How many recipes for rotten food are in your family cookbook?  Or, how many recipes in your family cookbook include ingredients classified as rotten food? I bet you have quite a few!

Consider that some of the most beloved rotten food tastes from the Americas and Europe (especially France) are based on some form of decomposition, decay, or the result of deliberately drying, fermenting, spicing, or injecting foods with “good” bacteria. Read the rest of this entry »

In mid-January I had the pleasure of attending the 35th Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. This fancy food show is one of the largest marketplaces for specialty food and beverages. This year the show had 80,000 products on display from the United States and more than 32 countries, according to the press kit. Read the rest of this entry »

Hot wings, Buffalo wings, chicken wings, or just wings — whatever you call ‘em, they are an original American snacking phenomenon that has taken “wing” across the country. An estimated 1.2 billion of ‘em are served on Super Bowl Sunday for game day grub, according to people who track that sort of thing.

Back in 1964, chicken wings were basically throwaway parts until inspiration hit Teressa Belissimo, who owned a small restaurant in Buffalo, New York. She created Buffalo wings by deep frying trimmed, non-breaded chicken wings, adding a mixture of melted butter and Frank’s® RedHot® Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, and serving them up with bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks. (The dressing and celery sticks helped curtail the burn.) Read the rest of this entry »

If you are one to join in the observance of Groundhog Day (as a national holiday of sorts) on February 2, then you may also want to join the fun with a Groundhog Day Party.  We always look forward to the prognostication of Punxsutawney Phil, the famous resident weather predictor groundhog of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Punxsutawney Phil’s job is to let us know if winter will continue, or if it will end soon. This prediction is based on whether or not he sees his shadow (I’m told if he sees his shadow, we’ll have winter weather another six weeks). Read the rest of this entry »

The other day I was trying to think of some clever dish for dinner. I had several ingredients that by themselves were probably very adequate, but a bit boring. I thumbed through my family cookbook, and didn’t find anything inspiring that would suit the ingredients I had available. The weather didn’t permit a trip to the supermarket, so I started surfing the internet for inspiration. 

That’s when I discovered Supercook.com. It is a recipe search engine that finds recipes on other websites and makes recipe suggestions based on the ingredients you have on hand.  Read the rest of this entry »

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get organized, or more specifically, to get your recipe collection organized, then we have a great way to help you reach your goals. We have a new Expandable Accordion Recipe File that will get you on track for getting your recipe collection under control.

The expandable accordion recipe file measures approximately 10 inches wide by 12 inches high, and has eight reinforced file pockets with index tabs. You can customize the index tabs with your own handwriting or print-at-home labels. Or, you can use the nine transparent adhesive labels that come pre-printed with “appetizers/soups, salads/vegetables, pasta/grains, fish/seafood, meats, poultry, main dishes, dessert/breads, cake/cookies.” Read the rest of this entry »

My oh my, tea parties have a whole new meaning these days, don’t they? Today my friend, Ruth, and I were discussing the Tea Party movement that seems to be gaining ground with the “mad as Hell, and not going to take it any more” crowd. (She told me she’s thinking of becoming a member, although she might not appreciate my publicizing her neo-political point of view).

Hmm. As for me, I prefer the old-fashioned traditional tea parties that “civilization” has enjoyed for centuries. Nice finger sandwiches, brewed tea in a pot, small milk pitchers and sugar bowls, delicate China cups and saucers, doilies,…. and good manners. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve got several new cooking-related gift items to share with you this month. The first of these new cooking-related gift items that I’ll blog about is our new series of cute ceramic recipe card holders.

The ceramic recipe card holders are made of a beautifully-glazed pottery, and are available from us, The CookbookPeople.com, in three different kitchen-friendly designs: Olive Collage, Botanicals, and Classic Fruits (shown above).  They measure a bit over five inches in length and only about 1-1/4” wide, so they can be easily stored in a drawer or cupboard (or large recipe box) when not in use. Read the rest of this entry »

How interesting that several major magazines featured “comfort foods” as the theme of the month for their January cover stories. Maybe it’s the cold weather that brings out the desire to cocoon, or maybe it’s just the wish for a better year ahead.

Classic comfort foods are typically homemade and are as personal as the clothes we wear. Comfort food can be rich and creamy, warm or cold, hearty or delectable, or just remind us of family, Mom, Grandma or Grandpa, or childhood memories.

