The Good Home Cookbook - Giveaway!

I think I've confessed this before, but I'll say it again: I'm a wannabe foodie. Love to eat and try new things. Some of my favorite blogs have a food component like Bakerella and The Pioneer Woman. I think I even indulged in a subscription to Cooking Light once upon a time. My actual skills in the kitchen - meh, not so much. I'm pretty sure I was engaged a very short time before someone started asking if H knew what he was in for when it came to my cooking.

Thank goodness for cookbooks. Follow a recipe, I can do. The Good Home Cookbook contains more than 1,000 classic American recipes and bills itself as the only cookbook entirely tested in home kitchens across America. This piqued my interest a bit, as Richard J. Perry states in his introduction: "What is a classic American recipe? ...a recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation in various forms, from cookbooks to menus - recipes that have withstood the test of time." Home cooking can mean so many things to so many people. Whether it's Grandma's pasta, or Dad's burgers on the grill.

I like the organization of this book. Chapters group the recipes by Breakfast, Lunch, Salads, Meat, Soups, Vegetables, Pies Cakes and Cookies, and more. I'm usually trying to wrap my brain around a particular meal, so I think this would be helpful. There are various appendices that get into more technical stuff such as canning and pickling, freezing and thawing and so forth.

Just a quick flip into the book has my taste buds dancing over a yummy-sounding breakfast frittata, which even has suggested variations of broccoli, spinach and herb, and goat cheese. Many recipes begin with a tiny paragraph (or less) describing the dish and sometimes it's origin, which tickles the storyteller in me as well.

I have one copy of The Good Home Cookbook to give away to a lucky reader!

1. Hot weather and a picky preschooler both challenge me in the kitchen these days. To enter, leave a comment and tell me your family's favorite home cooked dish.
2. For an additional entry, subscribe to this blog via email or reader and leave a comment telling me that you have done so.
3. For an additional entry, follow me on Twitter at @Smittens05.
4. Tweet about this contest for an additional entry. Be sure to include @Smittens05 so that I can see your tweet!

Contest ends on August 15th. Winner to be announced on Monday, August 17th.