Our 150 Best Dips & Salsas Cookbook Review
Did the title of the book catch your eye, like it did mine? I love to dip food and loving Mexican food, I am always experimenting with new salsas. And of course, what kids don’t like to dip? 150 Best Dips & Salsas by Judith Finlayson and Jordan Wagman did it right with this book.
When Robert Rose Publishing offered me a complimentary copy for the purposes of a review, I immediately said yes. I knew it would help inspire me to try even more new dips & salsa recipes and I wasn’t disappointed. The book is like many others by the same publisher: clean, easy to read, one recipe per page, and categorized in a way that recipes are easy to find.
The book offers recipes of so many types, you will have a hard time choosing which one to make first. Vegetable, dairy, fish, seafood and meat dips and spreads are the first 84 pages. The book then offers savory and fruit salsas, bean dips, spreads and salsas, and even desserts. Not sure what to serve with any of them? No worries, the book even offers up recipes for chips, crostini, flatbreads and other dippers. For a mom like me that has to make a healthy school lunch every day, this is perfect!
For each category, there is an independent contents page. Every recipe has a brief description, with a clear idea of how much the recipe will make, and a tip section on how to maximize flavor and success for the dish. For example, the first recipe I made was the Roasted Corn Salsa. Doesn’t that alone sound delicious? I was hungry when I was going through the book and the roasted corn stood out, as I’d been planning to make vegetarian tacos for dinner already, and what better of an addition to a taco but roasted corn salsa? The tip given for it is how to best roast the corn. (I have to admit that I had to adapt it; I made the salsa on a day where it was 108 here and there was no way I was going to be outside by the barbecue. Instead, I used <gasp> a can of corn kernels and roasted them in a cast iron pan. The house smelled so good and we were even given the opportunity to see how easily a kernel of corn will POP by mistake.
Some of the salsa ingredients
The finished product: roasted corn salsa. I loved the bright colors!
Sweet, spicy, vegetarian – whatever you’re looking for, it’s in here. I now have an arsenal of cool dips and dippers to include in the school lunch or for me to have during my work-day lunch. It fits with our healthy approach to eating yet is totally delicious. I have so many things I want to try and with the tips, there are ways to change them up, in effect giving you more than 150 recipes. I found quite a few that I could add jalapenos to, though not for flavor as they all look packed with taste. I just have a preference for spicy and it’s good to know I can easily make mine a bit hotter should I feel like it.
Next up, I’ll be making the yogurt flatbreads. Perfect for so many things, and so easy! We’re going to be the hit of the next party we take food to! 😉
