Reviews and Articles about
"The Use-It-Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal Cook"
|
1. Excerpt from:
The Wall Street Journal, Friday, November 28, 2003, page W1, The Weekend Journal
“The Leftover Chef” by Nancy Keates
Thanksgiving is over, but it’s tonight’s dinner that Jill Onysko has been anticipating for months. The 27-year-old is planning to cook up a batch of
her famous turkey potpie layered with day-old mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy, followed by a dessert of cranberry sauce Jell-O topped with
sour cream and walnuts.
* * *
Forget turkey on white: As the U.S. obsession with food lives on, Americans are starting to take even scrappy old leftovers seriously.
* * *
All this month, cooking shows have featured leftover advice (thicken gravy with day-old mashed potatoes), while foodie Web sites are abuzz with
recipes for things like cranberry crème brulee. Out just in time for the holidays: “The Use-It-Up Cookbook” by Catherine Kitcho, with its recipe
for turkey stew, and Marion Cunningham’s “Lost Recipes”, with a soup made from turkey, stuffing and gravy.
* * *
Yesterday’s dinner has become today’s hot subject, with not only cookbooks about leftovers, but food-magazine columns devoted to getting two
different meals from a single dinner. … “There’s no holds barred when it comes to leftovers now,” says Dan Kish, associate professor at the
Culinary Institute of America.
2. The Montgomery Advertiser, January 14, 2004
Leftover makeover
By Robyn Bradley Litchfield
Montgomery Advertiser
Right before the holidays, Sara Warren marched into Books- A-Million and up to cookbook author Catherine Kitcho's table. "I want one of those
cookbooks," said Warren, who read about Kitcho's "The Use-It-Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal Cook" (Cumberland House
Publishing, 2003) and book signing in the Montgomery Advertiser. Kitcho's recipes are designed to give cooks all sorts of ideas for using up the
last bit of tomato paste or those over-ripened bananas or other ingredients that typically are thrown out. And that's what Warren wanted. "I was
tired of throwing out food and tired of cooking the same things. I needed some new ideas," she said. So last week, with a busy holiday season
behind her, Warren agreed to prepare Kitcho's Orange-Blueberry Bread, one of Warren's favorite recipes from the cookbook, for the Advertiser.
It is ideal for anyone who would like to use up that last bit of orange juice. "I have probably made four or five recipes (from the cookbook) with
plans to try a whole lot more," Warren said while waiting for the bread to bake. "And the Orange-Blueberry Bread is delicious."
And Warren's review tickled Kitcho, who lives in California but has family here in Montgomery. Kitcho has been cooking for more than 40 years
and has faced brown bananas and the last bit of a bunch of celery more than once. In her introduction, she described moving "the half-carton of
buttermilk in the refrigerator yet again to retrieve something on the shelf behind it." Or being stuck with salsa once all the chips have been eaten.
"I began looking for ways to use these ingredients, but I had to read through cookbooks since they didn't list 'bananas' or 'bread' or 'tomato
paste' in the index. So I started making my own private files, with recipes that called for some of these leftover ingredients," Kitcho said during her
Montgomery book signing. Unlike most cookbooks -- which often are divided into such categories as appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts --
Kitcho's recipes are divided into leftover ingredients. The table of contents has such categories as apple sauce, bananas, bread, buttermilk,
celery, eggs, jam/jelly, lemons, wine, salad dressing and milk. These ingredients are listed alphabetically, which makes finding recipes a snap.
And each of the chapters has five recipes to get cooks started. Kitcho also included guidelines for developing even more recipes as well as
pages for recording the recipes and notes. Kitcho also includes food storage guidelines, so cooks will know how long to keep buttermilk and
other items before they should be tossed. And she has a list of "2fer" and "3fer" recipes featuring two or three of the leftover ingredients. "I hope
people will enjoy it. It's a quick and easy way to find recipes for the items you really don't want to throw away. In today's economy, you want to get
the most out of food," she said.
Becky Ashurst agreed. Another Montgomery Advertiser reader and cook, Ashurst came into the bookstore when Kitcho was here to get a copy of
"The Use-It-Up Cookbook." "I needed your cookbook last night," she said while Kitcho personalized a copy for her. "I've got little bits of this and
that I keep in little bags in the freezer." That day, Ashurst said she had a half can of tomato soup and a half can of water chestnuts that were
waiting to be used in other dishes. "I don't throw anything away. Sometimes, I freeze them (leftover ingredients) in ice cube trays to use later,"
she said. Warren also hates to waste food and has enjoyed looking through the cookbook for new ideas. "I made the Sunset Pecan Bread and
tried it out on the girls at work. One ended up making it for her family for Thanksgiving," she said. "It has tomato paste in it, which is something
you wouldn't think of putting in bread, but it's really good."
And with the Orange-Blueberry Bread, Warren said she can use up what's left of the orange juice. It's also an ideal recipe for Warren, who
enjoys baking, especially baking muffins. Her husband, Joe, and son, Mark, are her willing tasters. Her daughter, Alison, who is in Scotland this
year at the University of St. Andrews -- the school Great Britain's Prince William attends -- sampled the Orange-Blueberry Bread while home for
the holidays. Everybody liked the bread. It was one of the first recipes Warren noticed when she got the cookbook home. "I love cookbooks,"
Warren said, pointing to her stash on the kitchen counter and in one of the cabinets.
About that time, the timer buzzed, and Warren removed the bread from the oven. While it cooled on a rack, she whipped up the rest of the
orange juice with some sugar and microwaved the mixture until it was hot. She then punched holes along the top of the bread and poured on the
syrup, which soaked into the bread. "In a few minutes, after the syrup has soaked up, I can cut it," Warren said. "It's really delicious."
WANT TO BUY?
What: Catherine Kitcho's "The Use-It-Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal Cook" (Cumberland House Publishing, 2003)
Price: $16.95
Available: Amazon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. The San Jose Mercury News, January 28, 2004
Food & Wine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Wed, Jan. 28, 2004
Ideas for turning leftovers into creative dishes
By Carolyn Jung
Mercury News
A quarter bottle of chardonnay. An eighth of a pint of buttermilk. A partially squeezed tube of tomato paste. And a smidgen of salsa left in the jar.
If these half-eaten ingredients are crowding your fridge, it's time to pick up a copy of ``The Use-It-Up Cookbook: Creative Recipes for the Frugal
Cook'' (Cumberland House Publishing, $16.95) by Mountain View resident and business consultant Catherine Kitcho.
The former owner of a catering company, Kitcho knows how easily cooks can accumulate so many little bits of this and little bits of that. So she
created this frugal cookbook to make use of those leftovers. The cookbook has 25 chapters, each dedicated to a particular ingredient, and each
with five recipes to help use up that item. The book includes chapters on applesauce, honey, jam, milk, olives, cooked rice and wine. Among the
recipes are this one for ``Baja Soup,'' which makes use of both leftover salsa and extra tomatoes.
The book is available in bookstores, as well as online at http://www.amazon.com.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2009, Catherine Kitcho