Review: The Loving Kitchen: Downright Delicious Southern Recipes to Share with Family, Friends, and Neighbors by LeAnn Rice

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (May 20, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401605265
• ISBN-13: 978-1401605261

Book Description

The Loving Kitchen is a collection of comforting recipes straight from the kitchen of popular food blogger LeAnn Rice.

You know the feeling you get when you’re an overnight guest in someone’s home, and you awaken to a hot-off-the-griddle breakfast? Or when a coworker brings in a pan of her famous brownies to celebrate your recent promotion? Doesn’t it feel great when dinner at the neighbors’ house includes multiple courses of scratch-made recipes and conversation that lingers beyond dessert and that last cup of coffee?

For many of us, these are the moments in which we feel most loved. That’s the idea behind The Loving Kitchen. Get your family’s day started right with LeAnn’s fluffy Pumpkin Spice Pancakes, or a bowl of Almond Coconut Granola and yogurt. Keep your favorite sports fans fueled through the entire game with hearty servings of Hot Sausage and Spinach Dip, or toss together a Grilled Chicken and Berry Salad for lunch with your dearest girlfriends.

Want a signature dinner you can serve on those special occasions? Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Orange Cranberry Glaze with Creamy Smashed Baby Potatoes is the perfect meal to celebrate a milestone. LeAnn’s sunny narrative and ideas for bringing people together will remind you that the best meal you’ll ever cook is the one you prepare as an act of love.

About the Author

 LeAnn Rice is an approachable voice of wisdom in hospitality. Her heart is in welcoming the neighbor, nurturing the family, and feeding the community. She reaches tens of thousands through her popular food blog, www.LeAnnCooks.org, a site she developed as an outreach tool. 

My Review


I am reviewing the digital copy of this cookbook.  While I enjoy physical copies of cookbooks, I am becoming quite proficient at utilizing cookbooks on my iPad. The Loving Kitchen is very easy to use on my iPad.

This is a wonderful addition to my cookbook collection. I love southern cooking and this cookbook contains many recipes that I know I will refer to again and again. The cookbook consists of seven chapters of recipes:

•  Morning Fare
• Bountiful Breads
• Starters and Salads
• Soups and Sandwiches
• Entrees
• Vegetables and Sides
• Desserts

 It also has two sections at the end, Reaching Out and Gathering In, that are very helpful in suggesting ways to reach out to people.  The Reaching Out chapter begins with one of my favorite quotes by Mark Twain:  "Twenty years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did." A good reminder to reach out to those who need help...the ones who need it the most are not going to ask.

Just in the first chapter alone I found two recipes I am going to try soon:  Roasted Breakfast Potatoes and Bacon and Sugared Bacon. It has some great chicken recipes: Crispy Southern Fried Chicken, Crunchy Herbed Chicken and Chicken Marsala. There are a multitude of desserts to try as well...Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie and Key Lime Pie to name a few.

I highly recommend this cookbook. It is well laid out and has lots of photos illustrating the recipes. Very impressed and this will be one of my go to cookbooks.