Happy New Year!!!

In honor of New Years Eve - here is a recipe for EggNog Quick bread. Thanks to all the readers for visiting my blog this year. Enjoy and have a happy & healthy & yummy 2010!!

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dairy egg nog
1/2 cup melted butter
1 t vanilla
2 t rum extract
2 1/4 cup flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t nutmeg

1) Beat eggs in a large bowl, then add next 5 ingredients, blending well.

2) Add remaining (dry) ingredients and stir until just moist.

3) Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake @ 350 for 50-60 min. Check it with a knife or toothpick to see if it comes out clean - this bread is dense and may need more time - remember every oven is a little different!

Homemade Mac & Cheese!

Put down that blue box - we are making macaroni & cheese from scratch - that's right! And it will not be bland, or pasty - it's creamy, rich, cheesy, and delicious. Here we go...

The first thing you need to know about making homemade mac & cheese is making a bechamel. A bechamel is a white sauce that serves as the base for many sauces like the cheese sauce we will use over our macaroni, or an Alfredo sauce, ... Sounds fancy but a Bechamel is really just flour and butter. It's really a snap and then you get to tell people that you made a Bechamel sauce and you sound all professional!!

But before we get to the sauce, first cook and prepare the macaroni, about 2 cups. I use whatever kind I have on hand, shells, elbows, etc. Place the prepared macaroni in a casserole dish, around 2 qt.

Now for the sauce:

1) Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a medium saucepan. I use unsalted but it's up to you. Once the butter is melted add 1/4 cup of flour, mix well, making sure there are no lumps.

2)The mixture should get smooth and start to bubble. Add 2 1/4 cups of milk, and 1/2 t salt, stir well over medium heat, again looking to make sure there are no flour lumps.

3) Stir constantly until mixture slightly thickens, add 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, stir until melted, reduce heat to low.

4) Pour the cheese sauce on top of the macaroni and stir to combine. Bake at 350 for 25 min. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Get creative - this mac & cheese is super delicious all on it's own. But you can try adding different things to it and the possibilities are endless. Chop up some leftover ham and mix it in with the macaroni before baking. Sometimes I use cubed ham, or sliced chicken sausage. Add a veggie like peas or broccoli to sneak some veggies into your kids. You can use whatever you have on hand. But if adding meat make sure it is cooked first before tossing it in the mix! The baking time will not cook raw meat.

Enjoy!

Chicken Bone

Tonight I made a fabulous meal for my girls that they loved - baked chicken drumsticks. Yum!

I first figured out that my kids like to eat drumsticks when I started buying the supermarket pre-cooked rotisserie chickens. When I make chicken I usually only cook boneless skinless breasts, so when I get the rotisserie chicken they love the novelty of being able to hold the chicken bone and eat with their hands.

This week I bought a 3 lb package of drumsticks only (on sale!) and I figured I would make my girls their favorite chicken bones for dinner. I used half the package (about 6 drumsticks) and froze the other half. I love buying in bulk - stockpiles!

The meal was a huge hit - the chicken tasted great and was nice and crispy. I served corn on the cob and baked beans with it. The girls cleaned their drumsticks down to the bone and their corn right down to the cob. That's the type of eating I love to see!


You will need:
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2/3 cup Original Bisquick mix
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cut-up whole chicken (3 - 3 1/2 lbs)

1) Heat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter in 13x9 inch glass baking dish in the oven.
2) In a medium bowl, stir together Bisquick mix, paprika, garlic salt, Italian seasoning and pepper; coat chicken with Bisquick mixture. Place skin side down in heated dish.
3) Bake 35 minutes. Turn chicken, bake about 15 minutes longer or until juice of chicken runs clear when the thickest part is cut to bone (170 degrees for breasts, 180 degrees for thighs and drumsticks).

Product Review - Wacky Mac!

Here is a neat product that was recently called to my attention - Wacky Mac Pasta - don't you just love the name? Wacky Mac!

It is a bag of assorted macaroni in all different shapes and colors, so fun looking! As soon as I saw it I knew my girls were going to really go for this, and they did.

They offer Wacky Mac in 4 varieties, Fun Shapes, Veggie Shapes, Veggie Spirals and Veggie Curls. I purchased the Veggie shapes, which is wheels, shells, spirals (rotini) and tubes (penne), in veggie-dyed colors like green, orange, and purple. Cool! My girls loved the variety of all the different shapes and the colors.

