One of my favorite cookbooks

We moved to North Carolina in 1993. We were so young, only out of college a few months. We hadn't even learned yet not to put everything we wanted on credit cards. We've come a long way since then, but this is one impulse purchase I am so glad we made.

This cookbook, called Southern Elegance, is a collection of recipes from the Junior League of Gaston County. I have no idea where we got it, because we live nowhere near Gaston County. Jeffrey thinks we bought it at a street fair, or maybe the Cotton Exchange in Wilmington.

One of the recipes is for Louisiana Barbequed Shrimp. This is not your typical barbecue. It's not even thick red sauce. Think lemons, Lots of lemons, And butter. Lots of butter. There's garlic, of course, and Worcestershire (Lea & Perrins) sauce and Tabasco, rosemary, salt and pepper. The sauce gets cooked briefly, and then gets poured over the shrimp still in their shells. The dish goes in the oven and very soon, there is delicious shrimp for everyone. This is one of our go to meals. We even entertain with this one. We put plenty of paper towels on the table along with bowls for shrimp shells. And we serve it with some crusty bread for sopping up the sauce. It makes a terrific mess but it is delicious!

You can tell we really like this recipe. Just look at the page.

This book is literally falling apart, but I will find some way to keep it. For some reason, this is also my go to book for a quiche recipe. Actually, I just look up the egg to milk proportion and make up the rest, but it's still where I look. I have a couple cookbooks like this one -- used and abused and messy.

Just like my kitchen.

What I got for Christmas - Part 1

I love food, cooking and books. So of course I love cookbooks. I especially love getting new ones. I think about all the possibilities and all the delicious food I'll be making.

This Christmas, I got two new cookbooks -- one from the awesome Jeffrey and one from his awesome parents.

Jeff got me Alton Brown's Good Eats -- The Early Years (more on the second cookbook gift in a future post). What a good choice! If you've never seen his television show on Food Network, I highly recommend catching an episode or 12. This is a chef who really understands how recipes work. He knows and is able to explain the science behind why ingredients go together or why cooking methods work the way they do.

This book (the first of three) is more than just a collection of recipes. It's also a collection of sometimes seemingly random trivia. He doesn't just give you his recommendations for how to build a great burger, for example. He talks about the kind of beef to use, gives tips about buns and explains why the only way to cook a burger is medium-rare (Amen to that).

This book has even more though. It has stories, and how I love a good story. The into is a Q&A with Alton asking and answering the questions. So from the first page, I was already doing what we call "dramatic readings" of the book as Jeffrey played his new video game. I haven't made it through very much yet, because I want to take my time with this one. I haven't even decided what I'll make first. I am leaning toward pimento cheese though. It may sound like an odd choice for a former Yankee/Southern girl transplant, but I have to make something for a baby shower luncheon, and I am thinking that might be just the thing.

The Cutest Cookbook Ever

We recently bought a new shelf for the room off our kitchen (I never know what to call that room - it has a closet, so it's not really a pantry). We just didn't have enough storage room, and the bigger shelf holds more than the baker's rack we had there. We also got some S hooks to hang our stainless steel pots from the side. All in all, it worked out well and we think we're pretty cool.

I rearranged a lot of stuff, including the cookbooks and loose recipes I always mean to organize completely but never quite finish doing.

While sorting through some of these, I came across something called "First Grade Cafe," a cookbook of sorts John did in school. Oh my gosh, how cute. It was made up of coloring book pages with spaces for the young chefs to fill out the recipe name, list the ingredients used and draw a picture of what the finished product looked like. Mostly what they "cooked" were things like trail mix and cookies. There was also a page at the end for a recipe the students were asked to supply (with help from parents, of course). John's was Peanut Butter Scotties. They're like Rice Krispie Treats except with peanut butter and butterscotch chips instead of marshmallows.

What a precious find.

John has come a long way since then. He can make a roux, and he knows how to chop or dice veggies at different sizes depending on how we're going to cook them. He has made homemade macaroni and cheese, Ohana wings,  and corn pudding on his own (with just some supervision) and is an excellent sous chef in training. To his future wife, Jeffrey and I say "you're welcome."

We have probably outgrown this cookbook, except for the Peanut Butter Scotties - they sound really good. But it will still have a place of honor on the shelf with the others.

Peanut Butter Scotties
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 12-ounce package butterscotch chips
1 cup peanut butter

Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter together in a double boiler. Mic well. Stir in Rice Krispies and mix gently until the cereal is coated. Press into a buttered 9x13 pan and refrigerate.