This book is chock full of delicious recipes that make for wonderful comfort food meals.
Starting with Breakfast - who wouldn't be interested in Upside-Down Pineapple pancakes, or Stuffed French toast? Who wouldn't like to wow their holiday guests with Baked Eggs Napoleon?

Most Americans might turn up their noses at Fruit Cake, but this book has a recipe for Spiced Rum Fruitcake with dried apricots, dried apples, dates, raisins, Craisins, and pecans, made like Monkey Bread. Who would turn that down? Or another variation, also using biscuit dough, Savory Pull-Apart Bread. And these are just found in the first 2 chapters!

Some recipes are from scratch. Some use other ingredients like a cake mix and then jazz it up with creative ingredients.

You'll also find soups and stews, hearty sandwiches, full meals and yummy desserts. and beverages.

A nice addition, and surprise, is a collection of recipes from the author's chef friends. These are out of the ordinary recipes that may have concepts that you've never thought of before.

Each recipe has a beautiful, full color photo. This is a great book for a cook who wants some delicious recipes, both traditional, and creative. Some recipes will remind you of your childhood. Some, you'd never think of on your own.

Easy to read with great photos that inspire you to try the recipes. Many of the recipes aren't familiar to me as they are American, but I can see how they would reminders of times with family and friends.

There are some really delicious recipes in this cookbook that include classic comfort foods! Perfect for everyday meals or hosting others. The instructions are clear and I loved all of the pictures.

Comfort food is an individual thing for most of us, and usually includes childhood favorites, and hearty warming foods that evoke good memories. That said, it is a difficult task to compile a cookbook that represents comfort food that everyone will relate to. Comfort Food Essentials: Over 100 Delicious Recipes for All-Time Favorite Feel-Good Foods (Fox Chapel Publishing) Cozy Cookbook - Banana Bread, Mac and Cheese, Chicken Noodle Soup, Pizza, and More, is a good attempt to present what means comfort to most of us. Wilcox has gathered recipes from many regions, i.e., Minnesota with a tater tot hot dish, American southwest with a taco pizza, southern black-eye peas and ham, etc. Many of the recipes won’t represent comfort to some of us, but are appealing anyway, and many of us will want to make them even though they might not particularly represent comfort.

The recipes are written in the traditional format, with the ingredients listed first, followed by step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow for cooks at any level. Included are beautiful, professional photographs of every recipe, making each dish appear mouthwatering. The author has also added notes at the beginning of each recipe which are helpful and interesting.

All told, this cookbook most likely includes a recipe or two that most of us can relate to and consider comforting.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

The ultimate comfort food cookbook with 100 amazing tasty recipes. Every receipe you can imagine that gives you that warm, soul soothing, yummy in the tummy happiness. Soups, breads, casseroles, pot pies, pizza, delicious deserts, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you name it, it's there. There were a few recipes I haven't had since my own childhood, so this book is being gifted to each of my adult children. Everyone loves southern eats and this book has it.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a great collection. A lot of the recipes I already cook but I will be taking tips from this read.

I appreciate the easy to understand instructions and the layout of the recipes. It’s nice when each recipe provides a picture to help better understand the dish.

This was a collection of very simple recipes that I think can be enjoyed by many.

For those who like their comfort food with a Southern flair…or just plain delicious.

When I first scanned the list of recipes contained in this new cookbook, I didn’t need to read the introduction to realize that the author was Southern. With recipes such as Sausage Gravy, Black-Eyed Peas and Hummingbird Cake alongside more universal comfort foods like Chicken Noodle Soup, Meatloaf and Chili, I got the picture. When shortening as well as lots of butter popped up in the recipes themselves, that sealed the deal. That is by no means a complaint nor a criticism, I just want to explain what this cookbook is (and is not). If you’re looking for healthy, heart-friendly, low-calorie things, this is not the book for you (and since the title lets you know that this is full of recipes for comfort food, you shouldn’t be looking for those attributes here anyway, should you? Although the author does include some general tips on ways to tweak recipes to make them a bit healthier). There are no nutritional values listed (thank goodness!). What you will find are plenty of terrific, relatively easy to prepare recipes (some that even incorporate things like baking mix or canned soup) that will bring back memories of childhood days in your mother or grandmother’s kitchen. There are color photos to give you an idea of how the finished product turns out, and some hints on ways to personalize a recipe to your own taste. It didn’t take me long to start jotting down the recipes I most wanted to try.
I would recommend this cookbook to newer cooks who are looking for some easy to prepare, sure-to-be enjoyed recipes to make for family and/or friends, as well as those who have been searching for a few solid recipes not yet in their repertoire. Author Kim Wilcox owns a restaurant called It’s All So Yummy in Knoxville, TN, and I think its fair to say that should give you an idea of how good these recipes are going to taste. The recipes that called out to me included Momma’s Lemon Cake, Meatloaf Sliders, Ruth’s Cheeseburger Pies - Taco Style, and (oh my) Night at the Movies Ice Cream (trust me on that one!)….if you’re a fan of cooks like Paula Deen and Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman), pick up a copy of Comfort Food Essentials and choose your own must-tries. Bon appétit, y’all! Many thanks to NetGalley and Fox Chapel Publishing for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy in return for my honest review.

Where has this recipe book been all of my life?!?! Sooooo many of my favorite dishes. The instructions were thorough but simple. And I absolutely love being able to see the photos of the finished dishes. I’m not as big of a cook as my husband but I can’t wait to whip all of this up asap!

