Favorite Things - - Magazines You May or May Not Know

I love magazines!  I can't get enough of them.  If I am watching TV, I guarantee I also have a magazine in my lap.  A little habit I get from my mother.  She always had a magazine or a cookbook going while watching TV.  We don't "sit" well without a back up plan.

These are my five favorite magazines of the dozen I receive each month.

1. Victoria.  My friend, Janel, told me about this magazine and from the moment I saw it, I was hooked!  The pictures are superb!  There are articles about traveling, cooking, decorating and living the good life.  Beyond a doubt, this is my favorite magazine ever.  I never throw away a copy!  I read them over and over.  The pictured collections and place settings are beautiful.  We are collectors of dishes and pottery, but these books and magazines by Phyllis Hoffman blow my mind!

2.  Southern Lady.  This magazine is from the same publisher as Victoria, Phyllis Hoffman.  Again, great pictures.  I could hug the photographers!  A very lovely read too.  Great recipes each month.  This magazine is the written equivalent of sitting on a veranda drinking sweet tea.

3.  Celebrate.  Another Phyllis Hoffman publication.  Do you see a trend?  This magazine has lots of delicious recipes, gorgeous photos and fabulous ideas for entertaining.  The fall edition just arrived.  It reminds me of back to school, new beginnings and trick or treating.  Lovely tablescapes and decorating ideas for the fall season and Thanksgiving. 

There are several other Phyllis Hoffman publications including Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade, Taste of the South, Cooking with Paula Deen, and Tea Time.   All have the same beautiful attention to details.

4.  Country Living.  A favorite of mine for more than a decade.  For $1 or less an issue (by subscription), you get a boatload of ideas and recipes.  Very tastefully done.  They also give advice about antiques and collectibles.  I really enjoy this magazine and always have.

5.  Southern Living.  Another oldie but goodie.  Again, great ideas for southern style and comfort foods.  I love the recipes and the stories of the south.  Always makes me want to book a vacation to Charleston or Savannah.  Lovely magazine.

Oh, one more, why not?  Every Day with Rachael Ray.  For just over a $1 an issue, a wonderfully produced magazine that is about more than just awesome recipes.  Great fashion advice and home ideas too.  A little something about everything.

There are so many more, but those are the ones I would keep if I could only get five (or six).  Take a look next time you are in a store.  Or do what I do.  My Better Half takes me to Barnes & Noble, buys me a coffee and plants me in the magazine section where I peruse the publications and leave with a stack of those I think I can make a good home for!  As long as I purge the magazine cabinet occasionally, I don't have too many!  At least that's the story I'm telling myself.

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things -- In Cookbooks

I love cookbooks and cooking magazines!  Here is a list of my five favorite cookbooks that you might enjoy:

1.  The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond.  This is my very favorite cookbook of all time.  I have only made one recipe in this cookbook that we didn't like too much.  Otherwise, I have learned how to make some amazing meals from this book and from her website.  This is not a low fat cookbook, but it is absolutely wonderful, delicious comfort food.  I have this cookbook through Kindle on both my computer and on my iPod.  I refer to it often from my kitchen or at the grocery store.  Even if I don't use a recipe in its complete form, it gives me a basis for many happy meals.  The Spicy Pulled Pork is amazing!

2. Southern Lady Gracious Tables {The Perfect Setting for Any Occasion} by Phyllis Hoffman (whose magazines are incredibly beautiful too).  This is one of the prettiest books I own.  It's not available on Kindle yet, but the hard bound version is simply stunning.  I love the pictures of the place settings and tables.  It makes me crazy jealous!  The recipes are delicious but the pictures keep me coming back to this book over and over again.  I really enjoy her magazines too for the same reason.

3. Betty Crocker Fix-With-A-Mix Desserts.  This book is available on Kindle.  My favorite recipe in this book is Strawberry Cheesecake Bites.  It's nice to have a little head start in a recipe.  Some of my favorite dishes start out with a little help in the beginning.

