thecandlelightlibrary's Reviews (1.25k)

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Grow More Food: A Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Getting the Biggest Harvest Possible from a Space of Any Size is an in-depth guide to evaluating your current garden with the goal of improving efficiency and maximizing your harvests going forward (whether that’s through extending your growing season, implementing succession planting, or fixing mistakes you didn’t know you were making). 

 

Basically, getting the most out of your garden comes down to improving your knowledge, planning beforehand, adapting as you go, and keeping organized records. Whether your goal is to be more efficient with your time and resources, expand your harvest size, supplement your income, or something else entirely, this book will help you with exactly that. 

 

I’ve gardened consistently throughout my life, but this is my third year of a maintaining a large home garden. Every year’s garden is a process of trial-and-error and trying new things, and gardening resources such as Grow More Food definitely help minimize the ‘error’ side of ‘trial-and-error’. I found a lot of helpful information within these pages and enjoyed the walk-throughs of the authors’ experiences (like how to interpret a soil test and make soil amendments based on it). 

 

I also appreciated how the authors didn’t assume the reader knows everything and still covered the basics. Some information was new to me, and other information was a good reminder. For instance, I found the “duration of irrigation” section extremely helpful! I currently have to hand water my garden (something the book mentions several times as really not a good use of time or resources with a garden of my size), but a permanent irrigation system is on our list soon. 

 

Like every gardening resource this book can’t cover everything, but there are a lot of other resources and further reading included. And, you can always use a topic as a starting point for further research. My only complaint with this book is the lack of information on hobby greenhouses: many of the examples are set in urban settings that don’t have space for the large high tunnels and nursery-size greenhouses that are discussed in some of the sections. 

 

Overall, this is an incredible resource: there’s an absolute wealth of information within these pages and so many helpful charts and worksheets (after publication the worksheets and charts included in this book will also be available in a digital format on their website, which is fantastic). I keep a pretty detailed garden spreadsheet, but even I found quite a bit of new information to add and new ways to organize the information I track. 

 

Thank you again to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. 

 

Great Book of Grilled Cheese is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a book of grilled cheese recipes (as long as you count a “grilled cheese” as a sandwich served warm with melted cheese in it, which I do). It includes recipes from the classic Ultimate Grilled Cheese to the decadent Loaded Lobster Grilled Cheese, but also includes recipes for sides, sauces, fillings, and other extras that go with each sandwich. From the version I received, each recipe includes a photo, a brief note on the recipe, ingredients and quantities, directions, and a recipe for a side dish. Most recipes also include extra recipes for sauces or fillings; the exceptions being the section with recipes from chef friends, which didn’t include side dishes, and the last chapter, which centered just on desserts. 

 

Of the 47 grilled cheese recipes in this cookbook, I’ve tried a selection of five so far. I made each sandwich and shared it with the other three members of my family for a ‘grilled cheese tasting night’ and our combined thoughts are shared below. A few notes on the recipes: we used day-old homemade bread, a griddle to cook everything, and went light on the butter (adding a bit to the grill instead of coating each bread piece). The recipes we tried were: 

There is no nutritional information included within this cookbook, but I highly doubt I would want to know it anyways: this isn’t really the type of cookbook you would be reading if you are tracking your health. Beyond the recipes, I enjoyed the color-coded symbols in the recipe guide and the addition of grilled cheese sandwiches from some of the author’s chef friends. Their creativity was more what I was expecting the rest of the book to be, but there are still plenty of flavor combinations I’m looking forward to trying.

I do think a few things could improve this cookbook, however. First, while this cookbook does cover tips on equipment, bread, browning agent, and a handful of types of cheese, it would have been nice to have a dedicated section with tips for designing your own grilled cheese from scratch. Second, the “Local/Regional Flavors” chapter is just for the Knoxville, Tennessee, area - which is great, except I was somehow under the impression it would showcase grilled cheese combinations from all over the U.S. Finally - and this is completely a personal preference - there are a couple of recipes throughout this book that feature banana. While I’m sure it deserves a following and has a time and a place, it’s one flavor I absolutely cannot stand.

Overall, though, this is a great cookbook if you like melted cheese and are looking to expand your sandwich flavor combinations. Thank you again to NetGalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

Still can't wait to read this book, but having trouble picking it up this month.

I was really looking forward to this book but the beginning just didn't work for me.

The story was engaging and the world was believable for me. While at no point did I want to *stop* reading, parts definitely read like male self-insertions and both male main characters have an insta-love/obsession with the women they fixate on, which I found more creepy than anything. I might give this series one more book to see the direction it takes.