Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Oh Martha!




I have recently been the recipient of a lovely gift...two quintessential Martha Stewart cookbooks. I am now the proud owner of seven cookbooks by the ever exacting Martha! The five that I already owned have been used for various occasions from Christmas dinner to catering a party for my brother's film premier in LA. I have even copied Christmas carols out of one! I adore the gorgeous glossy photos and the precise recipes. With the new additions to my cookbook library I am moved to make some sort of goal for the year that includes a great deal of cooking from both the Baking Handbook and Martha Stewart's Cooking School.

The Baking Handbook has six chapters of goodness! We have: Simple Baked Goods; Cookies; Cakes; Pies, Tarts, Cobblers, and Crisps; Yeasted Baked Goods; and Pastries! It looks like the easiest thing to do is to start at the very beginning with the basics. There are 26 different quick bread recipes and 6 months left in the year. It looks like I'll be baking up some tasty goodness once a week , plus a little every once in a while, so that I can finish chapter 1 by the end of the year! This week I'll be whipping up some Baking Powder Biscuits and sharing them with some lucky friend! I'll keep you posted on the successes and failures and I'll naturally be sharing the great recipes with you! If you're wondering, "What about the Festival of Pies?!" have no fear! I'll break out a couple of her pie recipes in November to share with all of the FOP attendees!

As for the Cooking School...well...it looks like it'll make for a good summer read as I lounge in the sun sipping mint tea (my latest addiction). I know that I can gain loads of technique tips from actually reading the introduction! I am ubber reliable for not reading the introduction or all of the directions! It's definitely gotten me into trouble a few times!!!! When fall comes (oh, please come soon) I'll start cranking out the soups and stocks and maybe even pairing them with some quick breads...this is starting to sound delicious!



What about you? Do you have any favorite Martha recipes? Or books? Or tips? Please share!!!!

(Please forgive the misuse of any : or ; I really just used them to keep everything organized properly...in my mind anyway!)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I made a rasberry custard pie from her, it was divine! (However, I made it with my own vanilla wafer crust)