Product Description
"I've gone through all my books and put together this collection of my most treasured recipes and memories for the holiday season to share with you...You'll find a few new dishes, a sprinkling of new holiday stories, and some family pictures you might not have seen before."
There's no holiday Paula Deen loves better than Christmas, when she opens her home to family and friends, and traditions old and new make the days merry and bright. Filled with Paula's trademark Southern charm and happy reminiscences of Yuletide seasons past, Christmas with Paula Deen is a collection of beloved holiday recipes and stories interspersed with cherished family photographs. Included are Paula's most requested homemade gifts of food; a collection of cookies sure to become your family's favorites; easy dishes for a Christmas breakfast or brunch that will let you enjoy the food and your guests; impressive fare for Christmas dinner and holiday entertaining and, of course, spectacular cakes, puddings, pies, and other sweet things.
"So Merry Christmas, y'all, and best dishes and best wishes from me and my family to yours."
Amazon.com
There are some preconceptions about southern traditions that need to be clarified. Moonshining is no longer the pastime of grizzled Deliverance yahoos, but a multimillion-dollar business laced with SWAT-style raids; squirrel brains probably aren't responsible for neurological disorders; and in Louisiana, a good cockfight is fun for the whole family. These are some of the enlightened reports delivered by Burkhard Bilger as he explores the stereotypical, eclectic habits of southerners from West Virginia to Oklahoma. Despite Bilger's journalistic pedigree (he is an editor with The Sciences and Discover, and has credits in The Atlantic and Harper's, where his cockfighting piece, "Enter the Chicken" previously appeared), he slips into nostalgia just enough to romanticize a squirrel hunt, or raise a game of backwoods marbles into an Olympic march of glory.
Bilger kicks off the tour from his hometown in Oklahoma, where he "noodles"--thrashes a limb around in catfish-thick waters--hoping to land a fabled 80-pound monster with his bare hands. In Louisiana he challenges the misgivings any nonenthusiast might have about cockfighting. Even though it's illegal in most of the country, the bloodsport is thriving in the Bayou State, replete with trade magazines, well-produced venues, and American Kennel Club-worthy breeding strategies. The same passion for efficiency goes into the moonshining business, where Bilger is taken under the wing of one of the few shiners willing to lead him through his sourmash operation. A few nights later, however, Bilger is on the other side, on a raid with the local sheriff. Squirrel-brain consumption is still popular in hamlets throughout Kentucky, even after a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine blamed a neurological disease on the dish. Frog legs, one Georgia entrepreneur claims, will soon replace chicken, and southern cooking--the kind that features chitlins, pigs feet, and collards--has become haute cuisine in Atlanta. Back in Oklahoma, Bilger connects with a coonhound trainer during a long night's raccoon chase, and he follows the success of a backwoods marble team who shaped their shooters in the granite-strewn streams of Tennessee. Bilger treats each eccentric character with a distant respect and hints at the melancholy of losing tradition, no matter how bizarre. --Lolly Merrell
Book Description
Burkhard Bilger vividly captures a world that lies outside the familiar images of life in the United States in the twenty-first century in eight superbly crafted essays about little-known corners of the South. It is a world in which grown men catch catfish with their bare hands, crowds of people cheer on chickens as they fight to the death, and a woman moves into a trailer home when her house burns down just so she can continue hunting 350 nights a year.
Bilger records the eccentric and sometimes downright bizarre behavior he encounters with humor and wit but nary a whisper of mockery. In essays that combine history, anecdotes, and personal observations, he describes each activity, its origins, its dangers, and its pleasures. But Noodling for Flatheads is much more than a survey of unlikely pastimes. Through lively portraits of the participants, Bilger illuminates the obsessive individualism that is at the heart of the American spirit.
Download Description
Though satellite dishes outnumber banjo players a thousand-to-one, the old Southern traditions haven't died, they've just gone into hiding. Cockfighting is illegal in forty-eight states, yet there are three national cockfighting magazines and cockpits in even the most tranquil, law-abiding communities. Homemade liquor has been outlawed for more than a century, yet moonshiners in a single Virginia county ship out nearly half a million gallons of corn liquor a year. Noodling for Flatheads explores these and other clandestine worlds and shows us that the weeds growing between the cracks of American culture are some of its most vital signs of life.
An exceptionally eloquent observer as well as occasional participant, Burkhard Bilger dissects the history and practice of eight bizarre Southern pastimes. He introduces us to the people whose spirit of individualism keeps these traditions alive, from the fifty-something female coonhunter who spends 350 nights a year in the woods, to a man whose arms are scarred by the 80-pound catfish he catches by hand. A fluid combination of adventure, history, and humor, Noodling for Flatheads is absorbing, evocative, intelligent, and wonderfully weird -- a splendid antidote to the sameness of today's popular culture.
Customer Reviews:
Unfortunately Overlooked.......2005-01-07
I recently found myself recommending this book yet again and I realized that far too few people had commented on it. I used to work at a magazine that had published two excerpts from this book and I was priviliged to help edit Bilger's work for publication.
