Welcome to Blogfest 2012! I so thrilled to be participating in this fun event for the third time! Blogfest is an annual event hosted by A Journey of Books.
Up for grabs are two brand new books from Quirk Books, the fine folks who brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. First is Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which I haven't read, but hey - who doesn't love a little seaweed in their Jane Austen? Next up is Bedbugs, an homage to Rosemary's Baby, only with, well - bedbugs. I reviewed Bedbugs recently and it was loads of fun. I'm also including a Bedbugs poster to hang on your wall and impress all your friends.
Rules:
1. Giveaway is open to everyone - U.S. and international.
2. Please complete the rafflecopter form below (do not leave information in the comments - it will not count!)
3. Giveaway ends October 1, 2012 at 11:59pm EST.
4. Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
Taste of Home, which produces a magazine, website, and cooking school events, has assembled an all-purpose cookbook, Taste of Home: Cooking School Cookbook. The book is decidedly directed for the beginner cook, including instructions for items such as how to measure ingredients properly, what ingredients are found in a well-stocked kitchen, and what all those knives are for.
This is not a Julia Child or Marcella Hazan type book where the reader is extensively instructed in technique, although there are helpful sidebars throughout the book with tips that are helpful for the recipe at hand - for example, in the bar drinks section, a callout explains how to muddle fruit in a drink, and also lets the reader know that you can use an ice cream scoop - useful advice as the reader the book is geared to may not have a "muddler" handy. Even though I'm not a novice, I appreciated the tip on how to make meatballs of uniform size. Some of the ideas for dressing up basic foods were clever; there was a section on livening up a basic barbeque with flavored ketchups and mayos that I thought was quite clever (as well as very simple).
The book is well-organized and the recipes are presented clearly and with nice photography. Many recipes can be made in a very short amount of time or with just a few ingredients, and I didn't run across anything that was exotic or referred me to an appendix for a list of places I could order it. Although part of me didn't really care for a few recipes that included condensed soup mix, I have to admit, it was nice to see a recipe for calzones that called for a tube of refrigerated pizza crust; it looked good and we can't all cook from Mario Batali's cookbooks every night. Throughout the book, some recipes are highlighted with a note to "Cheat It!" - and the recipe that follows is basically instructions for dressing up prepackaged food.
The recipes are straightforward and could be followed by anyone. I think it would make a great gift for someone setting up their first home, or even a teenager who likes to try their hand in the kitchen.
I went ahead and tried "Lick the Bowl Clean Hummus," because a) I like hummus, and b) my father left me a lifetime supply of organic chick peas when he last visited. The recipe was easy to make, although I found it a bit garlicky for my taste. That may have been my fault, though, as I used four fairly large cloves of garlic. I ended up adding about a cup of extra chickpeas to make it a milder dip. My 12-year-old daughter, who generally prefers more bland food, liked this recipe and helped herself to it. I made my own pita chips to serve with it.
Lick-The-Bowl-Clean Hummus
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup plus 1/3 cup olive oil, divided
1 can (15 ounces) chick peas (I ended up using 3 cups chick peas)
1/4 cup plus two tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp each salt and pepper
In a large skillet, saute onions in 1/4 olive oil until softened. Reduce heat to medium-low, cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until deep golden brown.
Transfer to a food processor and add remaining ingredients. Cover and process until smooth. Serve with pita chips.
I made my own pita chips to go with this: Cut plain whole-wheat pita into wedges. Drizzle with olive oil and toss until lightly coated. Sprinkle with Kosher salt. Bake at 400 degrees until crispy - about 10-15 minutes in my oven, depending how cooperative it is feeling.
. First is Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
, which I haven't read, but hey - who doesn't love a little seaweed in their Jane Austen? Next up is Bedbugs
, an homage to Rosemary's Baby
, only with, well - bedbugs. I reviewed Bedbugs recently and it was loads of fun. I'm also including a Bedbugs poster to hang on your wall and impress all your friends.
