The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Cookbook Giveaways!!

I just saw the funniest thing, at least so far today.

I was sitting on the loveseat in my living room, checking email on my laptop.  Bill was in the kitchen making coffee, and the kids were downstairs watching Curious George.

And then a Fed Ex truck came slowly up the street (early - it was about 7:30 or so).  I saw the driver and his helper/trainee/co-driver looking at the houses, looking for the right address, and lo and behold, they stopped in front of our house.

The Wells-Fargo Wagon is a-comin!

Then BOTH guys got out, each with a package in hand, and - I swear on a stack of Julia Child cookbooks - they RACED up our driveway, left the packages on the steps, and RACED back to the truck.

The driver won.

What a great way to begin my day.  And good for them - they make their job fun.

Bill opened the door and got the packages - both addressed to ME!  "They feel like books or something" he said.

Oh, yeah!  That's right!

About a week ago I was contacted by Carroll Beauvais of Dorling Kindersley (a division of Penguin), aka DK Publishing, to see if I was interested in reviewing a couple of cookbooks and maybe hosting a giveaway.

Cool!  I've never done a giveaway before, and now I get to do two.

 

The two books are "Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas" by Chef Craig Priebe (For more info, you can go here), and "Spain and the World Table" which done in association with The Culinary Institute of America, with text by Martha Rose Shulman.   

I think I have one book on Spanish cooking - it's a book of Tapas that was my Mom's, and I got it when she and Dad were downsizing and moving to a smaller home.  So I'm really excited to check this book out. 

And grilled pizzas - ah, one of our traditional summertime outdoor dinners.  I'm really excited to go through this book too and learn a few new things about grilling pizzas.  Piadinas, in case you were wondering (which I was), are folded sandwiches, kind of like tortillas, only, according to the book, more tender.

I don't even know where to start.  Which book?  Which recipe?

And how will I set up this giveaway? 

A contest?  Random drawing?  Bribery (just kidding)?  So many possibilities!

I'll be back with more info later on.  Right now, I think I have some perusing to do.

We Interrupt This Photo Essay on Last Night's Dinner Preparation...

So yesterday Bill (mainly Bill - I was soft shell crab fry cook, dishwasher, and photographer) prepared this absolute FEAST of Japanese food.  Primarily sushi - related things, but not just that.  I'll post the recipes separately, because there are too many to cram into this one post.

But after the meal, and after the clean-up, I uploaded the pictures I'd taken while the meal was being prepared, and what struck me funny were not the pictures of the food, but the unexpected pictures that showed up here and there in between the chronology of the food prep.  Basically what happened was while Bill was making the soft shell crab maki rolls, and I was taking pictures of them, Alex yelled from the other room "Mommy!  Come quick!  The sky is pink!"  And so I just peeked out the kitchen window, saw that yes, the sun was setting and pink clouds dotted the sky, and took a quick step outside to take a few pictures before the pinkness was gone.  Alex knows I will to this, so he is vigilant.

So here's an example of my viewing experience...

Now! Or, in my case, Eventually!

Quite some time ago I received an email from author Renee Pottle, asking if I'd like to review her cookbook, I Want My Dinner Now! on this site, in return for a complimentary copy of the book.   I think at the time I was just so surprised that anyone would want my opinion on anything - out of the blue like that - that I went into shock and couldn't process the request. 

Eventually (over a year later, to my great embarrassment) I emailed Renee back and she was very kind and forgiving about my lack of a quicker response.  She sent out a copy of her book right away.  And finally - my apologies again, Renee! - I am getting around to posting about it.

First of all, I want to mention her website - Wine Barrel Gourmet - you can not only order this cookbook, but several others, as well as healthy gourmet foods, recipes, and you can also find all sorts of useful and healthful information.   

And now for the book.  I Want My Dinner Now! begins with a wealth of useful information for the novice or nervous cook.  Sections on Safety, Measurements, Cooking Terms, Ingredients, and so forth are straightforward and easy to follow.  The section "Ingredients:  Other" is my favorite of these - here you will find foods that aren't necessarily well-known and popular - but they should be.  Bok choy, cellophane noodles (also called bean thread noodles - used in the Thai Spring Rolls I made recently, for instance), coconut milk, hoisin sauce - lots of ingredients that are flavorful and healthy and definitely worth trying if you haven't yet.

Her brief chapter "The Well Stocked Pantry" gives you a handy launching pad of a list so you can stock your own pantry with oft-used herbs and spices, baking ingredients, pastas and rices, canned goods, etc.  I think this is the key to being able to get food on the table fast - it's like having every single crayon color in the Crayola box sharpened and at the ready.  The possibilities become endless. 

We've tried several recipes - and I have a bunch more marked with post-it notes that I will be trying in the upcoming weeks.  But so far we've sampled the Taco Salad - anything taco-related is a hit with my kids (and my husband.  and me.) - so I figured this was a good place to start.  Actually, Bill put it all together and had it on the table by the time the kids and I got home from work.  Very simple to prepare, and healthy as well - kidney beans are used in addition to the ground beef, and I would venture to say you could substitute ground turkey for the beef if you prefer. 

Another one I made not all that long ago was the Beef Goulash.  This is made in a slow cooker - another great tool for working parents.  Again - pretty simple to make - you put it all together in the morning and come home to a stomach-rumble-inspiring smell permeating your home.  I'm reading my little scribbled notes along the edge of the page - "in at 8:00, out at 4:30, and we ate at 5:30" (because I didn't get home til then.  Bill shut off the slow cooker.)  I also wrote down "w/pasta & peas" - I'm thinking I may have had Bill add those in when he got home that day - which would have been around 3:00 - but since I didn't elaborate in the notes, that's just a guess.  Renee's "serve with" tip suggested hot noodles and brussels sprouts.  So I think the pasta and peas was just my version, based on what we had.  We also added some salt to taste. 

Thirdly - last weekend, actually, I made the Vegetarian Burgers.  Once again - simple, simple preparation - she uses quick cooking brown rice and quick cooking oats as the base - and pretty yummy.  We've been wanting to make veggie burgers lately, and thank you, Renee, for giving me something to work with!  The kids liked them, and so did my husband - he actually ate too much at dinner and was moaning a bit later that evening.

We had two and a half veggie burgers left over the next morning, and Bill ate them reheated and topped with some over-easy eggs.  The texture was close to the corned beef hash I make - and far healthier - and he said with a little change in the seasoning, these burgers would be a great substitute for hash with his eggs.  And he's rather partial to good corned beef hash, just so you know.  I realize it wasn't the intended use, but you know, it's always nice to be able to take recipes and play around with them.

Oh - and another couple of things that are pretty cool about this cookbook.  The ingredients for each and every recipe are listed in amounts for either 2 or 6 servings, so there's limited math-induced stress.  The prep time is listed at the top of each page, and at the bottom are "serve with" suggestions and a handy reference section that lists which items in the recipe are (or should be) in the pantry and which you'll need to purchase.

Next up for me will be the Tamale Pie.  Or maybe Szechwan Beef.  Or the Sunday Brunch Eggs and Ham.  I get the feeling any choice I make will be a good one.

Thank you, Renee, for sharing your cookbook with me, and for providing a ton of family-friendly, time-friendly, budget-friendly, health-friendly recipes with which to respond to the plaintive, demanding cry of I Want My Dinner Now!