Cookbooks I Am Trying to Unload on Amazon

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

The Best Vegetarian Recipes: From Greens to Grains, from Soups to Salads: 200 Bold Flavored Recipes by Martha R. Schulman

La Comida del Barrio: Latin-American Cooking in the U.S.A. by Aaron Sanchez

Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

Bouchon by Thomas Keller

The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller

A Return to Cooking by Eric Ripert and Michael Rulhman

This Week’s Menu

MONDAY

Borlotti Bean Mole with Roast Winter Squash from 101 Cookbooks

Substitution: Pinto beans for borlotti beans

Rice

 

TUESDAY

Italian Sausages and Lentils from Nigella Bites

Substitution: Chicken sausage for pork sausage

Endive, Arugula, and Orange Salad from Epicurious

 

WEDNESDAY

Spaghetti with Spinach, Pancetta, and Egg from Pasta Harvest

 

THURSDAY

Chili Pie from Real Simple Food (Fall 2006)

Substitutions: Mexican chorizo for Italian sausage, black beans for kidney beans

Green Salad

 

FRIDAY

Leftovers or Carryout

 

SATURDAY

Slow-Cooker Chili Chicken Tacos from Everyday Food (October 2008)

Homemade Salsa

 

SUNDAY

Fried Green Tomato BLTs

Frozen French fries

This Week’s Menu

SUNDAY
Grilled corn, shrimp & chorizo salad

MONDAY
Frozen pizza
Green salad

TUESDAY
Grilled pork adobado with smoky roasted sweet potatoes (from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless)

WEDNESDAY
Leftover pork warmed in green salsa with rice and queso fresco

THURSDAY
Fusilli with zucchini and tomato (from Pasta Harvest by Janet Fletcher)

FRIDAY
Fish tacos with lime-cilantro crema

SATURDAY
Lentil & pasta salad

Why Americans Are Fat

From a Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon ad in the Sunday, August 17, edition of the Lansing State Journal: A never-ending serving of our tender steak medallions cut into bite-size pieces, hand-breaded, golden-fried then tossed in your choice of spicy Sidewinder BBQ, Buffalo (mild, hot, or Texas hot) or plain Texas Traditional. Served with choice of ranch or bleu cheese dipping sauce and bottomless steak fries.

Cocktail Recipe: Bleachbomb

Ingredients
Bell’s Oberon Ale
Lysol® All Purpose Cleaner with Bleach

Take a couple drinks of beer. Spray Lysol® on walls of very small shower cubicle in closet-sized, windowless half-bath. Scrub tile vigorously, inhale deeply, and pause for occasional sip of beer. Continue process until shower is clean or until unconsciousness seems imminent.

This Week’s Menu

MONDAY
Puerco a la Mexicana, arroz blanco, and refritos negros (from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless)

TUESDAY
Leftovers

WEDNESDAY
Spinach risotto (from Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver) with grilled chicken

THURSDAY
Pasta with tuna and lemon (from Off the Shelf by Donna Hay)

FRIDAY
Shrimp pad thai (from Everyday Food)

SATURDAY
Cheeseburgers and French fries

SUNDAY
Frozen ravioli, sauce from a jar, and spinach

This Week’s Menu

MONDAY
GROWNUPS: Salad of Baby Greens, Smoked Chicken, Dried Cherries, and Pecans. Rosemary sourdough toast.
BABY: Banana, Avocado, and Chicken. Butternut Squash. Spinach.

TUESDAY
GROWNUPS: Panfried Fish Sandwich with Bacon Mayonnaise (from The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider).
BABY: Hint of Mint Soup (from Homemade Baby Food by Connie Linardakis). Pears.

WEDNESDAY
GROWNUPS: Spaghetti with Spiced Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce (from The Gourmet Slow Cooker by Lynn Alley, via the freezer). Baby Greens with Rosemary Sourdough Croutons.
BABY: Hint of Mint Soup. Butternut Squash.

THURSDAY
GROWNUPS: Yellow Peas and Rice with Onion Relish (from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison).
BABY: Split Peas and Rice (from Homemade Baby Food by Connie Linardakis). Pears.

FRIDAY
GROWNUPS: Leftovers.
BABY: Split Peas and Rice. Bananas.

SATURDAY
GROWNUPS: Chicken Tacos.
BABY: Sweet Potato and Chicken Dinner (from Homemade Baby Food by Connie Linardakis). Peas. Pears.

SUNDAY
GROWNUPS: Tuna and Lemon Pasta (from Off the Shelf by Donna Hay).
BABY: Sweet Potato and Chicken Dinner. Carrots. Applesauce.

Recipe: The Fauxjito

I’ve lost track of the mojito. I know it can’t possibly still be in—an acutely fashion-forward friend of mine made a little moue of distaste when I ordered one at a restaurant, like, 4 years ago—but I don’t know if it’s currently out or if it has retreated to a place beyond the dictates of trendiness. Whatever. It remains a delicious drink, and a very pleasant one to serve at small summer gatherings. When entertaining a crowd, however, it is a colossal pain in the ass. For those of you who enjoy the refreshing taste of the mojito but prefer not to consign yourself or someone you love to several hours bruising mint leaves, I offer an alternative: the fauxjito. While this drink does require a little bit of work, it’s all done in advance, leaving you free to mingle instead of muddle.

