Books Every Mother Can Love

Mothers should be pampered for Mother's Day. That means that when you give your mother a cookbook, you should also treat her to a dish made from that cookbook. We've made how-to videos for two recipes from Terry Thompson-Anderson's newest cookbook, Breakfast in Texas: Recipes for Elegant Brunches, Down-Home Classics, and Local Favorites. We've got one recipe for a Bloody Shiner using Texas Hill Country Distillers moonshine, and a classic recipe for Huevos con Migas that can be made ahead of time and served to mom on Sunday morning.

We have more recommendations for books that make great Mother's Day gifts, including books for birders, art lovers, swimming hole aficionados, and more.

* Top Pick *

Breakfast in Texas
Recipes for Elegant Brunches, Down-Home Classics, and Local Favorites

By Terry Thompson-Anderson, with photos by Sandy Wilson

The author of the James Beard Cookbook Award finalist Texas on the Table presents nearly one hundred recipes for breakfast and brunch, including favorites from some of Texas’s most popular restaurants, along with menus for entertaining and delightful culinary notes.

Hardcover, $35.00

311 pages | 8 x 10 | 123 color photos | ISBN: 978-1-4773-1044-1

How to Make Terry Thompson-Anderson's Huevos con Migas

Watch the video

More Mother's Day Books

Texas on the Table By Terry Thompson-Anderson, Photos by Sandy Wilson One of Texas’s leading cookbook authors presents 150 recipes that showcase the state’s bounty of locally grown meats and produce, artisanal cheeses, and award-winning wines, along with fascinating stories of the people who are enriching the flavors of Texas. Hardcover, $45.00 ISBN: 978-0-292-74409-7 This Land An American Portrait Photographs by Jack Spencer Foreword by Jon Meacham Created across thirteen years, forty-eight states, and eighty thousand miles, this startlingly fresh photographic portrait of the American landscape shares artistic affinities with the works of such American masters as Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Mark Rothko, and Albert Bierstadt. Hardcover, $45.00 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1189-9 Nina Katchadourian Curiouser Edited by Veronica Roberts Essays by Jeffrey Kastner and Veronica Roberts; interview by Stuart Horodner This catalogue of an exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin presents a mid-career survey of the work of Brooklyn-based artist Nina Katchadourian. Hardcover, $34.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1151-6 The Collections: The University of Texas at Austin Edited by Andrée Bober Spotlighting more than eighty collections in very diverse fields, this extensively illustrated volume showcases the unparalleled quality and range of the holdings of the University of Texas at Austin. “Like all wonderfully rich cabinets of curiosities, The Collections rewards slow and repeated looking.” —Glasstire Hardcover, $125.00 ISBN: 978-1-4773-0785-4

A Love Letter to Texas Women By Sarah Bird Acclaimed author Sarah Bird celebrates the uniqueness of Texas women in this beautifully designed gift book. “Sarah Bird is a true eccentric, but one with a straightforward gift for explaining the human heart. . . . A Lone Star girl-legend.” —Boston Globe Hardcover,  $16.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-0949-0 The Swimming Holes of Texas By Julie Wernersbach and Carolyn Tracy; photography by Carolyn Tracy Full of practical information to help plan your visits and enticing color photos of one hundred freshwater swimming holes, here is the first-ever guide to the best places to swim in Texas. Paperback, $21.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1237-7 The Quality of Life Report: A Novel By Meghan Daum, Foreword by Curtis Sittenfeld A New York Times notable book, The Quality of Life Report is the critically acclaimed first novel by Meghan Daum, New York Times best-selling author and winner of the PEN Center USA Award for creative nonfiction. Paperback, $15.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1300-8 Comfort and Glory: Two Centuries of American Quilts from the Briscoe Center By Katherine Jean Adams, Foreword by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes Showcasing 115 remarkable quilts that span more than two hundred years of American quiltmaking, this volume introduces an outstanding collection of American quilts and quilt history documentation. Hardcover, $ 75.00 ISBN: 978-1-4773-0918-6

