ATK does DIY (and you can too!)

ByKristen
622 Comments

This giveaway is now closed-congrats to Jody, the winner of the cookbook!

You guys know of my undying affection for Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen, right? And you know how I'm always excited to do a cookbook giveaway from CI or ATK too.

But my excitement over this DIY cookbook is even greater than usual.

I really, really love it.

It might not be as practical as the ATK Quick Family Cookbook I gave away recently, but it is just so much fun!

The DIY cookbook is filled to the brim with recipes for making things from scratch. And I'm not just talking things like grape jelly. Noooo...this cookbook covers home-brewing, meat curing, cheesemaking, and it even shows you how to make copycat version of things like Ritz crackers and Thin Mint cookies.

Oooh, and this is the cookbook where I found the fabulous no-stir granola recipe that I shared with you before (if you like clusters of granola, this is the recipe for you!)

So.

The DIY cookbook has fun and unusual recipes, aaand there are tons of full-color photos. Each recipe has a text intro, followed with step-by-step photos and instructions...kind of like a blog post, actually.

The tone of the writing is unstuffy, and relaxed. For instance, one recipe instructs you not to "futz about" with scraping the bowl clean. And there's a nice conversational tone about the directions, which tell you more than traditional cookbooks do, (like, "You'll think you should stop beating at this point, but keep on going until the full 10 minutes are up.") I find that to be so helpful.

Thus far, I've made the No-Stir Granola about a zillion times, and I also tried the granola bar recipe, which was really tasty.

And I made marshmallows too.

I want to make the beef jerky. And the Ritz Crackers. And the ricotta cheese. And the Neufchatel cheese.

Seriously. I want to make so much stuff from this book.

(Although I must say that some of the cured meat recipes are going to remain untried here at Chez Frugal Girl.)

(The liver mousse recipe might be one of those.)

(Just saying.)

Anyway. Since you all are a frugal crowd, and since most frugal people like to make things from scratch, I think that you guys would really love this cookbook.

And one of you won't need to buy a copy, because I'm giving one away!

___________________________________

To enter, leave a comment telling me about the most adventurous thing you've ever tried to make from scratch.

(If you're not an adventurous cook, you can just tell me you want the book!)

One entry per person, please.

Apologies to my dear international readers, but this giveaway is limited to the continental U.S. only.

I'll use random.org to choose a winner after midnight EST, Friday, November 9th.

Disclosure: ATK sent me a free copy of this cookbook, but I was not compensated in any other way. And my deep affection for CI and ATK is 100% genuine.

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622 Comments

  2. I would love this cookbook! That Maple Cream in those pictures looks delish. How did the marshmallows turn out?

  3. My husband and I just made homemade mincemeat. I don't know if it's the most adventurous thing we've attempted, but it involved the meat grinder, which I think of as an adventurous tool!

  4. Our family has tries to make as much as we can at home, homemade jerky is probably our most adventurous. I NEED to make marshmallows though!

  5. I have made my own summer sausage and canned venison, chicken and beef.
    Would love, love, love this cookbook.

  7. I would LOVE this cookbook! I think about making adventurous things often, but I always seem to convince myself it'd be easier to just go the traditional route. Maybe this cookbook will help!

  9. I think canning chicken and beef was above what I normally do. It is great to have on hand. Making my own noddles to go with the canned meat. Love to try new things. Would really like this cookbook!

  10. I would love to have the book! And probably the most adventurous thing I ever made was and has been trying to replicate my husband's mother's fried sweet potato dish. Unsuccessfully.

  11. I have not been cooking that long so cinnamon rolls for me! I know that's probably not very exciting to most but it was to me. My husband love them too 🙂

  13. We watch America's Test Kitchen on PBS and enjoy it. I'm not sure how adventurous this is, but it is time consuming...homemade relish where all of the vegetables had to be ground by hand. This was close to 30 years ago. I didn't have a food processor, but I did have an old grinder that you screw to a table top or a cutting board and grind the food with a crank handle. It worked well and I gave it to our son for Christmas last year. Our daughters made a made-from-scratch angel food cake for my 50th birthday a couple of years ago, and homemade whole wheat/oatmeal bread. I thought that was adventurous! Esp. the cake, I've made the bread numerous times.

  14. I can't think of anything adventurous, does pinning a bunch of sausage and DIY cheese recipes count 😉

    I would love this book!

  15. I have made puff pastry dough from scratch.....lots of butter, fold, roll, repeat. It was delicious though ! I am a big ATK fan too....love their books and magazines . Thanks !

  16. Bread. I'm just not good at it, but I'd like to keep trying. And maybe there is a great and easy recipe in this book.

  17. What a neat book! My most memorable elaborate dish was the eclairs I made when I was a teenager. I spent an entire Saturday making the pastry, filling and chocolate topping from scratch. Our short dog then - somehow - jumped up and licked and/or nibbled every. single. one. Let's just say I wasn't amused.

  18. I routinely make yogurt from scratch, but I've also made cheese, granola, bread, sour dough starter, granola bars, indian food, and chicarones from scratch. I'd love to learn how to make more things. Thanks for the give-away!

  19. My most adventurous recipe happened just a few weeks ago. My grandmother always had Pumpkin Chiffon pie when we went to her house at Thanksgiving time, and I was always told by my mother that it was far too complicated to try to recreate without grandma's assistance. I saw grandma a month or so ago and she encouraged me to try it (I had the recipe!) so I did! It was a huge success and I don't think I could ever have any other pumpkin pie again!

  20. I once tried to make gluten free/dairy free ice cream sandwich cookies. The cookies turned out great, but not the icing in between. Better luck next time!

  21. Bul-g0-gi ------ a korean meat. I've practiced many times and I've finally got it down. It goes over so good that I serve it a lot to company because it's so origianl here in the States and unique. I too love ATK and CI and would love a copy of this book.

    1. We love bulgogi! My husband makes it from time to time, and he sometimes stuff it into balls of dough to bake like meat buns. Yum!

  23. I recently tried cooking with kohlrabi because it was in season. That's about as adventurous as I get. :O)

  24. It may not seem adventurous since you do it all the time, but making yogurt and yogurt cheese is my most adventurous. I would love to book to try something more fun!

  26. It might not have been very adventurous, but I did attempt once to make molasses cookies. The texture of the dough, followed by the horrible taste, led me to rename them poop cookies. :/

    That book looks amazing!!! Love ATK and everything they touch. Thanks for the giveaway!

  27. Ha ha ha....my daughter was vegan one year during Easter so I tried making vegan Peeps. They tasted just fine, if you could just ignore the fact that they were giant gooey sweet blobs rather than anything resembling a chick. I think she appreciated the effort though.

  28. The most adventurous thing I have made is sausage. I know not very adventurous but maybe with this book I can branch out.

  29. I've never really thought about cooking as being adventurous. I do love to cook from scratch though so maybe I should start thinking of it as adventures. I have made marshmallows. Those were a hit. Especially the raspberry ones. Yum!

  30. I grew up canning, butchering venison, curing jerky, etc. I'd love to learn to make some cheeses at home.

  31. I've made butter a few times when I've overbought cream, and I have a jar of homemade vanilla extract in the cupboard.

  32. Pierogies!!! They are an incredibly time consuming project, but taste so much better from scratch!

  33. The most adventurous thing? I suppose that would be the homemade ginger beer I tried to make this summer. It did NOT turn out well.

  34. Yogurt, bread, jerky, and lately trying to make the perfect pie crust. Who knew that would give me the most trouble! Thanks for the chance for this awesome looking cookbook!

  35. Yeast breads are my current most adventurous dishes - I don't think I've quite got the hang of them but I'm not giving up yet!

  36. My most adventurous was Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon. It used every pot and pan I had and took forever. I'm now looking for an easier recipe. BTW, her Coq au Vin is divine!

  37. Not sure that anything we've made is adventurous, but we are willing to try anything that our 11 kids want to try, and this book looks like a great inspiration for us! Thanks for you help.

  38. It seems as if every dinner in our kitchen is an adventure. This book would be a big help to turn more of those adventurous fails into adventurous successes!

  40. I have tried making cheese... unsuccessfully. Also, I tried making a huge tiered cake for a 60th birthday party. It turned out ok, but some instructions really would have helped keep things from sliding around so much.

  41. I just recently tried making buttermilk and jello. The jello was yummy, the buttermilk...not so much. This book looks awesome!

  42. I was raised in a Chefboyardee and Bisquick household, so the first time I made pancakes from scratch I thought it was the craziest thing ever.

  43. I made Worchestershire sauce -- wow, was that ever good! I love making things like this -- thanks for letting us know about ATK's new book. I'd love to have a copy!

  44. I made some Wheat Thin-like crackers once, which I burned. But it was fun! I'd love to give this book to my mom! She is all about making things from scratch.

  45. I made pizza dough from scratch using your deep dish pizza tutorial. Yes, yes, pizza dough is the most adventurous 🙂 Well...I also made vanilla extract but that was more just assembly and wait!

  46. I want the book! The most adventurous thing I've ever tried to make at home was chicken fried steak. . . it did not go well 🙁

  47. My husband and I have processed our own deer sausage with the help of friends. It takes a long time to debone, grind, season, stuff, and smoke sausage, but it is great!

  48. I'm not sure I consider it adventurous, but other people seem to: recently I was given seven live hand-raised squab (pigeons), so I did the slaughter and dressing myself with a friend. Then we baked them in a pie old school style. Delicious! I would LOVE this book.

  49. I made mozzarella cheese! And it wasn't hard at all, I was just intimidated by the thought of making it myself. It was yummy, and I've made it a bunch of times since then.

  50. long ago I made bagels from scratch and also made pretzels from scratch. Toughest part of the whole thing was twisting those pretzels into shape....

  52. Pretty much everything I try to make from scratch is an adventure! But I would Love to win this cookbook!!

  53. Anything With yeast is adVenturous for me. I struggle with it big time. Love the concept of this book. Thanks for the giveaway!

  55. I make quite a bit from scratch, so I would love this cookbook! But I think of pies when I think of daring, probably because I am not that good at pies! I have made a french silk pie, I didn't realize how many raw eggs were in it until I made one! My husband liked it, so it must have been a success!

  58. I made raw milk mozzarella cheese from scratch. It turned out DELICIOUS. I make many things from scratch and frugality is something we practice daily. I would LOVE this cookbook!

  59. croissants, with homemade puff pastry. It was a massive failure, but my daughter and I had fun doing it.

  60. I want to win this! I made paneer for the first time a few weeks ago- it was so much fun.

  61. not sure what adventurous things I have made from scratch... But I have made some thing from scratch.
    jelly, muffins all the time, bannan bread, just to name a few...
    would love to win this one......
    got my fingers crossed!

  64. This book sounds so fun!! My most adventurous food was making sourdough bread from a starter. It was interesting to see how the yeast grew over two weeks.

  66. I would love this book! It would be really helpful as my husband and I prepare to downsize to a cottage home base and then spend most of our days sailing. I already make a lot of things from scratch but the most adventurous thing that I make is actually not for the people in my family but for my dog. Once Lilly was diagnosed with cancer and had to have five mast cell cancer tumors removed, I started seaching for ways to help keep her healthier and to keep the cancer from returning. I make all of her puppy treats and her dog food. She no longer has kibble but a mix of 99% fat free beef, brown rice, liver, and mixed veggies. I make it once a month and freeze it in portion sizes. We had her vitamins to it before serving. She is a beautiful weimeraner and her coat shimmers and shines! I buy supplies for her food when it is on sale and make extra batches to freeze. It's really not that much more to make her food than to buy the expensive food that the vet had her on. When my brother goes on his annual hunting trip, he will share his bison with us and she gets an extra treat!

  67. Sadly, the most adventurous thing I've made is yogurt! 🙂 But I sure would love a copy of this book to try my hand at something else!

  68. I don't know if it counts as adventurous, but I sure felt brave trying it: I've successfully made creme brulee on more than one occasion.

  69. I would love to win this cookbook! The most adventurous thing I have ever tried to make from scratch was a flourless chocolate cake for entry in a local baking contest. Well, that and a spinach souffle. The souffle fell after taking it out of the oven (but tasted good nonetheless) and I won first place for the chocolate cake.