I just served this to them plain with butter and melted Velveeta. But Wacky Mac would be great in any casserole or pasta salad in place of traditional pasta. It looks really colorful so it's a great presentation.

Wacky Mac is made by the same company that makes No Yolks, the cholesterol-free egg noodles. Their website is pretty sparse but does offer some information and recipe ideas, check them out at http://www.noyolks.com/wacky_mac_products.html.

Summer food

I have not updated my blog much and did very little cooking in general during the month of July. We are in grilling season now and that means my hubby does the cooking!

Have you ever noticed how in the summer all of the grocery store cookbooks are just not that good or not that interesting?

I am a huge fan of the checkout-line cookbooks and magazines (aka cooklets), I really love to buy these and I rely on them year-round for new meal ideas, but in the summer they all get so lame. You see titles like "Smoothies", and "Grilling". I mean , who cares? I have bought the smoothie cooklets before and they are pretty lame! There are maybe three or four healthy smoothie recipes in the entire book, and the rest are all super sugary ice cream treats like Oreo Mudslide Madness or Key Lime Marshmallow Sugary Concoction. OK, truth be told those sound really good, but I am not realistically going to make this on a regular basis for my kids.

And then the grilling cookbooks - who cares? I am just not into grilling. And do you really need a cookbook for grilling anyway? Don't you just marinate the stuff and grill it? Grilling cookbooks = yawn in my world.

Another cookbook theme I see a lot in the summer is appetizers. I love appetizers just as much as the next person but I am really more interested in solving that daily conundrum of what to make for dinner, like you know, the main course?? Seems like every cookbook you buy has an appetizer section anyway, so it's not like I am not running so short on appetizer recipes that I need an entire cookbook for them.

Even one of my favorite cooking magazines, Everyday Food, does a grilling issue every summer. Normally when I read my Everyday Food magazine I have tons of little folds in the corners and bookmarks noting the recipes I want to try. In the summer issue it is hard to find any pages I want to fold down. And they do a combined July/August issue so there isn't even a new issue to look forward to in August! That's it for the entire summer- that grilling issue is all I'm gonna get from them.

I guess I just have to keep on grilling while I wait for the fall baking and slow cooker recipe cookbooks to be out in September!

In honor of summer - here is a favorite (healthy!) smoothie recipe of mine, courtesy of allrecipes.com.

Mango Banana Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup frozen mango pieces (my favorite frozen mango is the Trader Joe's version)
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup orange/mango juice blend

Combine all ingredients into a blender and blend until nearly smooth. Delicious!!!

Oh Soy you didn't!!

I made my meatlof with soy milk in it and no one noticed!! Hee hee hee!! (snicker snicker).

Really, I was in the middle of making a meatloaf and I realized that I had no milk in the house other than soy milk. I took a chance and added the soy milk and it came out great, and no one could tell the difference at all! I will never tell. ;)

Another way to change up meatloaf if you are trying to be healthy is use ground turkey instead of ground beef. My hubby has dietary restrictions and he is not supposed to eat red meat. Instead of being a supportive wife, I was actually kind of peeved that an entire protein type was now off limits to me. Having all of my beef recipes totally removed from circulation, quel disaster! But I rose to the occasion and learned to modify a lot of our favorite meals to include a white meat or better yet, to be meat-free.

One saving grace has been ground turkey. It's easy to sub ground turkey in place of ground beef or ground chuck, and you really can hardly tell the difference. I use ground turkey now in meatloaf, meatballs, meat lasagna, meat manicotti, chili, and pretty much any recipe where I used to use ground beef.

I don't usually tell my family when I secretly sub out these ingriendients. If they don't know what's in it, the chances are better they will like it. Somtimes just saying the word "soy" or "healthy" can diminish appetites and it's really not neccesary, so I just don't tell!

Anyway, meatloaf is pretty much a staple in our house, it's one of those few meals that I can serve and 4 out of 4 family members like it. 10 minutes to mix, 75 minutes to cook, and unanimous appeal - what more could I really strive for with my cooking! Here is my meatloaf recipe, from my original Betty Crocker cookbook.

