It’s that time of year again-time for SEC football fans to make the pilgrimage to their Alma mater or favorite team’s tailgating locale and pig out! Whether a fair-weather fan or a die-hard fan several generations back, all are sure to find common ground at the tailgating tent. Luckily, Southern Living (a certain lifestyle magazine that understands the seriousness with which SEC fans regard their tailgating dishes) has just published a cookbook, The Official SEC Tailgating Cookbook, which is full of delicious game day recipes.

Wake up ready for a full day of tailgating with “Early Morning Warm-ups.” Then get your drink on with some recipes from the “Cheers” section before breaking out all of those yummy “Crunch Time” chips and dips. But don’t forget about the sweet treats in the “The Sugar Bowl” section. I’ve got my eye on the “Mississippi Mud Cake” recipe, which is featured on the Ole Miss game day menu.

Ole Miss, MSU and Vandy Game Day Menus:

*Photo Credits: A big thank you to Maggie Lowery Stevenson and Austen Jennings for holding the book up so that I could take pictures with my high quality iPhone camera!

The Official SEC Tailgating Cookbook by Southern Living, $19.95

by Anna

It’s time for grilling! I got a new grill for my birthday in May, and have been trying to catch up on my grilling education. If you want to improve your grilling skills, or expand your repertoire, I’d recommend Steven Raichlen’s How to Grill. You may recognize Raichlen as the bespectacled host of the Primal Grill and Barbecue University shows on PBS. I’ve found his shows to be extremely helpful — very clear and straightforward instructions, and lots of clever hints and tricks to ensure success. It’s no surprise that his book is just as good.

How to Grill isn’t a beautiful as some of our other grilling books. It doesn’t have full-page photos of glistening steaks and smoldering charcoals, but it does have lots of step-by-step instructions with clear illustrations. The book starts with the basic grilling information and techniques, and then goes chapter by chapter through beef and veal, pork and sausages, lamb, chicken and poultry, fish, shellfish, vegetables, and desserts. Each chapter covers the techniques involved as well as numerous recipes. It may not be the grilling book you want displayed on your coffee table, but it’s the one you’ll want in the kitchen.

by Kelly Pickerill

The cookbook stand on my kitchen counter is home to a battered, food-splattered paperback copy of Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. It never moves from that stand or, if it does, it’s only for a moment, and during that time it sits propped next to whatever other book is being consulted, waiting patiently to be put back in its place.

When my roommate and I are stumped as to what to make for dinner, we’ll look through the fridge and cupboard and use Bittman’s book like a food encyclopedia, finding the connections between the various foods we already have to combine them, magically, it sometimes seems, into a whole meal.

We find ourselves talking to each other about the book as though it’s a foodie friend, “Mark recommends boiling rice this way to make it stickier,” or, “What does Mark say about asparagus?” While I highly recommend “Mark’s” advice on “everything,” his large tome can be a bit overwhelming, and has no colorful food illustrations that can help inspire your appetite. His newest book, How to Cook Everything, The Basics, is the perfect introduction to the more encyclopedic earlier volume. It is thoroughly illustrated, and its recipes are simple enough for a novice cook yet flexible enough for the more adventurous to expound upon.

Mark has something for everyone (and we use them all): for the vegetarians his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is just as hefty and thorough as his meat-inclusive first volume, and The Food Matters Cookbook is the cookbook companion to his book Food Matters, where he talks about the impact of the American way of eating on our health and the environment. See all of Mark’s books here.

This Thursday, Lemuria will be heading out to the Livingston Farmer’s Market loaded up with cookbooks, where guest chef Derek Emerson will be visiting and signing Wild Abundance.

If we see you there, take a look at what Mark has to say in Food Matters – it just might find a permanent place on your cookbook stand. Check out the Facebook page for Livingston Farmer’s Market for news & directions.

Cooking a meal every evening is a lot of things. It’s about having the ingredients, the time, the energy, the idea. I don’t really mind cooking that much. It can even be relaxing at the end of the day, but sometimes I have trouble coming up with an idea. Because of this, I’m always happy to find a new cookbook.

What’s for Supper is a new cookbook from Southern Living. The recipes are nothing new. They are nothing complicated. The layout of the book is vibrant and appetizing and inspiring.

Here at Lemuria, each employee takes on the responsibility of lovingly (for the most part) tending to his/her own section in the store. I lucked out and inherited cooking, which is a perfect fit since I a) like to cook and b) thoroughly enjoy reading a cookbook just like I would any other book. There are so many beautiful books in my cooking nook, but here are just a few that have recently come in, which highlight the fresh, tender ingredients of spring:

Sophie Dahl, author, former fashion model and granddaughter of beloved author Roald Dahl, has published her second cookbook Very Fond of Food: A Year in Recipes. Dahl progresses through each season meal by meal with plenty of appealing photos to accompany her recipes. Of course I flipped straight to the spring section and found several enticing recipes including:

• Spicy Eggplant and Tomato with Poached Eggs
• Pea, Pesto, and Arugula Soup
• Radishes (one of my absolute favorite spring/summer veggies) with Truffle Salt, Mint, and Olive Oil

Since I am growing fresh spring greens in my back yard, I was immediately drawn to this next cook book, Salad for Dinner by Jeanne Kelley. Focusing on greens as the entire meal, Kelley has put together a wonderful and tasty array of salads satisfying enough to be your main course. Here are a few that caught my eye:

