Cookbooks

When I first started looking around at cookbooks, I used The Joy of Cooking, probably not the best place to start my culinary adventure.  To be honest, I really only cooked a couple of recipes out of that cookbook, yet I still have it.  It has a substantial number of recipes in it, however, there is not story to connect some if not all of the recipes back to the cook.  Since the Joy of Cooking days, I have greatly expanded my viewing of cookbooks, along with my cooking ability.  I must point out that some of the first things I cooked, were family recipes, which you never quite find in a cookbook.  A few years ago my mother and sisters were raving about The Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  I wanted to check it out with out purchasing it, so I went to the library website to request a copy.  I was shocked to find out there was a 12 person waiting line to get their hands on this book.  (Which puts it in parallel to some of the New York Times Bestseller books I have requested.)  I got it, looked it  over, thought that it was nice, and a couple of Christmas' later, Amy or I got it as a Christmas present.  As I understand the evolution of the cookbook, it started out as a blog titled, The Pioneer Woman.

Yesterday, I went to the library and was looking at cookbooks, and found the Texas response, or possibly precursor to the Pioneer Woman.  The cookbook is The Homesick Texas Cookbook.  Now I am not sure if this started out as a blog, however, the author, Lisa Fain, does have a blog, which is titled, Homesick Texan.  I flipped through the book and decided to check it out, only to find that it has some great recipes, including my personal favorite mexican food dish, Stacked Enchiladas (although in this book they are name "West Texas Stacked Enchiladas.")  I think that my friends, and wife from New Mexico may disagree that the Stacked Enchiladas were devised in West Texas, instead of New Mexico.  They are best, with two fried eggs on top, cooked over easy.  While I have made then a couple of times, without a recipe I may try this one out to see how it works.  Additionally, it has recipes for corn and flour tortillas, and tamales.

Tonight, partly inspired by the cookbook bloggers, I took a couple of kitchen pictures, while I made a dish that was out of a completely different cook book.  During this process I learned that capturing the blue flame of natural gas, requires patiences, no flash, and either a tripod or kitchen counter.

Gas and Cast Iron Griddle

Tortilla and Yellow Fiesta with Pork Chili Inside