Bottom line is that this book is sorely overlooked, despite Bilger's New Yorker affiliation and the various "best of" anthologies that many of these pieces appeared in. Bilger may be the best science writer working today - but that seems like an unfair qualification. He's just flat out an excellent journalist and writer, as evidenced by his keen observation and predisposition to rewarding literary style arcs in journalism. When Tom wolfe first coined the term 'New Journalism' I'm pretty sure this is exactly what he had in mind. In addition to the immense pleasures of the writing itself, in the end you actually learn something. I sincerely hope more people read this book and I continue to scour the New Yorker table of contents for his work.
Turn off your tv -- there's an amazing country out there.......2001-07-23
This is storytelling at its best. I first read one of the essays in this book in the New Yorker and right away I knew I'd be looking to read everything that Burkhard Bilger writes. This book contains eight essays but I think of them more as real-life stories. In the table of contents each essay title has a subtitle. Even they are a pleasure to read, each one beginning with the words "In which". To give you an idea of what I mean, here's the subtitle for the essay on moonshining: "In which the age of the microbrewery meets the modern police state, with intoxicating results".
In the introduction the author tells us how he started writing these tales about the South. He was living in Massachusetts and decided he wanted to get a coonhound which he knew, and missed, from growing up in Oklahoma. But finding a coonhound in New England wasn't easy. He says "A few people had heard rumors of such dogs, but none had actually seen one in the flesh." He ended up at the home of a breeder who handed him a magazine "American Cooner". The author said "It was the strangest publication I had ever seen." And so began his journey in search of life outside the popular culture which is all most of us know, beyond the "range of most antennas".
Each of the essays is about a tradition, or sport, or way of life that is in danger of dying out, some of them illegal, some not. He visits a woman in Oklahoma who breeds coonhounds and hunts racoons more than 340 nights a year, a man in Kentucky who hunts and eats squirrels, and a man in Georgia who owns a fish hatchery, frog farm, and wild hog preserve. Each of these stories is, in the end, about people and this is where Bilger's writing really shines. He knows how to write about people better than almost anyone else I've read. I read alot of non-fiction and profiles of people and I know it's not easy to write about people in a way that gives the reader the sense that they now know that person, at least a little. The writer spends a few days with someone, hangs out with them, talks to them for hours. Then he has to sit down and from all those hours pick just the right details, just the right quotes, just the right observations, to make that person seem real on the page. And Bilger has mastered that art.
Beyond the people, he also puts the stories into a larger, sometimes historical, context. In the story on cockfighting he goes to Louisiana where some people are reluctant to talk to him even though it's one of the few states where the sport is still legal. He tells about the popularity of the sport in different parts of the world and in the early history of America, when it was not only legal but a "fashionable amusement". In fact it didn't begin to be banned until the 19th century, and New York in 1867 "became the first city to ban all blood sports." The author talks about the efforts to outlaw the sport in the few states that still allow it, and he does mention animal rights activists but he doesn't interview any. He doesn't seem to be trying to write an unbiased account, and if there's any doubt about where the author's sympathies lie, that doubt will be dispelled by the time you get to the last paragraph of this essay which gives us his view (brilliantly written, I think) of modern civilized America.
The final story is about marbles. Yes, marbles. A specific game called rolley hole, which he tells us "is to other marble games as chess is to checkers". It's about the near extinction of the game and how it was revived by a folklorist, and how the revival led to, among other things, an international competition in England. Even if you know nothing about marbles, even if you've never heard of rolley hole, this story will have you on the edge of your seat wanting to know what this is all about. But in a larger sense this story is also about how and why life is changing in our country and whether anything can be done about that, even by a well-meaning folklorist. The last few pages are reflective and philosophical and I was left not quite sure whether to feel sad or hopeful.
Make no mistake about it, the author likes the people whose stories he tells. He writes about each of them with great warmth and affection. And reading this book made me feel happy to be in this world with all its strangeness.
Yikes? Who knew?.......2000-09-18
Most of us who live outside the South have adopted the "New South" image, consisting of budding high-tech nodes, car plants in South Carolina, and, of course, the Atlanta Olympics. Bilger shows that unique southern traditions, including those squirrel brains, are still around and thriving. He is not judgemental (although he doesn't seem too anxious to relocate), but rather paints a detailed and sympathetic portrait of a unique and still vibrant rural southern culture.
Noodle away.......2000-09-06
Bilger calls himself a gonzo journalist, and it may take just that type of writer from the fringes to head out in search of folks who eat squirrel brains or play rolley hole (a marbles game). Yet he proves greatly sympathetic to his subjects (more so than gonzo god Hunter S. Thompson, for example). In the hands of a Faulkner or a Flannery O'Connor, the tales of bullfrog farmers and coon hunters might have become Southern gothic grotesqueries. But Bilger paints them in vividly human colors in ways that might even make you want to go noodling for flatheads (a most unique method of catching catfish). This is a fun look at the lives of people we rarely encounter.
Average customer rating:
- Good eating and good reading
- Recipes Drenched in Social History
- Southern Hospitality in the most unusual place.