  71. My mom never let anyone in the kitchen when she cooked. So needless to say, I am now married and having to learn how to cook/bake everything from scratch. EVERYTHING I do in the kitchen is an adventure. But my family does enjoy it (as does our dog) and I am having fun in the process. I still have soooo much to learn.

  72. This book looks awesome. I love CI. I haven't done a lot of DIY in the kitchen but would really like to! Tomato sauce is my recent "adventure." Hmm - not so adventurous, so even more reason I would use and love this book!

  73. i've done some pretty adventurous cooking, but maybe the most difficult was making croissants. All that butter and folding made such a greasy pile of dough. No wonder they taste so delicious.

    I'd love to have this DIY cookbook!

  74. We tried to recreate our favorite street food, doubles. A chickpea curry wrapped in turmeric pancakes, it didn't seem like it would be that hard. And the curry wasn't but the pancakes never were quite right and the recipe made enough to feed two for a week - for every meal! It was fun though, and I'd love to try some of the recipes in this book!

  75. Hmm, the most adventurous thing? Caramels, maybe? Croissants? I'd love to try making marshmallows 🙂

  76. I made all my baby food which isn't adventurous per say, but encountering a parsnip and a beet in their natural form for the first time was for me!

  77. It's not very adventurous, but I made carmel from sweetened condensed milk by boiling the un-opened can, despite the directions to the contrary on the can. I cooked it in the crockpot outside, in case it did explode. But there was no explosion, and it made delicious carmel!

  78. The most adventurous thing that I've cooked? Well, I tend to throw together ingredients and hope that the final result is tasty. The one that I was the least sure of the outcome was a chocolate bread that I made without looking up any recipes to use as guidance - thankfully it turned out well. You could also call my kitchen microbiology cooking adventurous: only sourdough and yogurt so far, but I'm hoping to expand my repertoire.

    P.S. I've had my eye on this book for awhile - it's on my Christmas list.

  79. The most adventurous thing I've tried to make from scratch was goldfish crackers. They turned out pretty well. I'd love to win that cookbook.

  80. I actually tried to make thin mints once and it turned out to be super easy! After my mom and I made the cookies we dipped them in melted Andes Candies 🙂 delicious!

  81. Oh my, I would LOVE this book!!!!!!! I have been trying to be more adventurous by making our own dressings, yogurt, applesauce, breads, etc. They are not necessarily difficult, but definitely a "new" way of thinking for most people of today's world (my mother was not much of a homemaker).

  83. it depends on the type of adventurous that you mean. When it comes to foods we don't routinely eat, it might be leg of lamb the first time, or chicken tikka masala the first time. Both are semi-regular now. We don't have a lot of foods outside of our comfort range anymore.

    But, what id say was our most adventurous was raising and then eating our own chickens. When we got our first egg layers in the mail, they included some extra baby boys. We didn't want more than one rooster so we decided to see if we were going to be able to raise and then slaughter them. We were able to, and they were the most delicious chickens we have ever had. we're currently raising our second batch. This was adventurous for us because we were both born and raised suburbia kids. Our food always came from the grocery store. We moved out to the country a year ago and have become hobby farmers. 🙂

  84. How about instead, I tell you my favorite thing to make from scratch. My homemade english muffins. Made a batch last night, well double batch actually, in the hopes that we can take some with us when we move in about 5 days. Now I just hope my family does not eat them all by then! Oh, I also can't wait until I am at a permanent address again to finally start a new sourdough starter! I also make sourdough english muffins a lot.

  85. I love trying stuff. I make jelly and yogurt and I have made mozzarella cheese and homemade fruit leathers and jerky but probably the most adventurous was one of those towers of cream puffs. Boy was that a huge deal. Of maybe the from scratch coconut cake ala Alton Brown where you start with coconuts from produce and make your own cream, coconut milk and coconut extract. That took all day but made the best cake. I would love this book!!

  86. The first thing that comes to my mind is pesto. The first time I made it, years ago, it turned out terribly. Really awful. My husband asked for seconds to be nice. He later told our daughter that it had tasted like tires. Attempted pesto again last summer, eighteen months ago. Better than the first, (cuz it really couldn't have gotten worse), but I had to do alot of doctoring to the recipe to make it okay. Lot of work for just okay. I guess that I just don't have the pesto gene. And I'd LURVE, :), the cookbook cuz I cook alot from scratch, and think it would be a cool read too. Thanks!

  87. I started making my own bread from scratch about 6 months. I don't use a bread machine so it is quite the process, but I now love it!

  90. I worked as a professional chef before having kids so I have made some crazy things but the thing that took the longest was a variety of German bread I made for a German friend of mine. It took about a week from start to finish!

  91. The most adventurous thing I have made is drying 10 days worth of food for a wilderness camping trip. Sounds like an interesting book!

  93. I tried to make homemade cheez-its once. They must have not had enough flour or other dry ingredient as I ended up with a cookie sheet of one big yellow blob!

  94. The most adventurous thing I made was probably seitan (aka "wheat meat") while I was attempting to eat a vegan diet. The process was long and once it was done, I still needed to prepare a meal with it, so I cooked my "wheat meat" like chicken fried steak. You can imagine my steak-loving husband's dismay when he took a bite and discovered it was not beef!

    I'd love to try some of the DIY projects in this book! Thanks for the opportunity to win!

  96. Hmm...most adventurous would probably be homemade pretzels/pretzel bites (bites are so much easier--you don't have to worry about rolling the dough), or seafood soups (clam chowder and lobster bisque, with even the stocks freshly made and with freshly cooked seafood). I just got into cooking a few years ago so I would love to keep trying new things!

  97. Hmmmm, just recently the hubby and I made homemade cheese ravioli, results not so good, but a good first try.

    Would love this cookbook!

  99. Bagels! My husband still talks about it. Just did it once though (because it was a pain in the dupa 🙂 )

  101. I don't think I'm too adventurous...but I do like to try new recipes and frequently have people over to have the excuse to experiment! 🙂
    My latest new recipe was a peach-almond-cherry compote (freezer jam) from the new Ball big book of canning. Big thumbs up! I'd love to have a copy of this one (big love for ATK)!!!

    1. Granted, I was young... but I tried to make a pavlova (meringue) for my diabetic father.

      I carefully made the adjustments for how much saccharine I would need instead of sugar, and baked it the required time.

      Sadly, this was before I became aware of the science of cooking -- and why sugar and egg whites whip into a meringue. Sadly, liquid saccharine and egg whites just make a piece of flat, nastily sweetened pancake...

  102. In my dreams I am an adventurous cook. In real life not so much. But, my daughter has fallen in love with cooking and I would love to pass it on to her. Thank you so much for the give-away.

  104. My kids would love for me to make marshmallows! (I so rarely by them!).

    I'm not the greatest cook, but this past August I made my husband's favorite cake, German chocolate with coconut pecan frosting, from scratch! It was my first time trying and it turned out great! (but was a lot of work ;)).

  105. Chocolate covered cherries. I never liked the commercially made ones, but the homemade ones are divine!

  107. I don't know about adventurous. We make our own bread and jam and beef and chicken stock. And of course, play-doh for the kids when they were little. And handknit sweaters and mittens and hats and scarves . . . but I digress. Not very exciting, I fear -- but I'd like to win this book to give as a holiday gift to a family member who makes just about everything from scratch, including sausages, breads, pastries, jams, etc. etc.

    Thanks for the opportunity!

  108. The most adventurous thing I have made is granola bars, but I have been trying to make more things from scratch.

  109. Inspired by you, and following your how-to post, I make my own yogurt!! That's pretty crazy for me 🙂

  110. oh would I love this cookbook. The most adventurous thing I ever made? Probably everyday hagas for Scottish friends only to find out that they didn't even like haggas!!! never again for sure.

  111. I don't know how adventurous it was, but I made tofu from scratch once. It was time consuming because I had to make four batches of soymilk to make one block of tofu. It wasn't worth the time since tofu isn't that expensive to begin with.

  112. I'm not a very adventurous cook (although I'd like to be), so probably the most adventurous thing I've made from scratch is peanut butter dog biscuits.

  113. I decided that I could make dog biscuits. They looked and smelled great - so great that my DH snuck one off the cookie sheet and ate it. He said I shouldn't make them again because they were too hard and not sweet enough for a good cookie. I still giggle about that, and it's been years and years ago.

  114. I tried new recipes all the time...not sure what to consider adventurous. I would love to have a book to give me ideas.

  115. I would love to win this book, I have not done a lot of cooking in the past, but I am trying to change that. I have been wanting to make more things from scratch and stop buying so many processed foods. This book would be helpful, but then again so is your blog! Thank you!

  116. Most recently? Mac and cheese. It just did NOT come out right. I've NEVER had that kind of trouble making a simple cheese sauce! As for most adventurous ever? I'm not sure... I love to cook, and I love to try new recipes, so there's a LONG list.

  117. Hi, I've made pretzels and want to make my own cream cheese and marscapone cheese (can't find some of the ingredients). Love the idea of making your own stuff. Was going to make fondant for my son's birthday cake, but then he changed his mind on what he wanted, so no fondant this year. Any possibility there is a marzipan recipe in there? This book sounds like a lot of fun!

  119. I love ATK!! The most adventurous? That is hard. One of my favs though is the Lemon Herb Chicken out of the 2011 ATK cookbook. I write a recipe column for a local paper. Check out some of my favs. Some even have videos.

    I LOVE your blog!

  120. I think yogurt might be the most daring homemade thing I have made, thanks to you!

  121. I consider almost anything new you make to be somewhat adventurous. I would love to win this book.

  122. I'm not very adventurous, but I have made peanut brittle, caramels and marshmallows from scratch. And the marshmallows are amazing.

  123. My Mom makes nearly everything from scratch, but I cook more from boxes. I'm trying to eat healthier and I know that cooking from scratch is better because you can control (and know) what goes into every recipe. I'd love to use this book to try new things!

  124. I'm not sure that it was adventurous, but I had a disastrous experience when making homemade fudge. The sugar boiled over and pitted my stove top. 🙁 Lots of pictures and conversational comments would probably help me avoid that in the future. 🙂

  125. I have made lots of things from scratch that most people would consider adventurous but you wouldn't b/c a lot of them came from this blog! One of my adventurous attempts would be pasta from my CSA dandelion greens. It had good flavor but was kind of thick and tough.

  127. My most adventurous kitchen endeavour was canning pickles this summer! I just tried one this week, and it was tasty but not as crunchy as I like. Oh well!

  128. I dont cook much on my own, but I would LOVE to. When I have been cooking with my mom we have made so many delicious things. Chocolate Chips Cookies, White Chocolate Fudge, Banana Nut Bread, and Better than Anything Cake!

  129. The most adventurous thing I've made is probably some concoction I've thrown together with odds and ends of ingredients. But I can't think of anything specific right now!

  130. That depends on who you ask! I'd say the time I made souffle or the first time I baked muffins without a recipe. My husband would say the time I made yogurt, and he's still not completely sure how I'm not dead.

  131. I tried your reciepe the granola not the no stir I don't think, but I kept sticking it in the oven for it to get darker and well lets say I shouldn't have because it was to done, and the raisens were hard as rock.. So one day I will try again and I want to try the granola bar reciepe because we all love granola bars.

    1. I just add the raisins to the granola when I'm ready to eat it, or you could add it to the cooled granola when you get ready to store it.

  132. Probably either marshmallows, goldfish crackers, or homemade ravioli, but I guess I'm a pretty adventurous cook a lot of the time!

  133. I once made about 200 home-made peppermint patties with a purple royal icing W piped on top as favors for my sister's wedding. The recipe was incredibly easy, it was just tedious making so many! Then I had to box them all using tissue paper in clear boxes wrapped in ribbon. It was a labor of love for my sister.

  134. I've made homemade ravioli before! I'd really like to try some of the recipes in this cookbook! Thanks.

  135. I don't know about adventurous, but I do like to try to do things from scratch at least once... This book looks awesome! I'd love to win it!

  136. When I first made yogurt I thought it was pretty adventurous! I make lots of things from scratch now but it was one of my first attempts 🙂

    Haven't tried any meat grinding though...