For sure, classic comfort food became a “thing” after the challenging times of late 2001, and it still reigns supreme as the power of classic comfort food continues to help us feel better, change our mood, or boost our energy in times of stress. Read the rest of this entry »

My dear friend, Ruth, and I were perusing our local bookstore a few days ago (truthfully, we were there for a bit of diversion from the frightful weather) and wandered into our favorite aisle — the one that showcases cookbooks.

Ruth said she’d heard that cookbooks were becoming obsolete. That cookbooks are no longer desired or needed any more, what with the ease and convenience of plucking a recipe for just about any dish off the World Wide Web in a matter of minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, here we are nearing the ides of January. Have you started your New Year’s diet yet? If not, you are not alone. Many others haven’t quite gotten off the couch to walk on that treadmill, or change eating habits (adhering to their New Year’s Diet Resolutions) to shed a few of those “holiday pounds.”

Some years ago I came up with this Lo-Cal Applesauce Muffin recipe to replace the very tempting cakelike and calorie-laden cupcakes (err, muffins) that were available seemingly everywhere. All it took was reading the label on one giant muffin to convince me to try making my own Lo-Cal Applesauce Muffins (and practice portion control). Read the rest of this entry »

“Don’t get so parsnipity with me,” Ruth snickered as we sipped our traditional nip of sherry to celebrate the new year. “That’s what my grandmother used to say when I got rambunctious in the kitchen,” she continued. “It always used to make be laugh and brought me back to reality.”

The parsnip root vegetable hardly is amusing, I thought. Heck, they look like anemic carrots. However, for the new year, Ruth and I have a pact to explore some of the more obscure vegetables that lurk in old family recipes we’ve included in our family cookbooks. One of those is parsnips, a relative of the carrot with a sweet, nutty flavor that is usually available in winter. Read the rest of this entry »

We decided to add a lovely recipe keeper to our selection of cookbook-related gift items after several customers requested an “almost-ready-made” solution for their family cookbook.

This recipe keeper option comes from Campbell’s with some warm nostalgic graphics of the Campbell’s kids displayed throughout the nicely-designed D-ring notebook (the D-ring is a great invention; it eliminates recipe pages getting all snagged up when you turn them).

The recipe keeper also has 50 pre-formatted recipe pages that are ready to add your own family recipes — either by handwriting them onto the pretty lined pages, or inserting the recipe pages that you printed using my Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software. Read the rest of this entry »

Ruth and I had a discussion during the New Year’s holiday about the differences between noodles and dumplings. She says noodles don’t have any leavening agents and are always boiled, while dumplings are usually balls of dough that can be cooked any number of ways.

Okay, that made some sense. I see prepared Italian noodles in the refrigerated section of the grocery store and understand they are “fresh” not dried noodles. I also get that noodles are dried and come in a variety of shapes (and names).

I’m told that noodles can be made with eggs and flour. The chief dry flour ingredient can be wheat (such as ramen or pasta), rice (rice vermicelli), mung beans (cellophane noodles), potato (gnocchi or halušky), buckwheat (soba), or other ground flours, too. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I admit I’m a little behind the times.

I just found out about a marvelous and fascinating cooking show on PBS that’s called “A Taste of History.” Chef Walter Staib takes viewers on a journey through American cooking with recipes from Colonial times.

Chef Staib actually cooks the 18th century dishes for “A Taste of History” in an open hearth fireplace, using typical utensils available to cooks of the era. For example, he uses a spider, a large iron frying pan with three 10-12” long spindly legs, to cook everything that doesn’t work well in a Dutch oven. The spider is quite clever; the legs keep the fire underneath the pan (or on one side), and temperature control is basically achieved by moving the pan to and from the fire. Read the rest of this entry »

Once in a blue moon, I like to prepare a very easy, delicious recipe that I call Blue Moon Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp. It is a take off on a classic recipe that can be found on the menus of some Chinese restaurants in the United States and Hong Kong. I’m told this dish often surpasses the old American standby “Almond Chicken” for Chinese takeout orders in some cities.

Blue Moon Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp is very easy to prepare, and is great for a relaxing meal during vacations or holidays, or a fabulous game-day snack. The dish is simply lightly battered shrimp in a mayonnaise sauce served with crunchy candied walnuts and sesame seeds. Tantalizing!

Here is the two-step recipe for your enjoyment. I have this recipe for Blue Moon Honey Glazed Walnut Shrimp in the Chinese food recipe section of my family cookbook. Feel free to add it to yours, if you like: Read the rest of this entry »

Holidays tend to make us reflect on our shortcomings and declare intentions to be a better person during the coming year (when we are allowed to “start over” on January 1). In 2010, I plan to do more for family members, especially in remembering their birthdays by using the Birthday Calendar in my family cookbook.