- River Run
- Very Disappointing Cookbook
|
River Run Cookbook: Southern Comfort from Vermont
Jimmy Kennedy ,
Maya Kennedy , and
Marialisa Calta
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | U.S. Regional | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0060195258
Release Date: 2001-04-24 |
Amazon.com
Located in Plainfield, Vermont, the tiny River Run restaurant dishes up Southern cooking with a Yankee cast to a faithful clientele that includes farmers, artists, hippies, and out-of-towners who make special trips for the great grub. The River Run Cookbook, written by co-owners Maya and Jimmy Kennedy (who is also the chef), offers over 100 recipes of the restaurant's delicious breakfast-all-day-style fare, plus anecdotes that introduce readers to the restaurant's extended family. Those who love easily made down-home cooking will welcome this winning book.
In chapters that include "Fritters, Griddle Cakes, Breads, and Cereals," "Soups and Stews," and "Weekend Specials," the authors present uncomplicated yet tantalizing dishes like Horseradish-Crusted Fish, Red Beans and Rice Soup, and Fried Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Dressing. A section devoted to sides provides familiar and unconventional dishes including Shaken Potatoes, Fried Dill Pickles (a Southern specialty), and the deeply satisfying Corn and Oyster Casserole. With dessert and drink recipes that include a knockout chocolate mousse pie and refreshing citrus-juice-spiked Russian tea, the book offers good eating while conveying the spirit of a place and the people who give it life. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
From the time Jimmy and Maya Kennedy opened River Run in 1991, this tiny restaurant in Plainfield, Vermont has attracted local followers -- and national attention from the New York Times and Food and Wine. Called "the best place on earth" by Pulitzer Prize winner and frequent patron David Mamet, River Run is more than a restaurant: it's a warm, welcoming home-away-from-home that serves up great food with an extra helping of small-town charm. Inspired by both Jimmy's Mississippi upbringing and its rural surroundings, River Run's menu blends traditional Southern favorites with a touch of the North. It serves the kind of honest-to-goodness cooking that draws locals every day of the week, and attracts out-of-towners who drive miles just to sample the fare.
If Plainfield isn't in your neck of the woods, don't worry: with this book, you can make all of River Run's house favorites right in your own kitchen, including Jimmy's famed buttermilk pancakes, really big buttermilk biscuits, fried chicken, catfish cakes, and banana pudding. In keeping with River Run's down-to-earth style, the recipes are simple, uncomplicated, and easy to prepare -- even if you don't know your gumbo from your jambalaya.
With lively photos of River Run customers, delightful, illustrations by Maya Kennedy, and contributions from some famous locals, River Run Cookbook offers a picture of the fabric of life in this vibrant community. It's about more than great food -- it's about a great town and the people that make it so.
Customer Reviews:
Good eating and good reading.......2001-07-24
This is the first cokbook I have read cover-to-cover...recipes, philosophy, little stories of the town and the people who live in Plainfield, Vermont. I loved it all. But the best thing about the book is the recipes. We have made the barbeque sauce and dry rub, barbeque chicken and soup, the Really Big biscuits (twice!), shaken potatoes, granola, the blueberry pancakes, summer salad and Russian tea. (Nashvillians call this elixir "Tea Punch.") Catfish Jambalaya is simmering on the stove at this very moment. Every thing we have made has been wonderful. A couple of things separate this cookbook from others: 1. The portions are enormous, allowing for ample leftovers, even with our family of two adults and two teenagers. 2. Many of the recipes use the leftovers. (BBQ chicken becomes the basis for BBQ chicken and rice soup, for instance.) 3. The story of Plainfield and its townspeople--from the artists to the aging hippies to the gas company guys to the cops--is woven in to the book. The authors treat the readers as if they are stopping in for a meal and might like to be a little up to date on the other folks who are eating with them. 4. The food is plain, easy-to-make and serve. It is flavorful, not pretentious, quite a bit like receiving a beloved family recipe as a gift. So, if you are hankering for some hush puppies, Coca-Cola cake or some pulled pork (and who isn't?), this will become a special cookbook in your collection.
Recipes Drenched in Social History.......2001-05-28
Interesting concept. Surround down home Southern recipes with photos and snippets from far northern daily life. Studs Turkel in a deep south kitchen. It works. While you're shelling crawfish or cleaning catfish you're oddly receiving a debriefing on the Plainfield, Vermont road foreman's 4AM struggle with last night's snowstorm. It kind of adds a northern spice to the catfish souffle. My cooking fool sister in New Jersey, to whom I sent this cookbook as partial thanks for helping our parents get through their deep end game, tells me that the five or so recipes she's whipped up have all worked spectacularly. She and her family of five REALLY like the catfish massaged into their breakfast. So do I. But I just have to drive ten miles to get it served up for me. Location! Location!
Southern Hospitality in the most unusual place........2001-05-09
.... Why would you want to buy this book? Because it is southern hospitality at its best; never mind that the restaurant is in Vermont. As a Yankee who migrated to the south over 30 years ago, I enjoyed reading this cookbook, trying many of the recipes (everything seems accurate so far), and vicariously participating in the social pleasantries that are an everyday part of southern life. You do feel as though you know both the proprietors and the customers of this wonderful eating establishment...they are real people. I see that as a plus. And despite it's social orientation, it is first and foremost a cookbook. One word of warning: the recipes are full of buttermilk, sugar, crawfish, soup beans, and red meat. If you're wanting to lower your cholesterol, this probably will not meet your needs. However, if you like great comfort food and don't like to eat alone, this cookbook might be just what you're looking for.