One More Warbler A Life with Birds By Victor Emanuel, with S. Kirk Walsh With stories of sighting rare birds ranging from an Eskimo Curlew to the cranes of Asia, one of America’s foremost birders recalls a lifetime of birding adventures, including friendships with luminaries Roger Tory Peterson, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. Hardcover, $29.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1238-4 The Texanist Fine Advice on Living in Texas By David Courtney and Jack Unruh The first collection of acclaimed illustrator Jack Unruh’s work, this book gathers the best of the illustrations he created for The Texanist, Texas Monthly’s back-page column, along with the serious and not-so-serious questions that inspired them. Hardcover, $24.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1297-1 Chrissie Hynde: A Musical Biography By Adam Sobsey With new insights into her life and music and fascinating details about the making of all of her albums, this is the first book about Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend Chrissie Hynde, the leader of The Pretenders. Hardcover, $24.95 ISBN: 978-1-4773-1039-7 Yucatán Recipes from a Culinary Expedition By David Sterling Winner of the 2015 James Beard Foundation Cookbook of the Year Award With over 275 authentic, easy-to-follow recipes, lively stories of their origins, and luscious illustrations, here is the definitive work on the foods of Yucatán, one of the world’s great regional cuisines. Hardcover, $60.00 ISBN: 978-0-292-73581-1

Recipes from Fonda San Miguel

Austin locals know the restaurant Fonda San Miguel as a great place to gather with families for a special occasion. Its Sunday brunch is legendary. As one of the Southwest's top restaurants, not only is the food top quality, its ambiance and art transport patrons to

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a romantic hacienda in Mexico.

When the Fonda San Miguel cookbook was first published in 2005, it was an instant hit and won awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Independent Publishers Association. Fonda San Miguel: Forty Years of Food and Art is now updated and reissued with a lavish compilation of recipes and art from one of America’s premier restaurants serving interior Mexican cuisine.

To celebrate, we've pulled a few recipes from the book for Thanksgiving week. Feast well!

We've partnered with BookPeople and Edible Austin for a talk with restauranteur and author Tom Gilliland on Thursday, December 8th at 7pm. He'll speak about the book and there will be some bites to taste along with his talk. Don't miss it!

From Fonda San Miguel: Forty Years of Food and Art

Spicy Red Snapper Bloody Mary—or María

This is your spicy Bloody Mary but with a fun twist. You can make it with your choice of gin, vodka, tequila, or mezcal.

• 5 ice cubes
• 1 6-ounce can tomato juice (the best you can get)
• 2 ounces gin, vodka, tequila, or mezcal
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons bottled hot pepper sauce (Salsa Valentina)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon brine from a jar of olives
• 1 pinch hot chili powder
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 1 pinch ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon prepared or freshly grated horseradish

Garnish

• 1 celery stalk with leaves (from the heart of the celery)
• 1 small dill pickle
• 2 stuffed green olives
• 1 freshly cut lemon wedge

Place ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Pour in all liquid ingredients and season with all the rest. Cover and shake until the outside of the shaker is frosty.

Pour all contents, including ice, into a 12-ounce highball glass. Before serving, garnish with celery, pickle, olive, and lemon wedge. Serves 1.

Higaditos con Higos Y Jalapeños
Chicken Livers with Figs and Jalepeños

This may sound like a strange combination, but the sweet/sour/spicy joining of figs, onions, jalapeño, and vinegar is a perfect foil for the livers and their savory richness. These are great served with cocktails.

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced 
• 1 fresh jalapeño pepper, chopped 
• 1 2/3 cups chicken livers, trimmed of sinew 
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 
• 4 ripe figs, stems removed and halved 
• 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
• 4 slices sourdough bread, toasted 
• Extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/4 cup fl at leaf parsley, roughly chopped 
• Zest of 1/2 lemon

Melt half the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onions, jalapeño, and a pinch of salt. Cook over gentle heat for 20 minutes, until the onion is soft and starting to brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Thoroughly pat dry the chicken livers on paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper. Add the remaining butter to the frying pan and, once it foams, add the livers. Fry over medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook in batches if needed. Set aside with the onions.

Turn the heat to medium-low. Sprinkle the sugar over the pan and add the figs, cut side down. Cook for about 1 minute, until the cut side starts to bubble and brown; turn over. Add the vinegar and bubble for a few seconds, until syrupy. Return the onions and livers to the pan. Correct the seasonings and stir together.

Spoon the fig and liver mixture over the toast. Splash with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley and lemon zest before serving. Serves 4.

