Cooking & Entertainment

Summer never tasted so good!

You love those peaceful, relaxing pontoon rides around the lake: the beautiful scenery, the smell of fresh air, the gentle breeze cooling you on a warm summer day. Make each memorable trip last even longer; bring along treats, drinks, or even your next meal. Pontoon Food by Jon and Erin Davis is a collection of delicious, fun, and family-tested recipes with a focus on dishes that are easy to tote and even easier to serve. Find the basic ingredients at even the smallest of grocery stores. Prepare your food in advance, paying special attention to the authors' serving tips and tricks. Then prepare for what's sure to be your best day on the lake. The book features

• 58 family-tested recipes specifically for enjoying on pontoons and other boats
• A focus on dishes that are easy to tote and even easier to serve
• Simple directions and ingredients that are easy to find at most grocery stores
• Serving tips and tricks—perfect for a day on the water

Food Styling Charcuterie Boards Just Became More Elegant!

"The pictures are beautiful, recipes are clear (and delicious), and provides so many insider tips! Can’t say enough good things and so glad I bought it. I even gifted some to my friends for the holidays! —Amazon review

#1 New Release in Tablesetting & Cooking and Holiday Cooking

Learn the art of food styling with olives, grapes, cheese, jam, crackers, nuts and other treats with Melissa Francis’ charcuterie board recipe book Boards and Bites.

Be the hostess with the mostest! Learn the secrets of great food styling to elevate your charcuterie board creations. Boards and Bites is the perfect book for novice and experienced board creators alike. With accessible recipes and instructions, Melissa Francis shows readers how to create memorable spreads for every holiday party or festive occasion. 

Beautiful charcuterie spreads all in one place! Display your wine, fruits, nuts, jam, cheese, and bread in the most pleasing way. Boards and Bites is full of accessible recipes, board building basics, and food styling techniques. Get the behind-the-scenes story of how and why Francis creates her lovely charcuterie boards while you create your own divine bites with this charcuterie board recipe book. 

Inside, you’ll find:

• Food styling techniques that will highlight you as the hostess of the year
• Step by step instructions on how to create beautiful charcuterie spreads 
• Beautifully curated images of charcuterie boards with olives, grapes, cheese, and many other delicious treats

If you enjoyed books like Charcuterie Board Cookbook, Everyday Entertaining, or Beautiful Boards, your next read should be Boards and Bites.

Melina Davies treats everyone like family. Stop by her house and she'll whip you up a fluffy, buttery vegetable quiche with fresh greens in a homemade dressing. Visit her wildly popular L.A. restaurant and marketplace, Olive & Thyme, and she'll come by your table to see how you're enjoying your avocado and burrata toast. Ask her for tips on hosting the in-laws for dinner, and she'll walk you through her juicy roast chicken with thyme and which wine to serve and music to play. A consummate host and lauded chef, Davies brings her love of togetherness to Olive & Thyme, where the vibe is relaxed and warm and the food is fresh and delicious.

Davies brings that same passion to her book, Olive & Thyme, which shares her most popular recipes (drawn from French, Californian, Italian, and Middle Eastern influences), along with her breezy, practical entertaining advice. With stunning photos by Ann Elliott Cutting and Ashley Barrett and a foreword by the four-time James Beard winner Nancy Silverton (author of Chi Spacca and The Mozza Cookbook), Olive & Thyme is the ingredient every kitchen needs—a fun, inspirational guide to enjoying what matters most in life: family, friends, good food, and music.

Outdoor Food Photography and Recipes

Need ideas for your next get-together? Author Alanna O’Neil has everything you’re looking for with simple recipes and tools for a stunning alfresco gathering.

Add Mother Nature to your guest list. Hosting the perfect gathering can feel overwhelming, especially with location, aesthetics, and preparation. Yet what if a solution could be found right outside your door? Follow lifestyle photographer Alanna O’Neil as she shares her famous techniques for designing the perfect outdoor gathering. With recommendations for decor, preparation, and more, The Outdoor Table will transform any location into a memorable and welcoming celebration for you and your guests to remember forever.

Savor every moment with these delicious recipes. Why stop at an aesthetically pleasing venue when you could also have good food to go with it? Full of food photography to inspire your next get-together, The Outdoor Table also shares how you can create each of these gorgeous dishes. Each recipe is easy to make and doesn’t require a hassle in cleaning up. Whether you need a cocktail, starter, or dessert, there is something for everyone. That way, you can sit and relax with your guests while enjoying Mother Nature around you.

Along with gorgeous aesthetics and delicious recipes, you’ll also find:

• How to check off your essentials for an elegant experience
• Best recommendations for food safety
• Table setting do’s and don’ts
• Perfect food pairings for any season or weather
• Why outdoor dining is perfect for relaxing with friends and family

If you are looking for a party cookbook like Magnolia Table, Volume 3, Indulge, or The Art of Picnics, then you will love The Outdoor Table.

Caterer, artist, permaculturist, and master food preserver Jennie Cook shares a lifetime of favorite recipes in this gorgeous hand-illustrated and photographed visual-journal-style cookbook. Emphasizing the joy of sharing simple but delicious dinners at home with family and friends, Who Wants Seconds? is rich with personality, advice, color, and updated classic American recipes, with equal appeal to vegans and omnivores. Sidebars provide a wealth of spot-on advice for entertaining, as well as wisdom about sustainability, cooking for both flavor and health, and sourcing quality products.