  137. I made Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon yesterday for the first time for a dear friend (but also food snob and gluten-sensitive) visiting from the West Coast. I had to go to the store, prep and cook that day despite running to two work meetings, taking my son to get his drivers' license at a scheduled ceremony at the county courthouse (we do things differently in Virginia) and then picking up said guest at the airport. Everything fell into place, my house did not burn down in my absence, and we ate a delicious meal by 7:00pm. Okay, so the only vegetables we ended up with were the carrots and onions and mushrooms in the BB but it was still an adventure in cooking for me!

  138. Wow, this book is a must have. This is sorta what my blog is about. Thanks for telling me about it!

    One thing I've made that surprised me how easy it was, is sour cream.

  139. We love to make beef jerky, but honestly the most time consuming dish we've made is moussaka. Looks like a great book, I would love to have it.

  140. The most adventerous thing I have tried to make is a merangue cookie my mom loves called beacon hill. It is a chocolate merangue cookie that you actually use vinegar in and coconut. her mom made them for her when she was a kid but couldn't do it when she got older. When my grandma passed away I found a recipe and make them for her every year. I have only truly mastered it one time but even the "ugly" ones taste good. Merangue cookies are my thing I work with to perfect.

  143. I love making things from scratch! I don't know if this technically counts, but one year I made my Thanksgiving turkey "from scratch"...as in, raised it from a tiny peep, butchered, dressed and roasted it! I know...TMI! Anyway, I'd love to win the book!

  146. My Mom made everything from scratch. I'm trying to make less that comes from a box and more that is from scratch. It's healthier because I know and can control what goes into the food. I think this book would help me and give me more ideas.

  147. I make most of our meals, and snacks from scratch, although I wouldn't say I'm terribly adventurous!

    I would have to say that making Seitan (vegan wheat meat) from scratch was probably the height of my kitchen adventures ... it turns out great every time, but it always takes a lot of faith, because it just looks like a complete mess until the very end!!

    Great give away - thanks Kristen!

  148. I felt pretty adventurous when I decided to start making my hot sauce from scratch. My husband slathers Sriracha on almost everything that isn't dessert and so I decided to start growing our own Thai chilis and garlic to make hot sauce myself. The homemade stuff is even hotter than store-bought (much to my husband's delight) and gloves are definitely required to process the chilis. We have jars and jars and jars of it ready to eat now. He probably goes through a jar of it a week, and we give it away as gifts and people love it.

  149. I once tried to make Chicago style deep dish spinach pizza. It was actually very very good, although no Bacino's.

    1. P.S. I have been thinking a lot lately about homemade granola bars or balls. Anyone have any tried and true ("I could make these every week!") type of recipes?

  150. Cooks Illustrated got me through 2.5 years of the Peace Corps. Amazing what you can make with limited ingredients and a tiny portable oven! Potato bread, English muffins, pita bread, tortillas.... everything!

  151. The most adventurous thing I ever made has to be considered in context -- I was 14, and had done very little cooking, when I decided I was going to make a frittata from Linda McCartney's cookbook. The eggs were way overdone, but my parents gamely ate the frittata -- which I served for dinner, even though it was decidedly breakfasty in nature -- and complimented me on the results. 🙂

  152. I never win a thing so I'm not getting my hopes up but I have to share my longest food making adventure. Once I made sprouted grain flour so I could make sprouted grain bread. Ummm, maybe there is a better way than soaking grain all night and trying to dry it in a food dehydrator...three days later, I made the worst tasting bread ever! You can't win them all but maybe with this cookbook...

  153. Prickly pear syrup, canned with low sugar. Took me forever to find a canning recipe, and even longer to determine how to alter it from being more sugar than prickly pear. SO worth it! It is delicious in lemonade, or as syrup on stuff, or on biscuits, or just a spoonful of the stuff to satisy that tart sweet craving. Yum!!!

  154. I make most of our food from scratch, but I'm always really proud when I make marshmallows because a while ago I never thought it was an option!

  155. Hi....I would LOVE to have this book!!!! I have recently started the endeavor of trying to do more "from scratch" cooking for my family. Making our own bread has been quite adventurous for me, but quite rewarding! Would love to step out of my comfort zone and try some more adventurous cooking!

  156. I don't think what I make is all that adventurous, but I make bread, yogurt, jam, syrup. I'd love the cookbook to see what else I can make.

  157. The most adventurous thing I've made from scratch is mozzarella cheese. And it was awesome!! Even used raw milk sourced from the Amish. Delicious! : D

  158. I think the most adventurous thing I have ever made was bread. While it may not seem adventerous to some, I had never seen anyone make bread from scratch! So it was a major learning process.

  159. Do NOT put me in the drawing as I already have a copy.

    I wanted to post about CI's Preview Membership. Basically, they'll send you preview copies of their new books. You get to keep it for 21 days. If you do nothing you'll be charged for the book. If you don't like it, you can send it back w/in the 21 days and CI pays the shipping. I haven't decided if the hassle of the returns is worth the benefit of the easy preview.

    And since Kristen asked: my most adventurous thing I've tried to make from scratch. Lessee ... lots of things that are time-consuming:
    - puff pastry
    - bisteeya, a Moroccan meat pie made with pigeon (or chicken), fruit, and filo
    - pumpkin pie not from a can
    - Chinese roast pork
    - dim sum

    Many things that sound hard but aren't:
    - chicken stock
    - unfermented kimchee
    - pickles
    - home-cured bacon
    - home-cured pancetta
    - loose sausage

    I considered making head cheese, which is a terrine of the meat and gelatinous stock that comes from simmering a pig's head for hours; decided against when I realized how big a pig's head is.

    I will roast a pig's tail in the fireplace this winter.

    1. Shoot - I misread. CI sends a CARD notifying you of the new book. Return the CARD pre-paid if you don't want the book. Also, by buying directly from CI you are automatically enrolled in the preview club.

      1. I am against this practice, and am sad to hear that CI is still following it. They did this to me over 10 years ago, and I can't believe they're still doing it. It's just frustrating when you only want to buy the one book.

        1. I reread the info _again_ and now I'm not sure what the policy is. The text supports either possibility - 1) if you don't return the postage-paid card ATK will send the book and charge you, or 2) if you don't return the card ATK will send you the book, but you have 21 days to return the postage-paid book.

          Can you believe I rely on my brain for a living? Sigh.

          It is clear that you can call ATK to remove yourself from the club but, of course, many people won't bother. I agree, Hydra, I don't like it either. ATK is working the tendency of people to stick with the default option, but to their advantage and contrary to the customer's.

  160. I don't feel like any of the things I make are adventurous anymore, but most people seemed surprised that I make bread, yogurt, and desserts from scratch! Oh, I did make my own sour gummies recently (like Sour Patch Kids).

  161. I've never really tried anything all that adventurous. But the book looks interesting so please enter me!

  162. I would love this book! I make most things from scratch, as for adventurous... I've made yogurt cheese, and I just tried maple syrup soft candy, which was completely fun and delicious 🙂

  164. I can think of a few adventurous things I've made. Early in my first marriage I hosted a christmas party. I cooked for a solid week making cookies, mini brownies, mini muffins. I attempted my grandma's peanut butter fudge. It had the consistency of silly putty, but it tasted ok 🙂

  166. I would say the most adventerous thing I've ever made is tiered wedding style cake that was over 2 feet high for my son's first birthday party. I was about 100 degrees outside and the party was outdoors. Yes, it had disaster written all over it. The icing melted and the layers started sliding...funniest thing ever! We ended up scooping it
    and serving it in zip lock bags. Thus, it became dubbed as 'bag cake' and now I'm famous for it! LOL It was yummy and everyone keeps telling me they are craving some bag cake!

  167. I once made an old-fashioned Christmas plum pudding from scratch. Only it wasn't the simpler, updated way you can find in modern cookbooks. It was from an old, old, old cookbook my great-greandmother used. It was made the original way, with beef suet. Took hours.

  168. I think my most adventurous cooking project would be all the canning I did for the first time this summer. Lots of tomatoes, salsa, jams, and different kinds of pickles.

  169. Ohmigosh! I would love to have this cookbook so I can be more adventurous with my cooking!! 🙂

  170. My mom and I made yogurt once--this was at least ten years ago when the internet wasn't as readily available. It was definitely a moment of adventure!

  171. Well, I tried to make yogurt several times and failed each time. Perhaps this book could teach me how to do it properly.

  172. Not so adventuresome, but I did make all-day beef stock, a la Julia Child. These days I just make it in the slow cooker; it was my first foray into stock. And I vowed I'm making sausage this winter, so would LOVE to learn how ATK says to do it.

  173. I made marshmallows too! Maybe now that you've made they that will seem less impressive (I was surprised at how easy they actually were), but that is probably one of the most impressive "DIY" things I've made in the kitchen.

  174. I've tried bagels and pretzels, and beef heart. Generally, though, I don't get too extreme because my less-adventuresome family members won't eat it. But I'd love to try Ritz crackers and Thin Mints!

    On a related note, have you read "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter"? It's a similar concept.

  175. Shrimp scampi has probably been my most adventurous as of late. Dealing with seafood is not something I grew up doing much...but I would really like this cookbook! I am up for new challenges, especially if they will help us stay more natural and from-scratch! 🙂 PS...big fan of your blog. Keep it up!

  180. Hmmm...like another poster I tried to make homemade hummus. It was not hard, but definitely NOT good either. I'm hoping a cookbook like this would have some better recipes that would motivate and inspire me to cook from scratch more often and more successfully!

  182. My last adventure was a misguided attempt to make Baked Alaska. I thought using a torch was a good idea, but set the tablecloth on fire.

  183. Homemade rolls! (I know it might not sound adventurous to those of you who do this all the time:)

  184. Oh my husband would looooooooooooove this book! He's got a batch of bacon jam cooking right now and last night he made homemade beef jerky! As for my most adventurous from-scratch project? Smitten Kitchen's espresso cardamom brownies! Soooooooooooooooo good!

  185. This looks like a great cookbook to add to my collection. I'm not super adventurous either but am always looking for ways to make things from scatch. Thanks so much!

  186. The most adventurous thing I've cooked was a whole hog roasted over coals. It had a wild rice stuffing and fresh herb marinade/basting sauce. Many hours were involved in prep and cooking, but it was so worth it in the end!

  187. We make most things from scratch (and gluten and dairy free). Some of the more adventures recipes from this week are: strawberry icecream, apple tart w/pecan crust, vanilla flavored granola, peanut butter granola, and "milk duds."

  188. I've made marshmallows! That was fun and the next thing I'm going to make is mochi (probably not in the book but the internet has many recipes).
    Is the diakon pickle recipe in there? That one I might really like so I can make good ba minh at home.

  189. Ha ha. Most adventurous DIY makes me think of that time I tried to make Nutella. My advice:

    Don't. Buy it.

    The end.

  190. Adventure depends on one's perspective: I have impressed acquaintances simply because I mash my own potatoes and make my own soup ("You made this?! It's so good, it tastes like it's from a can!"). Around here, we make our own chicken stock, brew our own kombucha, and homemade pizza night is Monday. Would love to branch out much, much further!

  191. The most adventurous thing I've tried to make from scratch?
    Well, I'm in the process of making Vegan Cashew Cheese. Cheese, made from cashews. Apparently this is amazing if done right. -fingers crossed-

  192. Probably the most adventurous thing I've tried to make was cheese. It was a big fail. But I love cooks illustrated and totally want this book!

  193. When copy cat recipes turn out I get this frugal feeling that makes me want to crow! Some of the success stories include....Thomas English Muffins, Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, and your very own Aussie Chicken recipe that's as good as any Outback I've ever eaten at.

  194. I would love this book as a gift for my husband who LOVES ATK! I think the most adventuresome thing I have tried to make from scratch would be whole wheat tortillas or yogurt. I know people insist that yogurt is easy to make but it was a disaster when I tried it! But, I'm going to try it again soon!

  195. I've made Indian dosas from scratch, which involved grinding rice and spices and fermenting them. Came out nice but not quite restaurant quality! 🙂

  197. This book look super fun!
    I cook a lot and will try most anything, but the most fun I've done is a cake with fondant icing. It turned out darling and isn't nearly as hard as it looks.