River Run.......2001-05-03
The only thing that is wrong with this cookbook is that I didn't take a copy with me to school. Now I can't make the best food in the world. The best idea ever was catfish for breakfast. I can't count the number of times I go to River Run and order catfish with eggs, homes, and toast. Its so good I am never sick of it. The cookbook is a great sample of the inginuity and genius of the recipie authors. I ate at River Run two days ago and I'm already missing it. The only reason I go home is to eat at River Run. Its really that good.
Very Disappointing Cookbook.......2001-04-26
The River Run Cookbook should be titled "The Plainfield, Vermont Yearbook: 2001 With Recipes". The book contains too many pictures of the folks who live in Plainfield, Vermont. The pictures even come with their names. You should be acquainted with at least 30 Plainfield folks by the time you're done with the book. All those pictures are not necessary for a cookbook that celebrates Southern home cooking. It should have be a very quaint and charming book filled with Southern recipes. The recipes are nice and simple...you can find similiar recipes in many Southern cookbooks.... If you want to know who lives in Plainfield and eats at River Run, then get the book!
Customer Reviews:
Great Appeal!.......2007-02-14
SOUTHERN COMFORT is a fun, yet gritty story of two undercover cops thrown together while lust explodes around them. Karen Kelley's atmosphere is grainy enough to allow her heroine to walk on the wild side, but stable enough to allow the hero to cover her back effectively. Certainly, there is a madcap quality to this romantic adventure.
Fallon Hargis has clawed her way through life to get to where she is. Sporting a tough, unbending attitude, Fallon is a darn good DEO officer. But now, the time has come. Fallon has the opportunity to get the man responsible for destroying her life. Her chance is golden and she doesn't need any help from some local yokel sheriff from a place called Two Creeks, Texas! Ok, maybe Fallon is responsible for Wade Tanner's involvement in the case, and maybe their bedroom games are very arousing, but enough is enough. There is a limit! Wade Tanner's help? Never! The assignment is too dangerous, too deadly, and Wade Tanner could only get in the way!
Wade Tanner is that Texan who is out to prove he is completely at home in his new life. In his head, he knows he made the right decision, when he left big-city undercover work. Yet, in his heart, there are times . . . when . . . he misses all the excitement. Suddenly, with Fallon Hargis in the picture, the memories are back . . . and they are not all good . . . some . . . are . . . brutally painful! Fallon Hargis with her sexy, wild outlook has completely turned his world upside down. So overwhelming is the danger, so appealing is the physical attraction, so on-the-line is Fallon's safety that Wade has no choice. He must go back . . . one more time.
Reviewer's Comments:
In SOUTHERN COMFORT, Karen Kelley writes a gritty, upbeat story. Fallon Hargis is a terrific heroine. She jumps from the pages shouting sass and fun. The hero, Wade Tanner, flows peacefully, yet whispers danger. And Kelley's secondary characters completely round out SOUTHERN COMFORT's total package. So why not a higher rating? The sex scenes! Although frequent in number, the scenes lacked sensual warmth! Perhaps Kelley should have decreased the abundance and elaborated on what remained! While SOUTHERN COMFORT is not in "perfect territory" (5 Stars), it remains fun and saucy and I did enjoy it.
MaryGrace Meloche.
Not one for my "keeper" shelf..........2006-09-18
This book left me thinking "pu-leeze" for most of it. OK, a book should have a little stretching of the truth, suspense of reality, but this one is waaay out there. I think the most irritating thing (to me at least) was the way the heroine was supposed to be hiding out, protecting her life by hiding her law-enforcement background and yet she was always spouting off that she was DEA to people; people who, by the way, didn't believe her until she assaulted them. They probably shouldn't have believed her, either, since she had no documentation and produced no proof she was on the right side of the law.
The story was interesting enough for me to read the whole thing, but take this with a grain of salt. I also finish the ingredients list on the kids' cereal boxes.
Definately far below Kensington/Brava's usual standards.
I agree with review of JL Ennis.......2006-08-26
One of the worst books I've bought. Besides the story being eye-rolling bad, please don't write about something you know nothing about. I've been in law enforcement for 15 years and I cringed each time the heroine did something stupid (too stupid to live, I kept thinking). I was wishing the bullet had been a little higher and to the left.
And one more thing, a note to the author: please buy a thesaurus! After the umpteenth time someone "ambled" or "sauntered" somewhere, I was grinding my teeth. Those are the only two ways anybody in the book moved from place to place.
Loved It!!!!!!.......2005-09-17
I absolutely loved this book! It was funny, emotional and a great romance!
Action and sensuality both sizzle.......2005-05-12
An undercover job goes badly wrong and Drug Enforcement Agency Fallon Hargis needs to escape from killers. She follows a hotel guest into his room, orders him to strip at gunpoint, loses her wig, and fakes having sex with him while the drug enforcers tear through the hotel looking for her. Unfortunately for her plan, the faked sex turns into the real thing and it's the best sex Fallon has had in a long time.
