Tag Archives: Ina Garten

A Short but Important Pile of Books

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Reading Truth Through the Election and Covid

Today I heard the beloved Alex Trebeck died, and his biography is in a small pile of books accumulating by my television – all nonfiction. The white book on the bottom is the reverse cover of Woodward’s “Rage.” I am done being angry but don’t want to forget how easy it would be to slide back into that emotion.

Although this is only a sampling of books on my shelves, they are front and center when I watch the news.

  • David Attenborough’s “ A Life on Our Planet”
  • Alex Trebeck’s “The Answer Is…”
  • Maxwell King’s “The Good Neighbor”
  • Bob Woodward’s “Rage”
  • Ina Garten’s “Comfort Food”
  • Pete Souza’s “Shade”
  • Bryant Johnson’s “The RBG Workout”

We Are All Baking in Quarantine

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On my latest dangerous mission to my local grocery store, armed with a face mask and rubber gloves, I was expecting some empty shelves, but not devoid of flour and sugar, and even vanilla extract.  The only item left was a large bag of confectioner’s sugar, and, of course, I grabbed it.  The fresh greens were surrounded by ladies not practicing safe social distance, so I took the celery on the aisle and quickly wheeled over to the frozen foods, thinking frozen vegetables might be a good alternative.

No crowds surrounded the frozen bins because they were empty. Only a sad looking package of chopped cauliflower sat alone inside.  Of course, I took it.

What else could I not find?  My favorite mozzarella cheese sticks and chocolate fudge bars – then I stopped looking, not able to bear further disappointment.

Last night I happened to hear Ina Garten, known as the Barefoot Contessa, talking from her home kitchen with a PBS interviewer.  She opened a stocked freezer with homemade chicken stock, tomato sauce, cookie dough, and more, as she explained she usually tried not to go into her stash.  She offered her solution to ingredients not available or not worth the trip to the store these days:  Substitute ginger for garlic, onion for scallions; be creative and you might start a new dish you like better than the old.  I don’t think Ina would advocate reversing the order and substituting garlic, of which I seem to have an abundance, for ginger in my cupcakes, but maybe it would be worth a try.

The interview inspired me to find her cookbooks on my shelf, and have hope that confectioner’s sugar could substitute for granulated sugar. (It can.)

You can see the interview here.  

And read about how her Instagram page is saving the sanity of many erstwhile cooks in an Atlantic article – Ina Gartens’s Quarantine Playbook

And read my review for How Easy Is That?    It has a recipe for my bag of cauliflower.

Three Cookbooks I Want on My Shelf

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Before I commit to buying a cookbook, I evaluate its worthiness to take up space on my limited shelves by checking it out of the library and trying a few of the recipes.  Of course, when three cookbooks arrived at the same time, they were in competition.  Who would win the coveted shelf space?  All three were winners.  Somehow I will find space for Ina Garten’s Cooking for Jeffrey, Maria Rodale’s Scratch, and Angela Liddon’s The Oh She Glows Cookbook.  Maybe I’ll get lucky and get them for presents (are you listening, daughters?)

9780307464897_p0_v3_s192x300  Cooking for Jeffrey

Ina Garten’s newest in her collection – Cooking for Jeffrey – has all the mouth-watering full page pictures enticing the reader to try the recipe.  Jeffrey is a lucky guy; those dishes would taste so much better if Ina would cook for me.  With a four layer chocolate cake on the cover, this book had me before I opened it.

9781623366438_p0_v2_s118x184  Scratch

Full of simple homemade dishes many will remember from childhood days of mother’s cooking, Maria Rodale’s Scratch could become the go-to book when memory lapses.  Tips for making the perfect poached egg or homemade chicken stock may seems simple, but Rodale’s extra twist is worth noting.  A few of the recipes may be heavy on the butter and cream – savory spiced pumpkin soup – but a little butter now and then never hurt, as my favorite chef Julia Child always said.  Rodale prefaces the book noting it is not a diet book – more comfort food, when you need it.

9781583335277_p0_v4_s118x184   The Oh She Glows Cookbook 

When I checked this out of the library, the librarian told me she had bought the book herself after trying some of the recipes – a good recommendation.  Many of us are always looking to eat better, healthier, and with less meat; this vegan cookbook offers easy possibilities. As I flipped through the preface, I was encouraged to find many of the foods I have in stock yet tend to ignore -those healthy alternatives to chips and store-bought cookies.  Liddon not only has the recipes you would expect from a healthy eating cookbook, like green smoothies and veggie burgers, she also includes power snacks and desserts like almond brownies and pudding parfait. A handy reference book for getting back on the track of healthy eating, The Oh She Glows Cookbook includes one of my favorite quotes from Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world,  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

A timely thought for today, when the news of the world seems overwhelming. Good food may help.

Related Reviews:

 

 

Barefoot Contessa – How Easy Is That?

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I’m always suspicious of skinny chefs.  How great to see Ina Garten, who looks like she eats what she cooks, as she appears on the cover of her new book, with a doubled scarf to hide her chins and holding a tray of gooey whipped cream topped parfaits – smiling.

Everything is easy – easy ingredients (no glace de viande here), easy shortcuts (canned stock but there is a recipe for making your own), easy techinques (why stand over a stove making French toast when you can bake it), and easy (road-tested) recipes.

With no table of contents and sloppy organization, the book starts with French toast bread pudding and morphs into watermelon mojitos.  Garten provides 68 tips for making life easier – with large pictures – 17 sprinkled throughout, with the remaining tacked on at the end of the book – nothing earth shattering (have bowl of lemons and limes handy).

So why bother?  The pictures of food are wonderful – mouth-watering, full-page spreads – and Ina Garten is a good cook (Food Network star).  Added bonus – the recipes really are easy.

garlic-roasted cauliflower

My faves:  garlic-roasted cauliflower and every single dessert.  (The garlic cancels out the sugar, of course).

Recipes from the Book

http://www.lhj.com/recipes/holidays/thanksgiving/ina-gartens-fabulous-thanksgiving/?page=2