First of all Glorious Grits is a book with some awesome photography. I wasn’t expecting the images to be as dramatic and beautiful as they are, after all…we are talking grits here.

(That is the chair in my bedroom where I curl up next to the fireplace and read)

But that wasn’t the only surprise.

The recipes are things I would actually cook! In fact, they are a combination of unique variations on well known comfort foods and completely new ideas (at least to me).

Some of the recipes that caught my eye were:

• Cornbread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce
• Lime Chess Pie with Coconut Cornmeal Crust
• Panko and Cornmeal Fried Okra
• Grits Alfredo
• Breakfast Shrimp and Grits (a southern classic!)
• Creamy Grits with Ham and Red Eye Gravy

The book is yellow! It is a happy book to look at, cheerful, sunny, and definitely worthy of getting up for. I will be sharing a recipe from it soon…I sort of have a recipe log jam happening right now.

Interspersed on the pages are tips, ideas, and snippets of history that keep it from being another how to manual.

The only thing I did not like…and it is a personal thing…is that the recipes are all to serve 4. I realize most families are 4 or less these days but I get tired of multiplying and creating fractions to create meals for 8 or 10 or 12. Glorious Grits is a great addition to your shelves or a gift for your favorite foodie.

Grits are comfort food. This is a comfort cookbook, one you can easily pick up just to read, or look at the photography. I liked it a lot. Hardback with book cover, and it seems to be well made. I have an issue with books that fall apart in the first month of use! Find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

image:marye audet

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The Food and Wine Quick From Scratch Italian Cookbook has amazing images. That is always the first thing that I look for. It was kind of disappointing to me that my own cookbook was to be without images (not my choice). The images in the Food and Wine cook book are big and close up. You get a good idea of what the dish should look like which is nice. Each recipe is on one page with a full size image on the facing page.

The recipes are imaginative. For example the Fennel and Red Onion Salad with Parmesan looks amazing. The steps are clearly and easily laid out, there are no real surprises or difficult techniques. The book will allow even the most inexperienced cook to make classic as well as classically inspired Italian dishes.

Most of the recipes will go together easily in 30 minutes or less and the emphasis is on fresh ingredients.

The one thing I did not like in the book was the dessert section. Each dessert is based on an ice cream or custard of some sort. Italian desserts are amazing and flavorful and I was disappointed in the desserts they chose.

I mean, that IS the most important part of the meal, right?

If you are looking for a cookbook to help you learn classic Italian cooking techniques this is not it. However, if you are looking for a cookbook that allows you to serve something besides Kraft Macaroni and Cheese on weeknights this may be exactly what you are looking for.

image:marye audet

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The odd thing is that even though the chocolate arrived the next day, and didn’t travel far…and even though it was wrapped in insulating material and with ice packs it was hot. It surprised me because we aren’t having a hot summer and other companies that have sent me cold items have done so successfully. Opening the chocolate I found that it was beautiful, but melty.

In the fridge it went.

When the candy had hardened up enough to get it out of the box I tried it.

The texture is very creamy, in keeping with fine European chocolates. It is creamy enough that it softens at a  room temperature of 80 degrees.  It is completely smooth on the tongue and has a great mouth feel.

Although there were a variety of unique flavors I was not impressed with the taste. The flavor combinations had huge amounts of potential but in reality they were somewhat bland and overpowered by the chocolate itself. The flavors I thought were the most well balanced were:

*Lavender

*Rose

*Hazelnut

The rest of them were not particularly unique, the flavors were lost in the intensity of the chocolate. The designs on two of the chocolates were inedible, and I found myself with a mouthful of posterboard disk.

These are good chocolates but for an artisan price I preferred the Pure Imagination chocolates that Becke sent me in the blog exchange a year ago.

The Delice Chocolatier chocolate is good but it isn’t fantastic.

images:marye audet

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I know my surgery was over a month ago but I am just now beginning to cook a little. It wiped me out. I feel like such a wimp! I am exhausted in the afternoons. Anyway, I decided to try out the mushrooms and see how I liked them. We don’t get a huge variety of mushrooms here in Texas, at least not in my area. I was amazed at the selection I was sent, and there are even more on the site. Dried mushrooms are great because the flavors are more intense and they keep practically forever.

I decided to make my Faux Stir Fry Dinner. I will be posting the recipe a little later, we love it because it is cheap easy and quick!

I  used the Maitake mushrooms. These have a unique, nutty, woodsy-rich flavor and a buttery texture.  The texture really held up well during cooking. I rehydrated them with some hot water for about 20 minutes before adding them (and the water) to my recipe.

The flavor was wonderful. The dish was a huge hit – Kyrie ate two helpings, which for her is amazing. The child looks like a spider-monkey. Even those who aren’t at all keen on mushrooms loved this dish. Best of all, the mushrooms are organic. They are a little expensive but  the flavors are rich enough that you can use them as a flavoring agent in almost anything. If you are not using the water that you rehydrated them in in your recipe be sure to save it for soup or stew. It holds a lot of flavor.

The flavors were fresh and intense, and I like the fact that you can use these whenever without worrying about having them spoil. Marx Foods is the company that does the environmentally friendly palm leaf disposable plates I  reviewed.