Wade Tanner had come to Dallas to get get away from Two Creeks, Texas for a couple of days. He'd hoped for a little excitement--but a beautiful woman forcing him to have sex, then almost bleeding to death on him is a lot more excitement than he had anticipated. Since someone in the D.E.A. blew Falon's cover, she needs to stay underground--and Wade persuades her to return with him to Two Creeks where she can get doctored up and think about next steps. He anticipates more excitement, more sex. He doesn't guess that Fallon has a personal stake in bringing down one of the biggest drug dealers in the southwest--or that he will be forced to return to 'the pit,' the most dangerous and lawless place in the North American continent.
Author Karen Kelley mixes fast-paced action with steamy sensuality in an exciting romantic suspense. From the first page, she sends her characters (and her readers) on a rollercoaster ride of violence, danger, and sex. Still, Kelley is able to step back from the action for long enough to develop the characters, allowing the eventual resolution of their conflict to progress naturally.
If you're looking for an exciting action/suspense romance with plenty of sizzle, you won't go wrong with SOUTHERN COMFORT.
Book Description
Welcome to Raintree, Georgia -- Steamy Capital of Sin, Scandal and Murder.
To her fans, Roxanne Scarbrough is the genteel Southern queen of good taste -- she's built an empire around the how-to's of gracious living. To her critics -- and there are many -- Roxanne is Queen Bitch. And now somebody wants her dead.
Chelsea Cassidy, Roxanne's official biographer, knows that Roxanne is determined to keep her dark secrets buried, whatever the cost. But when Chelsea begins to unearth the truth about Roxanne's life, her search leads her back into the arms of Cash Beaudine, a man Roxanne wants for herself. And suddenly Chelsea's investigation takes on a very personal nature -- with potentially fatal consequences.
Customer Reviews:
Lotsa steam and potential killers.......2006-04-03
Celebrity journalist Chelsea Cassidy has been asked to write southern how-to guru Roxanne Scarborough's memoirs. Chelsea is not to keen on this endeavor, since she has seen the temperamental domestic diva in action. But she owes it to her editor to at least travel to Georgia to meet with Roxanne, who has also hired a documentary filmmaker to record the progress of the renovation of her newly acquired antebellum mansion.
Much to Chelsea's surprise, the architect in charge of the renovation is her college lover. Though she vows to not get involved with him again, Cash Beaudine is a hard man to turn down, and he melts all her defenses, making her decision even more tempting. But Roxanne is not what she appears to be. A true makeover maven, she has made herself over, and erased her white trash past. But there are people that know her secrets and are willing to do anything to bring the diva down even murder.
Ross is the queen of steamy romance, and the chemistry and sensuality between the two leads is incomparable. She gives us plenty of suspects and keeps the identity a secret until the end.
Getting back to her usual form!.......2004-04-04
FINALLY! Ms. Ross is getting back to her usual form. There for awhile I was beginning to think someone else was writing her stories--happy to learn I was wrong. Southern Comforts by JoAnn Ross is a fun story that everyone who reads for the fun of it will enjoy. (Welcome Back Ms. Ross I've Missed You!)
Oh--I really liked this one!!.......2004-03-29
I loved the way Chelsea and Cash's relationship picked back up after all those years. It was also a nice change that Cash realized how he felt fairly early on in the book instead of fighting it to the very end.
The descriptions were great. I could feel the heat and smell the flowers! Which was especially welcome since it was snowing in Ohio when I read it!
Buy this one, you won't be sorry!
Hot and Steamy.......2001-07-19
Cash and Chelsea are such a dynamic couple. It is really interesting reading about their relationship in the beginning and when they finally meet again. There's so much chemistry between the two that you can practically see it forming. What I liked was the little twist of all the "accidents" happening. It allowed Cash to step into the hero spot at just the right time.
Can't put this down!.......2000-04-07
This was actually my first Joann Ross book and it hooked me on her other books. I found the characters, plot, and ending well thought out and very thorough. I especially liked how Chelsea ended up with her guy. I liked how it brought the Southern states out in a different angle and I love the complexity of the whole story. I recommend everyone who loves Joann Ross to read this great book!
Customer Reviews:
From Inside the Front Cover--.......2005-06-28
At Southern Living At Home, we know that your time with your family is valuable. And our busy schedules can make it hard to find quality time together. Dinner is one of the few times that everyone can gather to talk over the events of the day and enjoy each other's company. But after a hectic day, not everyone wants to spend hours in the kitchen preparing a delicious homecooked feast. That's why we created this cookbook for you. We've chosen some of our favorite comfort foods and made them light and easy. So now you can whip up family-pleasing meals in no time and have the pleasure of knowing they are delicious, satisfying, and beautiful. And the best part! That extra time you save in the kitchen is now yours to spend enjoying your family!
In this cookbook, you'll find 147 mouthwatering recipes that use shortcuts, simple ingredients, and convenience products that will bring a whole new meaning to the words, "comfort food." Each recipe includes complete nutritional information and diabetic exchanges, which is great if you or someone you love is keeping track. Plus, every recipe in this cookbook has been tested and tasted by the make-it-easy experts in our Test Kitchen, so you know it's a winner before you ever start cooking.