  198. I absolutely love making things that my brain told me for years "you can't make that at home it only comes from the store." This looks like such an exciting book! After trying homemade bacon the first time I decided if "the store" can do it , so can I. What kinds of cheese does it have?

  199. Most adventurous thing I tried to make in high school: assorted fruit danish. I was up thru the middle of the night trying to finish them. They were just OK, kind of tough. : (

    I'd love a copy of this book!
    Thanks

  201. I recently bought a book, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. It has set us off on adventure after adventure of making our own granola, yogurt and now dog cookies. The granola is awesome, the homemade yogurt even more awesome and the dog cookies are triple awesome because mainly they LOVE them, they are really easy to make and it saves us a ton of money since we have two Great Danes! My husband said to me this morning he felt so good because the dog cookie box contained a double batch of treats, the granola box was full and he had just finished making a quart of homemade yogurt. BTW, when Aldi's opened in my area, I gave them a look, but was not impressed, but since I have been reading your blog, I've given them another try and we are hooked. Thank you!

  202. Oh goodness, I would LOVE this book. In terms of DIY, mostly my husband and I stick to breads (incl. pizza dough and rolls and the like, as well as sandwich bread) and sauces (tomato sauce, all the time!). But I really really want to try making my own ricotta cheese, pickles, and peanut butter!

  203. We made our own deer bologna one year...unfortunately my wooden spoon ended up in one batch. I did get a very nice set to replace the cheap one my husband ground!

  204. Honestly, the most adventurous thing I have made is yogurt - and I only did it after reading your post! Would love the cook book!

  205. Wow! This sounds great. Sign me up. I grew up in a very small town and our one store had only the basics. If you wanted anything special, you had to make it yourself. (Yes, this was long before online ordering!) So, English muffins, Danish pastries, potstickers, marshmallows, fortune cookies, and many more things were made from scratch. Marshmallows are much easier than you'd think, aren't they?

  206. My biggest kitchen adventure would have to be the first time I hosted Thanksgiving dinner and roasted a 20 lb Turkey. It was a success!

    I would love to have a book like this on hand! Recently, I have become very aware of how dependent I am on so many store bought kitchen "staples". I look at my pantry and the vast array of items available to me and wonder what it was like to have a pantry like those of early American settlers. Sometimes I think its so easy to be wasteful because its so easy to get more of everything we need. We don't have to make butter, bread, yogurt or cheese; we just go buy more all while sipping on a 5 dollar coffee lol!!!

  207. I am working on making more things from scratch. I am as adventurous a cook as my husband and son let me be. I'd love a copy of this book!

  208. cream soups! They turned out - I don't have to buy anymore cans AND no more processed ingredients! Yeah!

  210. I make graham crackers from scratch and just made a homemade Bailey's Irish Cream as a treat for my husband! (his favorite)

  211. The most adventurous thing I have ever tried to make is ginger ale, with fresh ginger and yeast. It turned out tasting just like beer and I don't like beer so it was pretty nasty to me

  212. Gosh that is such a hard one as I make a lot of things from scratch. I prefer scratch too. I always get weird looks from my family when I make homemade things like bread, jam, salsa, marshmallows, pie crust, whipping cream, etc... I would say the most adventurous thing I've made is pasta.

  213. Hmm...Some things that pop into my mind are coconut milk vegan ice cream, some Thai lemongrass soup that I wish I could find the recipe for again, various kinds of sushi and Japanese foods, black sesame cupcakes, cabernet cupcakes, Mountain Dew cupcakes, root beer cake...

  214. We love to cook at home and try new things. But as for being adventurous with cooking its a toss up from my Sweet Banana pepper mustard (great as a marinade on pork loin) Hot Banana Pepper mustard, Fresh cucumber relish all of which came straight from our garden

  215. I and my husband make almost everything at home. Never buy packaged food nor made up food at the supermarket kitchen.

  216. The most adventurous thing was cream puffs.....choux pastry sounded easy, but not so.

  217. I think the most adventurous thing I've made was peach jam- not because making jam is adventurous, but because I decided to can the jam, processing in a water bath canner. My power went out halfway through and I have an electric stove, so my dad and I had to "futz about" as you said trying to get our ancient camping stove to work out on the deck. Finally we got things going and I spent the hot July afternoon processing jars of peach jam in the 90 degree Virginia humidity. That's not an experience I intend to repeat again, but I'd love to try other canning recipes!

  218. I have a list of things I'd like to try to make... but haven't really done so yet. I have made butter out of cream before (when I was a child and we had a pioneer activity so all I used was cream and a mason jar with a lid.) Currently I make my own salad dressings and syrups.

  221. I actually grew a large garden and my goal was to learn to can as much of it as I could. I acomplished most of it. My kids and I love going to the basement and opening a jar of last years veggies grown from our own hard work.

  222. I'm not too adventurous when it come to cooking, I typically just stick to what I know. I WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK!

  224. We're planning on buying a homestead in the next year or 2 and this book would be a huge help in learning some new skills beyond what I've already got down. I'm fairly new to DIY in the kitchen but would love to have a book like this to learn more!

  225. My daughter and I made our own marzipan so that we could top her birthday cupcakes with marzipan pumpkins.

  226. We make our own sausage, stuff it in casings and all. We smoke meats and fish and soon we want to cure/smoke bacon!

  228. When I was in high school my sister, best friend and I used to play a game where we would try to bake something with no recipe and see who's turned out the best. (We really didn't bake or cook at this point in our lives, so it we had no idea what we were doing). After we made it we HAD to try all of them and pick the best one. The most interesting one we made was a bread (kind of?) with peanuts and gushers in it. (gushers- those weird gummies with the juice in the middle, not sure if they still make them anymore).

  229. I'm not too adventurous, but I was pretty proud of myself when I made whipped cream and my own butter from heavy cream 🙂

  232. Homemade Ginger Beer from americastestkitchenfeed.com , and homemade english muffins, also an ATK recipe.

  233. I make worcestershire sauce at home. That may be the most adventurous. I've also made homemade marshmallows but they didn't look beautiful like yours! I've accidentally made butter. oops.

  234. I, too, have attempted puff pastry at home after taking a pastry class at a local kitchen store. Fun, but let's just say I'll stick to the boxed stuff from here on out.

  235. Camembert! It didn't turn out very well, though. However, for the past few years, I have been infusing my own basil liquor, and it's fabulous!

  236. I make deer jerky from scratch and the guys love it!! My husband and step-sons are hunters and we do not let any meat go to waste. It's also a great way to use of any meat that might have been the freezer just a tad too long for your taste.

  237. I do a lot of "on the fly" cooking, so it's always an adventure.. But one ikd davorite was cajun seasoned chicken noodle soup

  238. Most adverturous homemade stuff? Maybe homemade oven-fried chicken nuggets (from CI or CC) or homemade granola (easy recipe from some other source).

  239. I'm new at cooking, so I'm afraid I'm not super adventurous as of yet, but I'd LOVE the book! 🙂

  240. Our first Christmas together my now-husband and I made Peking duck. We hung the duck in the guest bathroom overnight!

  242. I think the most adventurous thing I've tried in the kitchen recently was pita bread. Thanks for the giveaway!

  243. I recently made empanadas and, to my surprise, they turned out pretty good! I'm really interested in trying out the marshmallow, pickling and cheese recipes in this book.

  244. I tried to make homemade bagels and homemade pepper jelly to go on top. I would love to try some new and interesting recipes!

  245. The most adventurous thing I've ever made from scratch is probably a ricotta gnocci which sadly didn't turn out very well so I suppose this book would do me a lot of good. Thanks!

  246. This book sounds right up my alley. I would love to win a free copy. My first stab at making something from scratch came years ago on a New Years Eve when I wanted to make sloppy joes for the kids. I had everything but the buns and thought I would run out pick some up. Then the freezing rain started and even though I had never made bread before I decided I could make buns from scratch. Needless to say they turned out like little hockey pucks that even our bird wouldn't eat. We didn't have sloppy joes that night but it did get me started on learning how to make things from scratch and I love it.

  248. I try to make lots of different foods from scratch, though I'm not always successful, and they may not be adventurous in others' book. I have made my own pie crust, pizza dough, and just yesterday, homemade butter! I watch ATK on PBS and would love a copy of this book! Thanks for the opportunity!

  249. The most adventurous thing I've made is...cinnamon rolls! Really. That I usually try to avoid anything too complicated. I love cooking Chinese food, which might be adventurous for some. I want to learn how to make my own mustard and granola!

  250. I once made a beef pie. Not very adventurous on its own; the adventurous part was the "trotter gear" that went into it.

    So you start making chicken stock just like normal: chicken carcass, some vegetables and herbs, lots of water, simmer forever. Then you do it again, but instead of water you use your homemade stock, more vegetables and herbs, and -- here's the fun bit -- a couple pork trotters. Over the simmering time, all the connective tissue in the feet melts out into the stock, until when you're done the stuff will set up like a jello mold even at room temperature.

    Then you throw some of this into your beef stew as a thickener as you're preparing the pie; when you bake it, it doesn't soak the lower crust, and as the pie cools the interior sets up into a stew jelly that's easy to cut and serve without spilling out everywhere.

  251. Graham crackers and wheat thins are the most adventurous I've been, but only because I don't have tried and true methods like the ones in this cookbook! Can't afford to waste good ingredients, you know?

  252. Hmmm, I'm an adventurous cook and have tried making most things once.

    I would say, the most adventurous thing I made from scratch was when on a business trip in Germany, I decided I wanted to cook an authentic TexMex dinner for friends, in their home. Without knowing German, I managed to scour every market I could find to find chilies, rice, beans, cilantro etc. While my homemade tortillas were not as good as I would have liked, everyone at the small dinner party had a wonderful time getting to sample a bit of a regional US cuisine.

  253. Lots of things to learn in that book! Most wanted! Most adventurous and beautiful thing is cooking with my wife (she's american and brilliant cook, and I'm french.)

  256. I made a coconut flan from scratch. It was delicious. I will never make it again as it was SO labor intensive. 🙂

  257. I've seen this cookbook around the web, but I was a little too intimidated by the premise. Now that I can actually see some of the pages and results, I'm totally in. I would love to win!

  259. For me it was Pate'. We had to make it while in culinary school. It was very gross. To take meat and make a paste out of it by pushing it through sieve was not fun and hard work. However, the finished product was quite nice.

  260. Bread (or any yeast recipe). I love fresh breads, bagels, pretzels etc. I am hoping to build more confidence working with yeast 🙂

  261. The most adventurous thing I tried to make from scratch was flour tortillas. Sometimes I find it is more frugal to purchase ready made tortillas, but my home made, warm from the pan tortillas with a little bit of butter were heavenly!

  264. I have helped my husband butcher a deer,
    and made refrigerator pickles... but really
    would love this book to gain confidence
    doing more things from scratch.

  266. Maple sugar candy...in the snow...when I was 10 years old or so. I had just finished reading a "Little House on the Prairie" book where Laura Ingalls described tapping maple trees for syrup and then, after heating it, drizzling it on snow to make candy. At least that was my interpretation at the time. Short of a maple tree, I heated up some bottled maple syrup, excitedly poured it on the snow on the back porch... And watched it melt the snow, to oblivion! 🙂

  267. A lot of scratch cooking--though none of it what you might call "adventurous": brownies, granola, scones, cookies, chili, tortillas, pizza...and the eggs all come from the chickens we raise!

  268. Wow....the most adventurous thing....um, I think it would be croissants. That doesn't really sound very adventurous, but after reading through the recipe instructions and all of the steps involved it seemed adventurous. The bottoms browned up a bit more than I would of liked, but other than that they were worth the worry and bother!

    1. I wrote my comment before reading any others. Some of these comments are hilarious! I can see how grinding a spoon into your deer bologna would make it even more of an adventure, and story of the husband and the dog biscuits is a riot! My husband did something similar once with some hummingbird food I had mixed up ahead and put in the refrigerator, but that doesn't seem nearly as funny as a dog biscuit. The peach jam story put me in mind of other predicaments I've been in when the power goes out in the middle of a cooking project. I'm glad I'm not the only one things like this happen to. Somehow it helps if you can laugh about it.

