Cookbook club from fandom cookbooks part 2 of 2

B-B shows off a selection of Disney cookbooks including ones from Disney Parks, Christmas, and Encanto.

B-B (in his House scarf!) surrounded by cookbooks from the Harry Potter fandom.

B wears a silver snood to celebrate American Girl cookbooks.  Thank you to Vintage Hairstyling for a great introduction to snoods: https://vintagehairstyling.com/bobbypinblog/2017/12/28-pictures-of-vintage-hair-snoods-that-will-make-you-want-to-wear-your-snood-tomorrow.html

B is ready for the bake-off with her wooden spoon!

Have a desire to cook like a Wizard or Elf or Geek?  B shows us that the library has the book for you as she wears her red wizard robes.

 

Cookbook club from fandom cookbooks part 1 of 2

Our local library branch will host the monthly cookbook club near the end of June.  The cookbook theme this month is Fandoms.  I thought it would be fun to see just a small slice of the wide selection of cookbooks that are available at the Salt Lake County Library System!

We go from Tenacious Tomato Salad, Meaty Mushroom Quasadillas, and Chicken Mole Enchilades in Waffles + Mochi Get Cooking to Rose's Cheese-Flan-Cake-Thingy, Blanche's Fortieth Birthday Cheesecake Squares, Dorothy's Straight Outta Brooklyn Creamy Cheesecake, and Sophia's Cannoli Cheesecake from The Golden Girls Cookbook: Cheesecakes and Cocktails!

Dolly Parton and her sister got together to write Good Lookin' Cookin'.  This bright yellow cookbook includes classics like Country Potato Salad, an appetizer called Chicken Feed, "Witches' Brew Cider (with or without alcohol), Slaw of Many Colors, and Mama's Banana Pudding.

If you look at The Unofficial ELF Cookbook by Jacki Alpers you'll find recipes for: Not-for-Reindeer Maple Syrup-Glazed Carrots, Stir-Fried Beige Cubes, Sweet and Sparkly Popcorn, and "Son of a Nutcracker" Cheese Ball.

Studio Ghibli Cookbook with Unofficial Recipes Inspired by Spirited Away, Ponyo, and More!

This cookbook includes lots of full color pictures of the finished dishes and color pictures of how to make each dish!  Dishes include:

• Ramen, Mushroom and Chicken Stir-Fry, Vanilla Sponge Cake, and the Herring and Pumpkin Pie (from Kiki's Delivery Service)

The Chuck E. Cheese and Friends Party Cookbook has some of the following recipes:

• Rooty Tooty Fruit Salad with fresh fruit and a bright cereal like fruit loops or fruity pebbles. 

•  Oven-Fried Chicken Fingers with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley  

• Kansas City BBQ Chicken Pizza with two kinds of cheese and Kansas City style BBQ sauce

 

Sunday Randomness #410 : Bay Leaves as Bookmarks?!?

I've seen all kinds of bookmarks but this is my first time seeing an herb.  Specifically, bay leaves.  

The individual marked the shrimp bisque...

...and the vegetable summer rolls.  Both of those selections appeal to me too!
 

June Day 26 of New Books at SLCOLibrary

Need something new for dinner?  Put one of these new cookbooks (or an older one or two) on hold.  Everything from lunch recipes to wok cooking to potatoes or soup.  The Salt Lake County Library system has literally thousands of cookbooks to choose from (4837 came up by putting "cookbook" in the subject search line).  Try a new recipe this coming week!

Author #125: Daughter Leanne Campbell writes China Study Cookbook

The daughter of Dr. T. Colin Campbell (coauthor of The China Study) has written a cookbook titled (aptly) The China Study Cookbook.

We recently tried the Aztec Soup with onions, cayenne pepper, black beans, corn and lime juice in the base and topped with an avocado, tomato and cilantro salsa.  It was very filling and good at the same time.  It was better after a couple of days when the flavors had mellowed and blended more.  I think we may double the salsa next time since the avocado really added a mild creaminess to the soup which was of a spicy/sour blend with the cayenne and lime.

Author 52: Paula Deen cooking with kids

We made the peanut butter balls from Paula Deen's My First Cookbook by Paula Deen. Only four ingredients: powdered milk, peanut butter, honey and roasted peanuts. We added some more powdered milk to cut down on the sticky factor. They were a good little snack and we'll probably make them again.

Authors 50 and 51: Two for One! Rosenbaum and Jacques

October Ale was the recipe Sarah made from The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques. It's just two ingredients: 2 cups ginger ale and 1 cup grape juice. Mix and serve chilled. It was a cool refresher for July. She's mixed up several batches already.


We tried the Cheese Pizza from Williams-Sonoma Fun Food cookbook by Stephanie Rosenbaum.
It doesn't look pretty but it tasted good. We added pineapple and Canadian bacon and pepperoni and even some marinated artichoke hearts. Eva picked the recipe and helped mix and roll the dough.


Picking out cookbooks from the library has been a good exercise for helping the girls get more interested in making food and trying new things. Even though we have not enjoyed all the recipes, we've learned along the way and I think that cooking is an art that requires practice. If you don't repeat cooking, doing some of the same things and doing new things, then you're not going to learn what works for you without practice. I've reminded my children that I probably have at least 10,000 to 20,000 hours of practice for cooking and baking and related arts and I still make plenty of mistakes but I also know what works in some situations. I want them to learn what works for them. This includes goals that they won't just heat up a frozen dinner or go out every night, but rather that they will have at least a few recipes that they know they like and that they can make on their own by the time they reach college if not before then.

Author 49: Ree Drummond-Pioneer Woman

Mmmmm...........The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond


We made the Egg-in-the-hole. I browned one side of the toast first and flipped it over before cracking in the egg.


Here's the other side after I flipped the toast a second time. They were delicious with lots of butter in the pan.

And how could I leave out the wonderful chocolate sheet cake that Eva made (with a little help from mom)? Chocolate gooey yumminess. Eva says: "it was quite yummy, especially the frosting! It's pretty much chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with pecans in the frosting. I suggest you make it!"

I'm sorry the cake picture is so washed out-we're having camera issues again-now the camera spontaneously turns itself off even with fresh batteries. Hurumph!

I'm not sure how many recipes we'll try, but the cookbook is certainly a lot of fun with full color pictures of steps for each recipe and pictures of ranch life. But I don't think I'll take up ranching any time soon. (Although I'd still love to build a chicken coop and run.... just for a few backyard chickens of course! Who knows when I'd ever get to that project!)

Author 47 : (Disney) What's Cooking? (from Ratatouille)

And now for a month of cookbooks! Continuing right along with the theme of "C", this month we're chosen a collection of cookbooks.

First is What's Cooking? A Cookbook For Kids from the makers of Ratatouille. We tried the French Breakfast Muffins made by Sarah and they were delicious!
Easy, ingredients already on hand, and fast. Sarah made fluffy little muffins coated in cinnamon sugar for a tasty breakfast treat from this colorful cookbook.

The recipes are not complex, don't use a bunch of pre-made ingredients (although there are a few such as English muffins for the Pizza Rats) and the recipes are actually simple and appealing enough for children to want to make them.

The full color pictures really help with some techniques and the pictures are realistic of the finished product. Our muffins looked like the picture without the slight blurriness. I wish the book had a general index either in the front or the back. At the beginning of each section, such as "Bon Matin Breakfast" and "Dinner is Served", there are individual indexes.