The Cookbook Junkies

 

Aimee Wimbush-Bourque is the talented voice behind Simple Bites and has just published her beautiful new cookbook, Brown Eggs and Jam Jars.

 

Brown Eggs and Jam Jars contains over one hundred recipes that are geared to involving the whole family with a whole foods type of approach.  Aimee grew up a homesteader and worked as a professional chef and many of the recipes speak to that experience and how she lives now as a busy mom.   She provides us with tips to live the homesteading life even in an urban setting.

When we moved to Colorado last year from New York, I had my first bonafide garden – small though it may be — I cannot tell you the joy I felt when I made my batches of sauce from tomatoes that I grew from a seed.  The sauce I made from my small harvest was the best we ever had.  I’m looking forward to this year’s crop and will seek assistance to up my game with Aimee’s advice and tips.

Brown Eggs and Jam Jars contains glorious photographs and the recipes included are tempting me to leave this post and get cooking.  The book is divided by seasons.  Spring contains recipes for buttermilk buckwheat pancakes, maple cider baked beans, maple pecan butter tarts and sticky maple blueberry pudding — I confess I have a maple addiction — we  continue with coconut cream baked oatmeal, spinach and ricotta pappardelle (which looked glorious), shrimp and egg fried rice with green garlic and radish chive butter, just to name a few.

Summer is all about the outdoors.  Grilling information and recipes for being on the go.  Gingered beef and cheesy bean burritos will be made soon in our home even though it’s the dead of winter here in the mountains.  We have orangette chocolate oat bars, maple marshmallows and roasted cherry molasses cookies included in this section that jump off the pages and will tempt children and adults to get into the kitchen and whip up some batches of these treats.

Next, we travel into the harvest with summer squash and parmesan galette, quick marinated golden beets and caprese salad with fresh thyme drizzle.  The canning section will calm any fears you may have regarding tackling preserving and includes recipes for Baba’s sweet mustard pickles, Fall fruit chutney with cashews and currants and strawberry-honey jam with orange zest.

Some additional recipes that looked tempting were Clara’s clam chowder, tartiflette with oka, chicken leek shepherd’s pie and the winter and holiday chapters were filled with delights to bring to your table — cranberry clementine relish, honey ginger sweet potato puree, and cinnamon shortbread bars with dark chocolate ganache.  There is also a section on Sunday dinners, holiday meals as well as pantry staples.

This book is perfect for everyone – a new cook because it contains so much wonderful information and the seasoned cook who wants to bring more home grown foods to her table and encourage her family to join in.  There is something for everyone in this new release.

For those New York area folks, Aimee will be doing an event in Brooklyn on March 9th at BookCourt, more information can be found here.

Random Number Generator picked #37 – Viki Riley – congratulations – please e-mail your address to icywit @ gmail dot com.

GIVEAWAY:

Aimee and her publisher have graciously offered a copy of Brown Eggs and Jam Jars to one of my readers.  This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers.   To enter please leave a comment here on this blog post.  Please be patient  — comments are moderated — and will show up after approval.  This giveaway will end on March 3rd.  A random winner will be picked and notified here on the post as well as in the group.  Good luck.

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED – WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY.   THANK YOU.

The ten winners are:

Blaise Doubman

Denise Van Aken

Melanie Riley

Allison Muccilli Cofone

Linda Straley

Dyanna Washington

Tracy Furgason

Susan Westall

Anita Fein

Lois Held

Please e-mail me your address to icywit@gmail.com with your choice again of coconut or almond flour.  I will provide your information to King Arthur Flour – thank you for entering.   If I do not hear from you with 24 hours, I will need to choose a different winner.

 

 

Those of us who are mourning the loss of the Baking Sheet can take comfort in Sift, a magazine for bakers from King Arthur Flour, whose premiere Spring issue will hit newsstands this Tuesday, Feburary 24th.

It is of supreme quality – from the recipes and writing to the look and feel of the physical item. It will be available nearly everywhere magazines are sold – from Barnes and Noble and Hudson News to Whole Foods and Costco including major grocery stores plus online at kingarthurflour.com for $12.95. 

There are 112 pages, with over 60 recipes that have been thoroughly tested by King Arthur Flour, and contains  beautiful stories and photographs.  There are no external advertisements.  Nutritional analysis is provided with every recipe and free, live baking experts from our Baker’s Hotline will be able to assist with any question regarding the recipes.