  270. Turkish Delight...my most adventurous "from scratch" adventure, that I can remember, though there are others. 🙂

  273. Cooking is not my favorite thing-saving money and using things up are! So I make lots of inventive casseroles to use food as well as my own croutons from old bread. My favorite foods to make from scratch are healthy flax muffins and granola bars. This cookbook sounds like just the thing for DIY frugal chefs! Thanks for the great blog and giveaway.

  274. Please don't laugh, but I live in New York City and my previous apartment was on the small side with an electric stove. I wasn't inspired to cook. Certainly nothing from scratch. I've since moved into a space with a much larger kitchen and new appliances including a beautiful gas range and I'm very happy and am cooking more than ever...

    Adventuresome is relative. I'd say I went to a restaurant that served an incredible olive oil dipping sauce with various spices. I tried my best to recreate a home made sauce that was as tasty. I'm discovering how amazing and tasty combining spices can be. Not just for dipping breads, but for cooking in general.

    Thanks for your beautiful blog!

    Harold

  275. Making tofu was one of the more unique things I've tried to make. Not too successful, but I learned a lot about the process.

  276. I'm always looking for interesting DIY recipes. I'm not sure what I make is adventurous but I'm always looking for an interesting condiment to make. I did make cheese crackers which were good but crumbly, so more professional looking cracker would be a good goal.

  278. The most adventurous thing I've ever made is.....spaghetti noodles! It was fun, but they had to hang to dry all over the house, which tickled my kids tremendously. Sadly, I didn't take any photos :(. But the noodles were wonderful!

    Thanks for the giveaway! I would LOVE to try the marshmallows!

    Blessings to you this Thanksgiving season!

  279. I tried making a few things that were a little out of my depth. Beef Wellington was a hoot, trying to get the meat cooked, along with the pastry, and not making a soggy mess.

    Thai Red Curry from scratch, making the paste was really tough without a mortar and pestle. Blenders do not do a very good job or making a paste, especially out of lemongrass.

  280. I started canning for the first time this summer. I've got a shelf full of tomatoes, peaches, salsas and pickles. Does that count as DIY?

  281. Love to try new recipes! Just made an awesome pork tenderloin, home-made marinade and pan sauce......oh, so good!

    I also love reading cookbooks! Quite a few sit on the nightstand next to my bed!

    Love your blog! Thank-you!

  283. I've made an angel food cake from scratch (so many eggs!), I make fresh pasta occasionally and I made mozzarella once (although I'd like to do it again).

  284. I have been slowly easing into making things from scratch. I have made homemade egg noodles, jam, and most recently "refried" beans!! so easy! Thanks for the chance to win. If I don't win, I just might have to ask Santa for this! 😉

  285. Most adventurous thing I've made is perhaps yogurt! Hooray fermentation. Also have done molded truffles and beef jerky. Mmm.

  286. I've been trying to make everything from scratch! My most recent is cream of chicken. It turned out great! I would LOVE this cookbook!

  288. Every time I try to make pie dough it is an adventure. One day I'll figure out the perfect whole wheat dough. One day...

  290. Once, I tried making pasta noodles from scratch...by hand (no fancy pasta machine)...while my daughters had their cousin over...crazy. I have not made it again. Actually, it was delicious and I would love to make it again. Some day 😉

  291. I'm not crazy wild in the kitchen. Probably the most adventurous things I've made are beef jerky, homemade mayonnaise, and homemade sweetened condensed milk.

    1. My husband is the cook in our house, so I could use a lot of help learning to do things from scratch! The most adventurous thing I've done was, last month, trying to make a homemade princess birthday cake for my daughter. Homemade cake, homemade pink icing (using raspberries instead of food coloring), and then trying to make the whole thing look like a princess dress. I am proud that it turned out okay. 🙂

  292. I've always wanted to try stuff like this! I'm going to be off work for a few weeks and this could really help kill time!

  293. I'd love a copy of the book!

    I've made such fun things as "reindeer poop candy" (holiday candy). I've made my own coffee brandy (think: Kahlua) in the past.

  294. It may sound silly, but a few weeks ago we made pasta from scratch. We had always been too intimidated to try, but have gotten on this homemade bread kick and decided to try. I am shocked at how easy it was.

  295. I have attempted homemade crackers, which were challenging. I really want to try marshmallows!

  296. I have great plans to be a more adventurous cook, most of my adventurous cooking lately has been while making more authentic Louisiana style foods. I would love to be more adventurous though and this book is right up my alley.

  297. My most adventurous cooking endeavor was a double chocolate mint cheesecake made entirely from scratch. By the time I was done, it weighed almost 3 lbs. It was fabulous.

  298. I'm not too adventurous in the kitchen, but I did make a pavlova once and it actually turned out quite delicious! I have always wanted to try making more things from scratch at home and this book would be great for that!

  300. The most adventurous thing I made, was not difficult, but still adventurous. It was linguine with scallops, ALL made from scratch, the linguine, the alfredo sauce with basil from my garden. It was deelicious.

  301. My husband does all the cooking at our house, and also loves anything ATK, Cook's Country and Cook's Illustrated--he would love this book!

  302. I've made my own laundry soap and stain remover, dishwasher detergent, cleaning spray, and deodorant, among other things. The most adventurous was homemade Greek style yogurt. It takes a bit of practice to perfect and it's so creamy! I found it intimidating to attempt but the stores near me don't sell yogurt with a high enough fat content (7% being the highest I could find). My son needs 14% or higher. I made the yogurt with table/coffee cream (18%)

  303. I (think) I want to do more! 🙂 I thought roasting pumpkins to make pumpkin pie or making jelly/applesauce/spaghetti sauce from what we pick was adventurous, but now that I look at the comments and the book, I realize its nothing!

  304. I tried once to make marshmallows and failed, but I have successfully made my own tortillas a couple of times now!

  305. Probably bread is one of my most adventurous things. I would love to have this cookbook. I am recently retired and have more time now to be more adventurous!

  308. I would love this book! I do try to make most things from scratch and the ideas in the book look awesome.

  309. I made Tiramisu from scratch for a dinner party. I was so impressed with myself! I'd love this cookbook - fingers are crossed!!!

  310. On Tuesday I made my own refrigerator pickles.

    you have no idea. I love pickles so much. And cant stand the soggy excuses you usually get. But I found a small farm stand near me that has been supplying my husband with fresh cucumbers and I decided to buck up the other day and make my own pickles. I almost cannot wait until Sunday to try them. But I am forcing myself to hold on a little longer.

  311. I own a 1970s book "Better than store bought" It has recipies for chocolate syrup, graham crackers, biscuit, pancake & waffle mix, granola, yogurt and many many more. However it doesn't have pictures so I'd love to have the ATK DYI book.

  313. Over the last two years, we discovered that my husband has many food allergies, though not the typical dairy, gluten, peanuts, egg, etc. As a result, I have learned to make seasoning salt, taco seasoning, onion soup mix, beef stock (already making chicken stock), cream of chicken soup, Chinese food, Indian food, etc. The other night made tater tots. 🙂

    I have also tried my had at a few things I wanted make just for fun: vanilla, almond, and peppermint extracts.

  314. Cream puffs. I made them back when I was first starting to learn to cook and bake, but the resulting disaster was enough to scar me. I've never made cream puffs or anything similar since.

  315. Way back before the Internet and after my husband & I and our 1-yr.-old daughter moved from NYC area to the countryside of East Texas, we had lots of culinary adventures, one might say. Of all the things I learned to do, perhaps the most adventurous was making bread from scratch the first time. It was 100% whole wheat flour and (yay!) turned out just fine. I may have left out the oil, but the result was only a little chewy. After that I eventually baked my way through the Bread Winners cookbook. My husband made wine (had his own vineyard) and later tried making making elderberry wine - a success! We would really love to try something from the new ATK cookbook.

  316. I would love to win the cookbook. I haven't tried too many adventurous things at home but I love to cook and am willing try anything.

  317. my husband and I made challah last Thanksgiving - while we're pretty proficient with bread-making - that particular bread seemed more complicated and time-consuming than others!

    thanks for a lovely giveaway!

  318. I'm not much of a cook (thankfully my husband is) but I do want to try marshmallows for the holidays. For me that'll be an adventure and I would love to know how ATK does it!

  319. It may not be the most adventurous thing I've ever tried making, but it was the biggest flop! I tried my hand at home made marshmallows, but I only had an old, cruddy hand mixer to do the whipping. Well, The mix was so thick I ended up burning out the motor! I thought everything would be fine, but the marshmallow ended up taking on the scent of the burned out motor. Yuck!

  320. I tried baking a pumpkin pie... from scratch. No canned stuff for me. I chose to ignore ALL of the signs, and forged ahead. The signs being that I'm not a terrific baker and I had never carved a pumpkin. I gathered all of my ingredients as stated in a recipe book and started scraping the pulp out of a carving pumpkin. I later learned that there are better types of pumpkins for baking AND BETTER ways of removing the shell of the pumpkin. I literally scraped out every ounce of pulp from my pumpkin. My arm hurt for days after the fact. Needless to say, I finished preparing the pulp (boiling, peeling, squeezing out excess water.. you get the picture) and got the pie started. Poured it into the pie crust and put it in the oven. IT SMELLED AWESOME!!!! Once it was time to try it everyone spat it out. I had forgotten to put sugar in the mix. It wasn't salvageable and in the trash it went. Talk about food waste! We still talk about my baking attempt 15 years later and have a GREAT laugh.

  321. Oh I love to be adventurous in the kitchen! I love to can things and cook as much as possible from scratch. Last night I made fruit snacks for the first time, but I'd have to say the most adventurous thing I've made is yogurt. I do it on a regular basis now! I've really been itching to try mozzarella cheese lately.

  322. I have made mayonnaise, and I make yogurt (I don't really think that's adventurous!) this sounds like a cool cookbook!

  324. It doesn't seem very adventurous, but boy did it seem difficult at the time! I made homemade pasta and literally had strands of pasta drying on clotheslines that I had strung in my kitchen. It was delicious, but I may never brave pasta-making again after that experience!

  326. I've tried to make crackers before. I must have gotten a bad recipe though because they came out hard as rocks. I need this cookbook!

  327. Ohmygosh, I want that maple cream!

    Why does my mind always go blank when I'm trying to think of an answer to a question like this? I can't think of anything particularly adventurous, but I am proud that I've kept my sourdough starter going for about 6 years now.

  328. Homemade tamales (lots of work) , summer sausage from venison, fresh semolina pasta (with a pasta roller) and country pate . My northern friends think my crawfish pie is adventurous to eat.

  329. I've made yogurt and all sorts of home canned goods. Those aren't too adventurous, but they sure taste good.

  331. Oddly enough, for me it is home made bread. I have tried it and it NEVER turns out. But I can make almost anything else. I think the sky will fall if I ever get my bread to rise.

  332. For a special birthday meal, I made spaghetti and meatballs from scratch, by grinding the meat for the meatballs, simmering a homemade sauce and making the pasta dough in the food processor.
    It was a delicious meal, but took me literally all day to do!

  333. I'm not an adventurous cook 🙁 but my retired father is and I'd love to give him this for Christmas!

  336. Pad thai from scratch. It took lots of ingredients and a lot of work, but it was delicious! However, it's a lot easier to go around the corner to my favorite Thai restaurant.

  337. toffee probably (I've never failed at something made with real ingredients and my husband eats what I put in front of him!)

  338. I am not very adventurous, but did make a "pesto spaghetti" once for company and substituted the spaghetti with zucchini noodles and my company didn't even know!

  339. I think either Beef Wellington which came out horribly or marshmallows which came out wonderfully would be my 2 most adventurous things!

  340. Looks awesome. Would love to get more ideas on stuff to make. Recently have made in my dehydrator: dog treats (dried sweet potatoes), jerky, and dried tomatoes. Also enjoying making my own dips - they're so easy and delicious.

