Martina McBride's Harmonious Cooking

Can one person be super talented in two diverse fields?Yes, if you`re Martina McBride.This country music star is also a super nova in the kitchen.Her new cookbook is proof that she has created award worthy recipes any home chef can make and bake.

Martina 's Kitchen Mix (Oxmoor House Publishing 2018) is a fun, buzzy melange of recipes, how it's and host advice.Me.McBride,an award winning singer ,loves to cook.She garners recipes as she does songs.Music runs through this cookbook.Each chapter is introduced on a  picture of a classic vinyl lp.Since she also comes from the heartland - Kansas andNashville,her family figures large in this,She even has a page explaining who's who along with using her and her husband's family recipes.Like many of us she also copies recipes from her favorite restaurants too. The advice comes at the end of the cookbook.There is a playlist of her favorite songs, from Amy Winehouse's Rehab to John Mellancamp's Small Town with other great hits from everyone from Aretha to Mick.There are the typical chapters ranging from Breakfasts and Brunch to Desserts.Ms  McBride has an excellent chapter at the back of the book about basic recipes, ranging from garlic bread to gremolata.There are also recipes for cranberry orange relish and homemade caramel sauce.

Do the recipes hit the high notes?YES!!!! There are so many that I want to try.They all seem delicious and unique.On my to make list is her Springtime (or Anytime) Quiche rich with asparagus and ham along with a variety of different cheeses.Ms. McBride is a cheese freak so it figures prominently in many of her recipes. Her soup recipes are amazing. Ms. McBride's Very Green Broccoli Soup  is the perfect chill chased that not only has broccoli but onions and celery added and a topping of gremolata.One I'm excited about is the lasagna soup, with all the ingredients  of a homemade lasagna save the wide noodles.Smaller pasta is subbed in.There are classics reflecting such as her mom's Pot Roast with Gravy and Chicken and Potatoes with Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Sauce.These both would make for perfect Sunday dinners.For vegans there are cabbage "steaks" with eggplant tomato sauce .This is a healthy take on steak Pizziola. Sides include sauteed spinach long with sauteed kale with Parmesan and toasted walnuts. I love the dessert recipes, especially the cookies.One recipe on my radar is the no Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies along with the Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies which would rival any bakery crisp cookie.

Ms. McBride's cookbook is Grammy golden.It is chock full of all sorts of tasty and easy to make recipes. It is a harmonious book, with an orchestra of great tastes and flavors.

A Party Time Cookbook

This is the week for parties, from late night soirees to New Year's Day open house. For Southerners, this is the time when they shine.They know how to do celebrating just right.For the rest of us there's The Southern Living Party Cookbook.  It's a great guide to show how to get through simple through extravagant dos.

Elizabeth Heiskell , author of  What Can I Bring , contributor to Southern Living Magazine and a well known caterer in Mississippi  has written an updated version of the early Seventies book.oxmoor Press is the publisher.This is a must have for party givers.There are dozens of ideas for all sorts of get togethers, from a girl's night out to christening parties. I love how it's not just recipes but suggestions on  everything from decor to games that can be played.There are even ideas for favors that guests can bring home.The book may reflect Southern hospitality and have a Dixie vibe but there are fondue recipes along with ones for a chick wagon get together.Also if you think it's hominy grits and fried chicken, there are sophisticated recipes and parties worthy of  any urbane crowd.There are also  section on the proper glasses for drinks and how to toast.A lovely touch is what gifts to give the hostess,something that 's really not done anymore. The Easter meal has a special how to on making golden egg name tags


The recipes are grouped according to the party.A Low Country shrimp boil will have, of course, shrimp,but also cocktail sauce and an accompanying slaw. Teas, big, in the South , are also featured,especially the sweet custom of a bridal tea.This has blushing mimosas,a twist on the classic brunch cocktail served with long stemmed strawberries authorities.Another aspect is the large amount of reasons for hoisting a glass and sharing a canape .I love the Graduation Coffee where high school (and this can definitely be extended to college grads) are feted with a morning meal of rich dark chocolate chai latte served with the easy to make petite cinnamon rolls and sausage balls.The chuck wagon dinner sounds amazing with cowboy steaks cooked on a skillet out doors. With it comes ranchero beans, Mrs. R's coleslaw and German potato salad.It ends with a giant chocolate cake.Of course there are The holidays,with flourishes added.Homemade Hollandaise sauce graces Spring asparagus, being the prefect side to a leg of lamb.Thanksgiving and Christmas have fun ideas.:-)there's old fashioned roared turkey and chocolate bourbon pecan pie along with a variety of fondues .

The Southern Living Party Cookbook is just a great idea book for party givers.It can guide any host through all sorts of gatherings and soirees.It's a home like daft must have.

A Star's Recipe

Hollywood is so filled with stars giving out such high falutin advice,it's nice to see one that has down to earth, homey suggestions. That star is Valerie Bertinelli and she  has written a great new cookbook. I'ts perfect for home chefs who want old fashioned recipes with a twist.

Valerie Bertinelli's Home Cooking (Oxmoor House Punlishing) is one of those definite must give Christmas gifts for the home chefs in your life.Ms. Bertinelli is no glam star pushing juice cleanses and impossible to find ingredients  turned into questionably healthy dishes made by her private chef.. She's one of us, shopping at her local farmer's market, reinventing classic childhood dishes and celebrating her family's long culinary tradition. I've always liked her as an actress.I love her as a fellow home chef. Our great grandparents are from the same area in Piedmont, in northwestern Italy. I wish she would have added more Piedmontese dishes such as vitello en tonno,  veal in tuna sauce and fileto Piedmontese, filet mignon awash in bagna cauda.It's sort of surprising that she has no sabayon recipe either. It would have been interesting to see her take on it, since the recipe varies from town to town. Still she does have her mother's risotto recipe (made with pork instead of the traditional chicken giblets) and the soothingly refreshing granita. The book is divided into breakfast, main dishes and sides. There are also sections on cocktails which look fun to make and nibbles such as the brown sugar Sriracha bacon bites. Her  recipe introductions are like her, so warm and welcoming,  that you feel a friend has written them.

Ms. Bertinelli cooks like a real person. Her breakfast section includes a mix of sweet and savory. Breakfast enthusiasts will love her Overnight Almond Apricot Muesli, a happy marriage of oats , spices dried fruit and nuts along with her take on a fritata, created with egg whites,arugula, tomatoes and goat cheese. The main meals are amazing. Steak enthusiasts will love the dish her husband, Tom came up with It is a steak rubbed with a blend of espresso granules and chili powder and topped with a generous pat of butter.Her barbecue chicken wirh spicy BBQ sauce will be a summer must have or even a tail gate classic.Ms. Bertinelli also has old school dishes such as her mother's chicken pot pie , elevated to gourmet level with the addition of cremini mushrooms and tuna noodle casserole with potato chip topping - a sure winner with the family. I love her bucatini pasta with wilted spinach and lemon marscapone sauce. Lemon is her favorite flavor and it pops up quite a lot. It's also in her desserts. End any of her meals with the delicate lemon-raspberry panna cotta or her English lemon cake, There are plenty of fun recipes for snacking and entertaining. Party givers will love her microwave potato chips and her mom's batter dipped onion rings along with the recipes for s'mores popcorn and peanut butter chocolate pretzels.

Valerie Bertinelli's Home Cooking is the best holiday gift a home chef could want. It's filled with homey and delicious recipes that are sure to be family classics. Buy it for the cooks in your life or for yourself.