• Pea and Orecchiette Salad with Perlini Mozzarella and Mint
• Chicken, Avocado and Mango Salad
• Mixed Greens with Farro, Bacon, Dates, Walnuts, Pears and Parmesan

James Peterson, winner of 7 James Beard Awards has come out with a revised version of Vegetables: The Most Authoritative Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking, with More Than 300 Recipes. Authoritative is an understatement. Peterson goes through an entire alphabet of vegetables and lays out each vegetable’s properties and several ways to prepare each one with an abundance of rich photos to help illustrate his techniques. I found the pages on peeling and seeding tomatoes and the proper way to finely chop an onion especially helpful:

Any of these would be a great addition to your cookbook collection and it probably couldn’t hurt to incorporate a few more veggies into your spring diet!

by Anna

The first summer I worked at Lemuria, my mother called with a cookbook she thought I should purchase. The year was 2009, the cookbook was The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl. My husband is a huge meat eater whereas I am not. My mother thought this cookbook would be perfect for me as I was starting to cook more meat that usual.

My copy has pages stuck together, splotches of various sauces on each page, and each recipe has been tried. I’ve cooked through it several times. It is a staple in my kitchen. An extra perk is that she lays out each recipe step by step. There is a photograph of what you are doing should look like.  This is very helpful when you are unsure exactly what what the recipe is asking you to do.

Some of our favorites are: Katie’s Roasted Corn Salad, Sherried Tomato Soup, Chicken Spaghetti, Penne Alla Betsy (a shrimp dish), and Angel Sugar Cookies.

Since that came out, Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman herself, came out with The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. This is her memoir. It is filled with recipes, the story of her falling in love with Marlboro Man-her nickname for her husband and the story of how she came to be as she is today.

I have to admit; I’ve  jumped on the bandwagon. I’m a fan. I now visit her website often as I make my grocery list. I follow her (along with 294, 659 others) on Twitter. (Should you need a lesson on Twitter, see Mark’s blog here. )

Continuing on to keep my Pioneer Woman collection complete, the newest purchase is The Pioneer Woman Cooks Food From My Frontier. I already have several flagged to make in the coming weeks. Following the layout of her first cookbook, Dee lays out each recipe with photographs.

I’ve got a long list for the grocery for next week. It includes ingredients to make the following: Spicy Grilled Vegetable Panini, Whiskey-Glazed Carrots, Grilled Corn Guacamole, and Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp.

This unseasonable warm weather screams for something cool.  I recommend you making the Blackberry Chip Ice Cream. (Note: An ice  cream maker is not required!)  -Quinn

Anna recently made a display of some very enticing baking cookbooks. I’d like to buy all of them. The one that caught my eye is titled One Girl Cookies.  The recipes all sound delicious. The one that I am dying to make is Chocolate Chip Pistachio Pound Cake. The best (or perhaps worst) part is that I have all ingredients at home to bake this. I’ve got plans for the weekend….baking!

One Girl Cookies, the bakery, first opened in Brooklyn in an area of town known as Cobble Hill. Shortly after another location opened in an area known as Dumbo. After flipping through the cookbook, I can see why a second location was in demand.

Cookies, among other treats, are popular at One Girl Cookies. Their cookies have names such as: Lucia, Jane, Florence and Evelyn. These bit sized cookies are displayed in the cases with these pretty names attached. Which would you order?

Lucia: Espresso Caramel Squares with White and Dark Chocolate Swirl

Jane: Cream Cheese Shortbread with Toasted Walnuts

Florence: Winter Spice Cookie Sandwiches with Orange Cream

Evelyn: Almond Spirals

Cookies are a small part of this cookbook. Other sections include: cakes, whoopie pies, cupcakes, pies/tarts, breakfast pastries and a section with family recipes. The recipes all call for few ingredients and are fairly easy to make. This would be a great cookbook to pull from your bookshelf to bake something for your last minute guests.

The above pound cake is what I’m going to make first!  It is the chocolate chip pistachio pound cake I mentioned earlier.

Come pick up a copy of One Girl Cookies and satisfy your sweet tooth!  -Quinn

I ran across this cookbook a few summers ago when I was working at Lemuria. I would now say it is one of the most used cookbooks I own. Simply Salads by Jennifer Chandler is just what you need to go along with any meal. It gives you a zillion different salad recipes and they are all so easy.

I must first tell you that these recipes include prepacked greens. Talk about easy. I am all about eating locally, after all I’ve grown up with it. My mother writes a local food blog, Ms. Cook’s Table. Check it out here. So you can use the greens suggested or you can always go to your local farmer’s market and get your own.

There is a section for every kind of salad imaginable. Poultry, meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit and slaws are just a few. There are such good dressings that include few ingredients so I feel certain you can make from what you have in your pantry.

I’ve made several salads from this cookbook. My favorite-and one that many people have asked the recipe for- is the hearts of palm salad. For this salad, you are to make a red onion vinaigrette. Prior to serving, the onion rings soak in the vinaigrette for at least 30 minutes. It is delicious.

Langdon Clay, a favorite of ours here at Lemuria, did the photography for this book. As if the recipes are not good on their own, his pictures help sell this book.

Here are a few other great recipes in this book:

Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs and Fig Vinaigrette

BBQ Chicken Salad with Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Salad with Apricot Balsamic Vinagrette

Pink Lady Apple Slaw

Hungry yet?  -Quinn