Stirring Words: Reflections and Recipes from a Harte Appetite

 Stirring Words: Reflections and Recipes from a Harte Appetite
by Thomas B. Harte
Pages: 408
Stars: 4 out of 5

For more than ten years Tom Harte has been writing essays about his reflections on cuisine and life for the Southeast Missourian, the largest newspaper between St. Louis and Memphis. The best of these essays have been collected in this book. The topics and their attached recipes are diverse. Some essays deal with the history of food, others address culinary questions and facts, while others pay homage to great gourmets such as Thomas Jefferson and Julia Child. There is something to savor and to ponder here for everyone.

Some Day You'll Thank Me for This: The Official Southern Ladies' Guide to Being a "Perfect" Mother by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays

I found this book after reading the authors' tongue-in-cheek article on Thanksgiving etiquette in November's issue of Southern Living Magazine. Some Day You'll Thank Me is filled with Southern recipes that for better or worse remind me of my grandmother's cooking - sherry, mayonnaise, lots of cream cheese. It inspired me to make Country Captain Chicken. It was delicious, but I don't think Metcalfe or Hays would appreciate that I opted for the NEW YORK TIMES recipe over theirs. Audiobook. 234 pages.

The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook

 The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook: Every Recipe Is Free of Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Nuts, and Eggs

by Elizabeth Gordon

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Pages: 189

Since my niece was diagnosed with Celiac's I have been looking for recipes for foods to make for her. Real comfort food made with safe ingredients for people who have all kinds of food allergies. Included in this book is some favorites she has been missing such as Twinkies. They even look like regular Twinkies. I will have to make several of these recipes for her soon!

Lunch in Paris: a love story with recipes by Elizabeth Bard

I picked up this book in the New Books section of my local library-(shout out to Scenic Regional Hermann Branch). I had a little trouble getting in to it at first.  Elizabeth Bard is a self-described "free spirit with a five-year plan" who attended a boarding high school, I'm guessing an Ivy League college, and who met her French boyfriend while in graduate school in London.  But she drew me into her story first with the recipes and then with her increasingly complex relationship with France.  She writes very candidly about encouraging her husband to leave behind the boring but safe job at a state run digital archive to start a consulting business helping French cinemas go digital. In one chapter, she describes observing her mother-in-law for clues for staying slim: no eating between meals, drinking lots of water, small portions, and regular walking, swimming, dancing, etc.-not for exercise but for fun!  On their two week family beach vacation, Elizabeth observed that all the women wore bikinis, no matter their age-a good incentive for following her mother-in-law's regime! Anyone who ever dreams of living the expat life in France will find this a worthwhile read.    324 pages.

Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Hannah’s bakery has an order for a three day celebration 1800 cookies. The professor gets murdered and there are lots of suspects. The detective Hannah gets locked in a mausoleum by the killer and must be rescued. Don’t forget the recipes.

290 pages.

Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Baker Hannah Swenson solves the murder of the Christmas tree lot owner. There are many suspects and his bullet riddled big screen TV.  Lovely Christmas party at the end of this book. 

Print:  256 pages.

Audio:  7 hrs. 30 min.

Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

21 recipes, one murder, one murder attempt, family reunion, lots of suspects.

343 pages.

Cinnamon Roll Murder by JoAnne Fluke

(Posted for Paul Mathews)  

Their bakery is called the Cookie Jar, they live in Minnesota and cook and solve local murders. This book comes with recipes and lots of family drama.  330 pages.