Cookbooks

MCPL Chopped Challenge

MCPL Chopped Challenge winning dish: kidney bean and spelt toast with paprika whipped feta and rosemary pickled beets.

‘Tis the season for cooking and creativity! In November, we held the first MCPL Chopped Challenge! Participants received a take-home kit with three mystery ingredients and three cookbooks to borrow. They were tasked with preparing a dish using all three ingredients, plus their choice of additional ingredients.

We received many amazing, inspired entries. Thank you to all of the participants and congratulations to the winner, Emmi! They were so creative with the mystery ingredients, making a kidney bean and spelt toast with paprika whipped feta and rosemary pickled beets. Browse this photo album to view all of the submitted dishes!

Now that the official prize challenge is over, we’re revealing the mystery ingredients for anyone to try their hand! The mystery ingredients are…

   
Posted by Aubrey D. on December 3, 2021
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Cooking Zines

Cooking Zines

Looking to change up your cooking routine? Add some new recipes to the ol’ repertoire? Some new culinary delights would be nice! You could turn to a conventional cookbook, but you’re likely to only find conventional foods there. No, what you need is something a little more cutting edge, a shake up in your giddy-up, some unconventional food for these unconventional times; what better place to look for this than in that most unconventional format: zines!

Vegan Pho : a recipe
Phở, the delicious Vietnamese soup, has a umami depth of flavor that is usually achieved with meat, and veg/vegan options often are not as rich. But, fear not non-meat-eaters of the world, Juli Jump Rope has a recipe to make this noodle dish with out pho-ail! 

   
Posted by Edwin F. on June 17, 2019
Vegan Pho : a recipe    Food to Eat From a Human Skull    Comestible Summer 2016    The Best of Vegetables From Amish and Mennonite Kitchens    Bananarchy now!   
Cookbooks   
Zines   

May 17th is World Baking Day!

Celebrate World Baking Day by exploring one of humanity’s oldest sources of nutrition—bread! Although modern grocery store bread has little in common ancient Egypt’s first flatbreads, this dietary staple has remained popular through millennia and across the world.

   
Posted by Lizzie F. on May 17, 2017
The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking    My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method    The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from Around the World    Flour Water Salt Yeast : The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza    Tartine Bread    Tartine Book No. 3: Modern, Ancient, Classic, Whole    Bread Revolution: World-Class Baking with Sprouted & Whole Grains, Heirloom Flours & Fresh Techniques    125 Best Gluten-Free Bread Machine Recipes    Gluten-Free Bread    Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day   
Cookbooks   
Reviews   

Unpublished

Unpublished

Unpublished

Unpublished

Unpublished

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

When enthusiastic home cook, Jennifer Reese lost her job she wondered if making homemade staples would be more cost effective.  Is homemade mayonnaise cheaper than the tub you buy in the store?  And just as important, does it taste better?  Her book, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter has over 120 recipes for the from-scratch cook - looking for both cost savings and taste improvements. 

Reese's journey to make and taste homemade versions of cupboard regulars like peanut butter and bread and the more exotic like camembert and prosciutto includes helpful input from her family. She makes it sound like making your own ginger ale isn't crazy -- but actually fairly easy, cheaper than store bought, and delicious.  Her voice throughout the book is casual and often really funny.  The best part of the book is her interest in the highly practical and includes a 'hassle factor' for each item.  Every recipe has a realistic cost comparison with store bought and an indication of how difficult each item is to make.  Right there is bold print is a verdict on each item: Make it or Buy it.  A few items get a warning.  Make or buy cream cheese?  Reese says to make it once and then decide.  Make or buy English muffins?  Depends on whether you are eating them plain or as a base for eggs benedict.

   

Posted by sbowman on September 5, 2012
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook From Scratch--Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods   
Cookbooks    DIY    Nonfiction   
Reviews   

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Memorial Day weekend is right around the corner and hot days are near. For many people this means firing up the grill.  Interested in shaking up your grill routine?  The library has loads of cookbooks with many new ideas -- for both meat eaters and vegetarians.

Maybe grilling isn't your thing.  Once the weather turns hot, and the fresh fruits start arriving at the Market and the grocery stores all I want to do is make ice cream.  I recently checked out the excellent Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts by Peggy Fallon and marked about 20 pages of interesting and often easy recipes to try including Chocolate Chipotle Ice Cream, Black Forest Frozen Yogurt with Chocolate and Cherries, and Quick Caramel-Pecan Light Ice Cream.  There are also chapters on sorbets and non-dairy frozen desserts.

The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein delivers over 500 recipes covering many different types of ice creams, sorbets and granitas.  He also gives ideas for recipe variations and toppings.  Pictures aren't included, but this serves as a fairly straight forward reference and would be great for beginners. 

   
Posted by sbowman on May 24, 2012
A Passion for Ice Cream: 95 Recipes for Fabulous Desserts    Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts    Paletas: Authentic Recipes for Mexican Ice Pops, Shaved Ice, and Aguas Frescas    The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, and More   
Cookbooks    Holidays & Cultural Celebrations    Nonfiction   
Reviews    Think Library   
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