In our family, birthdays were always very special. The birthday celebrant got to sit at the head of the table, and was honored with a red dinner plate at supper time. The main entrée that night was usually whatever the birthday boy or girl requested; it could be anything within reason, including ice cream sundaes (which I requested and got one birthday). Read the rest of this entry »

Went to a Christmas dessert party on Saturday and was quite impressed by the variety of holiday desserts that were brought to the festivities. Among the most popular holiday dessert drink was a clever eggless, diabetic version of eggnog, which is usually very thick and very sweet. This sugar free eggnog was great way for diabetics (and others) to enjoy holiday cheer without the guilt or worry about blood sugar levels going off the chart.

Oddly enough, the person who brought the sugar free eggnog was not a diabetic, just someone who prefers a lighter, less sweet version of a favorite holiday dessert drink.

The main ingredient of sugar free eggnog is a sugar-free vanilla pudding mixed with skim milk. In the right proportion, the result is quite good and an excellent substitute for the “real” thing. Read the rest of this entry »

While shopping for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day supplies, I saw a beautiful display of Christmas oranges, polished and shining in the produce section of the supermarket. These were big, beautiful oranges, and made me recall the old story of the Christmas orange.

The Christmas orange story goes something like this:

A little girl who lived in an orphanage was excited to learn that there would be a beautiful Christmas tree in the great hall downstairs placed by Santa Claus himself! There was also a rumor going around the orphanage that each good child would receive a fresh juicy orange –a Christmas Orange — as a special Christmas gift. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t you just hate the way some cookbook softwares make you use the old-fashioned slash between numbers when trying to indicate 2/3 cups of sugar in a recipe? You have to find the 2, then the slash, then the 3. That was one of my pet peeves, so when we created Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, we changed all that by adding a Symbols Page that is pretty handy when entering favorite family recipes into the recipe template.

While typing into the cookbook software’s recipe template, all you have to do is keep the Symbols Page open. Click the “More” button, located on the bottom left of your recipe template page, to open the Symbols Page sidebar. As you type, select the measurements, cooking instructions, temperatures, ingredients and fractions (among other choices) that you want to include in a favorite family recipe. Read the rest of this entry »

Gift bags with tissue fluffing out of the top are the easiest way to present gift items during the holidays or other special occasions. Gift bags are easy to accomplish, look pretty, and save tons of awkward moments (such as fumbling with last-minute gift wrapping on your car’s trunk while your friend peeks through her front window.)

Oh yes. We’ve all had those moments. To help get over the guilt of not gift wrapping every gift item in the traditional manner, here are my Top 5 reasons gift bags trump gift wrapping every time:

Read the rest of this entry »

‘Tis the season to be jolly! We at the CookbookPeople are happy to celebrate this merry time of year. We also want to share our good fortune with others.

This week the Idaho Statesman newspaper carried a story featuring us and a few other companies that are offering additional perks for holiday shoppers: every purchase from our companies will benefit a local charity. Read the rest of this entry »

“Oh, Matilda, look at this clever and cute little giftie item,” my dear friend Ruth squealed as we shopped merrily for small fun things at a local Christmas boutique. She picked up a sample to show me.

“Snowman Soup,” she said. “It’s got a packet of cocoa, some miniature marshmallows, a peppermint candy cane, and some Hershey’s kisses. How clever and cute is that?”

Snowman Soup was indeed a very clever and cute little giftie item for workmates, grandchildren, teens, favorite seniors, (or for selling at Christmas boutiques).  Snowman Soup might also be a very clever and cute departing favor for guests at Christmas parties, or as a memento at dinner table place settings. Another great gift idea is to place a single Snowman Soup packet into a holiday mug, or to add multiple packets to a larger gift basket. Read the rest of this entry »

 
Okay, so you’re late buying gifts for the fast-approaching holidays. We have the perfect solution for you. Among our cookbook-related gift selections are some terrific holiday gift giving ideas that are sure to please any family member.

However, if you aren’t sure your holiday gift giving idea will coordinate with your recipient’s tastes, then we have yet another solution for you. Our Cookbookpeople Gift Certificate. It can be used by your recipient toward any purchase on our website, whether for Matilda’s Fantastic Cookbook Software, a coupon organizer, cookbook stand, recipe box, or any of the other great and useful items that we have available. Read the rest of this entry »