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (or ground turkey)

1 cup milk (or soy milk)

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp chopped fresh or 1/4 tsp dried sage leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground mustard

1/4 tsp pepper

1 clove garlic, finely chopped, or 1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 large egg

3 slices bread, torn or 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1 small onion, chopped (1/4 cup)

1/2 cup ketchup, chili sauce, or barbeque sauce

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees

2) Mix all ingredients except ketchup. Spread micture in an ungreased loaf pan, spread ketchup over top.

3) Bake uncovered for 1 hout to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of the loaf reads 160 degrees. Beef should no longer be pink in color and juices should run clear. Drain meatloaf.

4) Let stand 5 minutes, remove from pan.

Crunchy Granola

I never would have though in a million years that my kids would love granola - but they do! I started making my own homemade granola mix for my kids a few months ago and they love it and ask for it all the time. Who knew??

This is a great idea for a snack for kids. You can make it healthy as you want it to be, it's good for any time of day (sometime I give it to them as their breakfast), no utensils are needed to eat it, and it can be totally portable as an on-the-go snack.

This past January I had all these ingredients in my pantry that were leftovers from baking my Christmas cookies. I was trying to think of a way to get rid of the stuff and free up cabinet space. I had this huge tub of vanilla flavored granola that I bought at Whole Foods, I bought it intending to put it in my yogurt but I never actually used it. So I took the ingredients that I had on hand, which was chocolate chips, flaked coconut, and some dried cranberries, tossed it all in with the granola and presented it to my kids enthusiastically as a new and exciting yummy treat. And it had chocolate in it! They loved it. Wow! I was blown away.

Now I make batches of it up all the time and keep it on hand in little Gladware containers for snack time. I make it up differently based on what I happen to have in the pantry. Sometimes I add different types of nuts, or seeds (already out of the shells so I don't have to help them eat it), dried fruits, and I always include a form of chocolate just to seal the deal.

All of these items can be found at any grocery store, but I love to buy ingredients at Whole Foods in their trail mix aisle. You can pick and chose from all kinds of grains and goodies and get very creative about what to put into your mix. They have the widest variety of dried fruits I have seen anywhere, and I like to find special things to incorporate like chocolate covered blueberries or dried cherries that serve as the "surprise" item that gets my kids excited about it.
Try this at home at least to just test it out and see if your kids like it as much as mine do. You may be surprised that your kids like granola!

More Rhubarb! Rhubarb Cake

I am sharing another great rhubarb recipe - this is for a Rhubarb Cake made with fresh rhubarb and jello. But do not expect a jello mold - that's not what this is!

I was recently introduced to the concept of a "dump cake". A dump cake is a cake that is made by simply dumping the ingredients on top of each other in a cake pan, no mixing or stirring takes place! The result is a flatter type of cake with little rising but the layers are intact. This rhubarb cake is delicious, fruity and very seasonal with lots of fresh rhubarb. It is not at all tart since plenty of sugar and the jello mix sweeten it up.

Here is the recipe:

• 1 18.25 oz package yellow cake mix
• 4 cups of rhubarb, chopped (this is 2 very large stalks or 3-4 thinner ones)
• 1 3 oz package red flavor jello (raspberry or strawberry work great)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup water

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Line the bottom of an ungreased 13 x 9 baking pan with the diced rhubarb. Sprinkle the white sugar over the top. Then sprinkle the raspberry gelatin mix over the top of the sugar. Next sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the gelatin.
3) Melt the butter or margarine and pour it over the top of the cake mix. Pour the water over the top of the cake.
4) Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

So easy! See how all you do is "dump" the ingredients?

Another tip - I always make this when fresh rhubarb is in season, but if fresh rhubarb is not available in your area you can use frozen rhubarb. If you do use frozen, then reduce the amount of water used to 1/2 cup or the cake will be too soggy.

Rhubarb time

It's springtime... and that means Rhubarb is in season!

What is Rhubarb? It is a tart stalky looking vegetable (yes it's a vegetable, not a fruit!) that is most often used in pies and cobblers. It can range in color from light green, to light pink, to a dark crimson, and the stalks can be about 12-18 inches in length. Rhubarb is very tart, and is usually paired with fruits that have sweetness to balance it, like strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries. Rhubarb recipes often call for a generous amount of sugar to cut the tartness. It is in season in spring and early summer.