  341. I'm afraid granola and canned salsa are about as adventurous as I usually get, but I want to branch out. =)

  342. I make my own ice cream and kimchi regularly. Maybe I should try out a kimchi-flavored ice cream next!

  343. I am currently making some vanilla extract. This cookbook sounds amazing. If I don't win I will definitely be adding it to my wish list!

  344. I would LOVE this book to become more adventurous!! I really like to find ways to make things at home from scratch, versus wasting money on over-priced unhealthy store bought junk! So far I've tried a few kinds of sausage, and bologna which turned out more like salami. Next up...crackers!!

  345. What a great idea for a book! I make lots of things by scratch.... canning, jams, pasta, breads, candy. I would love to learn how to make dairy items like butter, cheese, yogurt from scratch.

  346. My new lifestyle will work best if I can cook in the summer and fall to fill the freezer and pantry in my RV for easier meal making during the winter. I suspect this cookbook would help me do that.

  347. I really, really, really want this! And next week is my birthday, so I think I should win. 🙂 I made applesauce yesterday, but that really isn't adventurous. I made feta with a friend and that was awesome. Beginning in June when our berry season starts I've canned around 100 pints of various things, mostly jams. I love DIY!

  349. Adventurous cooking? Count me in! I'm not sure what does and does not count as adventurous, but let's see: cow tongue, self-cured bacon, home made wine.... I could go on.

  350. Oh, that homemade Magic Shell looks awesome!

    I'm on a journey to tighten up my budget, so I have a feeling I'll be making more things from scratch than I used to. I need this book!

  351. I tried to make chocolate truffles similar to ones I had tried at a party - moist chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ganache, covered in chocolate. It did not go well. However, my husband and I make homemade refried beans from dry beans all the time and it works out wonderfully!

  352. I can't think of anything too adventurous that we've tried, but I've been dying to try making marshmallows! So, it is possible. 😉
    Thanks for the chance at trying some of these really fun recipes!

  353. I'm working on making cheese - I've made some in classes, and I made mozzarella at home. A little chewy but not bad. Also I can - I have a lot of apple and pear butter in the pantry. I'd love to learn more - jerky and sausage (which I've also made in a class) and so on.

  354. The most adventurous thing I've made from scratch would be laundry soap. It smells good and works great! The only time I messed up is when I tried to melt soap on the range without adding water (forgot). The soap scorched and filled the house with smoke. But I learned! 🙂

  355. Love CI and would love this cookbook! The most adventurous I've been is canning homemade tomato sauce with my mother-in-law. It is so yummy and the store bought stuff just can't compare!

  356. I have tried to make dried fruit from scratch, but it still hasn't worked out for me. It's supposed to be like fruit roll-ups that you buy in the store. I may have had my oven too warm, b/c the next morning when it should have been finished, it just smelled burnt. This is not the "Most Adventurous" of recipes, but I was excited to try them.

  358. It's not so adventurous, but one of the most delicious is homemade beef stock, made from soup bones from our 1/2 cow purchase. It's so good!

  360. I am not an adventurous cook but I am learning how to make more and more things for myself! Pasta and marshmallows are up next on my list! I keep on trying to make peanut butter but for some reason, it's just not very good.

  361. The most adventurous thing? probably the candied orange rinds. I used clementine and regular orange rinds. Hard to get all the pith off the clementine rinds without messing up the rind itself. Lot of work, they didn't last long. this would be a 'special' kind of thing to make!

  362. I love trying to make things myself. I can't think of one specific thing that is adventurous. Most people love the cinnamon rolls and granola I make. I woulda e to try my hand at a few other things.

  363. I would love to receive this book. Also I am going to try and make Banh Mi sandwiches tonight!

  364. So I'm working on becoming an adventurous cook! would love this book to expand my abilities! 🙂

  365. Homemade english muffins, many years ago, was a successful adventure for me, along with yogurt, jerky, canned salsa. I'm ready for some new adventures and would love this cookbook to help me!

  366. So funny that you posted this today. Today I am trying to make coffee creamers... you know out of real cream (instead of chemicals). I really LOVE peppermint mocha especially in November and December 🙂 Today's attempt came out pretty good! Next up will be a Pumpkin spice creamer.

    Other DIY recipe's I've done have included (some have worked and some have failed): barbecue sauce, Buffalo wing sauce, pizza sauce, chocolate syrup, hot chocolate mix, pralines, peppermint bark, & Almond Toffee. So this cookbook is right up my alley!

  367. Hi Kristen,

    I would love to win this cookbook. I have been a fan of America's Test Kitchen for a long time. I used to watch it on PBS in California years ago.

    Thanks for the opportunity!

    Sandy
    P.S. I really enjoy reading your blog : )

  369. I love to try to make new things - bagels, yogurt (using your instructions!), croutons, hummus, bread, and I'm hoping to get a meat grinder for Christmas!

  370. I am not a great cook, and I tend to mess up everything that I make. A cookbook like this sounds just like what I need!

  371. my husband is the cook in our family and he is very adventurous! he whips up all kinds of things. i love baking and while not adventurous, there are these cut out cookies with homemade icing that always take me two days to complete! we both love ATK, so it would be super fun to get our hands on the book!

  372. I am always experimenting with new recipes on family and friends, probably when September rolls around I probably try one to two new recipes a week. My most trying recipe which I am still trying to perfect is my grandmothers/mothers Potato Candy which they made every Thanksgiving and Christmas. The hardest part is that both my grandmother and mother have passed and none of my Aunts really make it. So its been trial and error but I am getting close! Hopefully this year will be the ticket! Thanks for a wonderful blog!

  373. I have made summer sausage before. Lots of peasant foods! I love me some ATK and would love the cookbook. So, please, hit me up random.org. Hit 386!

  374. I've made marshmallows, which sounded scary, but weren't too bad. Probably the most complicated was a butterscotch budino, multi-day recipe.

  375. This year i started canning the veggies from my garden. most recently ny dad and I made over 48 quarts of green tomato salsa. It was delish and the perfect way to use up those pounds and pounds of unripe tomatoes!

  376. I'd really like to make pasta from scratch. and this book sounds really cool I'd love to win it!

  377. I always make my own granola. So good! I have made crackers before, but you had me with the homemade Thin Mints! Must try! Thanks for sharing.

  378. My husband made homemade bacon earlier this year.... interesting, is all I can say. And if I win the book, it's going to be his birthday present later this month. I think the most interesting thing I've made from scratch isn't all that interesting - lots of jam, and of course butter back in the day. We make lots of our own bread, and pie, too.

  379. Looks like a great cookbook! This would probably not be considered "adventurous" by many but I make Agarita Jelly in the summers when the weather cooperates and we have a good crop of Agarita berries here on our ranch. The adventure is fighting the mosquitoes, prickly pears, sharp Agarita leaves and hours in the miserable Texas summer heat to harvest them. I open an umbrella and hold it upside-down under the branches that I'm harvesting from, hold the end of the branch with pliers and hit the branch with a dowel or stick to get the berries to fall off into the opened umbrella. If you can picture that, you can see that it takes more than two hands so I'm usually trying to hold the umbrella in place with my legs. All this while wearing thick leather gloves and watching for snakes! I'm usually praying for a breeze and hoping that I don't get a gust of wind catching my umbrella and causing precious berries to spill. Then the misery of cleaning, sorting, debugging, cooking and processing the jelly. I go to all of this trouble because the jelly is awesome!

  380. I'd love to try and make jerky. My Mom and Dad used to make a spicy moose jerky. I just had a friend come back from a successful hunt. I'll turn their hunting adventure into a cooking adventure for me! 🙂

  381. Oh, I'd LOVE this cookbook. Pick me! 🙂

    The most adventurous thing I've ever tried must have been making biltong, the South African equivalent (sort-of) of beef jerky.

  382. I made cinnamon rolls once while camping. They were the most delicious cinnamon rolls I've ever tasted, but I don't know if that was because they were good or because it was 30 degrees out!

  383. I don't think I'm adventurous, but I have made jam, yogurt in my crockpot, full sour pickles (i still have some left in the frig from summer,) and a summer sausage. I have to agree -- it's so much cheaper to make than to buy. Sometimes even if I were willing to spend the $, I couldn't find what I was looking for, case in point -- the full sour pickles.

    This weekend I'm going to try an "easy" pie crust recipe I found in a mag. Hope it works.

  384. I guess I'm not that adventurous, making my own pizza dough (inspired by this blog!) is probably my most adventurous attempt. I've made it several times and its been better each time!

  385. I haven't been very adventurous so far but would love to learn some new DIY tips, tricks and recipes. Thanks!

  386. Souffles, butter, yeast bread (you inspired me Kristen), pickles, jams, jellies.

    My son LOVES beef jerky and my wallet and concern about chemicals would LOVE to learn how to DIY : )

    Thanks for another great giveaway.

  389. I've made hot pepper jelly! That's def the most complicated recipe/process I've attempted to date!

  390. Looks like a great book! Some people might not consider this very adventurous, but I've recently started cooking with venison, like venison steaks and deer chili.

  391. Are you sure you don't want to try cured meats? They're delicious! I've made sopresatta, dry Italian sausage, and capicola. My dad and I have even talked about constructing a prosciutto press so we could make that too!

    If that isn't adventurous enough, I love using the old-school Italian method of preserving veggies: a good salt cure, followed by a vinegar soak, and then being stored in olive oil. It's a great way to use up all those green tomatoes at the end of a summer season or a bumper crop of hot peppers! Yum! 🙂

  392. My dad and I like to make things from scratch together all the time. Now that I live farther away from home it's even more fun to spend time with him making yummy treats. Our last cooking adventure included: ginger beer, crunchy lentils, mustard, strawberry soda and orange vodka.

    In college I attempted to make marshmallows but that was an awful failure. I would love to try them again now that I have a two year old who would really enjoy them.

  393. I would say the most adventurous thing I've ever done in the kitchen ... would have to be when I made Creme Fraiche (I pronouce it Cream Freeche like Randy Marsh on South Park.) There's just something unnatural about having cream out at room temperature for a few days.

    I really want to DIY Ritz crackers. I love the little things but Nabisco is on my boycott list and store brand ones taste nasty.

  395. The most adventurous thing that I tried to make was croquembouche. -- With the tower of cream-filled profiteroles with caramel threads around it. It was interesting, and quite a bit of work!

  396. The most adventurous thing I have ever tried to make myself is not that adventurous. It is more like facing a fear. I learned to make 100% whole wheat bread. My first fear was any recpe that had yeast in it. I would run. The second fear was 100% whole wheat. To me that was one step above a brick in texture and weight.

  398. I tried once to make medieval style rose petal pudding.... Did not turn out so hot when I decided to triple the recipe 🙂

  400. I refer to America's Test Kitchen as my personal perfect cooking therapy!
    Never a bad recipe! DIY-- looks like recipes I would
    Never have the nerve to try...til now!

  401. What a great giveaway! We'd really like to have this cookbook, too, please.

    Thanks for entering us. 🙂

  402. I've always wanted to make my own X, and it sounds like the recipe to do so will be in this book!

  404. I love that these recipes are for things I 've always bought and now could make myself... marshmallows - YUM!

  405. I think marshmallows were my most adventurous item to attempt. It was complicated by the fact that I live at high altitude and the boiling point is different. Second try was okay, but it's not something I'll try again. 🙂

  406. I love America's Test Kitchen and their cookbooks! Not a very adventurous cook yet, but I'm working on it!

  409. My kids will tell you that everything I cook is adventurous - but the most adventurous thing was a chestnut soup I made this fall. The house we moved to has two chestnut trees and I was determined to make something from the nuts. After we harvested, shelled, boiled and pureed them, I thought the kids would love it (it had bacon in it after all!). Uhm, wrong! Only the 2 year old and the hubs and I liked it. Oh well - there is always next years harvest!

  410. All the salsas, chutneys, and jalapeno jelly I've tried to make with fresh peppers. Almost all of which were too hot or wayyyy too mild. Fresh peppers are dang mysterious... Doesn't stop me from trying, by the way!!

  412. I'm going to say yogurt, even though you make it yourself all the time. Probably doesn't seem that adventurous to you!

  413. I have made lots of things from scratch jelly included I love to try new things and would love to have this cookbook.