Serious Eats :: Uchi: The Cookbook

Uchi: The Cookbook
by Tyson Cole
and Jessica Dupuy
Buy It Now

5 of our Favorite Restaurant Cookbooks of 2011
Posted by Caroline Russock

The best restaurant cookbooks have the ability to capture a dining experience, not only through its recipes but through tone, design, and the chef's voice. In a way these cheffy cookbooks act as much as actual cookbooks as they do dining mementos, preserving a truly memorable meal after you pay the check.

This year we've seen some truly remarkable restaurant cookbooks. These five are as unique and beautiful as the restaurants that inspired them. They make absolutely fantastic gifts for friends, particularly the ambitious home cook-types who already have every other cookbook.

Read more at seriouseats.com »

LA Weekly :: Oaxaca al Gusto

Oaxaca al Gusto:
An Infinite Gastronomy

By Diana Kennedy
Buy It Now

Author Interview: Diana Kennedy

Let me start this off by telling you that I can’t talk about Diana Kennedy without being extremely biased. Put simply, Diana Kennedy’s cookbooks are what got me excited about cookbooks. She is why I spend so many hours reading them, and even more hours cooking from them. She is, ultimately, why I have a cookbook blog.

I grew up cooking a lot of Italian food. I’ve probably made a couple hundred gallons of marinara sauce in my life. Other cuisines were regularly consumed and often adored, but rarely ever cooked. Sure, I could throw together some gringo fajitas — but that was about as far as it went. But then, I was told about Diana Kennedy (by a person whose opinions I value greatly). So I bought a book, did some reading, and eventually prepared a recipe for pollo en salsa de fresadilla y chipotle (chicken in tomatillo-chipotle sauce). I was hooked, and immediately bought the rest of her cookbooks.

The more I cooked and the more I read, the more fascinated I became. All of a sudden, I was cooking Mexican food I had never heard of before, and preparing dishes with the freshest and best ingredients I could find (or afford). It was an exciting time for me, and it changed my perceptions of Mexican cuisine, as well as my own cooking. I realized that I could pull off more in a kitchen than I had ever expected.

But I also stumbled into some truly great cookbooks, written by a marvel of a human being. Diana Kennedy became, for me, a hero. But then, I find great heroics in 88 year-old British women who live in Mexico, and have devoted the majority of their life to uncovering and cataloging the recipes and cultures of the many diverse states of Mexico. Since publishing her tenth cookbook cookbook last year (Oaxaca al Gusto), Mrs. Kennedy is now focusing most of her time on teaching, and working to preserve the vanishing ingredients and recipes of Mexico.

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of chatting with Mrs. Kennedy by phone. She took the call from her eco-friendly home in Michoacán, where a looming thunderstorm threatened our already shaky phone connection. Here is what transpired:

Read the interview at blogs.laweekly.com »

New Orleans Times-Picayune :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Good times with Molly Ivins live on in Ellen Sweets' new memoir with recipes

By Diana Pinckley

On Molly Ivins’s frequent trips to New Orleans, there were “Nothin’ But Good Times Ahead.”

The title of a 1994 collection of her ever-pointed and always entertaining observations on everything from Texas politics to music to feminism also sums up her approach to food in general –– and eating in the Crescent City in particular.

Now comes one of her bestest buddies, Ellen Sweets, to chronicle Molly’s food life in “Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins: A Memoir with Recipes.” Sweets will sign the book – with its 35 recipes and multitudes of stories ranging from hilarious to heart-felt about the one-of-a-kind woman whom we miss so deeply in this political season – on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Crescent City Farmers Market and again at 3 p.m. at Octavia Books.

A frequent New Orleans visitor and devout foodie, Sweets is a James Beard Award-winner for her work on the Denver Post. She has also reported for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dallas Morning News and Austin American-Statesman.

Here’s how her publisher, the University of Texas Press, describes Sweets’ book: “Friends who had the privilege of sharing Molly's table got not only a heaping helping of her insights into the political shenanigans of the day, but also a mouth-watering meal, prepared from scratch with the finest ingredients and assembled with the same meticulous attention to detail that Molly devoted to skewering a political recalcitrant.”

I’m happy to report that my husband, John Pope, and I were privileged to share many of those tables with Molly – in Austin, where I first met her at Pope’s mentor John Henry Faulk’s house over a dinner of marinated venison that Johnny had killed; at one memorable Thanksgiving in Paris, chronicled in the book; and in New Orleans, whether she was giving pro bono speeches on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union or enjoying a little down time.

