Maggie's Christmas by Maggie Beer

My rating: 4 of 5 spoons

gggg

This is my second cookbook by Maggie Beer, and I've fallen in love with her books. They can be interesting to cook from as she's in Australia and I'm in the US. There are ingredients that can be quite hard to find or flat out impossible where I live. There's also the seasonal issue--I'm reviewing her Christmas book in the winter, but over there it's high summer. That makes some of the recipes a little trickier as well if you're looking for fresh, seasonal ingredients, but I still love her books. I love the fact that the recipes typically serve more people--anywhere from 6-12. There are six people in my family and it gets old when I have to constantly double or even triple recipes just to make enough to feed my family.

The book is divided up into sections that vary from Crabbing at Port Parham (I'm jealous!), chapters covering various Christmas meals or events, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and Food for the Beach House. I drooled over all the lovely fish dishes, but most are either fish we can't get where I live, or are definitely not in season right now. That's okay. I'm hanging on to this book for more cooking later.

I love all the fresh dishes in here. Just because it's Christmas doesn't mean it has to be all heavy foods. I made the Fattoush for my family and they loved it even without having garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. I'll have to make it again when my garden starts producing.

I definitely will be cooking more from this book as the years moves more to our summer time, but I didn't want to wait to get this review out let others know about this delightful book. From delectable recipes, fun menus and photos that make you want to reach in and sample the food shown, it will be a great addition to anyone's collection.

I received a copy of this book from Trafalgar Square Publishing through Independent Publishing Group for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.