Cookbooks

I've got my eye on a cookbook that's being given away at Fab Frugal Food, a site I check multiple times a week for good recipe ideas (check out this week's Meatless Monday recipe, a black bean soup with coconut and cilantro). It's a whole cookbook of delicious-looking (and tasting, I'm sure) quesadillas.


Wishing and begging for this book has made me realize that almost as much as cooking, I love reading cookbooks. I've discovered I'm quite good at reading a recipe and knowing if I'll like it, or what I could changed to make it better- a skill I like to think I got from my grandma, who used to pour over recipe books (though she was a crappy cook. Everything bland and everything overcooked. I guess all the cookbook-reading didn't do her a lot of good).

At the thrift store, I've found some good ones for just a dollar or two- a Better Homes and Gardens vegetarian cookbook, a book of muffins and quick breads, and a Thai cookbook that shows not only how to make traditional Thai meals, but also home-made curry pastes and flowers out of carrots and chilis.


The Bon Appetit 30-Minute Main Courses book almost has more pages marked for me to try than pages that are unmarked.


And in my little collection of cookbooks is a book I have not yet used, but love for it's looks: Fannie Farmer Junior Cook Book, published in 1942 and inscribed "To Meg from Grandma," containing directions for everything from toast to layer cakes to Susie Salad:


and besides that, red-edged pages with cute little pictures at the beginning of every section:

Yesterday Luke and I made an asparagus tart for my family, a recipe we got from the Martha Stewart book I got for Christmas. We baked a puff pastry sheet for about ten minutes. Then the pastry is covered with asparagus shaved using a vegetable peeler to make long, thin strips, then tossed with a little oil and salt and pepper. After baking for about ten minutes, the tart is sprinkled with cheese (we used an Italian mix, rather than plain parmesan, as the recipe called for) and baked for five more minutes. All of us liked it quite a bit. It was easy, fast, and simple.


Then last night, at Fab Frugal Food, the Meatless Monday idea for this week was a spaghetti using that thinly-sliced asparagus instead of spaghetti noodles. After peeling them, the asparagus is steamed for a minute to make it soft. Sounds good- we'll have to try it sometime soon. Asparagus is one of my favorite spring foods!