Cookbook Giveaway: Dollars To Donuts

I recently had the chance to review:  Dollars to Donuts: Comfort Food and Kitchen Wisdom from Route 66′s Landmark Rock Cafe, by Dawn Welch.  Frankly, I hadn’t heard of this book before the publishers contacted me so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  When the book arrived, I was instantly intrigued by the cover:  a picture of a delicious-looking flank steak and the words “Save on Grocery Bills”, “Spend Less Time in The Kitchen”, etc.  Sounds great, no?

But my mommy always taught me to never judge a book by its cover….

A quick flip through the book told me that this cookbook would be a home-run in my house.  While I may dream of cooking meals like the ones that I see on Ina & Giada, the reality is, that isn’t how my family likes to eat (and besides – some of those ingredients that they use on those shows are pretty expensive and often hard to find!)

Dollars to Donuts takes the foods that you love and adds just a little bit of flair to them.  While some of the recipes may seem too basic to an experienced cook, there are many many more that aren’t…and plenty of fresh new ideas.  Even better, many Dollars To Donuts recipes are geared towards making restaurant-style foods at home.  You can find plenty of recipes to help you recreate some of your favorite “diner foods”:  chicken fried steak, peanut noodles with tofu & scallions, or even French Onion Soup with Broiled Swiss Caps.  After trying a bunch of recipes (which, incidentally, caused my husband to demand that I do more cookbook reviews), I have to say that the hands-down favorites in our family were the Apple Chops with Whiskey Sauce, the Three Cheese White Lasagna (most white lasagnas call for seafood….this one was beef & pork!), the Spiced Sweet Potato Fries with Dijon Dip and the Bread Pudding with Hot Buttered Rum Sauce.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what, for me at least, separates this cookbook from other “comfort food cookbooks”….and that is the wealth of money-saving information contained in the pages.  Dawn is a big proponent of using up leftovers from one recipe in another, cooking from the pantry, and making freezer-friendly meals.  Almost every page includes a money-saving tip, a way to stretch the meal to another day or a suggestion for a low-cost side dish.  At the end of the book, there are sample menus that you can create using the recipes in the book that will allow you to feed a family of 4 for only $100 per week (more sample menus can be found at www.myd2d.com)

This is one cookbook that I will be pulling out weekly (although Brad keeps pulling it out and leaving it on the counter for me…isn’t he just so helpful?  Or maybe he is afraid that, without this book, I might try to serve him “weird food” again!)

And now – for the giveaway….One of you will win a copy of this book to try these recipes yourself (and seriously – make the Bread Pudding!)

To enter to win (each counts as a separate entry, so leave a separate comment!)

1. Leave a comment letting me know your favorite “diner food” or any recipes that you are looking forward to trying.

2.  Subscribe to my feed via Reader or email subscription to get all of the deals that I post and leave a comment that you have subscribed.  If you already subscribe (thank you!), leave a separate comment letting me know. 

3.  Promote this giveaway.  If you have a blog, write a post about this giveaway and leave a separate comment with a link.  If you don’t have a blog, you can Tweet (and make sure that you are following me on Twitter!) about this giveaway and leave a comment letting me know that!  You can post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook page or favorite forum!  For each one of these that you do, leave a separate comment for another chance to win!

This giveaway will reamin open until 8:00pm on Saturday January 2, 2010  at which time I will pick a winner using random.org and notify the winner by email

Good luck!

Full Disclosure:  Dollars To Donuts provided me with a personal copy of the book as well as another to give away.  The words and experiences are mine.