Book Review: The Homemade Kitchen by Alana Chernila

I discovered Alana Chernila after her first cookbook came out. I followed her blog and put her cookbook on my Amazon wishlist but I'd never actually published it so I was thrilled when I got a chance to own her second cookbook.

Alana's cookbook is a beautiful and inspiring cookbook. Thus far, I have made the following recipes out of The Homemade Kitchen. I've listed the recipe's title and my thoughts about the recipe:

• Chicken Potpie: This was absolutely delicious. In the past, I've tried potpie recipes that were good but not as flavorful as this one. This one was very flavorful. It is topped with biscuits which helped to balance out the herbs.  I want to try the winter variation featuring squash instead of the green peas.

• Apple Pecan Muffins: I loved these! I hate it when muffins are as sweet as cake and these were definitely not sweet. They made for the perfect breakfast. However, they only baked for about 27 minutes as opposed to the 40-50 minutes called for.

• Burritos: I tried the beef variation. I thought it was tasty but wished it has more flavor. I felt it was lacking in the seasoning for the beans, beef and rice.

• Pear Gingerbread: I crave gingerbread and this really hit the spot.

• Spicy Pumpkin Hot Chocolate: I really wanted to love this but I thought the pumpkin taste was overwhelming and I couldn't taste the chocolate at all.

My overall opinion is that I love how Alana teaches you her recipe and then tells you how to customize based on your preferences. I have  a list of other recipes I'd like to try including kimchi tata, pork tacos, honey wheat bread, her cheese recipes and garden pie. However, after the time issue with the muffins and the lack of seasoning I'm a little on the cautious side. If I could make any changes to the book, I would have each recipe list the prep and cook time at the top of the recipe. 

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.