Giveaway, Tour & Review: The Book Bloggers Cookbook by Christy Dorrity

 

The 2012 Book Blogger's Cookbook is a community project from some of the blogosphere's best book bloggers in a simple, easy to read format. The cookbook combines a love of reading and dining to help you find books you'll devour and recipes you can't put down.

You’ll love The Book Blogger’s Cookbook because….

The Book Blogger’s Cookbook has 50 different book reviewers from every corner of the blogosphere. It bridges the gap between author and reader—putting you in touch with book reviewers who can separate the 5 star books from the mediocre.

The Book Blogger’s Cookbook showcases great reads and provides an interactive experience with links to author and book reviewer websites. The cookbook is created for those who like to experience what they read long after they’ve closed the book.

The Book Blogger’s Cookbook tells why each recipe complements its companion book. Recipes and books combine to make the reading experience satisfying and entertaining.

Book launch and Contest:

Every person who comments on one of the blogs during the tour will be entered to win a grand prize: a copy of every book featured in The 2012 Book Blogger's Cookbook (22 in all, over $200 value).

About the author:

Christy Dorrity loves to read about cooking and cook about reading. She was taught early to have a discriminating taste for both books and food. Christy grew up on a trout ranch in Star Valley, Wyoming. She taught elementary school and lives in the mountains with her husband Devon and their five young children. When Christy's not reading or writing, she's probably trying out a new recipe in the kitchen.

http://www.christydorrity.com/

christy@dorrity.net

twitter: @christydorrity

My Thoughts:

No doubt you are here reading this post on this blog because you love books just as much or more than I do. There is nothing like a literary adventure to escape your own world, find a new love, fear for your life or solve an unsolvable murder mystery. Sometimes these adventures seep out into other aspects of an avid readers life. For instance, you will hear about authors that have composed a lovely play list to go along with their novel. I too have found myself thinking of Shiver's Sam and Grace when I hear Trains - Hey, Soul Sister or of Rose and Demitri's forbidden love when the soulful rendition of Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley sooths my mind.

Author Christy Dorrity takes us one step further in The Book Bloggers Cookbook by adding another one of the human bodies amazing senses to her love of books. By creating and sharing recipes that easily accompany some of her favorite books, Christy has written the second edition of The Book Bloggers Cookbook.

The evolution of recipes merging with literary loves only seems natural. After all, every time I make Venison Chili I think of Katniss and Gale, or Apple Pie reminding me of The Dark Divine and even Chocolate Frogs taking me back to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express. Yes, even food ties me to my favorite books and now that you think about it, you may be realizing it does the same for you.

Not only does The Book Bloggers Cookbook have delicious recipes - all 22 of the recipes are paired with the description and cover of the inspiring book. For example, the recipe that I know will be a family favorite at every summer picnic, reunion and camping trip is Root beer Cookies. Inspiration for this recipe comes from Shannon Hale's Austenland, a book I have not yet read, but have discovered I will enjoy because of this great Cookbook.

I recommend The Book Bloggers Cookbook for any book blogger or cook out there; especially those of you that have a passion for the Young Adult genre. In addition to excellent book recommendations and recipes you will find quotes from many of today's popular book blogger's.

The Book Bloggers Cookbook recieves a five skully review from My Life With Books by combing two things I all love and must have to survive - good books and food.

You can purchase The Book Bloggers Cookbook on Amazon.com.

Recipe Highlight:

With permission from Christy I would like to share the Modern Day Root Beer Cookies recipe:

Modern Day Root Beer Cookies When the romantic regency era setting that she always dreamed of immerses Jane, in Shannon Hale’s Austenland, she is pulled between her fantasy and reality. A quick root beer drinking fling with the "gardener" is just what she needs to ground her and help her see what she really wants. Root beer stars in this cookie recipe that will remind you of summertime root beer floats.

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon root beer extract

4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Frosting:

4 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons root beer extract

Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, buttermilk and 1/2 teaspoon root beer extract. Add the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Stir in walnuts.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Place on a wire rack to cool. 

Combine the frosting ingredients and beat until smooth. Frost the cooled cookies and watch them disappear! Yields about 5 dozen cookies.

In addition to sharing this recipe, I had the opportunity to ask Christy a couple of questions regarding The Book Bloogers Cookbook:

Will you continue to do The Book Bloggers Cookbook?

I plan to do the cookbook annually until I have at least 5 volumes. At some point I will combine the volumes and print physical copies.


Who gives you the recipes (Are they from the authors)?

The recipes come from my kitchen. They are family favorites that have been passed down, and new recipes that I find in my experimenting. When I read a book, I am always on the look out for a possible match of food or theme that can be represented by one of my favorite recipes.
How do you decide which books will be highlighted?

I read quite a few books in a year and I just read whatever sounds interesting to me. I include mostly YA because that is what I read most of. I do read other books that are not included in the cookbooks and I leave them out if I don't like the read, or if it is not mainstream. For example, I read quite a few books that are written for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I don't feel that they are mainstream enough for the audience of the cookbooks. Also, the reads I include are clean and have little violence. Every year I try to include at least a few self-published ebooks that I feel are high quality and worth the read. 
 

Thank you Christy for writing such a great recipe book and stopping by My Life With Books today.

*****

For links to additional tour stops and reviews for The Book Bloggers Cookbook check out Christy's Website. Remember that every person who comments on one of the blogs during the tour will be entered to win a grand prize: a copy of every book featured in The 2012 Book Blogger's Cookbook (22 in all, over $200 value).

To enter leave a comment below - do you have any food that makes you remember your favorite book? A recipe you would want to share that was inspired by a book? Tell me about it, I would love to hear how your love of reading has seeped into other aspects of your life. Maybe it's not food, maybe just music or of some other book attribute - just tell me about it for your entry into the contest.