Best of the Best Fast & Fabulous Party Foods and Appetizer

Quail Ridge Press has once again published a cookbook that will be dear to those who like to make party foods and appetizers for their family or friends who gather 'round them.

"Best of the Best Fast & Fabulous Party Foods and Appetizers" is 274 pages of recipes that are delicious, easy and quick to prepare and will have your guests asking for the recipe so they too can make it for their next party.

As they usually do, QRP has placed the title of this cookbook on the plastic comb spine so it will be easy to spot on the shelf. Being comb bound it is also easy to lay flat while cooking from -- a feature cooks love.

This cookbook is all about parties and there is an alphabetical listing of parties in the front, such as Bunko or Bridge Party, Father's Day Cookout, Mardi Gras Madness, Super Bowl Party, Wine-Tasting Party, just to name a few. Then there is another index of Monthly Parties with 2 menus for each month with listing of recipes and page numbers included. There is yet another index of Quick Fixes -- recipes that are super quick, as well as fast and fabulous.

Some of the chapters that catch my attention are:

"Wet Your Whistle"
includes shakes, floats, smoothies, slushes, teas, punches, coolers, wines, and wassails.....WOW!

"Crunchy Munchies" include recipes for crackers, chips, toasts, wafers, nuts, popcorn, and snack mixes.

"Some Like It Hot" include recipes for hot dips, chafing dishes, fondues, and hot bread bowls.

"Cheese, Please" includes recipes for cheese balls, squares, cubes, crisps, nachos, quesadillas and spreads. This is the section where I found a winner called "It's a Snowman Cheese Ball" and was a huge hit over the holidays when family gathered for Christmas dinner at my house. This held them over until I could get it all on the table and everyone was asking for the recipe (copied below for you).

This cookbook is filled with celebration recipes as well it should be since it was published to celebrate Quail Ridge Press's 30th anniversary (1978-2008). Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley have never let us down with their BoB cookbooks and they haven't this time either.

Congratulations to McKee, Moseley and Quail Ridge Press on their busy, but exciting 30 years of giving the cookbook reader what they want -- exciting, delicious, easy, quick, challenging, unusual, wonderful recipes in wonderful cookbooks.

I believe it's time to celebrate and have a party and I know where we can get some more recipes like the one below:

"It's A Snowman Cheese Ball"

2 cups shredded 4-cheese blend
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives or green onions
1 (2-ounce) package slivered almonds, toasted
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper, or to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Peppercorns
1 baby carrot

Mix cheese, cream cheese, chives, almonds, and red pepper well. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour. Divide mixture into 3 balls -- small, medium, and large. Roll in Parmesan cheese. Arrange on serving dish small to large, like a snowman lying down. Decorate with peppercorns for eyes, mouth, and buttons, and carrot for nose. A green onion skin strip around his neck makes a scarf. Surround with crackers or cut-up fresh vegetables. Serves 16-20.

Reviewed by Monita Olive for CookbooksEtCetera on January 4, 2009

Cinagro Farm Family Favorites

Cinagro Farm Family Favorites is a 20-years-in-the-making personal

cookbook compiled by Carol Engan Borrelli to honor her Norwegian,

Dutch, German, Czechoslovakian and Italian ancestors. With that kind

of lineage, there have to be some good recipes in it and there are.

Carol Borrelli's background in federal food inspection gives her an

appreciation for the organic lifestyle and her love of cooking and

gardening lets her practice it as well. You can view the beautiful

cookbook at her website at www.cinagrofarm.com

The first thing that catches my eye with this cookbook is the name of

it. Cinagro is "organic" spelled backwards. I love it! Borrelli's

philosophy is to use fresh, organic foods when possible. There are

about 500 recipes within the 250+ pages of the comb-bound book. We

love the comb binding which makes it easy to stay open when cooking

from it.

The recipes range from breakfast breads like Blueberry Orange Tea

Muffins (absolutely wonderful on a chilly Sunday morning like today),

and Homemade Yogurt that uses goat milk, Norwegian Breakfast Crepes

("Jeg elske disse crepes") to appetizers and beverages like

Angloasian Rum Punch and Tangy Orange Cheese (yum).

In the soup section I've marked Cream of Broccoli Soup to try

(probably will be dinner tonight) and I'm sure to try the Sausage &

Lentil Soup Borrelli also. There is also a great section on sauces

and salad dressings that I am pleased as punch to have to find new

favorites. They sound just delicious.

The miscellaneous and unusual section has recipes for seasoned salt,

Cinagro Farm Skin Cream, and Donna's Downeast Biscuits (for the dog),

just to name a few.

There are so many yummy sounding recipes that I can't name them all,

but I see very many I will be trying -- especially those blueberry ones!

The divider pages between the sections have artwork by Sharon

France. Her Americana style is quite attractive, Most of the old

barns in the paintings are set at a distance, showing big sky, green

fields, and an orange strip in the foreground that I believe depicts

a fall harvest. France's artwork can be viewed at http://

www.francegallery.net/ The cover art work chosen by Borrelli was

perfect for this cookbook!

Cinagro Farm Family Favorites is listed at www.amazon.com and also at

www.target.com, but is currently showing as out of stock on both

sites. Since this cookbook would make a nice gift at this time of

year, you may want to go straight to http://www.cinagrofarm.com to

place your order.

