Brunching at the Harvard Common Press

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boston, boston brunchers, boston events, boston food, Breakfast, brunch, cookbooks, events, food, harvard common press, publishing

Last Sunday, the Harvard Common Press (HCP) invited 40 Boston Brunchers to brunch at their office. This event sign up was first come, first serve. So when I saw Renee tweet about this, I immediately grabbed a spot.

What food blogger doesn’t want to go chat with some cookbook publishers? (especially the brunching kind…do I smell a Boston Brunchers cookbook in the future…?…?)

I have been in contact with HCP before. A few months ago I introduced myself to them and my blog, and Emily from HCP sent me some cookbooks! (That’s where these deviled eggs came from—) I was happy I got a seat, and was eager to learn more about them.

First, it sometimes amazes me that hard copies of cookbooks sell so well in the age of food blogs, iPads, AllRecipes.com, Pinterest, The Pioneer Woman, StumbleUpon—the works. With so many other outlets for recipes, who needs a cookbook?

We discussed just that, though, at the brunch. Adam and Bruce at HCP explained that we the food bloggers are a big chunk of their audience now. And it’s true. I love cookbooks. If I see one, I want it. I want to flip the pages and look at the pictures. I like to take them out of the library and turn to the wrinkled pages—which indicates that those are the good recipes. It makes me smile when I see my mom take out my Great Aunt’s cookbook for her famous baked beans recipe—spine worn and torn, language old and classic. And most bloggers will agree with me. Yes, we find great recipes online, but we’ll always drool over those cookbooks.

So naturally our mouths began to water when HCP announced we could take a few books from their stock room. Like hungry puppies, we swarmed around their shelves and flipped through their vast array of great cookbooks. Eyes sparkling as if it were Christmas morning, I happily walked away with three: Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking, Not Your Mother’s Casseroles, and New England Home Cooking. And I made the Hungarian Paprika Chicken that same night.

As for the brunch, the staff made an array of dishes from the books they publish, including pear ginger bread, spinach and cheese strata, raspberry cream cheese coffee cake, fruit and nut muffins, fresh fruit, and more.

Lots and lots of pictures were taken. (That’s Amanda from Tales from a Kitchen Misfit.)

All in all, a happy happy day for these folk!

Thanks, Harvard Common Press!

Whip it up Wednesday: Hungarian Paprika Chicken

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chicken, cookbooks, cooking, food, poulty, quick meals, recipes, whip it up wednesday

On Sunday I walked away from the Harvard Common Press with three brand new cookbooks. They hosted a brunch for the Boston Brunchers, and besides showering us with food, they also generously let us take some of their cookbooks home. (More details to come in a later post )

One book that I was drawn to was Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking, mainly because of the Whip it up series. I’m always looking for new ideas for quick and easy recipes, and thumbing through it on the T ride back from the brunch, I marked tons of recipes that I’m dying to try.

This Hungarian Paprika Chicken in particular caught my eye. It’s sort of like a stew that you can spoon over a heap of egg noodles and rice. (It’s also great just piled up in a bowl by itself!) I’m a huge fan of paprika. Not only does it give dishes a vibrant color, but it also adds a sweet and/or spicy flavor–depending on the paprika you choose to use.

This recipe takes 45 minutes to make, but it’s so easy; you’ll be surprised at how fast the time flies by.

Hungarian Paprika Chicken (From Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking)

Serves 4

Prep: 10 min Cook: 35 min

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 lbs), trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces (I used about 1 lb, see My Two Cents note below)
• 1 large yellow, red, or green pepper (I used yellow)
• 3 fresh or canned plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp hot Hungarian paprika
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 8 oz sour cream (I used fat free)

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken, cover, and cook for 5 minutes, but do not cook until browned and/or cooked through. According to the recipe, this will make the chicken tough.
2. Add the bell pepper, tomatoes, and paprika. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink inside.
3. In small bowl, stir the cornstarch into the sour cream. Add to the pan and cook, uncovered for 5-10 minutes, until the sauce is hot and thickened. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately — either by itself or on top of your favorite noodles or rice. Serve with a spinach salad or your favorite green veggies.