Whether your definition of comfort food is Macaroni and Cheese like mom used to make, heavenly Chicken Noodle Bake, savory Honey-Mustard Pork Tenderloin, flavor-packed Creamy Guacamole and Chips, or family-pleasing Sloppy Joes, you'll find a variety of recipes that will simply delight your family every time you serve them.
Got a busy week planned? Treat your family-and yourself-to Make-Ahead Cheese and Hamburger Casserole. Make it the day before, and it's ready to pop in the oven when you walk in the door. In the mood for pizza? Try our Artichoke and Red Pepper Pizza and forget feeling guilty about calories! This crowd pleaser is made with a refrigerated crust and whips up in less time than it takes to have pizza delivered.
Don't forget dessert! How about Frozen Chocolate Brownie Pie? This luscious make-ahead treat will wow your friends and family. Or for a true soul-warming classic, dish up our delectable Pound Cake. You'll discover all the flavor you love without the pounds you don't.
No matter what your definition of Comfort Food-hot casseroles, yummy breads, hearty stews, or gooey desserts-we're sure you'll find comfort abounding in these delightful recipes. -Alyson M Haynes
Customer Reviews:
Opposites sure do attract in this adventure in the bayou.......2002-12-20
Courtesy of CK2S kwips and Kritiques
Hardesty Arnaud is a West Point graduate and a war hero returned to her home in the Louisiana bayou. She had just been hired as the Chief of Police in St. Martine, her hometown. Her years away with the military made her long for home, and realize that her family is what is most important to her life.
Nick Brannigan is an FBI agent in New York City. He was raised on the streets, heading for trouble, until his foster mother found and adopted him. He has spent every day since trying to prove to her that he is worth everything she put into raising him. His greatest ambition is to become the first black director of the FBI.
Within a week of taking on the position of police chief, Hardie has her first, and likely most difficult case, a murder. And not just any murder, but a murder involving the mob. Her entire town, excepting a couple people, is convinced she can't handle the job as police chief, let alone, solve a murder. Not only is she fighting time to solve this case, she is fighting against the inept deputies on her force, and the negative reactions of her town to her being back.
Enter Nick. He has been working this mob case for a very long time and has his whole career wrapped up in this dead man. He's non too keen on having to work with the local hick police chief to solve the murder, watching his dreams fall away if it can't be resolved. Until he sees her..... Hardie isn't too happy about the FBI invading her little town either, especially when he comes in spouting off about how important his career is etc.
But in spite of their reluctance to be thrown together to solve a murder, they can't help but be attracted to each other. This mystery will turn their whole worlds upside down before it is through. And maybe in the midst of all this mayhem they will find the things that are truly important, home, family, love, and each other...
This was a very well done story. Nick and Hardie are perfect for each other, even though in the beginning it seems they'll never work out. Their conflict between them was just right, caused by their different ambitions clashing over solving the mystery at hand. Hardie is strong, yet vulnerable at the same time. She is so determined to overcome her family history, which she felt the repercussions from her whole life, that she puts herself on the offensive immediately, to keep those who would from hurting her. Nick is consumed by his ambition to prove himself worthy, and that he is no longer that boy from the streets who would be a hoodlum, had someone not taken the time to help him get past that life and into a better one.
The murder mystery is the focus of the entire story, with Nick and Hardie revolving around it. And it was so skillfully written, that this reviewer had no idea who the killer was, right up until the end. And normally this reviewer hates when the body counts in a mystery keep rising to continue the plot. But the additional murders in this story really did add to it, causing even more twists and turns in the plot, to keep the reader guessing.
All of the secondary characters are a delight, adding even more to an already excellent book. None are ever thrown in for the heck of it, like can sometimes be found in books. Each and every one enhances the story line, making it more well- rounded and multi-dimensional of a tale.
The writing duo who are JM Jeffries show excellent talent for writing a good story, with plenty of passion between the main characters, to ensure that the romance of the story is not overshadowed by the adventure. Nick and Hardie, and the entire town of St. Martine are brilliantly drawn, very lively and unique, making one wish the inhabitants of this cute little bayou town could be found somewhere in real life. Don't miss this story!
When opposites collide! Highly recommended.......2002-12-04
Ten years in the Army prepared Hardesty Arnaud's for gunfire and dead bodies, but it took a medal of honor to earn her way to becoming St. Martin's Police Chief. Unfortunately, the three patriarchs of the community seem to think they are in charge, able to ferret out anything, no matter how deeply buried. Hardesty knows they offered her the chief's job only because they could not turn her down. Now only two days on the job and Hardesty has a murder to solve. She quickly concludes that the body is a mob hit, and another missing man would have been the US Marshall assigned to protect him. The situation is potentially explosive.
Growing up in the ghetto and rescued by a miracle, Nick has made becoming the first black FBI director his career goal. Proud of his city ways, the overwhelming heat and humidity of Louisiana plagues him, as does the spitfire who blocks his investigation. Nick has spent the last five years putting the Patrini family out of operation. The dead man had been their lawyer, knowing everything from where the bodies were buried to the account numbers of the offshore bank accounts. Without the lawyer's testimony, Nick's investigation comes to nothing and the sexy small town cop presents an unwanted complication.