Each of the parties outlined in this book comes complete with an easy-to-follow party plan that addresses every aspect of hosting a fun-filled event. Included with each party are such topics as party backdrop, party mood, over-the-top suggestions, shortcuts, place settings, and a party organizing countdown.

Separate topical chapters such as What Every Host Should Know," "Shaping Your Party," and "How to Partee at Your Party" give the reader insider tips on how to be a relaxed and self-assured host. With names like "Fondue for Four on the Floor," "Tapas Time," "Almost a Pig Roast," "Sparkling Spa Teen Sleepover," "Monthly Supper Club," "Sunset Picnic Supper," and "Howling at the Moon Buffet," each party is unique, fun, and intriguing.

At Home Entertaining offers the same kind of practical information for the busy cook that are characteristic of the author's popular cookbook, At Home in the Kitchen: The Art of Preparing the Foods You Love to Eat, with tips on ingredient substitutions, cooking methods, and food presentation. Web site support, available at http://www.Jorj.com, enhances the book and encourages readers to entertain at home and to share their experiences with family, coworkers, and friends."

Party Planning with Famous Feminists

Whoever said a woman’s place was in the home might have been right─these famous feminists can bring home the bacon, fry it up, and entertain all at the same time. Master chef and co-author Lynette Shirk returns to stir up a bestselling batch of stories, anecdotes, recipes, and food trivia inspired by influential women.

A woman’s place is where the party is. Get ready to party like it’s 1929 with Zelda Fitzgerald, drink cosmos like Sarah Jessica Parker, and have a picnic à la Mary Pickford. From Dollywood to Hollywood, these dazzling dames and sassy sauciers know how to sling spaghetti, toss any salad, and dish up the desserts. Part how-to, part history, and 100 percent hilarious, Wild Women Throw a Party includes 110 original recipes inspired by the stories of our favorite famous feminists.

What is feminism without a little fun? Who knew dangerous debutante Peggy Guggenheim, famous for her arty salons, was also a gifted gourmet? Or that when Eleanor Roosevelt wasn’t serving at soup kitchens, she was throwing and attending the most elegant “do’s” around. Wild Women Throw a Party explores women’s history, food trivia, and party planning ideas while asking, What is feminism? Who is a feminist? And where exactly do we find a woman’s place? An intersection of feminism and the home, this party planning guide includes fun ideas inspired by influential women, like:

• Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede.
• Joan Crawford’s Mother's Day "Mommy Dearest" Breakfast
• Sophia Loren’s Better Than a Spaghetti Western Pasta Pajama Party
• And more!

If you enjoy women’s history, or books like Rage Baking, Free the Tipple, Women's Libation!, or Empowdered Sugar, then you’ll love Wild Women Throw a Party.

Impromptu Friday Nights shows the reader how to set up supper clubs, provides options for different club formats, from large and formal to small and informal, and includes sample menus with recipes.

Author Paul J. Kenny and his wife have been in many different types of supper clubs for most of their adult lives. They have been in large, formal clubs, small, informal ones and several others in between. Through these experiences, Paul has learned what works for a group and what doesn’t. As part of these clubs, he has been writing menus and recipes for years. He is a foodie and comes from a long line of foodies who love to entertain.

Tap into your inner party girl

No more boring parties.  Whether you're entertaining three people or three hundred, The Party Girl Cookbook can turn you into a party girl and every occasion into a memorable event. Most entertaining books are overly ambitious and complex, or assume you have limitless resources and a catering staff at your disposal. The average woman who wants to give a party without breaking the bank or her back is out of luck. Not any more. The Party Girls' number one rule is, Have fun , even and especially if you're the hostess. No deep frying or stuffing miniature mushrooms for hours on end. Each of the twenty four themed fetes, from the familiar Halloween and Valentine's Day, to the exotic Come As You Were: Reincarnation Party. It includes ideas for invitations, party favors, decorations, music, games, costumes, and tons of food and drink.

Whether you use The Party Girl Cookbook as a step-by-step guide to throwing the most talked-about party ever, or as a personal manifesto to living life like a party girl, it will entertain and enlighten you with its humor, energy, and originality.

#1 Amazon New Release! ─ Cooking, Baking and Making ─ DIY recipes and DIY ideas for all seasons

DIY Ideas ─ DIY Recipes: From the creative mind of the Harried Housewife blog, comes a beautifully packaged one-stop-shop book bursting with DIY recipes and DIY ideas for the entire year! Cooking, Baking and Making - 100 Holiday Recipes and DIY Ideas for All Seasons and Reasons includes 60 DIY recipes with bonus designs and 40 DIY ideas that tie your home together for all 365 days. For example:

• Spring: Serve Herbed Cucumber Tea Sandwiches and a make a Spring Centerpiece
• Summer: Delight your guests with Fresh Berries and Cannoli Cream and make your own decorative coasters
• Autumn: Bake Dilled Beer and Cheddar Bread and make Autumn Harvest Potpourri
• Winter: Enjoy Creamy Eggnog Cupcakes and make Festive Votives

Ideas and Recipes for all seasons and a simpler time: Cynthia O’Hara presents incredibly user-friendly projects and dishes that make replicating her flavors and designs as natural as the changing of the seasons. The Harried Housewife has written articles and developed a wide variety of recipes that reflect a simpler time and are ideal for budget-conscious families. The "Harried Housewife's Recipe Box" column is syndicated nationally in regional newspapers.