My Two Cents: This dish was silky, creamy, and the chicken was — without being too southern — like buttah. I made a few alterations to the dish, though, adapting it to what I had on hand. First, I only had about a pound of chicken thighs, so I decided to add 8 ounces of chopped mushrooms to the dish. I sauteed the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil, then added about 3 dashes of hot sauce to them, and cooked them until they released their liquids—about 5-7 minutes. They added the meatiness I was missing from that 1/2 pound of chicken I didn’t have. Also, instead of adding 1 tsp of hot paprika and 1 tsp of sweet paprika, I put int 2 tsp of sweet paprika because that’s what I had on hand. But the dashes of hot sauce I think made up for the “hot” aspect I omitted.

I used fat free sour cream, and didn’t find the sauce too thin at all—the cornstarch really helped to thicken it up. If you want a thicker and richer sauce, use full fat sour cream, but it’s not necessary here.

Like I said above, this stew-ish dish can hold its own, but it would also taste great with rice or pasta. I had a light spinach salad on the side. And I was so glad I had leftovers for the next night!

And thanks to the Harvard Common Press for being generous enough to give me a copy of this book

Midwestern Deviled Eggs

Tags

cookbooks, cooking, delicious, deviled eggs, eggs, food, i love food, recipes

Not too long ago I confessed my love of deviled eggs to all of you fabulous readers of mine.

And I got a surprise in the mail one afternoon–a Deviled Eggs cookbook! (Sender shall remain anonymous). But clearly, as a child who hung out by the deviled eggs platter during parties, I squealed a little when I received this book in the mail.

Here are the reasons:

• Wait, seriously? A deviled eggs cookbook? How many different ways can I make deviled eggs? (And why have I not heard about them before?) What other kind of cookbooks are out there that I don’t know of? Is there a cookbook on just avocado recipes? If there is I need to find that one too. (Mental note…Amazon is my next stop after this post…)
• She put what in her deviled eggs? Parsley? Salsa? Lemon juice? Capers? Olives? Spinach? Bacon? Hot sauce? Horseradish? Jalapenos? Wasabi? Tell me more.
• Now I can make a different deviled egg recipe for every special occasion. (Yes, I will take requests.)
• This cookbook actually tells me how to boil and peel eggs– the right way! The right way to cook them (so there are no ugly green rings on your eggs), is to place pan on the heat and bring to a boil. When the water hits a boil, remove from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse under cool water. Peeling gotcha down? Unfortunately there’s no easy way around it, but not using the freshest eggs in your fridge is a good first step. Then–crack the shell all over by gently rolling it in your hands or on the counter. Starting at the butt of the egg, peel away (there is usually an air bubble at that end. Voila! Thanks, Debbie Moose!

So when I went to a picnic with some of my favorite foodies the other week, I volunteered to bring some deviled eggs. They were a hit at the Passover Feast, and I knew they’d be a hit again.

Flipping through the book, Ann’s midwestern-style deviled eggs caught my eye. Why are they midwestern? I’m not sure. Maybe Ann was from the midwest. Maybe it has to do with the cider vinegar or brown sugar in here, but regardless of the name, they’re good. Real good.

Midwestern Deviled Eggs (From Deviled Eggs by Debbie Moose)

Makes 12

Ingredients:

• 6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled, cut in half, and  yolks mashed in a bowl
• 2 tbsp Miracle Whip
• 1 1/2 tsp prepared yellow mustard
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp chopped green onion (white and green parts), plus more for garnish
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Combine the thoroughly mashed yolks with the Miracle Whip and mustard. Stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, garlic powder, and green onion. Taste, then season with salt and pepper.

2.Fill the whites evenly with the mixture and garnish each egg with a sprinkle of chopped green onion.

My Two Cents: Debbie Moose, we should be friends.

Kraft’s Beef Stir Fry

Tags

beef stir fry, cookbooks, libraries

Having two blogs is kind of confusing–no one really knows about this one yet–and where do all my personal entries go? Hmmm. Much to think about here.

