I love cookbooks. I love cookbooks even better when they are filled with amazing photos. I love them the most when there are recipes that are inherently gluten free or require simply choosing one’s ingredients carefully. This is one of those books. Now, if you want to make the fried chicken & waffles on a stick, you are going to have to do some thinking & planning, but for most of the recipes, they were either inherently gluten free or could be made gluten free by using a gluten free equivalent (bread crumbs, soy sauce, etc.).

In the introduction of the book, On a Stick, the author (food blogger & photographer Matt Armendariz) states that food just tastes better on a stick. And judging by just how fast the food that I made out of his cookbook for a party this weekend dissappeared, he was right.

For the most part the food in this book is fun and inventive. And the recipes are simple. I made 2 things out of the book for a meat-themed party on Saturday, and as I was frying my orange beef on a stick, people were taking them before I could even get the sauce on them.

I am sure part of the flavor success was the $15/lb flank steak that I used for the meat skewers, but really the sauce made the meat sing. It was orangey & soy-y in the right proportions and made my mouth sing. And it made all the boys drool. I might even make it off the stick (gasp!) as a dinner partner with rice.

I also made the grilled fruit, although that failed and the fruits fell off the stick. But the mint-lime syrup was delightful and I ended up with a grilled fruit salad. Yum!

And yes, there is even a cake pop recipe in this book. Although, I am waiting for an excuse to make the sangria on a stick (maybe it will work in my Zoku….) and the margarita jello shots on a stick. I should stop myself now, because there are so many more recipes that I want to try.

Although I received a free copy of this book to review, I would definitely say that it is a keeper and great addition to my cookbook collection.