The ingredients for this drink are

A couple bunches of fresh mint (more for a large crowd)
At least two cans of frozen limeade (more for a large crowd)
A bottle of rum

First, make mint ice cubes by chopping the mint leaves, stuffing them into an ice-cube tray, topping the mint with water to fill, and freezing. Each drink should have at least a few mint cubes, so make as much as you think you’ll need. Obviously, you want to leave yourself several hours of freezing time for each batch.

Next, make a pitcher of limeade according to the instructions on the carton. This will involve thawing limeade first, so plan accordingly.

At party time, put the mint cubes in an ice bucket, and set this out with the pitcher and bottle of rum. Drink assembly is totally simple: Put a few mint ice cubes in a glass, fill glass with limeade, and top with a shot of rum. (Straws are optional, but they do make it possible to stir the drink, and your girl guests won’t mess up their lipstick as they sip.)

Gerry Thomas: 1922-2005

I haven’t checked, but I imagine James “Scotty” Doohan tributes are multiplying like tribbles on the Internets. Myself, I would like to take a moment to honor another luminary who died yesterday, Gerry Thomas, the inventor of the TV Dinner.

The TV Dinner is a quintessential 20th-century artifact. It not only changed the way people ate, but it changed the way people thought about eating. Plenty of people, from Slow Food advocates to those who bemoan the demise of the family meal, will tell you that the TV dinner changed America for the worse, but it’s worth remembering that, before the invention of convenience foods, women were pretty much trapped in the kitchen for much of the day, every day. Also, I’m just wild about those weird, crusty-fluffy mashed potatoes. Mmmm.

The AP did a pretty nice job of analyzing the cultural impact of the TV Dinner in their obituary, but, if you want the full story, you can find it in Karal Ann Marling’s As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s, which is one of my very favorite books.

Camp Cupcake Cupcakes

Nestled in the Appalachian hills of southeastern West Virginia, Alderson Prison Camp is the nation’s oldest correctional institution for women. The federal facility made headlines when Martha Stewart began her 5-month sentence for lying about a stock sale—and again when she broke prison rules by cooking up a batch of crabapple jelly—but the celebrated homemaker and media mogul is by no means the most famous inmate the prison has housed.

Since opening its doors in 1927, Alderson has been home to a diverse roster of felonious females. Billie Holiday served a drug sentence at the rural compound in 1947. Iva Ikuko Toguri, one of the women who gave voice to Tokyo Rose, crossed paths with Mildred “Axis Sally” Gillars while at the prison. Socialist, ACLU co-founder, and women’s rights activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was sent to Alderson after her 1951 conviction for violating the Alien Registration Act.

Alderson is, for the most part, a temporary home for non-violent offenders (Manson family alum and would-be assassin Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme is one notable exception). A minimum security prison on an open, forested campus, Alderson has earned the nickname “Camp Cupcake”, and it’s that lighthearted sobriquet that inspired this delightful dessert.

I began with the Chocolate Cupcake recipe in The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, a recipe that’s quite similar to this Devil’s Food Cupcake recipe found at marthastewart.com. The type of cake used isn’t important, though, so use any kind of cake you like. It is important, though, to have a large canvas for decorating, so use a jumbo muffin tin instead of standard size.

A white topping is also necessary, and I chose this Shiny Cream Cheese Frosting. Sweet and just a little tangy, this is a wonderful complement to a dense, fudgy chocolate cake. Please note that this frosting requires chilling before it’s properly spreadable, so you might want to make it before you make the cake. You should also know that it takes a lot of mixing before this recipe gets creamy, so using a stand mixer—such as this gorgeous Kitchen Aid model in Martha’s green—is a good idea. When you’re frosting these little cakes, be sure to reserve some for the decoration.

While any dessert should, of course, be delicious, Camp Cupcake Cupcakes are all about style. Martha Stewart may have to wear Alderson’s contemporary uniform of sweatshirt, khakis, and sneakers, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t emulate the nostalic charm of old-fashioned jailhouse togs. To make the stripes, mix black food coloring—available in the baking aisle of big grocery stores—with reserved frosting and pipe the colored frosting through a ribbon tip. Be sure to separate each black stripe with white space of equal width to achieve the desired effect. The finished result? A dessert that’s as visually striking as it is tasty.

It’s a good thing.

VIEW THE COMPLETE CAMP CUPCAKE PHOTO ESSAY HERE. THANKS TO MY HUSBAND, TED, FOR THE ACTION SHOTS AND THE INSPIRATION. THANKS TO MY DEAR, SWEET DR. KATE FOR GIVING ME THE MAGNIFICENT MIXER.