by: Tieghan Gerard

“My purpose in creating Half Baked Harvest has always been to help readers get into the kitchen and create tasty, healthy(ish) recipes any day of the week. This cookbook is another tool for you to do just that,” Tieghan Gerard.

I love that Half Baked Harvest Super Simple gives you so many options for meals. The wide variety of meals can be cooked in the oven, slow cooker or pressure cooker. For many recipes you will get more than one way to make a meal. The recipes are very straight forward and the ingredients easy to find.

Mushroom "Cheese-Steaks"

I love a good cheesesteak and was excited to find this meatless option. The recipe had instructions to cook it in the slow cooker, pressure cooker or stovetop. I couldn’t find fresh oregano so I just skipped it and didn’t miss it at all. I used hoagie rolls as the recipe said and the bottom of the roll got really soggy. Next time I make it I am going to try French bread instead.

The recipe was very easy to put together and tasted great. I didn’t even miss the meat. This recipe is going to be added to my regular meals that I make. Can’t wait to eat it again.

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

A few years ago I cooked spaghetti squash for the first time. I had no idea how easy it was to cook. (It was a chicken enchilada spaghetti squash recipe.)

The recipe calls for fresh ground nutmeg and we didn’t have any nutmeg. (As you know some spices are very expensive.) Next time you are in the grocery store walk down the international aisle and look for Badia spices. I paid $.59 for a .5oz bag of whole nutmeg vs. $10.99 for the 1.5oz jar of whole nutmeg. I have found buying the Badia spices to be a great way to have a spice in your cabinet that you don’t use often as you can find them in smaller packages.

The instructions for this recipe included slow cooker and pressure cooker directions. I used the slow cooker. The recipe didn’t take a long time to start and then cooked nicely on it’s own for three hours. After you remove the squash it is fifteen minutes until dinner is ready to serve.

I really liked the flavor the spices brought to the dish and it was filling without any meat.

I love this cookbook. The recipes are well written and very easy to follow. Half Baked Harvest Super Simple is a cookbook I plan to use often. I have so many more recipes I want to try including browned-butter scallops and blackout chocolate cake.