I went to the library tonight to take out more cookbooks. Now really, what better a thing to do on a Tuesday night? Plus, I’m in love with libraries. I always go around 7 at night when no one is there. Then I walk up and down the aisles, marveling at just how many books exist, and just how many topics there are to write about. You can read more about my library nights and my cookbook reviews over at Baking Whims. (Please note that I’m probably moving my cookbook talk over to this blog, unless of course I take out the one that’s simply labeled CHOCOLATE, then I’ll probably have to talk about that one over at Baking Whims.)

But anyway, back to the library talk–It kind of befuddled me to find a whole section on how to make your house a home. I always thought that was common sense…pick out furniture you like, hang up some decor, buy some curtains…but I guess you need to read some literature for that extra homey inspiration…

So the reason I brought that up was because the home and garden inspiration is right next to the three rows of cookbooks. I’ve scanned these books dozens of times, but since there are so many, there are always four or five that strike my mood each time I go to the library.

Then I come home and I browse through them, copying the ones I want to try on some index cards. And many I’m sure will end up here, ready for you to try.

For tonight, I went with simple. The trauma from the car accident still isn’t over for me yet, and Chris was out tonight. But I want to start returning back to my normal routine as soon as possible. And what better way to weave my way into that than to throw together a stir fry. Plus, for an extra treat, I leaned away from vegetarian for once and bought some steak. I found this in one of the Kraft Food magazines that I photocopied from my Mom’s shelf before I moved–I’m sure it’s up on the Kraft website too.

Beef Stir Fry

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Minute rice (white or brown will do–but be aware that brown rice takes 10 minutes to cook, not 5)
• 1 lb boneless beef sirloin steak, cut up into strips
• 1 can low sodium beef broth
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 can (7 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 2 cups thinly sliced carrots
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

My Observations: Since this is stir fry, you can really add whatever vegetables you want. I used a 4 oz can of mushrooms and added about 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli that I  thawed before adding to the pan. I would also recommend fresh mushrooms–they taste better. AND I found this recipe to be a little salty even with the low sodium broth, so I would reduce the broth content to 3/4 of a can–don’t use the whole thing. But hey, if you want to clog some arteries and have a super salty palette, please do whatever you desire.

Phew, okay now I can actually explain how to make this!

Directions

1. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. Add meat and cook on medium high heat until the meat is browned, turning once throughout the cooking. This took me about 6-7 minutes. (And to reduce your fat content a little, drain the fat from the pan after you cook the meat.)

2. Add the broth, water and rice. Mix well and bring the mixture to a boil.

3. If you’re using white rice, after the liquids boil, stir in your vegetables and seasonings. Then cover and let it stand for 5 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.

4. If you’re using brown rice, after the liquids boil, stir in your vegetables and seasonings. Then cover and let it simmer, not stand, on low heat for 5 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and let it stand for 5 more minutes, or until the liquids are absorbed.

And that’s it. Plain and simple. Enjoy!

My head is buried in cookbooks

Tags

cookbooks

So last week when I went to the library, I thought that I found the cookbook section.

Then this week when I went to the library, I found THE cookbook section. People. There were rows of cookbooks. I made an audible squeel when I saw all of them and quickly walked up and down the aisles, touching a few of them, just to make sure they were real.

They’re real. I took out…let me count…six cookbooks–but only after narrowing that down from about 15 that I hauled off the shelves and carted over to a table to browse through them.

Here are the cookbooks I took out, in case you want to go take them out/buy them for yourselves. I’ve only browsed them for a few hours, but they all actually look pretty good.

Eat Dessert First! by…oh yes, The Red Hat Society (which, for those of you who don’t know, is a large club of old ladies. Therefore, I’m going to go out on a whim and say these dessert recipes have to taste good–like Grandma’s cookin’)

The Girl Can’t Cook by Cinda Chavich (This book is really down to Earth, which makes it easy to read–this woman has a great voice. However, some of the ingredients are picky. But I’m willing to give some a try.)

