Cookbook Lalapalooza Winners And 3 New Books To Giveway

The results are in! The winners of the first round of July’s Cookbook Lalapalooza, in conjunction with Andrews McMeel Publishing, are:

• Ginny from Java Joggers - Steak With Friends
• Jon from Buy Or Sell Tickets Here - America’s Best BBQ
• Dona Rae 3 from Twitter - Cooking The Cowboy Way

Congratulation to all three. I will be contacting each of you for mailing info and thank you to everyone who entered by posting a comment, emailing or tweeting.

These are this week’s books from Andrews McMeel Publishing.

To win any of them, all you have to do is to TELL ME WHICH ONE YOU WANT!

That’s it. YOU choose.

You may:

1. Leave a comment at this post.
2. Send me an email at FNMusings@gmail.com.
3. Or tweet me at http://twitter.com/SueonFood.

Enter as many times as you wish. Each time you do it’s a separate entry and increases your chances of winning. You may give me your second and third choices too, in case your first choice is already taken when your name is picked.

Full rules at end of post.

About this week's books:

Blogger Amy McCoy of Poor Girl Gourmet has put together a cookbook of the same name. A lot of the recipes are quickly put together, but there is also some real cooking that goes on here. Amy explains her Untraditional Bolognese Sauce is not the authentic item because it includes tomatoes, but it looks wonderful with its soffritto and the addition of anchovies and fire roasted tomatoes. (I don’t think it’s ever wrong to add anchovies.)

There are loads of vegetable recipes too. How easy and delicious are rounds of baked zucchini with pecorino on top? And, of course, every recipe is put together with a budget in mind. But I would like the recipes anyway; the fact that they’re not extravagant is an added bonus.

Lime Corn Cream Dressing (makes 2 cups)

from Poor Girl Gourmet by Amy McCoy

Posted with permission

1 cup fresh (2 medium ears) or frozen corn kernels

1 cup sour cream

The zest and juice of 1 lime

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. If you are using corn kernels fresh off the cob, it’s quite easy to shave them. Simply shuck the ears of their husks and silks, leaving the stem intact. That’s your handle to hold the ear of corn steady while you cut. Place the ear of corn tip-downward in a large bowl, using the stem to hold it steady. Using a serrated knife, start at the top and cut downward, keeping the knife as close as possible to the cob. You may have some random bits of silk in the mix; pick them out if they bother you. Work around the ear until all off the kernels have been shaved off, and away we go. Cook the kernels in a large pot of boiling, salted water, 1 to 2 minutes until golden. Drain in a colander, rinse them with cold water, and cool for 5 minutes. Or, you may store them away for use within a day or two in an airtight container within the confines of your refrigerator.

2. Puree the corn, sour cream, lime zest, lime juice and salt in a blender or food processor until smooth. Add pepper to taste.

How to Drink by Victoria Moore covers beverages of all types. She has wonderful advice on how to make everything from the perfect cup of tea or coffee to breakfast smoothies to cocktails of all types. There are also wonderful food suggestions to complement the drinks. For example a lovely trifle recipe to go along with a cream sherry. Yum.

Here’s a sprightly cocktail that would be great on a hot summer day (or night).

Sea Breeze

from How to Drink by Victoria Moore

Posted with permission

For awhile, back in the 1990’s, this glowing pink concoction was everywhere, though it was usually made with one ingredient (the grapefruit juice) missing, essentially reducing it to a simple vodka-cranberry and taking away its kick.

1 part vodka

1 part grapefruit juice

2 parts cranberry juice

1 slice of lime

Mix the ingredients together, pour over ice, and drop 2 half slices of lime into each glass.

The Cocktail Primer, by Eben Klemm is subtitled All You Need To Know To Make The Perfect Drink. And he does cover it all - how to set up the perfect home bar, the proper way to shake, stir and serve cocktails, as well as how to make flavored syrups and many different cocktails.

Ruby Foo

from The Cocktail Primer by Eben Klemm

Posted with permission

1 ounce vodka

1 ounce plum sake

12 ounce cranberry juice cocktail

½ ounce pineapple juice

1 lemon round, for garnish

Pour the vodka, sake, cramberry juice and pinapple juice into a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice. Cover and shake vigorously 20 times.

Strain the cocktail into a martini glass and serve, garnished with the lemon round.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Rules for Cookbook Lalapalooza

Each week in July, I’ll highlight 3 cookbooks from Andrews McMeel.

To win one of them, all you have to do is tell me which one you want - one of three ways:

1) Send a comment to this post. (Include your email address, if your name doesn’t link to it.)

2) Send me an email at FNMusings@gmail.com.

3) Tweet me at http://twitter.com/SueonFood

Enter as many times as you wish. ONE ENTRY per comment, email or tweet please. Contest open to US residents 18 years old and above.

I will be picking winners randomly at the end of each week. You may give me a second and third choice too, so that if your name is chosen and I’ve already given away your first choice book, you won’t be disappointed.

This week's giveaway ends on Saturday, July 17th at 11:59 pm eastern time.