I usually like to use rhubarb in fruit cobblers, but I found this recipe for rhubarb muffins. These are a little different, as there is only rhubarb and no other fruit. A whole cup of brown sugar adds the sweetness here, so they have a slightly darker color once baked, and a bit of a sticky consistency that I can only describe aptly as very "brown-sugary". And any recipe with buttermilk in it, I know I am going to like it. They are just delicious, I always serve them with a little pat of butter.

Tips about rhubarb: I like to chop my rhubarb into smaller pieces than what the recipe says. So if the stalk is more than an inch wide, I will slice it in half lengthwise, sometimes even in thirds, and then dice it crosswise for little 1/4 inch pieces.

This recipe comes from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine. Here is the recipe - enjoy!!

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 lg egg
• 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6-8 ounces rhubarb, ends trimmed, cut into 1/2 inch chunks (1 1/2 cups)
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat together butter and brown sugar in lg bowl until smooth. Beat in egg, add buttermilk, and beat to combine.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, beat until smooth. Fold in rhubarb.

3) Coat a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. You do NOT use paper muffin liners with this recipe. Trust the recipe on this one and just use the spray. Spoon mixture into prepared tin, dividing evenly among the cups. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar.

4) Bake at 375 degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes (this is another step you can't skip). Turn out muffins onto a rack, cool completely.

Crock Potting It!

I am all about the slow-cooker. I love the convenience, I love that you can leave the house all afternoon and come home to dinner, I love throwing everything in one pot, and importantly, I never met a cream of chicken soup recipe I didn't like.

Speaking of that certain pantry staple we all know and love, here is a really easy, really yummy chicken recipe for the slow cooker, and yes, naturally it includes cream of chicken soup. There is nothing fancy or innovative about this at all, it's about as down-and-dirty simple as it gets. My kids and hubby love it. A meal that everyone likes enough to clean their plates is a winner in my book, and I don't care how many cans of Campbell's it takes.

Take 1 1/2 ponds of boneless chicken breasts and place them in the bottom of the crock pot.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Cover the chicken with 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and 1 can of cheddar cheese soup.

Cover and set the slow cooker to high, cook for 4-6 hours or until chicken is falling apart.

I served this with white rice. Could also be good with egg noodles. There is tons of the cheesy sauce in proportion to the chicken which is great because then you have plenty to spoon up with the rice. The chicken is so moist, easy for little kids to eat and not dry at all. I also made broccoli for a veg (trees! say my girls), and the cheese sauce was the perfect thing for mushing onto the broccoli also. Enjoy!

Taco Chicken with Avocado and Corn Salsa

I swear to god I really do cook more than mexican, tex-mex, and southwestern type food! But I do love it! It is one of my favorite types of food, the flavors are always so bold and interesting.

Anyway, here we have a really easy to put together supper using some packaged ingredients like taco seasoning mix and canned corn, and also some fresh ingredients like avocado and lime for some really delicious and fresh flavors. This recipe comes to me from the Betty Crocker Quick & Easy cookbook, which is one of my ultimate favorite cookbooks for weekday suppers.

You will need:

1 envelope taco seasoning mix (1 1/2 ounces)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lbs)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 can Mexicorn (11 ounces)
1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon honey

1) Reserve 2 teaspoons of the taco seasoning mix in a medium bowl. Coat chicken with the remaining taco seasoning mix.

2) Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in oil 3-5 minutes, turning once until brown. Reduce heat to med low, cook about 8 minutes, turning once, until chicken is no longer pink when centers of the thickest pieces are cut.

3) While the chicken is cooking, add the remaining ingredients to the reserved taco seasoning mix; toss gently. Serve salsa with chicken.

Verdict: The chicken in the taco seasoning mix was a complete hit! I will make this again and again just by itself, and all you need is a package of chicken and the envelope of seasoning. I served this with white rice but it would also be great with spanish rice or even rice pilaf. The salsa was delicious, I plopped tons of it right on top of my chicken. My younger daughter and my hubby didn't touch the salsa with a ten foot pole. My older daughter made me pick the avocado pieces out and just ate the corn part (which had all the other ingredients slopped onto it anyway - ha ha). So the salsa may not be for those with more unadventurous palates, or people that don't like avocado. But definitely try it! This is a delicious, fast, fresh, and light dinner that is going in my recipe box.