Cooking Light Slow Cooker (My brother recently gave me one of his old crock pots. I have yet to use it because I don’t know what to put inside of it. But I figured this book would help me a little–they even have desserts you can make!)

Rachael Ray’s Big Orange Book by Rachael Ray (It’s big and orange, but I’m not sure why it’s called that. Rachael Ray is a TV personality that always bugged me, particularly because of  her voice and her abbreviations and odd slang for things. i.e. A sandwich is not a “sammie”, no, sorry. But regardless, her recipes do look good, and this book has a huge variety of recipes in it–it’s an all around book to have around for when you aren’t sure what to make…)

Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes: Cookies! (OBVIOUSLY my favorite. You just can’t go wrong with this book. It’s a compilation of the best cookie recipes out there including bars, drop cookies, refrigerated cookies–and more.)

The Best Light Recipe by the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated (This one has the most writing and tips in it out of all the cookbooks tonight. They actually explained how they got the recipes lighter in this cookbook, and didn’t fill all the light recipes with sugar substitutes–they just chose lower fat options. Bravo. I’m going to like this one.)

I’m not sure if this is just a phase, but looking at cookbooks is like opening presents at Christmas for me. It excites me that some people know how to both cook AND write well–and then hire talented people to take gorgeous pictures of their food, making me want to make and eat everything on each page.

That will take me two lifetimes.

Plus, one thing I’m noticing about a lot of cookbooks is that they have expensive ingredients. I’m sure this already exists, and I also need to find it, but I need to find “The Poor Girl’s Cookbook” I know they have 1 dollar dinners out there and 10 dollar meals, but when I look at them, they don’t really excite me. And…well…okay I suppose it’s because they’re cheap. But I dunno…I’m not entirely convinced…

So as you may have gathered from this post, I have started cooking more. A lot more now that Chris is living here too. Dinner was always made for me, whether by my mom or in a restaurant or at the cafeteria, and if I actually want to enjoy the things I eat, I must invest time in it. Cooking is really a lot of fun to explore–which is why these cookbooks made me squeal.

Chris told me that perhaps I should expand my blog into a general cooking blog, since I like cooking so much too. Hmm. I am still pondering that thought.

Then I’d have to change the name of my blog–and can you change the address of your blog without making a whole new one? hmmmmmmm. Lots to think about there.

But in the world of baking, I’m planning on making a treat for some co-workers tomorrow. So a new recipe should be up Friday/this weekend for all to drool at/enjoy

**NOTE** images above taken from Barnes and Noble

Library (Cook)books

Tags

cookbooks, library

It was love at first sight…at my town’s library.

Tuesday night, I’m sitting around, antsy after a long day of work, so I suggested to Chris that we go explore the town library. I was so excited when I walked in there for several reasons:

a.) There were a lot of people there, meaning that libraries are not going out of style. Just because people were rarely on the third floor of the Assumption library poking around apparently just means that people at Assumption were not interested in being dorks.

b.) There are three floors at this library. And they are three huge floors.

c.) They have a section of COOKBOOKS.

So I took out three giant cookbooks from the library, and they weren’t your traditional Betty Crockers either. They were original and drool-icious.

(image not my own–Courtesy of http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com)

This was the first book I skimmed through, Hungry Girl by Lisa Lillien. It has a bunch of cute little individual recipes you can make that are under 200 calories. But most of them get reduced calories because she substitutes sugar with sweeteners like Splenda–and doesn’t use real eggs–Egg Beaters instead. However, if you don’t want to go all fake on the recipes, I would just go ahead and put the real stuff in there.

But my favorite has to be the Veselka Cookbook. This cookbook has amazing comfort food recipes and things that you haven’t seen since your childhood. Also, they have a giant section of hugely fattening desserts–which I think I’m going to try sometime (but one of their cookie recipes calls for 3 sticks of butter. yeeshk.)  Maybe for a party? Like my housewarming party?!
Super excited about these cookbooks, and the library in general. I want to get back into reading. My brain needs to be stimulated by things other than work…