Cookbook Project, Books #28 and 29
Mar. 8th, 2009 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteI promise I do have other stuff to write about; it's just that 1) I want to get these documented before I forget about them and 2) I've been living pretty deep inside my own head lately, working through some issues that, while good to resolve, aren't quite up for public display.....
Anyway,
"Best of America: Traditional Regional Recipes," Carla Capalbo and Laura Washburn
This is a giant coffee-table book full of shiny pictures and a surprising variety of even more surprisingly mainstream food. I've had it almost forever - I bought it for myself, when I found it as part of one of those 'extra-low-price, please buy this now' displays at the front of bookstores, and I use it every once in a blue moon. It's fun to look through, and among other things it includes a recipe for Peach and Blueberry Pie that is to die for.
This is not the season for peaches or blueberries, though, so I went looking for another recipe to try and wound up making Pecan-Stuffed Pork Chops for dinner last week. This was a first for me in a lot of ways - I've made pork chops occasionally, but I've never tried stuffing them before. Also, the stuffing was mostly made of chopped apples and pecans, and I'm still learning to tolerate main dishes that involve both fruit and meat. They were surprisingly easy and good, though. It's clear this isn't a perfect recipe, but it's enough to make me want to try something similar in the future, probably using Cook's Illustrated to hunt down the best possible recipe.
"Crock Pot Cuisine"
This is the book that came free with my Crock Pot when I bought it. It's actually a full book, not just a pamphlet, and it's got some pretty good recipes in it, including my favorite Sloppy Joe recipe. Which reminds me, I ought to make those sometime soon.
But I wanted to try something different, and wound up finding their recipe for Pepper Steak. I'm pretty sure I've made something like that before, but this version, at least, sounded new, and simple, and worth a try.
It turns out I am doomed when it comes to Crock Pot cooking, or at least I have been recently. Even though I am pathologically organized when it comes to other things, no amount of double- and triple-checking can let me get everything ready and cooking on time. This time, even though I checked to make sure the pot was both plugged in and turned on, I failed to notice that somehow the power strip, which never gets turned off, was turned off.
I figured that out only an hour or two into the cooking, at least, but that still threw off the timing. And later in the day, my doctor's appointment ran late, keeping me from turning down the heat at the right time. Surprisingly, even with all these issues, the food was still tasty, which makes me want to try the recipe again without all the complications, to see if it's even better when done right....
Anyway,
"Best of America: Traditional Regional Recipes," Carla Capalbo and Laura Washburn
This is a giant coffee-table book full of shiny pictures and a surprising variety of even more surprisingly mainstream food. I've had it almost forever - I bought it for myself, when I found it as part of one of those 'extra-low-price, please buy this now' displays at the front of bookstores, and I use it every once in a blue moon. It's fun to look through, and among other things it includes a recipe for Peach and Blueberry Pie that is to die for.
This is not the season for peaches or blueberries, though, so I went looking for another recipe to try and wound up making Pecan-Stuffed Pork Chops for dinner last week. This was a first for me in a lot of ways - I've made pork chops occasionally, but I've never tried stuffing them before. Also, the stuffing was mostly made of chopped apples and pecans, and I'm still learning to tolerate main dishes that involve both fruit and meat. They were surprisingly easy and good, though. It's clear this isn't a perfect recipe, but it's enough to make me want to try something similar in the future, probably using Cook's Illustrated to hunt down the best possible recipe.
"Crock Pot Cuisine"
This is the book that came free with my Crock Pot when I bought it. It's actually a full book, not just a pamphlet, and it's got some pretty good recipes in it, including my favorite Sloppy Joe recipe. Which reminds me, I ought to make those sometime soon.
But I wanted to try something different, and wound up finding their recipe for Pepper Steak. I'm pretty sure I've made something like that before, but this version, at least, sounded new, and simple, and worth a try.
It turns out I am doomed when it comes to Crock Pot cooking, or at least I have been recently. Even though I am pathologically organized when it comes to other things, no amount of double- and triple-checking can let me get everything ready and cooking on time. This time, even though I checked to make sure the pot was both plugged in and turned on, I failed to notice that somehow the power strip, which never gets turned off, was turned off.
I figured that out only an hour or two into the cooking, at least, but that still threw off the timing. And later in the day, my doctor's appointment ran late, keeping me from turning down the heat at the right time. Surprisingly, even with all these issues, the food was still tasty, which makes me want to try the recipe again without all the complications, to see if it's even better when done right....