Delicious Herb Biscuits

My family really likes to have a side with their dinner. I usually always try to have at least one side, if not two (typically a carb and a veg).

However, when I am making a casserole or one-pot type dish, something that already includes pasta, or potatoes, or a biscuit topping, I feel like an additional carb-type side dish is a bit overkill. But my husband (who never met a carb he didn't like) and my kids still expect a side dish. So if I am making Shepherd's Pie, or Lasagna, they still want a side on their plate. A casserole AND a side? Hoo boy. Sounds like a lot of work. The solution - bread.

Most of the time if I am making a casserole or one-pot dish the easiest thing is to get bread or rolls at the supermarket. A loaf of fresh baked Italian bread or sourdough is always a big hit, as are a package of snowflake rolls. It's fresh baked that day, so it's as good as a bakery if you ask me, you really can't go wrong.

But if I don't happen to have any bakery bread on hand, it is super easy to make up some home made biscuits. Biscuits are perfect to serve with a casserole, it doesn't feel like carb overkill and they are comfort food, just like casseroles! A perfect complement. Here is a very easy recipe that you can whip up while your dish is cooking.

2 cups of biscuit mix (like Bisquick)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine the biscuit mix, milk and cheese until a soft dough forms. Beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Combine basil and garlic powder with melted butter and brush over hot biscuits after removing from oven. Makes 12 biscuits.

These take minutes to make and are fabulous. Also this recipe is easy to make in half if you only want 6 biscuits, I do it that way all the time. Enjoy!

Product Review - Sprinkles Cupcakes!!

A couple of weeks ago I was in Williams-Sonoma checking out their display of Easter serveware (beautiful) and trying samples of their jellybeans (good!). Whenever I am shopping there for anything I always check out the packaged foods, I like their quick bread and cake mixes, and my hubby buys me their hot chocolate for Christmas every year. As I was looking around I noticed something new that I had never seen before. It was cupcake mixes branded with the name Sprinkles. If you don't know the name Sprinkles, they are a cupcake shop that started in Beverly Hills and they have since opened locations in several other cities. I have seen them featured on Martha Stewart and also in a few of the magazines I read, so the name jumped out at me. I knew immediately I wanted to try them.

The store I was in carried just 4 different cupcake flavors, Vanilla, Banana, Chocolate, and Red Velvet. Red Velvet is all the rage now, and I have never made it before in any form, so I chose that one to try.

The cupcake kit comes with the cake mix, recipe instructions on how to make them, the recipe for the frosting, and those adorable little color-coded candy circles that are the trademark of Sprinkles bake shop. The ingredients that you need to purchase like eggs and butter were clearly listed on the outside of the package like most cake mixes do, so you don't have to open it to know what else you will need.

The mix was super easy to make and let me tell you - red velvet is no joke, this batter was RED RED RED. Wear an apron. Unfortunately for me my stand mixer does not have a shield and the red powder went everywhere in my kitchen as soon as the dry mix was added. Oops. I had a terry hand towel nearby I was using to wipe my fingers on and at the end I looked at it and it was completely smeared red. Rest assured it doesn't stain though, everything came out.

The batter was so yummy tasting, I just knew these would come out great and they did. Really delicious, moist enough, the perfect subtle cocoa taste, and totally red. I topped them with cream cheese frosting per the included recipe, and pressed the little circles on top just like the real Sprinkles cupcakes. Like having a little piece of LA in my suburban kitchen. Fantastic!

I served these to my family and everyone loved them. They were a huge hit! I definitely recommend trying them in Red Velvet or any of the other flavors. $14.00 at Williams-Sonoma stores. For more information on Sprinkles check out their website at http://www.sprinkles.com/.

Take it up a notch!

So we've all done a "Taco Night", this is not a new idea, am I right? I mean of course it's a great meal plan, Tacos are so easy and everyone loves them. The Mexican food theme is awesome, however there are lots of ways to do this and it doesn't have to always be Tacos! Why not try to branch out a bit and try something a little different... like Enchiladas!! These are super easy to make and are just as much of a crowd pleaser as Tacos.

