Copyright © 2013 by Lori Lange. All rights reserved. Cover and interior photography copyright © 2013 by Matt Armendariz Food Styling by Adam Pearson Prop Styling by Dani Fisher Cover Design by Suzanne Sunwoo Interior Design by Waterbury Publications, Inc., Des Moines, IA Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003. www.hmhbooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Lange, Lori. The Recipe girl cookbook : dishing out the best recipes for entertaining and every day / Lori Lange ; photography by Matt Armendariz. pages cm Includes index. ISBN 978-1-118-28239-7 (pbk.); 978-0-544-18848-8 (ebk) 1. Cooking, American. I. Title. TX715.L2773 2013 641.5973–dc23 2012017213 v1.0413 Dedication For the two most supportive and wonderful taste testers and loves of my life: my husband Brian and my son Brooks. I couldn’t have done this without you. And for my Mom, who introduced me to the joys of being in the kitchen without even realizing it. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction The Story of Recipe Girl Stocking Your Kitchen: The Basics Food, Tools and Other Stuff Hungry Mornings Let’s Do Lunch Seriously decadent pancakes, cinnamon rolls, egg dishes and other treats Soups, salads and small bites to get you past the noon hour Happy Hour Salads & Sides With or without cocktails, everyone needs a bite to eat at 5 o’clock Delightful dinner accompaniments that shouldn’t be overlooked Dinner at 6 Sweet Treats Dinner ideas for every day, family-friendly cooking and entertaining The best part—cookies, cakes, pies and more. I love it all! Let’s Party Top 10 Tips for Easy and Successful Entertaining 20 Themed Menus for Entertaining acknowledgments First of all, a major thank you needs to go to all of my food blog friends out there on the Internet. Without bloggers and blog readers, I wouldn’t have a blog, and I thank my lucky stars on a daily basis that I’ve become connected with you in such a wonderful way! To Dee Drummond and Elise Bauer—I have so much respect for what you’ve been able to accomplish with your blogs, and I consider you both to be my greatest mentors and sources of inspiration. XOXO Thanks to Steve Krengel of Kitchens.com for putting the idea of a Web site into my head in the first place. Your guidance and mentoring helped turn RecipeGirl.com into what it is today! This book is a whole lot better because of the numerous friends and family who tested recipes for me and gave me honest and helpful feedback. I’m so appreciative of the time you took to help a Recipe Girl out! Big thanks to my agent Stacey Glick for seeking me out and encouraging me to take the big leap and write a cookbook, and to my editor Justin Schwartz for his brilliant guidance and patience throughout the project. A huge thank you to the photography and styling team of Matt Armendariz, Adam Pearson and Dani Fisher for taking on the project and making my recipes look so delicious! David Wesley, thanks for lending us your photography skills and capturing some great family photos for the book. To my fabulous group of gourmet dinner friends in “The Luz”: You girls and guys have been such a fun part of my life for so many years now, and I appreciate how you’ve always cheered me on. It means a lot. Thanks to Mom and my in-laws Ann and Roy for being my biggest