If you want to add some mushroomy goodness to your foods but don’t have access to a wide variety this is a great way to try some new flavors and textures.

image:marye audet

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The reason that I could review it comfortably and talk about it here is that the main character is pretty definitely a foodie. Other than that  there are no recipes or anything.

It took me awhile to get into this book for several reasons.  I dislike swearing. I know that it is a fact of life for many people but not me.  I have picked up the habit of saying *freaking* once in awhile and even that bothers me.  This book was not stuffed with swearing but there was enough that I had to get past it.

Once I did I found an excellent story line with twists and turns that I did  not predict.  The characters seemed real to me, their responses seemed real and I was intrigued by them.  More than once I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued  by a twist in the plot.  The main character, Sunny, grows through the book and I like that.  I like how her relationship with her mother is real with all of the conflicts and confusion that that can bring.

Growing up on a commune Sunny just wanted to be normal.  On her own as an adult she still just wants a normal life, whatever that is.  She pursues the future, and tries to leave the past behind but it seems to find her no matter what she does or where she goes.  Eventually she comes to terms with who she was and who she is, and learns to create a working synergy between her past and her present.  It is a task that we all face, what to bring with us into our futures, what to leave in the past, and how to separate the two.  You will grow, think, and reevaluate as you read this book.  There is just no way around it.

I found Sunny to be a strong woman, a well developed character, and a constantly evolving presence in the book  I don’t read much because of my schedule but this book was worth the time it took to read it and I will more than likely read it again.  Want to know more about Judi Hendricks?  Check out her blog and even find a recipe for Sunny’s Blackberry Brownies.

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So, as you may have seen I have been getting a lot of cool stuff to review lately.  One of the items that I was asked to review was ProBugs Organic Whole Milk Kefir by LifeWay.

This is a whole milk product, aimed at kids.  It comes in a no spill pack and in some pretty darn amazing flavors.  Flavors that make adults go…”EWWW” and kids go..”AWESOME!”.

Flavors like:

• Goo-Berry Pie
• Orange Creamy Crawler
• Sublime Slime Lime

You know how they always say that a picture is worth a thousand words? Here are a few words for ya… Think he liked it?

It is organic, healthy, and my kids love it.  That is the best recommendation I can give. 

images: (c) marye audet 2009

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When Tess sent me the copy of Secret Suppers she also sent a fascinating book called Cooking with Les Dames D’Escoffier.

This is more of a cookbook/who’s who list than anything.  I really enjoyed it.  The book is broken into sections as any cookbook would be but then each section is broken down into recipes by certain Dames d’ Escoffier…Julia Child, Dorie Greenspan,  Joanne Weir, Marcella Hazan…the list goes on.

But it doesn’t stop there. There is a little triva about each of these amazing ladies to go along with the recipes.  I did not know, for example, that Dorie Greenspan was in a doctoral program for gerontology when she abandoned it in favor of becoming a food writer!

This is not a small book with twenty pages of recipes.  This is a serious work, a fantastic anthology if you will, of some of the best in the history of food.  320 pages!

Some of the recipes are:

• Winter Minestrone with Butternut Squash and Kale from Abby Mandel
• Phyllo Fontina Cheese Bites from Linda Hopkins
• Scandanavian Cardamom Braid from Beatrice Ojakangas
• Catalan Pasta with Garlic Sauce from Marilyn Tausend
• Burgundian Spiced Caramels from Jennifer McGlinn
• Gingered Sweet Potato Parsnip Puree from Lee Wooding

I have made a few of the recipes, and I have played with a few of the recipes.  The Anise & Vanilla carrots were based on the Anise carrots in the book.  The recipes are easy to follow and interesting but not so unusual that you would not actually make them.  This is real food, stuff the husband and kids will eat without making weird jokes and odd remarks..and fixing themselves peanut butter and jelly instead.

So, what do you think? Is this something you think you would want to add to your collection?

Feel free to ask questions about it and I will try to answer…

Image:MaryeAudet

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I was chatting with Gayla this morning and we started talking about recipes, go figure.  Anyway she mentioned that she loved Chi Chi’s Chimichangas, and I mentioned I had a recipe for them. A very good recipe for them.

Well. I was going grocery shopping today so I added the stuff for my version of chimichangas to the list and figured we would have them for dinner tonight and I would blog them.  We did and I am….. but first……you gotta hear about this stuff!

I happened to see a product I had not seen before, McCormick Cinnamon Chipotle Rub

I had not seen it because it is pretty new. Here is the manufacturer’s website description.

Anyway it sounded very good, I mean, chipotle, what’s not to like, right?  So, I snagged it and decided to do the chicken for the chimichangas a little differently.

I rubbed the  cinnamon chipotle on the chicken and let it set for about 20 minutes while I got the other stuff ready. Normally I would grill the chicken for the chimichangas but I was running late and so I just cooked it on top of the stove.

WOW!  If you like a real southwestern flavor this is it.  It is fabulous!  I will be sharing the chimichanga recipe tomorrow but I wanted to let you know about this stuff…

It has a little heat from the chipotle but not too much.   The cinnamon added a nice contrast to the smokiness of the chipotle.  I think this would be awesome on pork as well..

Next time you are hungry for a southwestern flavor try this.  I think you will like it.

So, check back for tomorrow for the chimichanga recipe, but before you do see if you can locate some of this stuff to use on the chicken.  I imagine you will be having this for dinner this weekend.

Image: McCormick

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