I found a great recipe for Fajita Enchiladas in my Pillsbury "Budget Chicken Recipes" cooklet (Cooklet is my word for a cookbook-booklet, the kind you can buy in the check out line). I love these cooklets, they are a cookbook addicts cheapie fix because they are only a couple dollars, and they don't take up a lot of space, so it's a lot easier to justify buying them then a huge $30 cookbook.

Back to the Enchiladas: These are so easy. You are basically stir frying chicken, peppers and onion in a skillet, mix in canned chiles, some shredded cheese, enchilada sauce, and wrap the mixture up in 6-inch tortillas. You line them all up in a 9x11 or a lasagna pan, pour more enchilada sauce on top, and bake it. Put more cheese on the Enchiladas 5 minutes before it's done and wooo - Enchiladas! See how easy? They come out tasting really authentically Mexican, and are a lot more impressive than plain old Tacos. You can garnish it as you like, add chopped tomatoes, add cilantro, add sour cream, serve it with Spanish rice, or cornbread with chiles. Mmmm. I actually made this without the chiles and the onions for the immature palates of my children, and they still tasted awesome.

You can find easy Enchilada recipes on the Pillsbury website or check around some of the other cooking websites like allrecipes.com or tasteofhome.com. If you are looking for more Mexican theme meal ideas Better Homes and Gardens recently came out with a special interest magazine of all Mexican recipes. This will only be displayed until April 21 if you want to find it at your bookstore.

So think about taking your Taco Night up a notch next time and try making some Enchiladas!

Cookbook Review - Trisha Yearwood

Trisha Yearwood - Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen

I received this cookbook as a Christmas gift from my hubby. I was pretty excited to get this book, I thumbed through it quickly in the bookstore and it seemed like the kind of family-appealing cookbook that I am always looking for.

There is lots to choose form in this cookbook, a nice assortment of soups, salads, main courses, sides, breads and muffins, and of course, desserts. The cookbook showcases family photos of Trisha's extended family, plus anecdotes from Trish, her sister, and her mother. It definitely feels like these are authentic "Mom's recipes" that we all remember having as kids. There are a lot of basics like fried chicken and meatloaf, perfect family crowd-pleasing meals. Also included are some southern specialties like fried okra, hush puppies, and sweet pickles.

Some of my favorites from this cookbook so far include the chicken pie and the brownies. The chicken pie is just delicious, tons of chicken and a buttermilk biscuit-like topping, no veggies. Yum. The brownies came out perfect, the recipe calls for nuts but I made them without and they were still fantastic. I also liked the spaghetti sauce (from a southern cookbook - go figure!). There are still lots more recipes in this book I am looking forward to trying.

My only complaint about this cookbook is it is in a book bound format, and I prefer a spiral for cookbooks, so they can lie flat. But overall I love it, this cookbook is definitely an asset to my collection!

Addicted to cookbooks

So... I confess, I am addicted to cookbooks.

Every time I go to the bookstore, I can't stop myself from buying another one. I like to buy cooking magazines and the little booklets in the supermarket checkout counter, and on occassion I have been known to buy "vintage" cookbooks at yardsales and antique shops. It all started with an idea of building myself a cookbook library. My dream was to have the ultimate cookbook collection, all of the basics of course, Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker, Better Homes & Gardens. The classics, Joy Of Cooking, Fanny Farmer. And names, the popular cooks of the day, Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Paula Deen. I imagined having this impressive arsenal of all the very best recipes, I would have a perfect recipe for everything under the sun I could ever need to cook or bake.

But there are only 365 days in a year, and with so many cookbooks, probably a few hundred recipes in each one... ummm... I may never need to buy another one again! I could probably cook a different recipe every day for the rest of my life and still never get through them all.

But the collection must go on! While I have definitely slowed down on amassing my library (there are many key titles that I still do not own!), I do still have a near-compulsive need to buy more cookbooks every now and then. I just can't stop myself, and I wouldn't want to!

I write little notes on the pages, commenting on if I liked the recipe or not, if I did anything to modify it. Many of the pages have the corners turned over, many recipes have food splashes and oil marks stained onto the page. I am not trying to preserve them in an immaculate state. Someday they will be passed down to my daughters and I hope they will enjoy reading my notes and remember having their favorite dishes cooked by mom.