eye and next up for me will be the Fresh Lime Pies made in mini muffin tins which will be just big enough to satisfy my craving while still being good.

Petite Sweets Categories
* Little Cakes
* Petite Pies and Tarts
* Fruit and Berry Desserts
* Mouses and Chilled Desserts
* Creams, Custards and Frozen Desserts
* Pastries and Sweets

Any of the sweet treats found in the book would be the hit of your party and your friends will all think you’re a master pastry chef. I highly recommend Petite Sweets for bakers of any skill level because as my family knows I’m not the best cook and my Mini Cream Puffs were a little bit of heaven.

A great baking book. Covers nearly every holiday celebrated in the US, with an emphasis on what would be celebrated by someone of a Scandinavian background, working chronologically from St. Patrick's Day through President's Day. Includes baked goods both sweet and savory, and every single recipe tested has been a winner.

Trust a Minnesotan to put together this fine compendium of hotdishes! Ojakangas expands the idea of casseroles to include everything from appetizers to desserts, with special sections for kid-friendly and vegetarian casseroles. I'm tempted to cook my way through it.