FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE & VANILLA MARBLE CAKE

This is a flourless chocolate and vanilla marble "cake" and it was absolutely delicious, although I don't know if I would really classify it as a cake. It tasted very much like a fudgy cheesecake. I will definitely be making this again.VANILLA BATTER8 ounce cream cheese...

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Cookin' With Coolio

I own my share (actually, more than my share) of prissy cookbooks, Junior League/church fundraisers, overwrought chef's tomes and even The Joy of Cooing, but if you want to find true joy in cooking look no further than rapper Coolio.Now let me just say here that Coolio is no...

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PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE (and the cooking blah's)

This is not my favorite time of year. We still have a little snow in the yard and everything is a sad shade of “dead vegetation brown” except for the bits of grass sprouting near the warm house foundation. Most days are still too cold to barbecue outdoors and yet that is what...

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Spécialités de la Maison

Saved from the ravages of discarded cookbook hell, Spécialités de la Maison has been given a new life. Some of us have old, beaten up copies, but if you do not own a copy, you can now get a pristine new copy as the book has been reprinted and featured in the New York Times.The...

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Strawberry Mousse by Paula Deen

If it is a real Paula Deen recipe, you know it is going to be rich, delicious and decadent. This little recipe certainly fits all three categories. It is quick to fix and it has many possibilities. This time, I served it in little dessert glasses. Next time, I plan on using...

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The Southern Plantations Cook

The Southern Plantations Cook features recipes from shooting plantations all around the South. For those of you who don't kill your own food, a shooting plantation is like a bed and breakfast with ammo. You go there to stay surrounded by old world charm and in the morning...

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Cooking School Provence

OK, I know you think I don't need another French cookbook, but you would be wrong. Gui Gedda is thought to be the father of Provencal cooking and when he puts together a cookbook, well , it is a must have. Cooking School Provence is a distillation of Gedda's classic recipes...

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MR. MOOSE

This beauty has been hanging around my back door for a while. Actually, it's my young apple tree's that he is eyeing (moose love to eat apple trees). He's a whopper of a moose, not fully grown yet, but still weighing in at about 1,000 pounds; a perfect specimen. He is not camera...

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Huntsville Heritage Cookbook

Today's cookbook is an oldie but goodie. Direct from Huntsville, Alabama, this copy is a "lucky" 13th printing. The Huntsville Heritage Cookbook, like so many of its southern sisters, was compiled by the Junior League of Huntsville. As with many Junior League (or church inspired)...

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A Culinary Journey in Gascony

So Kate Ratliffe lives on a 75-year-old barge that is 85-feet long and sails through Gascony, stopping at nifty little restaurants and markets and drags the fresh produce onto her barge and cooks and sails. We do, indeed, hate her.The good news is she shares her recipes with...

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The I Love Trader Joe's Cookbook

I love Trader Joe's. I never thought of making it a career, though! Cherie Mercer Twohy did think of it and here is The I "heart" Trader Joe's Cookbook. Well, I must say I also heart Trader Joe's with the following caveat. EVERY time I find something I can't live without,...

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Breakfast Brûlée For This Weekend

Pre-Recipe Editorial: I have noticed that many Food Network cooking shows revel in the French language. For example, Alton Brown continually calls the common green bean by its French name haricot vert. Come on now, does that make them taste better? I don’t think so. Recipe titles...

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A Platter of Figs

I love A Platter of Figs by David Tanis.He asks the age-old question: Do you really need a recipe for a platter of figs?(OK, maybe it's not an age-old question, but still...)Truth be told, much of what we cook really doesn't need a recipe. Too many cookbooks out there have...

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