Friday, November 18, 2011

Little Old Lady Recipes Book Review—Candied Nuts Recipe And a Giveaway

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Have you ever giggled while reading a recipe book?  It’s hard not to if you have the “Little Old Lady Recipes-Comfort Food and Kitchen Table Wisdom” on your hands.  I had such a wonderful time reading through the recipes and "Kitchen Table Wisdom" over the weekend.

“When it comes to comfort food, little old ladies know what's up. They know what will taste good, how to fatten up a family, and what will leave their diners craving seconds (if not thirds and fourths). Collecting these gum-smacking, finger-licking-good recipes from the matriarchs of society is Little Old Lady Recipes by Meg Favreau.”

Book Cover Image from Quirk Books’ site

Little Old Lady Recipes honors the extraordinary women who create pot luck dinners, church socials, wedding banquets, and the best desserts you've ever tasted. Every page features their simple, no-frills recipes for pot roast, meat loaf, dumplings, corn bread, fried chicken, bundt cake, and other mouth-watering favorites-along with gorgeous photography of the chefs at work and generous portions of their kitchen table wisdom ("Butter comes from a cow. Tell me where the heck margarine comes from, and then maybe I'll eat it!").”


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I followed one of the little old ladies’ advise and recipe and made some of these scrumptious Candied Pecans. “A good hostess makes big show-stopping meals, but a great hostess pays attention to the details. Place a bowl of these nuts in every room guests occupy during the cocktail hour before a dinner party; it’ll give them something to munch on and help ensure people don’t get sauced too quickly.” I took the advise a step further and packaged some of these candied pecans for guests to take home after the party. Winking smile They are great for holiday gift-giving as well!

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Here are a couple Kitchen Table Wisdoms that I love….”A grandmother isn’t the same thing as a restaurant. Shut up and eat the eggs.”—Ruth, transcriptionist, 77. LOL…Does that sound familiar or what?
Here’s another one, “Club soda is a wonderful thing. You can use it to remove any stain, or mix it with gin and drink until you don’t care about the stain anymore.”—Chastity, deli clerk, 72. 

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While I was searching which wonderful recipe to make from the Little Old Lady Recipes book, I came across this quote on the Pumpkin Butter Recipe.  “Like good-looking people, pretty pumpkins are often really stupid on the inside.  Find an ugly, knobby variety for this recipe, because it’s likely to be sweeter.  Also keep this point in mind when looking for a husband….”  Opps…..I guess it’s too late for me to follow this advise as I’m already married to my handsome hubby for 7 years now.  hahahaha….

The Little Old Lady Recipes book is definitely a fun book to read for all.  Guess what, the size of the book will make it the perfect stocking stuffer as well!  Pack it along with a bag of these Candied Pecans and you’ll be all set.  For sure your foodie friends and family would waive about them. 

Update: This giveaway is now closed!

Rules for the Giveaway:

With the courtesy of Quirk Books, one lucky uTry.it reader (with an U.S. mailing address only) will have a chance to win a copy of The Little Old Lady Recipes Book.   You have until November 27th, 12 midnight PST to enter this giveaway.  Winner will be announced and contacted via email shortly after the deadline.

Mandatory Entry: 

Simply leave a comment and tell me what your favorite holiday treat is.  

Additional Entries: (You can do any or all of the following, just leave a separate comments for each entry.  If you already did, they do count.  Simply leave a comment to tell me so.)

1) Add uTry.it to your Google+ circle.  (See sidebar to the right)
2) Click on the +1 button. (See sidebar to the right)
3) “Like” uTry.it’s Facebook page.  Here’s the link. 
4) Follow uTry.it on Twitter.  Here’s the link.
5) Tweet about this giveaway.  Or share this giveaway with your Facebook friends.
6) Subscribe to my blog via email.  You’ll receive an email to verify the subscription.  
7) Subscribe via RSS feed.


Good luck everyone!




Disclaimer: I was given a copy of The Little Old Lady Recipe Book free of charge for the purpose of this review. I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are 100% my own and always will be.






Candied Nuts (adopted from Little Old Lady Recipes)
Printable Recipe

2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups pecan halves or other nuts*
a dash of vanilla extract*

Whisk egg whites with a spoonful of water (*I substituted with a dash of vanilla extract instead).  Combine everything else but the nuts in another bowl.  Coat the nuts in egg whites.  Toss in sugar mixture.  Spread on a greased baking sheet and bake 45 minutes at 250F, stirring occasionally. 

*Note: The original recipe calls for 2 cups of nuts only.  I was able to cover all 4 cups of pecans halves with the same amount of egg whites and sugar mixture.



28 comments:

  1. What a cute book - I'd love to win a copy!

    Thanks for sharing the candied nut recipe - I'll be making it soon.

    :)
    ButterYum

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  2. @ Butter Yum: My hubby's college doesn't like pecans but he likes these candied pecans a lot. Hope you'll enjoy the recipe. Let me know how they turn out if you make them.

    Amy

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  3. My favorite holiday treat is marzipan :)
    (susyszoo@hotmail.com)

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  4. (susyszoo@hotmail.com)
    I already Like uTry on Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  5. (susyszoo@hotmail.com)
    I´m already subscribed via RSS feed.

    Thanks :D

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  6. Favorite holiday treat--oh, there's just so many. I do love fudge and pretty much only eat it at Christmastime!

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  7. homemade chocolate bark!

    blueblanket@hotmail.com

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  8. Thanks for sharing with Simply Delish.

    My favourite holiday treat is my Mum's trifle.

    Following you on twitter as KB1.

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  9. My favorite holiday treat is gingerbread cookies.

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  10. That book sounds so cute! I love the club soda comment you shared!

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  11. My favorite holiday treat....hmm... tough one! I would say sugar cookies and raspberry/blueberry pie. :)

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  12. The nuts look yummy! What a nice gift idea. My favorite holiday treat are my mom's peppermint pinwheel cookies. We have had the recipe for years and we have been making them since I'm a little kid. I liked you on Facebook!

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  13. delicious looking snack looks wonderful

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  14. I have been wanting to try these! Looks so good.

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  15. Love the tongue-in-cheek title of the book. But ladies of a certain age definitely know what they're doing. They've been around enough to know a great recipe when they see one. ;)

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  16. Your candied nuts look yummy! My favorite holiday treat? All kinds of chocolate treats... I don't bake myself but we get a lot of fancy chocolate gifts... I actually don't have "favorite" I think... oh I love pumpkin cheesecake (from famous cheesecake shop in SF).

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  17. I'm your new FB fan! (I didn't know you had facebook..hehe).

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  18. My all time favorite holiday treat was the Divinity my mother always made. She prepared a tin of it just for me plus she had it for others to enjoy. It is a treasured memory!

    xo
    Pat

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  19. I can't decided my favorite holiday treat..there are so many!! Those candied nuts look amazing!!

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  20. My favorite Holiday treat is: COOKIES of all types and sizes. I love Christmas cookies! ! !

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  21. Nice Recipes which are looking so good, Thanks for sharing it.

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  22. My favorite Holiday Treats are Anything with a ton of Chocolate!!!! :-) Cookies, Candies, Cakes, Pies.....:-)

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