Janet and Greta Podleski: The Looneyspoons Collections Cookbook review

By Orshi:

I love to cook and I don’t like to run out of creative ideas, but it happens once in a while and then I have to be rescued from the black hole of blankness when it comes to dinner ideas. Two sisters, Janet and Greta Podleski’s cookbook, the Looneyspoons Collection, is a perfectly funny, absolutely beautiful, and satisfyingly informational piece of literature that should never leave your kitchen counter because it just simply inspires to cook. Okay, I think there is no point of me circling around the fact that I love this book. These two women’s writing style, cooking taste, health consciousness and funniness is right up my alley. I received this book months ago and it is still sitting on my counter not only as a source of creative cooking ideas but as a casual read as well.

Greta and Janet have been cooking it up for a while and the Looneyspoons Collection contains better than ever mouthwatering dishes from them. These two ladies’ passion is to inspire people to cook, to actually purchase amazing ingredients and spend time in their kitchen and make delicious dishes that are wholesome and healthy. Now, this book does not only nourish your body, but it is so good for the soul too. Each page looks like this: with a silly title, funny cartoon, a delicious receipt with nutritional values, a ‘please-make-because-I-look-so-scrumptious’ picture, an inspiring or enlightening quote from someone random, and some tidbits of other information that will truly encourage you to think twice about what you put front of your family. For me, visual aspects are everything in a cookbook: I have to see a dish to want to make it, seeing just words are not inspiring. The Looneyspoons Collection is a joy to open with all the beautiful pictures and colors, funny cartoons and simple directions. If you are a person planning to make changes in your cooking style, or you want to learn new skill, this book will definitely not scare you off.

I want to think of myself as a health conscious cook and baker and I often find myself substituting, mixing, replacing and generally not following receipts to make each dish just a bit healthier. The Looneyspoons Collection does this for me. You mean I don’t need to calculate how much of the flour should I replace with wheat germ? To use white rice instead of brown, to cook whole-wheat pasta? Oh, I like that. Conventional dishes – the way your mother and grandmother made them – are still here, with a major healthy makeover that your waistline will be oh-so-grateful for. The ingredients are not fancy or expensive (I personally don’t even bother making a dish if I need more than two special ingredients that I don’t usually have at home) and the book will encourage you to really start reading labels to avoid harmful items that may have been a staple in your kitchen. I have cooked several dishes out of this book like the ‘Not Humdrumsticks’ ‘Pasta Point of No Return’ ‘Worth Every Penne’, FULLafel Patties’, ‘Better-Be-Good-To-Me Pancakes’, ‘Morning Glorious Muffins’ and the list goes on (and I think you get the humor from these titles too). Every one of them were super easy to make and even easier to eat. Seeing my family devour these new and delicious dishes is a simple joy to a Mom.

Check out the Looneyspoons website at www.janetandgreta.com to get a taste of the Podleski sisters cooking and humor, watch them in action and enjoy their blog. The Looneyspoons Collection is available on Amazon and Costco for $35 – great deal for about 2 ½ pounds worth of amazing receipts.