Pull Up a Chair

May 7, 2018
Thiessen, host of the Cooking Channel’s Dinner at Tiffani’s and television actress (Saved by the Bell) presents 125 unfussy recipes designed for casual entertaining in this motivating debut. Reassuring cooks that hosting can be stress-free, Thiessen offers “delicious, relatable food that any one cook could make” for gatherings of friends. Breakfasts feature quick breads, jams, healthy granola and yogurts, and an over-the-top French toast that’s stuffed with banana and peanut butter and topped with a Nutella drizzle. Midday dishes include nourishing grain bowls; a crusty baguette with fig, prosciutto, and mozzarella; and avocados filled with crab salad. Dinners are hearty family classics such as chicken pot pie and mac ’n’ cheese, as well as a Cowboy Poutine, her take on the Montreal cheese-curd dish here made with pulled pork and baked beans. For a sweet finish, Thiessen includes her mother’s cream cheese pie, as well as key lime bars. Plan-ahead tips and tools are provided: checklists, shortcuts, grocery lists, and ideas for decor; recommended menus (many kid-friendly) include Mexicali fiesta, pizza party, backyard campout, or ideas for cocktail hours, and luncheons (creamy corn soup, lobster BLT, cherry galette, and a hibiscus spritzer). Thiessen’s simple recipes and presentation truly inspire meals to reconnect and celebrate with friends and family.

October 15, 2018

Now hosting her own cooking show, Dinner at Tiffani's, actress Thiessen (Saved by the Bell) shares her trusted recipes in this new cookbook showcasing many useful ideas accented by family photos and brief anecdotes. Thiessen presents recipes for all three meals plus dessert, party snacks, and drinks. Among the highlights are chocolate chip-brown butter banana bread and cherry & maple granola (breakfast), tuna sticky rice bowl and cucumber gazpacho with watermelon and mint (lunch), and spring pea & pancetta carbonara and cowboy poutine (dinner). "Tipples and party nibbles" feature pimento cheese, antipasti platter, and homemade cherry soda. Cocktails include Meyer lemon & thyme whiskey sours and blueberry mojitos. For dessert, there's Mom's cream cheese pie and cherry galette with vanilla whipped cream. VERDICT Thiessen offers accessible recipes aimed at creating a relaxed atmosphere in the kitchen. Busy families will be glad to have this resource.--Barbara Kundanis, Longmont P.L., CO

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2018
Thiessen sticks to the tried-and-true celebrity-cookbook approach (see recent offerings by Reese Witherspoon and Patricia Heaton): Take one celeb who likes to cook and is reasonably skilled in the kitchen. For more credibility, add a cable food show hosted by the actor/celebrity (the Cooking Channel's Dinner at Tiffani's, in this case). Finally, pull together a cornucopia of dishes that should fit with America's culinary tastes?familiar, with a bit of surprise here and there. Thiessen's 125 recipes with color photographs are an easy antidote, as professed, to no-time-to-cook syndrome. She favors no specific cuisines, and ingredients tend to mirror what's fashionable today, such as broccoli rabe and the soon-to-be downgraded kale. What's more unusual are her substitutions and additions to favorite dishes: mashed potatoes become richer with sour cream and cream cheese. A caprese salad is differentiated by nectarines and burrata. And pizza from scratch takes on new flavors with a grilled crust (and step-by-step directions). Despite the emphasis on time saving, no time estimates are included.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)