Cookbook Giveaway: Eat, Shrink and Be Merry

The Cookery Book Fairy paid me a visit this week, leaving a small pile of books in my cubicle. Yes, apparently when I spend too much time at the office, she comes looking for me in the most obvious of places.

You see, she's in the midst of an office move and found several extra copies of Janet and Greta Podleski's Eat, Shrink and Be Merry (the cookbook that accompanies the TV show of the same name). Why did she have extra copies? Her manager bought a whackload to give to staff or to be used as prizes or something, and four remained, taking up valuable real estate. The accompanied message was "You'll know what to do with them."

My...that was ominous...

If you aren't familiar with the sisters, this is their third cookbook, following Crazy Plates and Looney Spoons. They specialise in healthier, lower fat cooking. They also have their own frozen foods and a very colourful line of kitchen utensils.

I've owned a copy of ES&BM for a little while and have cooked from it a few times-- the recipes are easy and don't taste like diet food. Each recipe contains nutritional information and the book itself has many, many tips to healthy eating. It's also filled with puns. Some are good, others aren't worth mentioning (there, you've been warned). It's this combination that made the sisters successful foodish authors. The book and its authors are popular--you know when an AVP stops dead in his tracks to tell you how much he likes the recipes and how often he and his family cook from it, simply because you have four copies on your desk, there's something slightly different about this tome..

So, back to my given task...

Contest time!
Instead of doing a first-come, first-served thing--which never seems fair to those in different timezones--or coming up with an event--which I don't have time to organise,and I know others may not have the time to cook for --I wanted something that fell between the two...

As I mentioned, the book is filled with puns: The Choke's on You (a hot, baked artichoke dip), Melancauli Baby (cauliflower soup), Shroom with Ado (marinated mushroom fajitas), Turk du Soleil (turkey burgers), Britney's Spears (asparagus)...so that's what I'm looking for. An original punny recipe title, with a brief description of the food or drink.

If you would like your name to be entered into a draw for a copy of the book, please email me at cardamomaddict at gmail dot com (you know what goes where) before 23:59 GMT 31 March 2008 with:

• your name (real or your online pseudonym, your choice)
• an original punny recipe title with brief description of the food or drink--since you are not sending me a recipe, you don't have to worry about it "working" or even tasting good. All it needs to be is try to be funny...notice it doesn't have to be successfully funny...

Other bits:

• I'll draw four names at random and email the winners for their snailmail addresses. I'll post the winner's names and their punny entries on my blog shortly thereafter.
• If you leave your entry as a comment, you still have to email me so I have your email address and can contact you if you win. If I cannot contact you, I cannot send you a book...
• You can enter as many different titles as you wish, but you can only win one copy of the book. So if you enter two titles, your name is entered twice. At draw time, if your name is pulled after you've already won a copy of the book, that draw will not get you another copy, and I will select another entry.
• Now, obviously, I can't verify if your title is original as I do not have a copy of each and every recipe known to humankind, and there's the possibility that two people could come up with the same or similar titles, so let's just agree to play nice...
• This giveaway is open to anyone, regardless of where they live (well, okay, you have to be on Planet Earth with a valid snailmail address). Would love to see entries from far and wide...

Email me with any questions...

In the meanwhile...I pulled my copy from my rickety shelves and kindasorta followed their recipe for Kickin' Chicken. Kindasorta because I didn't use the light peanut sauce and I kept the bone and skin on the thighs...I'd used peanut sauce on chicken and pork before, but hadn't combined it with any tomato-based sauces. Easy, flavourful and adaptable, I'll probably come back to this, but do a whole, jointed chicken..or pork back ribs with this sauce.

Kindasorta Kickin' Chicken
adapted from Eat Shrink and Be Merry
Serves six

12 (approx 1kg) chicken thighs, left in tact
180ml peanut sauce
125ml salsa
20g fresh basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line a baking tray with tin foil (for easy clean up) and lightly oil.

Combine the peanut sauce, salsa and basil, and reserved some sauce for serving. Pour the rest into a bowl and add the chicken. Coat well and remove to the prepared baking tray. Spoon the the chickeny sauce over the meat and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until cooked. Serve with reserved sauce.

cheers!
jasmine