Read more at nola.com »

Austin Woman Magazine :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Must Read
Stirrin’ It Up with Molly Ivins: A Memoir with Recipes, by Ellen Sweets
No subject was taboo for the late Molly Ivins, whose rapier wit with good-ol’-gal inflections took frequent, candid shots at the most prominent politicians. Like all women, Ivins had too many talents to capitalize on, including the culinary skills she crafted in France or her affinity for creating savory signatures from scratch. In Stirrin’ It Up With Molly Ivins, Ivins’ longtime companion, reporter and Austinite Ellen Sweets recalls her own and others’ memories of the beloved icon, paring them with recipes from Ivins’ kitchen. Plant your tongue in your cheek before undertaking a beer-in-the-butt Chicken or Texas Mud Pie with a “smidge” of this and that, and do it in remembrance of the woman who paved the way for so many others.

Read more at austinwomanmagazine.com »

CBS, Dallas-Fort Worth :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Best New Texas Cookbooks

Four new cookbooks will surely get foodies away from the restaurant and into the kitchen. From chili to tacos and barbecue to steak, these books will help you satisfy that appetite for home-state cuisine. Grab one of these cookbooks, get cookin’ and enjoy the larger-than-life flavors of Texas.

Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins: A Memoir With Recipes
Ellen Sweets
University of Texas Press, October 2011

Journalist Ellen Sweets chronicles her friendship with columnist and Texas icon Molly Ivins in this entertaining, intimate memoir. Sweets takes readers behind the scenes and into the kitchen to reveal the food-loving details of Ivins’ private life, which includes stories of the fabulous meals Ivins prepared for friends and family, and recipes for 35 of her favorite dishes. From chili and chicken-fried steak, to Texas Mud Pie and Ouefs Brouille, the dishes illustrate Ivins’ love for cooking; and the book is an affectionate (and delicious) tribute to the “professional Texan.”

Read more at dfw.cbslocal.com »

Columbia Journalism Review :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

A Cook’s Tour with Molly Ivins
A recipe-laden memoir of the columnist’s life and times
By Nicola Kean

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins: A Memoir with Recipes | By Ellen Sweets | University of Texas Press | 288 pages, $29.95

Molly Ivins was many things; columnist, civil libertarian, “professional Texan.” But she also had a reputation as a fabulous cook and legendary hostess. It’s this side of the writer that friend and fellow foodie Ellen Sweets attempts to capture in her new book, Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins.

The book charts Ivins and Sweets’s friendship, which lasted from their initial meeting at an ACLU function in 1989 to Ivins’s death from cancer in 2007, describing many memorable meals along the way. In fact, Stirring It Up, which includes thirty-five recipes scattered throughout, could best be described as a portrait through food. It’s an interesting concept for a book—but also a limiting one.

In his introduction, Lou Dubose, who co-authored three books with Ivins, expresses his original misgivings about the concept of Stirring It Up. That it was neither cookbook nor memoir troubled him, but, he writes, he grew more fond of the idea because it presented a side of Ivins that was not usually public. Sweets herself addresses the issue in the book’s opening chapters:

For some, a Molly-and-food book almost feels too small for her until you consider the kick-ass job she could do on a quiche Lorraine, creamy chilled cucumber soup, a robust coq au vin, or ratatouille.

Read more at cjr.org »

Austin Chronicle :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Chews Wisely
2011 Texas Book Festival cookbook reviews
By Barbara Chisholm

Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins: A Memoir With Recipes
by Ellen Sweets
University of Texas Press, 272 pp., $29.95

As an avid and loyal reader of Molly Ivins' work, I sought her column out when I opened the morning paper. There are some columns I remember distinctly for their pointed political commentary, laser-sharp observation, or wry take on some politico's buffoonery. And there are others I remember for their personal nature: the column where she disclosed the diagnosis of her breast cancer and urged readers to get mammograms, and the piece where she talked about her love of cooking and revealed that she was at that time cooking a lot from Simply French by Patricia Wells and Joel Robuchon. I took a ridiculous degree of glee from this column because I too had just procured this book and was cooking a lot from it, as well. I loved this personal glimpse into the private world of this public figure, and I flattered myself that it confirmed my suspicion: Ivins and I were so much alike! I knew we lived in the same neighborhood, and I imagined that she and I were happily puttering around our respective kitchens dicing and sautéing and preparing the same gougères, pommes des vendangeurs, or roast chicken. I fantasized about the two of us teaming up to prepare a feast for a group of funny and smart and sparkling mutual friends.

