Books Blog : recipes

Christmas is Coming

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:48:00 GMT

I don't want to alarm anyone, but Christmas is coming; in fact it's less than two months away. Now, it's still entirely too early to be putting up tinsel and whatnot, but it is absolutely time to get on the waiting lists for these new Christmas cookbooks!

I'm personally very much looking forward to trying out the recipe for toffee thins on page 86 of Sweet Christmas: Homemade Peppermints, Sugar Cake, Chocolate-Almond Toffee, Eggnog Fudge, and Other Sweet Treats and Decorations by Sharon Bowers, with photographs by David Bowers.

Other new Christmas cookbooks to be excited about:

Christmas Baking: Fun & Delicious Holiday Treats by Mia Ohrn

A Home-Baked Christmas: 56 Delicious Cookies, Cakes, & Gifts from Your Kitchen

American Christmas

If you really can't wait for these titles, I recommend checking out a copy of an older title, A Baker's Field Guide to Christmas Cookies by Dede Wilson, which has a nice variety of cookies to try.

Thanksgiving

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 16:50:00 GMT

Thanksgiving is maybe one of our simpler holidays. We give thanks for what we have and we eat good food. The giving thanks part usually doesn't require a lot of preparation; maybe just a few minutes quiet consideration. The good food, on the other hand, can sometimes be a challenge. Last November, it seemed like a lot of people came to the library looking for Thanksgiving cookbooks, so I thought I'd highlight a few here this year.

Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well by Sam Sifton

Thanksgiving by Lou Seibert Pappas, with photographs by Lara Hata

How to Cook a Turkey and All the Other Trimmings by the editors of Fine Cooking

Betty Crocker Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook

Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers

Vegetarian Times Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook by the editors of Vegetarian Times

If you're looking for something beyond the food, try these titles:

The Thanksgiving Book: A Companion to the Holiday Covering Its History, Lore, Traditions, Foods and Symbols, Including Primary Sources, Poems, Prayers, Songs, Hymns, and Recipes, Supplemented by Chronology, Bibliography with Web Sites and Index by Laurie C. Hillstrom

Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday by James W. Baker

My Cooking Class Book Series

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:47:00 GMT

A new series of cookbooks has recently caught my attention. The My Cooking Class series includes Vegetable Basics, Sauce Basics, Chocolate Basics, Steaming Basics and Middle Eastern Basics. All the books have large color photographs to illustrate every recipe. I'm looking forward to spending some time with Vegetable Basics and Chocolate Basics, then maybe I'll try some more titles from the series.

Halloween is Almost Here

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:16:00 GMT

Halloween is almost here and new books for Halloween have been arriving at the library over the past month. Here are the two that have me most excited:

Ghoulish Goodies by Sharon Bowers is a whole 150-page cookbook just for Halloween! Extreme Halloween by Tom Nardone covers a broader range of Halloween excitement while doing exactly what the subtitle says: making Halloween scary again!

You might also look at Tom Nardone's older books, Extreme Pumpkins and Extreme Pumkins II, as well as his Extreme Pumpkins website.

Cooking Knowledge for College: Vegetarian Edition

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:27:00 GMT

When I decided to become a vegetarian in the fall of my third year at University of Southern Indiana, Carole Raymond's Student's Vegetarian Cookbook quickly became a favorite of mine. It isn't intimidating like a lot of the vegetarian cookbooks I'd looked at before it. Its recipes generally don't make big heaps of food that one person might have trouble eating on their own, which I find nice as well. If I'd had the brand new College Vegetarian Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends by Jill & Megan Carle, back then, it would have had me pretty excited as well. In fact, it looks good enough I am excited! I'm looking forward to trying the enchilada recipe on page 88. Like its non-vegetarian counterpart I wrote about before, the recipes are organized into chapters such as "Just Like Mom Makes" and "Impressing Your Date". Another book you might look at is The Starving Students' Vegetarian Cookbook by Dede Hall, although I wasn't very impressed with it. If you've given up egg & dairy along with meat, check out Carole Raymond's other book, Student's Go Vegan Cookbook.

Cooking Knowledge for College

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:15:00 GMT

If you're ready to try cooking something more than Hamburger Helper, check out these books: College Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends by Megan & Jill Carle, The Healthy College Cookbook by Alexandra Nimetz, Jason Stanley & Emeline Starr and The Everything College Cookbook: 300 Hassle-Free Recipes for Students on the Go by Rhonda Lauret Parkinson. All three cookbooks offer tips for those just getting started with cooking and lots of recipes to try. The one that looks most promising, though, is College Cooking. It has chapters like "Impressing Your Date", "Just Like Mom Makes" and "Avoiding the Freshman Fifteen". In addition to those chapters, College Cooking has sections with ideas for food for theme parties-- Toga Party, Cinco de Mayo, Tapas Party, Oktoberfest, & 80's Party.