With nothing in common except a murder investigation, Hardesty and Nick clash in an exciting romantic thriller of the high caliber readers have come to expect from J.M. Jeffries. In SOUTHERN COMFORT opposites collide an entertaining romance as dangerous to the heart as it is the small town of St. Martin. The gritty policy procedural elements sharply contrast the growing relationship between Hardesty and Nick, resulting in a fast paced read impossible to put down. The richly created small town with its quirky citizens and old-fashioned values provides a powerful backdrop for intrigue and betrayal. SOUTHERN COMFORT comes highly recommended.
Great reading!.......2002-10-23
Army Lieutenant Hardesty Arnaud had seen action while in Kuwait. In fact, she returned as a war hero! After years of planning to leave her hometown (St. Martine, Louisiana), she found herself wanting nothing more than to return to it. She accepted the position of police chief. Yet she still felt that no matter what she managed to accomplish in life, the town would never see her as more than a mixed-race woman playing a game. She wanted the respect she had earned! When Lorenzo Capizi, a mob lawyer, ended up murdered in her bayou, Hardie knew the FBI would swarm into her territory expecting an illiterate hick, easily duped. They were in for a rude awakening!
FBI Special Agent Nicholas Brannigan knew his case against the Patrinis family was in trouble. Nick's ambition was to be the first black director of the FBI. It would fade to dust if the Patrinis family got away. His only hope was to find a solid link between Capizi's murder and the mob family before word of Capizi's death got out. The St. Martine Police Department seemed to be stuck in the dark ages. It needed to be brought into the twenty-first century, badly. But it could not be done in time to help him. When Nick met the new police chief and found out she was extremely intelligent, he believed the situation pertaining to his case was in dire trouble. Instead, he learned the savvy chief put her military training to work for her. Even without up-to-date equipment, Hardie was more than his match!
**** The author succeeded in showing that Hardie and Nick came from totally different back grounds, yet both had spent their lives trying to prove themselves to the world. The romance seemed to bloom naturally and the murder investigation went at a steady clip. No sudden jumps in plot or scenes.
However, whoever did the editing of the book did NOT do a good job. At least three times I found a string of letters that made no sense. Turned out that the spaces between words were missing. This meant I had to reread and figure out what the actual words were. The editor should have easily caught them. Otherwise, this story was AWESOME! I highly recommend it. ****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch.
Be Still My Heart.......2002-10-06
The writing team of J. M. Jeffries mixes romance with an ingenuous blend of murder mystery in their latest novel, Southern Comfort. Hardesty Arnaud comes home from the military and assumes the role of Police Chief of St. Martine, Louisiana; she is a trust fund baby thanks to her family's wealth in the bayou. Nick Brannigan travels to St. Martine on assignment for the FBI; he is a man that was saved from the ghettos of Harlem. When these two stubborn souls meet all hell breaks loose in the small town of St. Martine. Add to the fact that St. Martine has not seen a murder in ten years, in addition to the fact that everyone in town knows everyone's business and you have a story of intriguing proportions. Other interesting and seemingly culpable characters add a vivaciousness that begs you to keep reading to get the answers to who, what, when, where and why?
This duo did an excellent job of descriptive writing when graphically accounting for the landscapes of Louisiana's small towns and the fast city of New Orleans. While romance novels are one of boy gets girl and vice versa, Southern Comfort is a well-drawn, character driven illustration of mystery, small town America, family ties, interracial love and matters of the heart.
Not your typical love story.......2002-09-09
Picture it...you're standing in the middle of desert with close to a dozen men under your charge, two of them dead, bullets whizzing by your head and you don't have a clue as to what to do all you know is that you have to get your men out. You are Army Lieutenant Hardesty Arnaud, a strong black woman. You have had to prove yourself all your life and this is just one more test you are going to have to pass, because if you don't you'll have more than two dead men on your hands. Then again it may not matter because you could be dead yourself.
Now let's fast-forward a bit. You are now the police chief of St. Martine, Louisiana, and once again you have two dead men on your hands. The only difference between the men this time and the ones in your previous career is that one is an ex-Mafia lawyer who is/was in the Witness Protection Program and the other is/was the U.S. Marshall who was protecting him.
J. M. Jeffries's Southern Comfort is the classic whodunit with a couple of twist and turns that will keep you turning the pages trying to get the answers right along with Hardie and Special Agent Brannigan.
Jeffries did a superb job of focusing on the development of the story, the characters, and the plot. She also did a great job at tying everything together in the end so the reader isn't left wondering how in the heck this or that happened.
Customer Reviews:
LOVING YOU.......2004-10-10
Sandra Kitt's story Southern Comfort shows you what a mother will go through to provide the very best for her child. Julia Winters went through a great deal to make sure Lucas Scott was taken care of as a child and a adult but could she ever get him to forgive her for some of the mistakes she made.
Lucas Scott is furious with his mother for leaving him not once did she ever return to comfort or explain what was going on but when she passes and a the story begins to unfold he finds that not only did she love him but she went to a great deal to make sure he was happy in the end.
Julia Winters was like a mother to Rachel Givens when her family would go to Highland Beach for vacation in the summers Julia became Rachel's second mother she continue to influence Rachel career even after her family stop visiting Highland beach in the summers.