I will be watching for the sequel and I'm sure it will be just as

good as this one.

Mo

Cowboy Chow

You never know what little gems you'll find at used book stores!  

On a recent used bookshop hop, I came upon the cutest cookbook in the shape of a red cowboy boot called "Cowboy Chow" by Judy Barbour.  It was published way back in 1988 so it has been out a while and had found it's way onto the cookbook shelves at Half-Price Books on Westheimer Road in Houston, Texas.  Lucky for me!

It seems that Judy Barbour and her husband, Barry, are (were?) chef/owners of a western style restaurant in Texas  and some of the recipes in this cookbook were created for the restaurant. 

There is a tribute to the American Cowboy, as well as sections on Cowboy Equipment, Cowboy Slang, Saddle Snacks and others.  Some of the recipe titles are:  "Armadillo Eggs", "Texas Trash", "Jalapeno Jelly", "Mexican Albondigas", "King Ranch Chicken" (of course!), "Frito Pie", a 100+ year-old family recipe for "Heubner Ranch Muffins", "Navajo Fry Bread", "Pastel de Margarita" (Margarita Pie), and thirst quenchers such as "Firefly", "Cowboy Kiss", "Border Buttermilk", "El Vacquero Coffee", and biggest surprise of all for me - "Cerveza Roja" (Red Beer).  I've heard of beer and tomato juice before but thought it was someone's idea of a quirky combination but never expected to see a recipe for it!   There are lots of other delicious sounding recipes in this 77-page specialty cookbook.

There is also a section on entertaining cowboy-style with cute and interesting ideas for a truly cowboy chow experience.

I checked online to see how available it is and located a few copies at Amazon and one at ebay.  If you should run across a copy somewhere and have a special cookbook shelf reserved for cowboy style cookbooks, this one should be on it, so grab it!

If you are a cookbook collector and would like to join CookbooksEtCetera, click here.

Collecting Cookbooks

It seems everywhere I look in our home I see a pile of cookbooks waiting to be read for an interesting and new recipe to try.  I pull a few off the shelves and bring to the couch where I sit with my MacBook most nights.  In between emails to CookbooksEtCetera, a group of cookbook collecting friends at yahoogroups, I like to read a little of what makes a particular cookbook unique and different to all others and maybe find a recipe or two to try the next week while doing so.  

They pile so high on the couch beside me that I have to kind of wiggle backwards as I sit down, being careful not to topple any over.  They sit there for a few days and then I'll take them back to the cookbook shelves in the spare bedroom and bring out more.  Usually they are ones that have been mentioned by one of the other collectors and I'll want to reacquaint myself with those cookbooks and see what prompted someone to mention them.  It feels like they are new again to me or that it is Christmas time and I have new presents, even though I've had many of them for years.

One of my favorites is a similar copy of a cookbook my Mother used to cook from called, "Woman's Home Companion Cookbook".  Her cookbook was black and my oldest sister inherited it from her, but when I found eBay, I also found a few copies of it for me and my other sisters.  There were 7 of us girls (and 2 boys), so it was fun to shop and hunt for more of Mama's cookbook so that all of us could have one.  The copy below is a popular one in a cream colored front with bullteted words of the recipes inside it.

Some of the recipes I tried when I first started cooking were fudge, biscuits, and yellow cake. I used to make a jelly cake that was just too easy and everyone loved it!  Even though I don't have my Mama's copy, the one I found on eBay is probably my most special cookbook in my collection of 2000 cookbooks.

Do you have a favorite cookbook too?

Audra Marie -- Winner at CookbooksEtc's Bloggy Giveaway!

Congratulations to Audra Marie for winning the Best of The Best 500 Fast & Fabulous Five Star 5-Ingredient Recipe cookbook that I gave away during the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival. Be sure to check out her cute and sassy blogspot full of sassitude.

I will be contacting you today via e-mail to let you know how to collect your prize. You'll have four days to respond to my initial e-mail with your snail mail address. If I don't hear from you by then, I will pick a new winner.

Thank you to everyone who played along! What fun! I can't wait to share my love of cookbooks with you!

If you are new here and found me via the carnival, why don't you subscribe to my feed (click that orange button on the left sidebar to add me to your feedreader) so you'll know every time I update my blog with more cookbook fun.

If you are interesting in being a member of CookbooksEtCetera, a cool group of cookbook collectors, why not join us at yahoogroups by clicking on the link at the top right hand corner of this blog.

Happy Cookbookin'...

Mo CookbooksEtc

Hello and Welcome!

I've shared my cookbook collecting thoughts with hundreds of cyber friends for the past 8-1/2 years at a yahoogroup called CookbooksEtCetera.  We've had fabulous cookbook reviews, e-published several cookbooks of our own, and even met up occasionally at mini-conventions and regional gatherings.  

While we are currently meeting up with each other at smaller regional gatherings all over the US, there is a bigger event coming in October 2009 in Kansas City, MO.  The occasion will be the celebration of our 10th birthday as a cookbook collectors group and it will be a BIG Birthday Bash complete with birthday cake and ice cream!  More details to follow, but if you are a true collector of all things cookbook, you may want to join us and experience the fun of getting together over cookbooks!