Note: Changeling press, the publisher of this cookbook, is an erotic romance publisher. This book is suitable for all ages, but visiting the website may confront the reader with erotic images and some sexual content. If you have objections to this, please do not continue reading.

First of all, let me say this. I agreed to write this review for two reasons.

1. Because I know several people who write for this publisher. (No, ladies and gentlemen, I do not write for them under some strange pen name, nor do I read their works. I’m just a blogger. But my friends are dear to me, and they asked me to, so…)
2. Because all proceeds of this book go to the Save The Quiet Kitty, a fund set up to assist uninsured authors with medical needs. It’s a good cause and I support it.

Just to clarify, this is an unbiased review. I have not and will not be compensated for this.

OK, that’s out of the way. So here we go!

The Changeling Family Cookbook

I’ve read a lot of cookbooks over the years. It’s kind of a weekend hobby actually. I curl up on the sofa and flip through pages of recipes looking for inspiration, ideas and photo layout concepts, picking out the good bits from the generic cookbook “must haves”. On most occasions I walk away with a bit of knowledge I did not have before, on some occasions I walk away with a feeling of loss because the book presented me with absolutely nothing new, on still other occasions I have to run to the kitchen to dive into a recipe that simply “must be made… Right Now!” This particular cookbook evoked a different reaction.

The recipes are an eclectic mix to say the least. They were gathered from authors from all over the globe and some are, to the American palate anyway, quite exotic. Many of the recipes have that “Semi-Homemade” feel to them, but there are a few gems to be found, especially in the Appetizers section. “Anne Jacobs’ Neighbor’s Chicken liver Pate” definitely isn’t something I’d considered before, but the recipe actually looks fairly tasty. for me the Jury is out on “Alexis Fleming’s Stuffed Chicken Wings”, which are stuffed with whitefish flavored with soy and sesame oil. (I can’t wrap my head around this concept. At. All.)

There are good recipes for Avocado Salsa and one of the best Beer batter recipes I’ve ever seen. A great Tamale Pie recipe is hidden in the Beef section, and an incredible sounding simple lemon chicken
recipe is hiding amongst the other finds under Chicken. I’m sure that there are a few recipes in this publication that even the most staunch foodie-purist could enjoy, or at least use as the base for something incredible.

The downside here is that this book just isn’t laid out like a cookbook. There is not one single image of food, and while photos are not absolutely necessary, I found that on at least several of the recipes I could have used one to tell me what in the world this was going to look like when it was done. If I can’t get a mental image of a dish, I will probably never bother to make it.

The second issue is that the recipes are formatted in the same manner as a print novel. Recipes are broken at page breaks, several recipes are printed on the same page and in some cases only a recipes title appears before the break. This is frustrating to say the least.

I think that with some attention to detail this book could have been great. Unfortunately the lack of forethought into the design and layout of the actual product left me feeling lost and frustrated even though there are some really solid recipes and recipe ideas to be found here.

If you can handle these issues, run out and grab yourself a copy, it’s for a great cause. Personally I think that they should get themselves a really good food blogger to redesign the entire issue and re-release it with a more traditional cookbook layout.

But that’s just my opinion.

You can get the book directly from the Changeling Press Website.