When Julia passes and leaves the house to Lucas and Rachel they seem to notices the sparks that fly between them but its until a test of trust and friendship tests their relationship that they finally figure out exactly what Julie was up to and why she made her will the way she did.
Sandra Kitt stories makes you take a look at your life and those around you and makes you appreciate it all and those you love. I recommend this book to everyone and anyone.
Life is about choices..........2004-09-26
Highland Beach is where our main characters begin to make some important life choices in the romantic and serene novel, SOUTHERN COMFORT. Sandra Kitt has written a romantic story set in Maryland on the historic town of Highland Beach. With our two main characters, we find the beach offers a refuge from the pain of the past and a beacon of light for the future.
Rachel Givens is a jewelry designer, whose career is taking off by leaps and bounds. As a child, she visited Highland Beach with her family and made friends with a special woman, Julia Winters. Julia was a former star that took Rachel under her wings during her summer visits and instilled in her that she could do and be anything she wanted, it was all up to her. Their friendship lasted even after Rachel's family abruptly stopped vacationing on Highland Beach. So it was a surprise when Rachel discovered that the woman she held in such high esteem had died.
Lucas Monroe Scott is the son Julia Winters never discloses to others. Lucas is an attorney who decides to change his career path to follow his dream of being a musician. Playing the saxophone gives him more pleasure than litigation and courtroom fights. When he discovers his mother has died, he is torn. How is he to grieve for a woman he did not know and one who essentially gave him away a long time ago? How does he reconnect to the portion of his life that has been lost for over thirty years? The answer may lie in Julia's final bequest.
Julia, wanting to make amends for the hurt she caused her son, deeds her home to him and Rachel. They must share more than just the Highland Beach home; they must share the connection between them and Julia. What they find is so much more enlightening. From being adversaries, to exploring the sparks that have ignited, the couple finds SOUTHERN COMFORT.
Sandra Kitt has written a novel paced with a caressing hand of romance. She builds the character's romance in a way to engage the reader into falling in love also. She takes the beauty of the Maryland beach town and lets the waves and sand be the backdrop for cultivating a relationship. She enables the readers to understand Lucas' hurt and how important Rachel's presence was needed for there to be forgiveness. Both characters must learn about forgiveness and learn that life is about choices. As always, Sandra Kitt deals with multicultural characters in a way that is not stereotypical, but honest portrayals of the obstacles they face. With emotional depth and honest romance, the author has woven a sensuous and captivating love story.
Reviewed by Cashana Seals
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers
Ultimate Feel Good Book.......2004-08-16
Sophisticated love story between two African-Americans. Very refreshing. Intensely romantic. Fell in love with Lucas Monroe Scott. Can't wait to see the movie on BET. If a movie isn't already planned, why not???
Book Description
The Garden District epitomizes the beauty and mystery of New Orleans; the stately residences and gardens of this historic area are known worldwide for their graciousness and ease.
The financial prosperity of nineteenth-century New Orleans, a center of commerce and culture, enabled wealthy newcomers with similar values and tastes to construct a neighborhood of opulent homes, creating a suburb with a unified style. This neighborhood-the Garden District-was situated along one of the first street railway lines in the country, and became one of the earliest commuter suburbs. It remains an enduring achievement of architectural and residential planning.
Southern Comfort details the magnificent architecture and planning of the Garden District. Through the histories of the developers, owners, architects, laborers, and craftspeople who shaped this district, the book creates a picture of a uniquely cosmopolitan city in the American South.
This title, first published in 1989 and long unavailable, has been carefully updated by the author. It includes 90 new color photographs, showing the brightly painted facades for which this neighborhood is famous, domestic interiors that have never been published, and restoration efforts that have occurred in the past decade.
Customer Reviews:
GARDEN DISTRICT.......2007-02-04
This is a wonderful book on one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in the country. It is a fascinating study of this singular district, the history is extremely interesting and the images are vivid. Visiting the Garden District is like going back in time, it is so well cared for and the residents are very protective of its history. As people mull over the future of New Orleans and wonder what makes this old city so special, and why its worth saving, they need to take a trip down to the Creasent City and walk the streets of the Garden District and see what real beauty is.
The Big Easy in a big and easy historical way.......2006-02-26
This book is twice as expensive in New Orleans bookstores. Photos of historical people and places in the Big Easy. This was a nice follow up of my visit to New Orleans, but I'd recommend this for a pre-visit read.
Great Pictures.......2002-11-08
When I went to New Orleans, I only had time for a quick driving tour. This book allowed me to see what I missed, and learn more about the architecuaral styles that surround the area. The book has great info on the styles, and tells how they came to be and why. The iron work in the area is to be experienced! The charm of the homes in the Garden District are brilliantly displayed in this book.
beautiful photography.......1998-12-12
this republishing of the late 1980's version is a delicious remake made better by the new color photographs. Brantley and Brantley have out done themselves with this edition.
Average customer rating:
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Helen's Southern Comfort
Brett D. Effenbein
Manufacturer: Erotic Print Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Adult Fiction | Anthologies | French | Gay & Lesbian | General | Sex in Literature | Victorian | Writing
ASIN: 189899871X |
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