  414. Sounds great! I love making marshmallows and homemade speciality coffee copycats (peppermint mocha, salted Carmel latte, pumpkin spice coffee!)

  415. My friend just gave me some rendered pork fat (aka, homemade lard) - and has inspired my own kitchen adventures even more - much like this cookbook would, I'm sure!

  416. I, too, love ATK cookbooks. This would be a great addition to my collection. My latest "tries" have been coconut oil chocolates and Elderberry syrup. THanks for the opportunity!

  417. 6 layer birthday cake, which was more like the leaning tower of Pisa....it did not end well!

  418. When I was just learning to cooked I tried to make chicken and dumplings.
    Turned out awful and my husband requested that I never attempt them again. LOL

  419. My brother is studying to be a chef so he challenges me to make new things. We've made homemade gnocchi, dulche de leche cheesecake, and many others.

  420. Ok so i am not really that adventurous. I have only just started making my own. And I love easy no brainer stuff. So far mayo and butter in the food processor and ketchup on the stove. And occasionally some bread. Would love to see what else is out there for me to try

  422. I have a delicious pancake recipe, I love to make pancakes from scratch. And your challah recipe!

  424. I cannot remember the most adventurous thing I ever tried to make, but I am sorry to say I'm sure it was a disaster! Would love to win this book though.....

  425. I haven't (yet) made much from scratch, but the most adventurous I've been in the kitchen is cooking a whole turkey last year for Thanksgiving. I'd love to win this book and learn more! 🙂

  426. I would love to try the cured meat recipes in this cookbook. However, everytime I hit submit I get the ugly "...cannot display the web page...". Hopefully I haven't submitted 3 times! Frying rattlesnake is my most adventurous thing to ever try.

  427. I just started making kombucha.I think that is very adventurous. I make yogurt and bread but that's ot really adventurous. I would love to win this book. Thanks.

  428. I'd love to be a more adventurous cook! I tried to make homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. They turned out okay...not the same really but thats probably because they are healthier (as in less chemicals) and my taste buds are used to unhealthy stuff!

  429. Unfortunately I don't get a lot of time to cook as much as I'd like, I really love to "master" great everyday dishes in from-scratch recipes. I don't know how adventurous it may be considered, but I'm definitely most proud of my chocolate cake with homemade frosting. My family and friends request it all the time!!

  432. I really want to win this cookbook for my friend/co-worker who is a single dad that cooks & bakes from scratch (maybe he'll even let me look at it). In fact, he just brought us BBQ pulled pork sandwiches on HOMEMADE buns for lunch today; so TASTY!!

  433. Hello Frugal Girl! I am in a cooking rut and my family craves adventure for their palates. As for me, I am so excited about this amazing cookbook with pictures and simple directions. I would be thrilled to win this cookbook, but I am very happy that one Frugal Girl follower will!

  434. I've made bagels from scratch before, which was rather time consuming, and my family likes to make donuts from scratch on Christmas Eve.

  435. Sadly, I think the most adventurous I've gotten was homemade mac and cheese. Maybe this book would help!!

  436. I love trying new recipes! I also love America's Test Kitchen! I love to watch their shows on public television and truly read their cookbooks I have checked out of the library. I want to understand why recipes work and how to make the best dishes. They truly are trustworthy recipes!

    The most adventurous thing that I've made it squirrel pot pie. I grew up on dishes like this but decided as a teenager, that I would NEVER make wild game dishes. (I also decided I would not garden or can/preserve my own food.) However, I'm happy to say that I have since turned from my teenage thoughts and LOVE having a garden and canning/preserving foods AND eating wild game! 🙂

  437. Adventurous cooking only extends as far as what all 5 of us will eat - as you can imagine, with 5 varied tastes, that's somewhat limited. But I'm hopeful!

  438. We made marshmallows last year. Added a hint of peppermint to about 1/2 the batch and they were wonderful in hot cocoa!

  439. I don't think I'm that adventurous, but people are very impressed when I grind my own meat for hamburgers. I've also made my own pasta, bagels, yogurt, and refrigerator pickles, but I don't do it all the time.
    I would love to try making beef jerky, and I'd like to try a new granola recipe. And it would be great to make cheese!

  440. Hubby and I made bagels one time- they were good but I'm still on the fence about whether they were worth it or not.

  441. I'm not really an adventurous cook (or eater), but when I was younger I made some sauces from Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." For me, that was adventure! (I'd love to have the "d.i.y. cookbook.") I also love to make apple butter, if that counts.

  442. The most adventurous thing I have made has been yogurt, which I am still trying to get the hang of! 🙂 Would love to try more DIY recipes though!!

  443. One time I tried to make a grape-jelly torte from scratch, using concord grapes from the farmer's market. It sounds so romantic until the jelly is too tart and so hard you have to chew it like a gummy bear.

  444. I'm not sure I've ever made anything super adventurous from scratch, but I have tried homemade Snickers bars, laundry detergent, brown sugar, and hope to be trying vanilla from scratch soon. 🙂 Love ATK!

  445. Sourdough bread which look strange but tasted great. I love to make new dishes & take them to potlucks, so everyone can share in the good or bad.

  446. We hot smoke our own salmon and then make dip out of it for Christmas presents, delivered along with small loaves of beer bread. Would love the book too!

  447. As far as this kind of thing goes, I would say the most adventurous I've gotten is freezer jam (inspired by you!) and fridge pickles. I've been dying to try cheesemaking though!

  448. Gnocchi from scratch was my most adventurous, laborious. It was so worth it.

    Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!

  450. Cheesecake. It cracks every time, but it's always creamy and delicious. And my family always loves it. 🙂

  451. At one time my kids and I lived in MO and had livestock. We raised pigs to hogs and then butchered them with the help of some neighbors. I think we used almost everything but the squeal! We made our own headcheese, lard, and sausage from scraps. Our friends liked pickled pigs feet and I was happy to oblige!

  452. I never learned to cook when I was younger, so I'm working on it on my own now...learning slowly, but surely. Pictures help. LOL 🙂

  453. We make a lot of things from scratch. The most adventurous of the edible things is maple syrup, which requires the tapping, collecting, and boiling of a LOT of maple sap. Or maybe the rendered beef fat for cooking tallow is more adventurous.

    Most adventurous non-food thing was extracting lanolin from sheep's wool. It didn't work and it ruined a pot that now smells like dirty sheep wool forever more. Gross.

  454. I'll make just about anything, but the best thing I made this year were whole wheat sandwich thins. So good, so easy, and so much better (and cheaper) than the ones in the store.

  457. I think maybe just artisan bread or greek yogurt. I'm not that much of a risk taker 🙂 I have made a chocolate shell for ice cream as pictured on one of those pages - it just wasn't from scratch 😉

  458. Hmm, not as adventurous as some...probably Mexican gorditas with poblanos and cheese filling. Effort-intensive, but super tasty! I'd love to try other items!

  460. I'm not particularly adventurous as a cook but I do like trying new recipes. And I would love to win the book!

  461. The most adventurous thing I have ever made from scratch was this: My husband is from the Philippines, and shortly after we got married I made his favorite dish for him when he came back from deployment - dinuguan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinuguan). It is a pork stew made with pork blood and pork liver. This from a girl that *never* eats anything that is not a muscle on an animal. The smell made me so ill that I couldn't sit in the room with him while he ate it. He said it was good though. 🙂

  463. I trying to be better about making more food items from scratch. The adventure begins for me when I venture into the dog treat arena. My dogs also like the adventure as well. Thanks so much for your blog. Your are an inspiration!

  464. I can't think of anything adventurous at that the moment, but I would love the cookbook to try something different.

  466. Not adventerous, but I make my own vanilla paste. Its better and cheaper than the paste you can buy at the store.

  467. I can't think of anything really adventurous that I made from scratch, but the one thing that comes to mind is jello - because I didn't think it turned out too well. Thanks for the giveaway!

  468. I recently tried making my own freezer jam and it turned out alot easier than I thought it would be. Would love to win this book!

  469. I think the most adventurous thing I have tried is bagels. I love to eat them but they can be a little to pricey because if you give this girl a bagel she'll probably ask for some cream cheese! 🙂

  471. I'm not too adventurous in the kitchen, but when I first made cinnamon rolls, that was adventurous to me. I aspire to try croissants, but am just not there yet 🙂 A cookbook like this might make me all the more adventurous.

  481. Adventurous? Hm. I have two projects in different stages of readiness (roasted soynuts and whole-wheat pitas) but haven't actually done them yet. But I'd like to have this book!

  482. I would love this book! If I don't win, I'm adding this one to the top of my Christmas wish list!

    Most adventurous thing I've made by myself: blackberry jam, waterbath canned, from berries I picked along a bike trail near our apartment

    Most adventurous things I've made with my parents and siblings: bagels, sausage in a natural casing (started with a huge chunk of raw pork), English muffins, ravioli (including the pasta), beef wellington

    Thing I most want to make: Cheese! Especially mozzarella - it's reputed to be fairly simple, and we use a ton!

  483. I have bottled meat and fish. Also have made jerky and smoked fish. I would love this book. Thanks for the giveaway.

  484. Hmm... most adventurous DIY food? Probably mascarpone cheese because it takes a lot of faith that leaving milk out overnight at room temperature will yield good results. It's counteracting a lifetime of "keep milk refrigerated" - but it works surprisingly well.

  487. I have ate adventurous things but have not cooked them personally. But I would love to learn how to cure meats!

  488. We love Middle Eastern food. So, I have tried some of their dishes such as the cabbage rolls with lemon and garlic sauce, lebonae, grape leaves ect. I would love this book to try the beef jerky and many of the other recipes you mentioned!

  489. I made ranch dressing tonight out of greek yogurt, sour cream, 2% milk and various spices. (I think I used creole seasoning, black pepper, garlic powder, oregano, cilantro and thyme, might have added a couple more.) It's something I've never tried before, but it worked out amazingly well! My kids loved it, and want me to stop buying ranch dressing now. 🙂

  490. Growing up my parents owned a restaurant. They used to order croissants but since they were so expensive my Dad learned how to make our own croissants by trial and error. He bought and old sheeter and finally mastered the flaky croissant. I wish I hadn't been such a know-it-all teenager and picked up more tips.

  491. I tried making phyllo dough... emphasis on the tried. What a mess... but a fun attempt!

  492. The most adventurous things I've made in the kitchen would probably be yogurt and marshmallows. So fun to learn to make things that people usually think you can only get in the store. I want this cookbook...I NEED to have it!!!

  493. Homemade cottage cheese is the most adventurous I've gotten so far. It was fine for lasagna, but not so great by itself! The cookbook would be fun to utilize!

  494. I'm not the spicy kind so making red pepper jelly and adding some 'heat' to it was pretty adventurous for me 🙂 I did make marshmallows several years ago as well, and although not difficult, I do remember beating them 'forever'. Thanks for the chance to win the cookbook!

  495. It is an adventure to cook a turkey in my little apartment oven. The smoke alarm goes off every time!

    1. Sauerkraut and kefir. The kefir did not make a command performance, but the sauerkraut was great and so easy.

  496. My mom and I made cheese once. It turned out really great. I'd love this cookbook so that I could try MORE cheese!

  497. That cookbook looks amazing and I would love it, maybe I can talk my local library into buying a copy, since I don't live in the US.

    But anyway the most adventurous things I have made are lacto-fermented - pickles, carrots, cauliflower, salsa. I get nervous every time I ferment something because I worry it will lead to food waste (and the orange juice I tried to lacto-ferment did fail this week), but mostly they've turned out great and I eat probiotic-rich fermented food nearly every day.

  499. Crackers. I'm not sure that counts, I've made so many things from scratch over the years, I don't think of them as adventurous, just work 🙂

  500. I tried making mincemeat which I love but is so expensive to buy. It turned out very well.

  503. The most adventurous thing I've ever tried to make was my own curried soup. It turned out diasterously. Oh, well.

  504. I know this isn't adventurous for you anymore, Kristen, but I tried making yogurt for the first time the other day. Unfortunately, I didn't know not to use UHT organic milk. Well, now I know. :-/ Happily, I baked a batch of your sweet corn muffins with the not-quite-yogurt, not-quite-milk mixture, and they came out great!