Read more at austinchronicle.com »

Austin 360 :: Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Austinites strut their food stuff at book festival

By Addie Broyles, American-Statesman Food Writer

'Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins'

It's been almost five years since Molly Ivins died, but that doesn't make it any easier for Ivins' longtime friend Ellen Sweets to drive by the places they used to frequent: Magnolia Cafe, Fonda San Miguel, Polvo's, the old Las Manitas downtown.

Sweets and Ivins met in 1990 at a dinner party, and Sweets, who was living in Dallas and writing about food for The Dallas Morning News at the time, quickly became part of Ivins' inner circle, the people who knew Ivins not for her well-known syndicated newspaper column but for who she was behind the printed word, especially in the kitchen.

Sweets captures the Ivins she knew — and so often cooked with — in a new book, "Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins," (University of Texas Press, $29.95) that she'll be talking about at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Texas Book Festival. (Disclosure: Sweets occasionally contributes as a freelancer to the Statesman food section, and I'll be moderating her talk on Sunday.)

The book weaves together stories and recipes that tell not just a story of Ivins and her peers, but of Austin itself.

"I wanted to bring out a side of Molly that so many people didn't know," Sweets said, including her love of gumbo and cooking for others.

Sweets interviewed others who were close to the legendary writer, including Jim Hightower, who recalled bringing ice cream to Ivins in the middle of the night during her last hospital stay. She also includes recipes for favorite dishes they used to share.

In a way, Sweets brings Ivins back to life with these vivid stories. You can almost hear their jovial banter in the kitchen and at the grocery store, arguing over who forgot the grocery list.

"If there's one thing that I hope people would take away it's the importance of being in touch with friends — the value of friendships and sitting down and having a meal together," Sweets said. "It doesn't have to be fancy."

In fact, one of the best dinner parties she recalls having with Ivins featured a menu of hot dogs, sausages, cole slaw, potato salad and beer. Nothing special, except for the company.

'A Mess of Greens'

Who knew tomatoes could be so empowering?

In the early 1900s, as many as half a million young girls throughout the country, but especially in the South, participated in tomato clubs, where they had to plant one-tenth of an acre of tomatoes, which would provide more tomatoes than they or their families could use in a year.

Read more at austin360.com »

The Denver Post :: Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

Stirring It Up with Molly Ivins

By Ellen Sweets
Buy It Now

Step into Molly Ivins' kitchen with "Stirring It Up"
By Tucker Shaw, Denver Post Food Editor


What, exactly, possessed former Denver Post food writer Ellen Sweets to write a recipe-studded memoir about her friendship with late newspaper columnist Molly Ivins?

"The devil," she deadpans, before offering a more cogent explanation. "It was part catharsis. I was dealing with the loss of a really, really good friend. And it was part realizing that there was this side of Molly that people didn't know. I just thought that she deserved to be something other than one-dimensional."

Whatever the catalyst, Sweets worked hard to keep "Stirring It Up With Molly Ivins" from being overly sentimental or salacious. "I hate those tell-all books that crop up when someone dies, especially people who were controversial like Molly," she says. "I didn't want it to look like I was capitalizing on a friend who'd died. It felt untoward."

Ivins was well known throughout her decades-long newspaper career for her liberal leanings (her nickname for George W. Bush was "Shrub"). She was a dedicated civil libertarian — with a twist. "I think what made Molly so popular was that she could extract a humorous bent from things that made other people so angry," Sweets says. "It was a gift."

But what most people didn't know about Ivins — the fact that she was a fanatic foodie and crackerjack cook — is exactly what cemented her friendship with the equally food-obsessed Sweets.

"We shared a love of that indescribable capacity for food to bring people together," Sweets says. "We both understood that when you take the time to prepare a meal, and you sit around a table together, you engage with each other in a completely different way than you would if you were in a meeting, or at a restaurant."

Sweets concedes Ivins' superiority in understanding political nuance and crafting argument ("Molly was worlds ahead of me," she says), the two were equals in the kitchen — sometimes conspirators, sometimes rivals.

"Every now and then, she would declare an off-the-wall competition. 'We're all going to cook something green,' for example. It was fun. She had to spend too much time being serious and intense."


Read the full story at denverpost.com »