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Sep 7, 20214 min read

The Super Simple Easy Basic Cookbook by @ScreenWryter13 is a Fall Into These Great Reads pick #food



Title: The Super Simple Easy Basic Cookbook: Super Foods, Simple Steps, Easy to Fix, Basic Ingredients


Author: Diana Stout


Genre: Nonfiction – cooking


Book Blurb:


I’ve had days where I loved to cook, days, where cooking was a necessary evil, or the workday was long, or days where I became so absorbed in a writing or sewing project that I lost track of time, needing a meal in a hurry. On those days, I needed ingredients I could pull off my shelves, freezer, or refrigerator, and which didn’t require a lot of preparation time. This cookbook is for those who love to cook, those who don’t, for beginners, for families or single persons like myself, for experienced cooks looking for something different, and especially for those who like good foods with simple natural ingredients.


Excerpt:



There is no easier pie to make than one that has no crust. I prefer using a glass dish for this recipe over the usual metal pie plates. The glass shows off that there’s no crust.


Ingredients:


3/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp butter

2 eggs

1 13-oz can evaporated milk

1 16-oz can pumpkin

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup biscuit mix


Directions:


Cream sugar and butter together in a large bowl. Add eggs and spices, stirring until mixed. Add milk and pumpkin, stirring together, and then add biscuit mix, stirring until all ingredients are smooth, or you can mix all ingredients with an electric mixer on high for about 1 minute until smooth.


Pour into a round pie dish or a 9” inch square dish.


Bake at 350° for about 50-55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.


*See Mixes, to create your own spice mix if not on your shelf


Note: to create a gluten-free, dairy-free pie, substitute & use plant butter, your favorite non-dairy milk for the evaporated milk using slightly less of it, gluten-free biscuit mix.



I’ve made a lot of pumpkin pies, but the best recipe I’ve ever used, so I keep returning to when I want to make the traditional pie with a crust.


Ingredients:


2 cups or 1 16-oz canned pumpkin

1 13-oz can evaporated milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice or use your own mix (see Mixes)

1/2 tsp salt


1 9” unbaked pie crust

Whipped cream for garnish, optional


Directions:


In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugars, pie spice and salt with an electric mixer until well blended. Pour into crust.


Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, then at 350° for about 35 minutes or longer if needed, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.


Cool, garnish, and serve.


Substitution:


Use 2 cups squash, mashed and cooked instead of the pumpkin.


Note: To make dairy-free, substitute & use your choice of non-dairy milk. A gluten-free crust can be made using your preferred flour as a substitute.



An easy recipe and tasty, too.


Ingredients:


3 cups biscuit mix

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup butter

4 eggs

1 16-oz can pumpkin

1/4 cup milk

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg


Brown Butter Glaze:


1/3 cup melted butter, light brown in appearance*

2 cups confectionery sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

4-6 Tbsp hot water


Directions:


Mix all ingredients except those for the Glaze in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer at low speed until the mixture is moistened. Beat for another 3 minutes at medium speed. Pour into a Bundt pan.


Bake at 350° for 50 minutes. Cool.


Mix Brown Butter Glaze ingredients and pour over cooled bread.


*The only way to get the butter light brown is to melt it on top of the stove rather than in the microwave. If the color doesn’t matter, use the microwave.


Note: Easy to make gluten-free and dairy free by substituting and using your the gluten-free biscuit mix, plant butter, and your preferred non-dairy milk.


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):





What’s your favorite thing about the fall season:


My favorite thing about fall, which is my favorite season of all, is getting to wear sweaters! I love the cooler, crisp days, the colored leaves and the pumpkins and gourds.


What inspired you to write this story:


Spending my 20s and 30s on the farm, raising my girls, I did a lot of cooking and canning, often creating my own recipes or re-inventing others by changing outlandish ingredients for common ones already on my shelf. Living out in the country, it wasn't like I could run to the store for a quick grab of an unusual ingredient. Over the years, I kept adding to my recipe book until I realized I had an actual full-length book of favorite recipes—a book my girls wanted. With indie publishing available, I decided to create the book, one that I could share with others.


Giveaway –


One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon (US) gift card.



Open internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US account to win.


Runs September 1 – 30


Drawing will be held on October 1.



Author Biography:



She loves sharing her expertise with other writers. Her students would tell her that she smiled when talking about writing. They loved her passion and enthusiasm, with many of them rediscovering their own love of writing.


She's published books, magazine articles, short stories, poetry, served both as a newspaper and magazine columnist, had two short plays produced in New York, and optioned a screenplay. She serves as a reviewer, contest judge, and writing coach. Now, she celebrates her return to creative writing full time, writing blogs and publishing books as an indie publisher through her company, Sharpened Pencils Productions LLC.


Social Media Links:


Twitter: ScreenWryter13 or https://twitter.com/ScreenWryter13

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