I don't want to alarm you, but I think my seemingly foolproof theme-gathering method of glancing across the cookbook shelf for about 15 seconds is starting to fail me. Believe it or not, I have found two more brand-oriented cookbooks lurking within the collection. So, deep breath, here we go, Brand Week Part Three: The Sneakers.
I believe Cookbook #43: Betty Crocker's New Cookbook (Betty Crocker (NOT A REAL PERSON), 1996) escaped my attention because B.C. is so ubiquitous as to not even seem like a brand somehow? But it is! It is a brand. It makes Fruit Gushers. Anyway. Provenance: Mom. Previous recipes on this blog: none. Tagline: Everything You Need To Know To Cook. Unspoken end of tagline: Is That Food Tastes Better If You Apply Salt And Heat To It.
The recipe I picked was for gyros. And it wasn't bad! But it took me a while to find something that seemed appealing. This is really a book of basics.
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| Not sure how the crazy exoticism of Greek food snuck in there. |
Verdict: I guess if you are really starting from zero on the cooking-knowledge scale, this would be pretty helpful. Or if you're curious about what "American" Grilled Cheese entails. (It's cheese.)
I know exactly why Cookbook #44: The Recipes of the Five Brothers (Leah Rosch and Rosemary Smallberg, 1998) gave me the slip: it looks like an actual fancy cookbook and also I have never heard of this brand and am not certain that it exists anymore. Provenance: Mom. Previous recipes on this blog: none. Only evidence of this brand on the internet: a 16-year-old commercial on YouTube.
Actually, it seems like Bertolli bought them at some point and then just...stopped...using the name? I certainly couldn't find any in my extensive search of one HEB pasta aisle. Anyway, I threw together some Tuscan White Bean Soup and Garden Crostini. The white bean soup was pretty standard. You know--white beans, cauliflower, ENTIRE JAR OF ALFREDO SAUCE.
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| Take it down a notch, Tuscans. |
The garden crostini was good. It was better the next day with eggs on top of it.
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| True of everything I have ever cooked. |
Verdict: I mean...it's a cookbook built around a mysterious and possibly defunct brand of pasta sauces. But also it's kind of fancy and good? This one was a real enigma.
Anyway, I've gotta go, I'm at my parents' house and they made hamburgers and are taking the girls off our hands for a couple of days and also bought me treats.
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| TREEEEEEEEATS. |
It's going to be tough to leave the girls, though. They don't seem to like it here very much.
