Another cookbook to try out

It's been a while since there has been a cooking related post. To be honest, my normal desire to cook has been greatly diminished the past few months (which probably goes hand in hand with the fact that time to do so has seemed to diminish as well). Hopefully it returns once we are fully settled in here. This book caught my eye at the library, and has lots of appealing recipes. We tried the Basque White Bean Soup last night which contains butternut squash and is seasoned with fennel and thyme, along with onions and garlic. After serving it up, I was looking at it and thinking that none of the kids were going to eat it, but two out of the three did! And liked it, but asked where the meat was. A handful of chicken or turkey could have been thrown in to satisfy this request, but it was a nice warming soup and made a light supper with a piece of crusty bread.
You can try out some of their recipes that they have posted on their site here.

A recent read

I've done a little more reading in the past month or so (and obviously a little less blogging). This book was in the "new" section of the library, and though it is a cookbook with recipes, it is a fascinating read with quite a bit of insight into the present day Amish lifestyle. My parents were just here visiting (another factor in blog absence) and brought some fresh asparagus and rhubarb from their garden. We made one batch of the asparagus potato soup out of this book, and liked it so much we made it again and doubled it. Mmmm. I'm planning to try out the recipe for rhubarb bars tomorrow, as we need to bring a dessert to a get-together. There are several recipes that look good and I hope to try out as many as possible before returning it to the library!

Mmmm cake!

I made this a few weeks ago, took pictures and forgot to post about it, then ran across them while organizing photos on the computer. I believe it was called a Chocolate Pecan Upside Down Cake. The recipe is from The Cake Mix Doctor which is an awesome book for cakes by the way, and available for a song (used, anyway) if you click on that link.

Fortunately it was for an event and we did not eat it all!

Food for thought (or in other words, another cookbook review)

I spied this little treasure in the "new" section of the library at our last visit. A brief pass through Get Cooking, by Mollie Katzen, yielded many flagged recipes. This would be a great book for a young person to work through (thinking of Julie & Julia) if they need some confidence and training in cooking well. It has a solid collection of recipes that would be nice to have in any repertoire. Each recipe has a side bar with suggestions for improvising to make it personal. We have had the guacamole, beef and broccoli stir fry, and pan-grilled chicken so far. There are plenty of great recipes without being overwhelming. And they are classic/classy without being "froufrou" or excessive (no aspic here). This would make a good wedding or graduation gift (and the season of needing more of those is drawing near - yea for spring and summer!!!!).

Reading cookbooks

The Craft of Baking is the first book obtained from the library off the top 10 cookbook list mentioned here. There are lots of delicious sounding recipes, such as Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Milk Chocolate Filling, Back-to-School Raspberry Granola Bars, and many more including cakes, pies, doughnuts, custards, ice creams, breads, and so forth. Unfortunately, we are starting to age a bit around here, and consequently our metabolisms are slowing down, and can't handle the wealth of butter and cream this book holds. A good percentage of the recipes are beyond my frugal nature as well. But look like they'd be worth it for a splurge (in more ways than one) if the occasion arose.

Like cookbooks?

This article/post on the ten best cookbooks of 2009, is right up my alley! And even better? Our local library has most of them! Woohoo!

For the past half-hour+, I have been indulging in the "guilty-pleasure" of a little blog-hopping. Truly, there are many other things that should be happening, but it feels like a bit of prolonged Christmas vacation!

Simple supper recipe for you!

This is a new favorite, at least for 3 of the 5 of us. It is quick and easy to make and tastes great!

Linguine with Clam Sauce

from The Southern Living Cookbook

8 ounces uncooked linguine

2 (6 1/2-ounce) cans minced clams, undrained

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 c olive oil

1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese

Cook linguine in a Dutch oven according to package directions. Drain and return to Dutch over; set aside. Drain clams, reserving liquid; set clams aside.

Saute onion and garlic in hot oil in a medium saucepan until tender. Add clam liquid and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in clams, parsley, pepper, and cheese. Heat thoroughly. Add clam mixture to linguine, tossing well. Cook over medium heat until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.

This is from another one of my top 4 or 5 cookbooks, The Southern Living Cookbook.

The fact that some of my favorite cookbooks are not in print anymore sort of makes me feel...well...old. Have I really been married/out-of-college/an adult (more or less) for that long already?

A cookbook recommendation

Need a wedding gift or grad gift? (Or a reference book for yourself?)

If we had to downsize considerably, or move to another country or..., this is one of the top 5 cookbooks I'd take with me, maybe even in the top 3. If you follow this post to the end, there will be a recipe you might find useful this week.
This is an excellent, thorough, baking book, with plenty to keep the experienced bakers interested, but simple enough for the beginner. Lots of great pictures, truly good recipes for just about any basic baking need you might have (for example, pumpkin pie with multiple variations, bread, many variations of cut-out cookies, etc.), and lots of variety and more elaborate choices (such as Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake Torte). Pies were my assignment for the upcoming Thanksgiving meal, and after perusing a few of my other favorite cookbooks, the Maple Pumpkin Pie and the Chocolate Pecan Pie in this book were my final choices. I think we're going to have to have the Streusel Pumpkin Sweet Rolls from it again sometime soon, too.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be in print at this time, but there were some reasonably-priced used copies on Amazon. Perhaps Pillsbury has a newer, similar book, though I have to say that some of the newer baking books have so many recipes that use highly processed/prepared ingredients that are even more unhealthy for us than the basics (even when the basics include lots of butter and sugar), that they just aren't quite the same. I'm all for using a package of crescent roll dough or a boxed cake mix (these usually turn out better for me than the "scratch" ones do anyway) but to have everything start with an expensive roll/muffin/cookie mix that has lots of ingredients on the label that sound more like they came from the pharmacy lab than Grandma's pantry, makes me cringe.

Now for that promised tip from this book:

How to make your own pumpkin pie spice
From The Complete Book of Baking by Pillsbury
Combine:
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
Store as you do other spices.