4. Southern Plate:  Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family by Christy Jordan.  This book feels like "home" to me.  I love to look through all the southern recipes in this book.  There are a wide variety of comfort foods for every occasion and season.  I have the Kindle version and have read it several times through.  A very enjoyable read.  Delicious southern cuisine.

5. Eva's Kitchen:  Cooking With Love for Family and Friends by Eva Langoria.  I learned to make delicious pico de gallo from this cookbook.  It is a surprisingly good cookbook and available on Kindle.  Who would have thought a Desperate Housewife could write such a great cookbook?  (Hmmm...gives me some ambitions of my own.)  I am always searching for Mexican recipes that are easy to make.  I am only now learning to make Mexican food myself instead of eating it only in restaurants.  So this cookbook is fantastic.  Very easy to follow.

I have so many others that I enjoy too.  I will save those for another day.

Happy reading!

My Ode to "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives"

So it is no secret that I could watch the Food Network 24 hours a day.  I record more shows on that network than on any other.  I love to watch the shows that teach, the ones that compete and the ones that travel.  No show floats my boat more than "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!"

I love this show.  Maybe I can’t miss an episode because I love food or maybe it is because, after being a full-time care giver for three years, I have barely left my home in a long time.  My friends know if they want to see me, they usually need to come to my table for dinner.  So that would explain my fascination with this show.  I live vicariously!

Guy Fieri takes me all over the country so I can watch chefs/cooks/diner owners making fabulously good looking meals, mostly devoid of nutritional value.  How delicious!  I mean ... how unhealthy!  Yes, that's what I meant.  Moving on. 

I can watch with anticipation as someone else samples these decadent dishes and tells how gooey and sinful they taste.  Wait, I don’t think I’m thrilled with that part.  I’d much rather be eating them myself … but Guy hasn’t asked me to travel the country as his official taster yet.   (Guy -- call me!)

Each time I watch this show, I have the same two thoughts:  1) Why is it most of these places are not within driving distance of me; and 2) Why don’t I own a diner?  I guess the answer to the first question is, because I would weigh 5,000 pounds.  The answer to the second, I don’t have what it takes!   I work up a tired sweat just trying to feed this family of mine at dinnertime!  Not sweat like some of the chefs who compete on "Chopped" and make me never, ever want to eat in a restaurant again.  Just ordinary people tired sweat. 

I don’t know how these amazing cooks work in these small, hot kitchens surrounded by steaming surfaces for 12 to 20 hours a day.  I couldn't do it.  I have to plan ahead.  I don’t need to be working in that environment when I start having hot flashes!  I’m just saying.

So last night, I took my newly-found gravy making skills and did my own homage to diners here at the old homestead.  I decided to whip up a batch of biscuits with sausage gravy, another of my son's favorites.

Have I mentioned that I love breakfast food, especially at dinnertime?  When I was a teenager and my dad worked nights, my mother and I would often make breakfast for dinner and talk for hours about our lives.  I love memories of my mom.

But I digress.

Back to last night.  I started by getting the biscuits in the oven using my tried and true three-step recipe.  First I took the canister of biscuits from the fridge.  Then, I carefully (and I do mean carefully, this is vital) unwrapped the foil label.  Thirdly, I jumped and screamed like a little girl when it went pop!  Anyway, it wasn't like I was trying to impress the fam with my biscuits.  It was all about the gravy.

My new skills for roux basics paid off again.  I kept that pan low and slow.  There was a moment, after adding the milk to the hot roux and sausage, that I thought it would never thicken and come together, but amazingly IT DID!  A pot of creamy, non-flour tasting, delicious gravy.  My son was delighted.  Again, Mom made a gravy that didn't taste like it had just come off a Kindergarten pasting project!

My diner-fix was fixed!  So for now, I will go back to my TiVo and live vicariously through others ... maybe pick up a meal idea or two (or three or four) from watching Guy and his Camaro hunting down and sampling high caloric meals.  But I am so jealous.  I’m just saying.