giveaway – The Kitchen Illiterate

Five Essential Cookbooks – And a Giveaway

Update again: We have a winner! Commenter Jen Martin will receive a copy of the cookbook of her choice. Thanks to all who read and commented. Stay tuned, as I’m sure I’ll be doing another giveaway soon.

Update: I’m extending this giveaway until Friday!

The Kitchn has been running a fun column: Their writers are sharing their top five essential cookbooks. I love cookbooks. I have a lot of them, and a constant penchant for buying more. Some people have a one in, one out rule for cookbooks, and while I have tried in the past to hold myself to that kind of a promise, I always knew from the beginning it would be an empty one. But when I started to think about which cookbooks on my shelf are truly essential, I realized that out of all the books I own, only a small handful truly fit into that category.
Continue reading Five Essential Cookbooks – And a Giveaway

And the Winner Is…

The winner of a brand spanking new copy of Super Natural Every Day is Camille, of Croque-Camille. Thanks to everyone who entered, and to everyone who kindly comes here to read about my culinary exploits.

October Unprocessed is in full swing here (how in the heck did it get to be October already?) and I’ve decided that in honor of the month, I’m making my own sourdough starter. I’m following the excellent sourdough starter tutorial posted by Nicole at Pinch My Salt. I’ll post about the adventure here, and I have a few other kitchen projects percolating in my mind, so come back soon and check it out.

Tortellini and Avocado Salad

Update: The giveaway is closed. Thanks to all who entered!

Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day is one of these books. It’s just so lovely, and Heidi has a gift for thinking up original, creative vegetarian recipes that go beyond sauteed kale and tofu stir-fry. Even when I don’t follow her recipes exactly, I find so much inspiration just looking through this book. I probably do so at least once a week.

This tortellini salad is one example of how inspiring this book is. I love that all of her recipes encourage variation and substitution, based on what’s available for you. What she really encourages is playfulness in the kitchen, and a willingness to experiment. Heidi’s recipes often remind me that the best times in the kitchen are when you’re trying something new and untested, because frankly, even when things don’t turn out the way you expect, they almost never turn out inedible, and you usually learn something new. Food is fun and nourishing and satisfying even when it’s imperfect.
Continue reading Tortellini and Avocado Salad

And we have a winner!

Thanks to all of you who left a comment on my last post and entered to win a copy of Alisa Huntsman’s Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe. The winner is a brand new blog reader: Sarah, who writes at Spinach and Spice.

Giving stuff away is fun. I think I’ll do it again sometime!

Desserts from the Loveless Cafe: A Giveaway

A few weeks ago I shared a double coconut cream pie with all y’all, and the recipe was from Alisa Huntsman’s new book, Desserts from the Loveless Cafe. That book has now been published, and as much as I want to buy a copy for myself, I decided I’d much rather give a copy to one of you. This book is an instant classic, full of the kinds of recipes you’ve always dreamed of, if you’re not from the South, and the recipes you grew up on, if you are.

If you’d like to enter the giveaway, just leave a comment here. I’ll choose a winner at random on Monday morning, at 9:00 am. Good luck!