Some of the stories in the first issue include: cities and their sandwiches; Easter celebration breads; all-American cakes; easy recipes to the rescue.  Other items include how-to’s, tips for entertaining, illustrated techniques, lifestyle features, and things we love for the kitchen.

I’m told there are no plans at this time to have a digital version for download, but there is definitely the hope that this will come in the future.   At this time the plan is to produce the magazine quarterly.

Susan Reid, who was the Editor of The Baking Sheet, is the Editorial Director and Ruth Perkins is the Creative Director of Sift.  More information on the publication and a full list of where SIFT can be purchased can be found here.

Now for the GIVEAWAY – King Arthur Flour has graciously offered TEN Cookbook Junkies a copy of SIFT (the Spring issue) as well as a bag of almond OR coconut flour (your choice).   The total retail value is $35.  The giveaway will end Monday at 5 p.m.  MST.  Winners will be announced on this post by 6 p.m.  as well as in the Facebook group.  Winners will then need to E-MAIL icywit@gmail.com their address information.  US addresses only.

To enter leave ONE comment on this post being sure to specify which flour you would like to try from King Arthur  – almond or coconut.

Good luck – I know you will enjoy Sift as much as I do.

 

 

I love to make macaroni and cheese.  My son, Andrew loves it, my husband loves it – and it has become one of my favorites.  I have made every version imaginable – years ago I started adding different proteins — I made a bourbon chicken macaroni and cheese that I served at Andrew’s 7th birthday party that everyone raved about.  I’ve made versions with fried chicken, kielbasa and pulled pork.  One of our favorites is the sweet corn macaroni and cheese that I adapted from a Food Network recipe.  I’ve topped mac and cheese with breadcrumbs, fried shredded potatoes, panko and parmesan, panko and barbecue seasonings and dozens of other combinations.  I’ve used every cheese and combination of cheese, too.  The honey pepper chicken macaroni and cheese copycat recipe I came up with is one of our favorites and is here on the blog.

I pick up things here and there from different cookbooks and cooking shows.  On The Chew the other day, Jussie Smollett made his mother’s Swiss Mac ‘n’ Cheese and one of the things I got from his recipe is that he lines the bottom of the cooking vessel with bread crumbs, too.  A thank you to him for that inspiration.

Best Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound of mezzi rigatoni, cooked in heavily salted water for seven minutes (or any pasta shape you enjoy) — drained and rinsed — yes, rinse.

4 to 5 cups of warm milk

4 tablespoons of butter – half way to browned

1/4 cup of flour

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of fresh cracked pepper

2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard

2 cups of cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup of Swiss or Monterey Jack cheese, grated

1/2 cup of Parmesan, grated

For the bread crumbs

1/2 loaf of stale French or Italian bread

1 sprig of rosemary

6 basil leaves

3 to 4 sage leaves

1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

I pulsed all the crumb toppings in the food processor until bread crumb consistency and well combined.  I had plenty left over — I placed those crumbs in a covered container to save for another dish later in the week.

For topping – 2 tablespoons of butter diced to sprinkle on top of completed macaroni dish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter the equivalent of a 9 x 13 baking dish.  I made two smaller macaroni and cheese dishes one in an au gratin dish and another in a smaller baker for a friend.  I sprinkled a small hand full of bread crumbs on the bottom of both buttered baking dishes.

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter until almost the point it turns brown — and then add the flour.  I cooked the roux twice as long as normal almost to the point of a dark tan or brown color.  Add the 4 cups of warm milk – stirring constantly.  Add salt, pepper, and Dijon mustard and let the sauce thicken.  I had to add about another cup of warm milk as I felt it was too thick but use your own judgment.  Once it comes to the right consistency — almost like a loose pudding mixture (that is the best analogy I could come up with)  – I added the cheeses — cheddar, swiss or Jack and Parmesan.  Allow the cheese to melt into the sauce.  Once the cheeses are melted and combined — add your cooked pasta to the sauce, mix thoroughly and then transfer your pasta and cheese mixture to the buttered and crumbed baking dish.   Cover the top with the bread crumb mixture and then dot with about 2 tablespoons of butter diced up.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes until brown and bubbly.

This was a rush post because of my  impatient friends…so forgive errors.