Why I will never Master the Art of French Cooking

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:46:00 GMT

Lately I have been doing a bit of catching up on my reading. My most recent audiobook is Julie & Julia by Julie Powell, read by the author. For those of you unfamiliar with the book and /or new movie, Julie Powell was a young New Yorker in a dead-end job and seeking some sort of meaning in her life. When her husband suggested she attempt re-creating the recipes in Julia Child's massive classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julie dedicated the next year making 524 dishes from the book. In addition she wrote a blog detailing the joys and trials of the process, which earned Powell a number of online readers.

While I found the details of preparing classic French cuisine interesting, I think my real fascination with the book was the way Powell doggedly dedicated herself to the project, a quest if you will, and the way it changed her. I think we all hit points in our lives when we feel "stuck" and frustrated with our lives. Julie & Julia is a marvelous example of how to channel those frustrations in creative and life-changing ways.

And so, why I will never master the art of French cooking. As a working mom, I find it difficult many days to even get dinner on the table, let alone take several hours (and a lot of butter) to do it. I find myself drawn not only to meals which can be prepared with some expediency, but also to more homegrown fare. The cookbooks I use most frequently? Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (mine is a dog-eared paperback, but several well-illustrated hardbacks are available throughout the system) and Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook: Feasting With Your Slow Cooker. Another new favorite is The Garden-fresh Vegetable Cookbook, which is great for all the fresh produce available right now.

Whatever your taste, sample your library's vast collection of cookbooks soon--and bon appétit!

Do You Love Tomatoes? I Love Tomatoes!

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:30:00 GMT

So far, I have recieved tomatoes from three different gardens this year, which is great because I love tomatoes! They're beautiful and taste good with almost anything; one of my favorite, simple things to do is put them on a grilled cheese sandwich. Yum!

Last week, a new cookbook, The Too Many Tomatoes Cookbook by Brian Yarvin arrived at the library. I was amused to see a whole book devoted to one of my favorite garden fruits. As so often happens, curiosity got to me and soon I was looking to see if we had other tomato books. It turns out there are more than a dozen just waiting for tomato-loving cooks!

So, how do you like your tomatoes?

The Heirloom Tomato : From Garden to Table : Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit by Amy Goldman; photographs by Victor Schrager

Tomatoes and Mozzarella : 100 Ways to Enjoy This Tantalizing Twosome All Year Long by Hallie Harron and Shelley Sikora

The Great Tomato Book by Gary Ibsen with Joan Nielsen

Tomato Imperative! : From Fried Green Tomatoes to Summer's Ripe Bounty by Sharon Nimtz and Ruth Cousineau

Lee Bailey's Tomatoes by Lee Bailey

Cooking With Sundried Tomatoes by Lois Dribin and Denise Marina ; illustrated by Susan Ivankovich

The Mystery of the Secret Ingredient in the Chocolate Chip Cookies

kiya@evpl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:26:00 GMT

David Handler started it all. I had enjoyed his mystery series about the ghostwriter Stewart Hoag and his dog Lulu, so when he started a new mystery series, I was one of the first to read about Mitch Berger, a New York film critic, and Lt. Desiree Mitry, a Connecticut State Trooper. There are now six Berger & Mitry mysteries, and I enjoyed them all, and always eager to see a new one arrive. I definitely recommend reading them in order, as the relationship between Mitch and Dez grows.

An interesting sidelight to this recommendation is that the early books mention Mitch's neighbor, who makes the best chocolate chip cookies, but won't share the identity of her secret ingredient. Mitch does her grocery shopping, so he has a pretty good idea that the secret ingredient is sour cream, but he doesn't inform his neighbors (only the readers of the book). The recipe, however, is not included.

I'm always looking for good cookie recipes, so I've kept my eyes open for a chocolate chip cookie recipe with sour cream as an ingredient, but never found one. Even A Baker's Field Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies didn't have one that looked right. Then last month, Shh I'm Reading blogged about finding recipes online, and while playing with those sites, I located several chocolate chip cookie recipes with sour cream as an ingredient. My daughter and I are testing them now, and when we declare a winner, I'll post a link to that recipe. Meanwhile, enjoy some David Handler mysteries! (And if you have a good sour cream chocolate chip cookie recipe, feel free to post it!)