  505. I made some kind of crazy ice cream once that turned out great! It had cracker crumbles and marshmallows and fudge all mixed in.

  507. I am a huge ATK fan. I just recently made a Burnt Almond Cake from scratch...5 hrs later it was complete...and worth every minute. My most adventurous is cooking Medieval feasts for 70-100 people every 6 weeks or so.

    Thanks,
    Theresa

  508. I am racking my brain and I think Pecan praline ,cashew brittle and marshmallows have been the most adventurous since going beyond the correct temperature can happen in seconds. If I don't win I will be asking Santa for this book.

  509. I made homemade pumpkin pie last weekend for the first time. I wanted to give it a whirl before the holidays to make sure I could do it. It was actually a success!

  516. The most adventurous thing that I have tried to cook would probably have been cooking cactus fruit onto jelly.

  517. I've made plum brandy. An dI really want to try home made marshmallows. Yours look delicious!

  518. i make different breads and vegetarian meats.2 people in my family are vegetarian so i just adapt most recipes.

  520. I am just starting to learn to cook so no processed foods in this house. I need help to cook so many things... Better late learning than never...

  521. I think the most adventurous this that I have tried to make was Balsamic Red Onion Jam and boy was it wonderful!!!

  522. I've made my own granola bars and once even made my own cream of chicken soup to use in a casserole.

    1. Forgot to mention my most adventurous making was when I grilled steak for the first time...outside, on the big boy grill! Never did that till just this past summer!

  526. I am not an adventurous cook, but love America's Test Kitchen. I would love to have this book. Used their recipe for Chicken wings using corn starch and was amazed at how crispy they were.

    1. OK . . . I think this one better win. I have never heard of making sherbet out of breastmilk before!

  529. Hi there!! The most adventurous thing I've tried to make from scratch was homemade yogurt from your site!!!! People thought I was crazy, but it did turn out YUMMY!!! Love your blog!

  530. I've tried lots of things over the years, but my biggest flop was feta cheese. It was awful! I love America's Test Kitchen, I'd love to see their recipes!

  532. ALthough I am not too adventurous, I always have to make my mom's spaghetti sauce and homemade applesauce. I would really like this book so I can try more DIY things! Thank you!

  533. I've eliminated the processed high sodium cream of"x" soups in all recipes by making my own cream sauce using butter, flour, milk and chicken stock. A great recipe for this is on the All Recipes site for Chicken and Biscuits, a home style chicken pot pie recipe. The sauce they make is about the equivalent of a can of cream soup and substitutes great in any recipe I've tried. This sauce also makes a good cheese version where you add shredded cheddar instead of chicke stock at the end; you can use it for macaroni and cheese or casseroles calling for broccoli cheese soup.

  534. This cookbook looks delightful! The most adventurous thing I have made is marshmallow peeps. (Martha Stewart made it look so easy!) Making the marshmallow to pipe into peeps was not the problem . . . it was getting the marshmallow to separate from the piping bag that was the real challenge. Out of about 50 piped peeps, about 3 actually looked like cute little chicks when I was finished. However, whether cute or deformed, they were delicious!

  535. I made Red Velvet cupcakes once, using a recipe that called for grated beets. I was extra careful to not stain anything with the juice. They turned out pretty well.

  536. I love CI - most adventurous was their peanut soup. Not difficult at all, just not our normal fair. Would love the ATK d.i.y. cookbook. Been looking at it for a little while now 🙂

  537. I've made my own breakfast sausage before which was fun. But I'd have to say that when I made my own crackers for the first time, I felt so accomplished and was shocked at how easy it was!

  538. My husband would LOVE this. We both enjoy cooking, but he's definitely the experimenter. Frugal Christmas present, perhaps?

  540. I made graham crackers for nephews once. I was surprised at how well they turned out and weren't awfully difficult. I have made jelly rolls with rice flour that too was much better than expected. I would love the cookbook.

  541. I once tried to make my own suet for the birds. That was a messy, greasy adventure and the birds turned up their noses at it. Now I buy my suet and the birds are very appreciative.

  542. If I win the book, I promise to try your yogurt recipes even though all my friends think I am crazy for even thinking about it. 🙂

  543. I tried to make this three day, multi step dark bread. It was delicious, but I never made it since

  544. Venison Jerky...my husband loves it(and now my son)...and it turns out great since we got a "jerky" gun and dehyrator (thanks to my sister for a Christmas gift). I think of making stuff from scratch all the time...but never have the time to look up the recipes! This book would be great in our house!

  546. The most adventurous thing we do is home brew our own beer. It's something fun to do together and very frugal.

  549. I haven't made anything too crazy...yet. I like cooking and being able to tweak things to exactly what I want. I'm planning on broadening my cooking horizons here in the near future and this would be an awesome addition!

  550. I have made tons of beef jerkey, jam, and other things but I am dying to try to make marshmallows for winter hot chocolate drinking.

  551. The most adventurous thing I ever tried to make was processed American cheese. I wanted a grilled cheese, and didn't want to go to the grocery store. I wanted gooey grilled cheese, not the grainy kind you get from real cheddar. But all I had was real cheddar. I made kind of a roux (I can't remember if I used a bit of cornstarch in there or not), added grated cheddar and a bit of salt. I tasted it and it was...lacking something. So in a stroke of brilliance I added either a dab of soy or Worcestershire sauce. Again my memory fails. It was delicious, but I've never made it since, because I am lazy. The end.

  552. Not very glamorous but I have made tortillas from scratch! I would love to have this cookbook!

  554. I have made a ton of different things from scratch, but I am not sure any of them qualify as adventurous. Most recently, I made menudo and tamales.

  556. This looks like a really great book; I'd love to win it!!

    The most recent adventure I've done was a German Chocolate cake. Instead of using the easy cake mix and can of pre-made coconut/pecan stuff, we followed a recipe with about a thousand steps and it was delicious. I took it to work and someone said "That's not German Chocolate" because we had put chocolate buttercream on the sides and the coconut stuff only on the top and in between the layers. Haters gonna hate, but that cake was delicious.

  558. I am always looking for how to make a healthier homecook version of foods from our favorite eating joints or those already prepared in stores. This cookbook would really help in my meal prep and put some more adventure in my cooking.

    thank you for offering it.

  559. Hmm I haven't made much that is adventurous...chicken stock, bread, granola...boring things! Would love to win the book though!

  560. Last Sunday our church had a Heritage Potluck, we were to bring a dish that was from our heritage. My husband got really excited about this as he has been wanting me to make Wine bread (Croatian Dessert) for a long time. I've been avoiding making this because it intimidated me, new recipes sometimes do that. I didn't think it would taste like it did when he was growing up. But as to my surprise they turned out wonderfully. It made four total, we made two filled with strawberry, one blueberry and one cherry. Everyone loved them, we brought home a empty plate. Trying new recipes can really be adventurous that's what I love about cooking and baking.

  561. Yogurt. One big curdled mess. My husband made me promise to never try to make yogurt again. Ever.

  562. Adventurous?

    Probably Tomato Juice and Spaghetti Sauce. It's an all year long adventure, planting, growing, then the canning process. My husband and dad battle for the best tomato juice- it's different every time!

  563. The most adventurous thing I have done this summer is make my own Peach Preserves. Also my hubby got me a meat grinder, so now we make our own ground meats for russian meat patties "Kotleti". I would love to learn how to make ricotta cheese, it's next on my "adventurous cooking" list:)

  564. I love to make assorted food items with my 4 year old, we have a great time making a big mess in our kitchen and its a great way to spend the afternoon. This book would give us so many more ideas to share the kitchen and our time together. Thanks for all you do!!!

  565. Maybe English muffins? They were good, although they didn't taste exactly like the name-brand that I adore, so I haven't decided if it's something I'll make regularly.

  566. I don't think I've ever cooked something very adventurous, but I'm still learning. I made a chicken alfredo bake once, does that count?

  568. I make caramel apples from scratch every year. It's always an adventure with 3 sets of little hands helping in the kitchen. I would love a copy of this cookbook - it looks gorgeous!

  572. My most adventurous cooking attempt to date has been whole grain bagels from scratch - so much work but so delicious!

  574. I am quite possible an even bigger fan than you, mostly because I'm older, lol. Anyway, I would love to win this book! I have to say the most adventerous thing I made might be flat bread, pita's and ricotta cheese.

    Thank you!

  576. Can't say I've been adventurous in cooking, but this book would definitely make me be! Great giveaway!

  577. This past Christmas I finally got a food processor. I made a kale pesto with toasted almonds.

  579. I'm from Alabama so I had to try the traditional home-made chicken and dumplings. It was ok but I sure wish I had someone telling me, "Yes, it's supposed to look like that." or, "No, that's way too watery."

  580. The most adventerous thing I've ever made was a four layer cake, using my regular pair of 9" rounds I attempted to cut each round in half. I didn't have the proper tool for the job, and to be honest, it didn't go well. 🙁

  581. I am not an adventurous cook (ok, I am not a cook at all), but my husband made from-scratch aioli just this morning. He would love to have this cookbook -- er, maybe it's that *I* would love for him to have this cookbook! (The aioli was yummy!)

  582. I'm not too adventurous...I've canned a few easy things, like making pickles. I need to get braver with the canning.

  583. The most adventurous thing I have made is hot pepper relish but would love this cookbook to get more adventure in my life.

  588. Most adventurous...potato soup as a newlywed, turned out awful!! Also homemade crockpot yogurt is my most recent. Thanks for the opportunity to win the cookbook!

  591. the most adventurous thing i've ever made was candied grapefruit peel. it was yummy. i also make my own yogurt on a very regular basis. i would love to have this cookbook!

  593. I guess my adventures in canning are pretty exciting. Pepper jelly was a winner! Also I made peach honey just using the skins of my peaches that I would have thrown away! Thank you pickyourown.org.

  594. The most adventurous thing I have ever tried to make from scratch....hmmm...

    I have made turkey jerky several times and my friends love it. I tried ricotta cheese but it didn't turn out quite right. The neufachtel cheese turned out great though. I would have to say the most adventurous successful thing I have made is my homemade zucchinni fruit snacks made from kool aid. My daughter and her friends love them!

  595. I made mozzarella cheese and the yogurt recipe from this site. Not unbelievably adventurous compared to others- but it certainly feels good to be able to say,"I made that!" Tastes pretty good too.

  596. Hmmm. Most adventurous thing I've ever made? I tried making apple jelly from apple peels this fall, but it didn't come out so good. 🙁 The apple butter I made was a much better success!

  597. The craziest thing that I have ever attempted to make was a seven layer cake recipe that I found on pinterest for my boyfriends birthday. All of the frosting and every layer was from scratch. First layer was of brownie, then a layer of Marshmallow frosting, then choc. chip cookie, then chocolate frosting, then a layer of graham crackers, then more chocolate frosting, then another layer of choc. chip cookie, then a layer of marshmallow frosting, then the final brownie layer on top. Then the whole thing is covered in choc frosting... 🙂

  598. I would love to win a copy of this book! I seem to be far more adventurous in my mind than in real life because the most exciting think I could think of that I've made from scratch is cream cheese and yeasted rolls...oh! and preserved lemons. There, that's adventurous... 🙂

  599. Hmm...I don't know if I've really made anything truly adventurous...but am learning that with a little practice most things I tend to think I have to buy are more delicious homemade--such as soft pretzels or egg rolls or tomato soup.

  600. Well - I'm not sure about the most adventurous thing I've made from scratch. I love to can, I make bread, I have yet to try yogurt but I want to try it and cheese. I love the America's test kitchen cookbook that I have and I know this one would provide many wonderful hours of fun experimenting (and eating!).

  601. I've attempted jelly and relish...(my relish needs some touches but jelly was great!) I love cooking from scratch but need a base recipe to guide me and eventually add my own touch. I would love this book, definitaly peeks my interest. Seems this book has some great ideas!

  602. I like to make bread from scratch, which seems to be an ever evolving process so I get good loaves and bad. I also tried to make macaroons one time but couldn't get the egg whites fluffy enough. I just ended up with coconut mush, yuck! Thanks for the book give away!

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