***Review first posted to Feathered Quill Book Reviews***

Comfort Food Essentials: Over 100 Delicious Recipes for All-Time Favorite Feel-Good Foods
By: Kim Wilcox
Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
Publication Date: October 23, 2023
ISBN: 978-1497103207
Reviewed by: Diana Coyle

Finding a cookbook that has a wide assortment of recipes you want to try can sometimes be a daunting task because there may only be a handful of recipes that might tickle your fancy. Another deciding factor could be what is involved both time-wise in preparation and cooking times. Just how many ingredients you might need to buy could also play a big part in whether you buy a cookbook or not. With Comfort Food Essentials by Kim Wilcox, there are over 100 recipes, so everyone will likely find recipes that interest them. These recipes vary in cooking abilities, from quick and simple recipes to more involved ones that the more seasoned cook might want to try. No matter how seasoned a cook you are, this is one cookbook that covers a wide variety of meals you can make from everyday meals to ones for those special occasions.

This cookbook is broken down into the following sections: Breakfast Favorites; Sweet and Savory Breads; Satisfying Soups; Hearty Sandwiches; Childhood Comforts; Memorable Main Dishes; Delectable Desserts; Beloved Beverages; and Favorites from Chef Friends. Plus, the first chapter offers Tools and Tips to familiarize yourself with before starting on your cooking adventure, and in the back of the book Wilcox included Recipe Conversions to help every reader out. Some things to definitely note when trying to figure out what recipes to make is that each recipe offers easy-to-follow directions, has a gorgeous and tantalizing colored picture to show off the final product, the total cooking time needed, and finally, the yield amount is offered so you can adjust how much you have to make to suit your needs.

While reading through Comfort Food Essentials, two recipes jumped out to try immediately. The first was Upside Down Pineapple Pancakes. One of the big deciding factors was the ingredient list was simple, and so was the making of the food. It contained simple ingredients such as baking mix, milk, pineapple rings, eggs, sugar, vanilla, butter, and Maraschino cherries. Most of the ingredients are things you probably already have in your pantry, although you probably have to buy the pineapples and cherries. The recipe was simple and produced the most delicious Pineapple Pancakes imaginable. I have to admit, I’ve had many types of pancakes throughout the years, but never did I ever think of pineapple ones. This is my new favorite pancake dish!

The second recipe tried was Ultimate Comfort Grilled Cheese. It was another simple one - all I needed was sourdough bread, but that simple change in what bread to use made this grilled cheese go to a whole new level of deliciousness. Plus, part of the recipe states to put the desired number of slices of sourdough bread down in the pan and place the slices of cheese on top of each slice of bread. Then let that sit until the cheese slices melt. After the cheese is nice and melted, it is then that you are to assemble two slices of the sourdough bread together to make a deliciously oozing grilled cheese sandwich. Something as simple as preparing the sandwich differently made it even more delectable. Overall, there are plenty of recipes for every level cook to enjoy in this cookbook, and with the holidays fast approaching, you may just want to cook up a recipe or two to bring to a potluck office party or friend's get-together.

Quill says: If you want to experience a cookbook that will have your mouth watering before you even cook that first delicious meal, then you must look into adding Comfort Food Essentials to your cookbook library!

The food featured in this book had be salivated, which is exactly what I want when I pick up a recipe book like this. Lots of the recipes were American influenced which adds some variety for me not being from there. Easy to follow instructions and not too wordy, just how I like it.

So many memories and traditions wrapped up in this book. An excellent read with tons of rich information. I love reading about the recipient origins and the inspiration behind the recipe. I literally had so many recipes on my wish list right from this book. The recipes are traditional and will create new traditions. Beautiful photography brings the reader up close tho the delicious treats. Perfect chapter titles take you thru every meal course and beyond.

This book had lots of amazing recipes that will add to my autumn and winter cooking as that is the time I look to make comfort food the most.

This cooking book is great if you are looking for easy, good old fashion American comfort food recipes. My favorite part was the desserts section. Perhaps this book may not be for you if are already an advanced cook.

These are the recipes you steal from your Grandma when you move out of the house. Pot roast. Homemade Ice cream. Chocolate chip cookies.

The photos look like something from a vintage issue of “Taste of Home”. The book, in fact, has that bright look to it- maybe it provided inspiration.

A delicious, down-home cookbook of all your favorite comfort foods!

Well-done, great recipes, excellent production quality.

Comfort Food Essentials has some very nice recipes and I did enjoy reading it, although there are some new modern recipes, I did find that many of these recipes seem to be very old-fashioned, even the pictures and background seem to be from the '80s.

Seasoned cooks would find some recipes interesting and for someone who is not an experienced cook this book would be very helpful with the attached notes. The instructions are well set out and the recipes easy to follow. I do like the "Ingredient boxes", and the set out of the pages is attractive, however this is not a book I myself would purchase, mainly because I am a seasoned cook but as I mentioned above, an inexperienced cook would find this book very helpful.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kim Wilcox for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The book certainly has some cosy vibes, although it also looks a bit outdated. All of the recipes look delicious and some are really surprising (Mac and cheese toasted wrap for example). The instructions are very clear and even an inexperienced cook can follow them, which is a very good thing!

Some tips feel really unnecessary (for a little more peanut butter flavour, add a tablespoon of peanut butter), but on the other hand, this might be needed for the extremely inexperienced cook (this I couldn't say, as I'm also a food blogger and have a lot of cooking experience).

Upon finding this book I definitely would want to try most of these recipes!

A solid cookbook with several recipes I’m excited to try out! The title definitely fits the theme of the book-good comfort food! The index pages feel a little cartoony but it didn’t hinder me from looking through it

What a lovely cookbook! So many amazing photos in this book. I found many recipes that I will try. A few of the recipes were pretty clsoe to some that I already make, so this book was right up my alley!