Mitch Berger and Desiree Mitry:

Stewart Hoag and Lulu: (these books have all been out of print, but the first four have recently been reprinted by Busted Flush Press, dedicated to reprints of fine hardboiled crime fiction)

1. The Man Who Died Laughing
2. The Man Who Lived By Night
3. The Man Who Would Be F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. The Woman Who Fell From Grace
5. The Boy Who Never Grew Up - out of print
6. The Man Who Cancelled Himself - out of print
7. The Girl Who Ran Off With Daddy - out of print
8. The Man Who Loved Women To Death - out of print

David Handler's website

Busted Flush Press

My Favorite Baking Book

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:36:00 GMT

In January, I made a New Year's Resolution (even though I don't like New Year's Resolutions) to cook and bake more. I've used recipes from many sources but some of the best have been from Baking Illustrated by the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine. I've made the banana bread on page 23 and also the variation with coconut and macadamia nuts on page 25 and both are quite tasty. The yellow cupcakes on page 343 will turn anyone who doubts the deliciousness of plain yellow cake into a believer. Oh, and the simple chocolate frosting for the cupcakes? It is quite possibly the easiest frosting to make and better yet, one of the most delicious I've ever had! On March 14th, Pi Day, I turned to page 178, the Pies & Tarts chapter, for guidance to make my very first pie, a yummy peach pie.

Baking Illustrated is part of the A Best Recipe Classic series of cookbooks. One of the really fun things about this series of cookbooks is that each recipe is preceded by a page or two describing how the authors came up with the final recipe. They discuss ingredients they tried in previous versions and why they felt the final product didn't benefit from them or what it is that an ingredient they kept in the final printed recipe brings to the mix.

Tell everyone about your favorite cookbook(s) below in the comments!

Additional Links:

Cook's Illustrated magazine

America's Test Kitchen

The Author gave me... ...breakfast?

kiya@evpl — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:46:00 GMT

You never know what you might find when you go exploring on authors' websites. Maybe there will be a contest - a chance to win a signed book or other prize. Perhaps some short stories about minor characters in an ongoing series. With Google or other search engines it can be easy to locate author websites. Here are some interesting things I've located lately.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips writes modern romances with engaging characters, strong women, and very descriptive love scenes. When I went looking for her website I found an epilogue for one of her books, a contest, writing tips, information about the charities she supports, a message board, and the grand prize - RECIPES! So far, my favorite is the Baked Oatmeal - a casserole that can prepared ahead and pieces reheated in the morning for a quick and easy hot breakfast - SO much better than instant oatmeal, and just as easy in the morning. The whole family likes it, and I've started experimenting with adding different fruit before baking. My kids also liked the Harvest Soup, and the Pumpkin Dip was yummy for dipping apple slices.

Emilie Richards writes a mystery series about a minister's wife, occasional romances, and what is often called "women's fiction" - including her Shenandoah Valley Quilt series. Her website includes her blog - I loved this entry about her recent trip to Guatemala. Also included on her website is information about quilting, and the quilts she describes in the Shenandoah Valley series, along with other treasures.

Jeffrey Cohen mostly writes mysteries and screenplays, but he also has a couple of nonfiction books about raising children who are somewhere on the Autism spectrum.

Whatever he is writing, you can be sure his sense of humor shows through. Cohen's latest gift to his readers is a song about all the different subtypes of mysteries: cozies, noir, hard-boiled, etc. Take a couple of minutes to watch the video, and see why his fellow authors are taking up a collection to buy him a trench coat.

Last but not least, Len Fisher writes about science for those of us who are interested in science, but not especially well-educated in the field. At least one magazine describes him as "the guy who puts the Fizz in Physics." His website features cartoons, his blog about the writing he does, some humorous stories from the media about science.

Please share the authors' websites that you like to visit.

EVPL has books by:

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise - Ruth Reichl

HRevvdon@evpl — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:08:00 GMT

Daphne Durham (Amazon.com) says “Ruth Reichl is a wonderful memoirist--a funny, poignant, and candid storyteller whose books contain a happy mix of memories, recipes, and personal revelations.” This is a great description of Reichl's book Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2006). Reichl was the New York Times food critic for several years, a coveted job considered to be the top of the profession.

The book is interspersed with her own recipes – usually very simple and delicious sounding. If I cooked I would certainly try one or two of them. The humor is in Reichl's equally delicious disguises in which she visits New York’s most famous restaurants to avoid being recognized. She loses herself in the characters she develops and quickly learns how differently she is treated dependent on the costume. She also learns much about herself and grows from the experience. She describes New York’s harsh restaurant reality with humor and personal observations that are at times touching. Actual published reviews often follow the stories in the book as well. The reviews are humerous and different than most restaurant reviews that I have read; they are not pretentious or condescending.

This book is a memoir that reads like a funny novel. I am anxious to read her other books. A great light read for everyone – foodie or not.