Picture Perfect Cooking

One of the best books I have read in the last couple of years was Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell.  It is a funny and poignant book written by a lady who felt down on her luck and decided to turn her life around by cooking her way through Julia Child’s venerable cookbook, Mastering The Art of French Cooking Volume 1.  If you haven’t read this, please do.  The movie is good, but the book is so, so much better.

Anyway, I received a cookbook as a Christmas gift from my wonderful in-laws.  It is Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family, and yes, it is written by the lady who has the awesome website, Southern Plate!  It is a collection of classic southern recipes that she has gotten from family and friends throughout the years.  Many have been passed on through multiple generations and this is the first written version available.  So many recipes have been lost due to the fact that they weren’t written down; they were just taught to the next generation in the kitchen.

When I finally had time to sit down and really start to read through this book, I was amazed.  Some of the recipes I had cooked before, but the majority I had not and they all sounded delicious!  I had an epiphany..I need to do a project of my own:  A Picture Perfect Cooking/Southern Plate Project. 

Now, don’t get too excited.  Mine is going to be a little more low-key since I have already used a few of her recipes on my site, I am just going to use more and post them as part of my “project”.  I don’t plan on running myself crazy trying to get them done in a certain amount of time, and I won’t be able to fix any of the chicken or turkey dishes.  Why?  Oh, that’s right, I have never shared this with you.  I am deathly allergic to poultry.  Yep, you heard right, poultry of any kind.  That means no chicken or turkey for this gal, and I am not just a little allergic to it, I am full-on anaphylactic shock allergic!  One time, I brought home a chicken dinner for C, and I accidently got a little grease on my finger.  I touched my face and a big hive popped out almost immediately just from that little bit of contact.  Now you know my kryptonite.

Please keep reading.  I will let you know when the project begins!