The Best of Fine Cooking

When preparing for my trip to California, I decided to pick up some magazines to read on the plane. So . . . while at Costco I picked up a copy of The Best of Fine Cooking: Big Buy issue. (You get 30% off there) It is a gold mine of great recipes using the foods that are commonly bought at Costco and Sam’s. The magazine is divided into sections highlighting items that are bought in quantity. Featured are bread, canned tomatoes, walnuts, green beans, avocados, peaches, pears, grana padano, strip steak, boneless leg of lamb, sausage, and salmon. There are 75 recipes included in the issue and most look wonderful!!

Also included are suggested menus using the various recipes and a plan for catering your own “really big party” using the provided recipes. The party plan includes a timeline for making each dish which is very helpful if you are a novice cook. There is also a guide for freezing foods and a list of foods to have on hand in order to make improvised soup. With cooler temps and winter approaching I thought this was particularly helpful.

Last week I made the Lemon Chicken Soup with Spinach and Dill which was fabulous and I plan to make marinara for freezing from a #10 can of San Marzano tomatoes this weekend. I anticipate sharing some great recipes from this resource so stay tuned!! This magazine should be on display until November 30, 2009.

Simply in Season Cookbook

As I mentioned awhile back, I had to replace my torn and tattered copy of the More-with-Less Cookbook. As I was on Amazon looking for that cookbook, I discovered this one that is also A World Community Cookbook commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee. Simply in Season is just what it’s name suggests. It is a collection of relatively simple recipes that are organized by season and that use seasonal ingredients. The cookbook has sections for spring, summer, autumn, winter, and “all” seasons. Within each seasonal section are the usual subsections of bread and breakfast, soups, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, and extras. The summer category even has a section on canning.

In addition to recipes, like other World Community Cookbooks, this one contains a lot of useful information especially for inexperienced cooks who are interested in using more fresh fruits and vegetables but are not sure about such things as how to keep them fresh and the nutritional information for each. There is also a section that details for a whole list of various fruits and vegetables the season in which they are available and then provides a description of it, how to select it, storage and handling, preparation, serving suggestions, nutrients, and how many cups one pound yields both raw and cooked.

Each seasonal section of the cookbook ends with several suggested menus that utilize recipes from that section. Along side the menus are always “Invitations to Action.” These “invitations” offer suggestions for making changes in your cooking and eating that will have a positive impact on the environment.

I must say that every recipe I’ve tried, I’ve enjoyed. I’m looking forward to trying recipes from the fall section now that it’s that time of year. First up may be the Butternut Bisque or maybe the Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread or wait a minute . . . maybe the Gingered Kale and Tofu . . . whatever I decide on, I’ll let you know how it turns out!!

The More-with-Less Cookbook

This is my first review of a series of three cookbooks. This one is a classic that was originally published in 1976. I think I purchased my original copy in 1978. It became so tattered that I finally replaced it with the 25th anniversary edition that is pictured. This cookbook is the one that inspired the other two that I will review in a future blog. The full title of this cookbook is More-with-Less Cookbook: Recipes and suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world’s limited food resources. The author, now deceased, is Doris Janzen Longacre. It is part of A World Community Cookbook series commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee in response to world food needs.

The cookbook begins with chapters that outline the state of the world’s food resources and the spirituality that is reflected in what we eat. The premise of the cookbook is that we are what we eat both physically and spiritually and that change that aligns our eating and food production with the Divine will for the nurture of all creation is an act of faith. This cookbook provides information and real resources in the form of recipes and other helps to assist those of us who want to consume less of the world’s food resources, may not be sure where to begin, and are not sure how to maintain our motivation in the midst of affluence.

There are all kinds of useful resources besides the recipes. For example, there is a table of substitutions – you can substitute 2 tablespoons of flour for 1 tablespoon of corn starch. There is a guide to commercial container sizes, a guide to complementary proteins that create full proteins for those wanting to cut down on meat consumption, a comparative cost of protein sources chart, and there is a section on simple meal themes for entertaining and what might be included in each theme.

This cookbook contains all your usual classifications of recipes but one of my favorite things about it is that recipes from various parts of the world are included in each section. One of our family favorites is Vietnam Fried Rice which is garlicky and peppery. Another favorite is the West African Groundnut Stew which I have served to friends from that part of the world with plenty of hot sauce. Last of all, in the Snacks and Miscellaneous section are instructions for roasting pumpkin seeds which has become part of our family tradition at Halloween.

I do not buy many cookbooks anymore because of access to recipes on the internet, but this is one that I highly recommend and will probably have to replace again from over use in 25 years!