"SimplePleasures" news and stories

As much as I love paging through all the beautiful cookbooks that are getting published at a rapid rate these days, I will always be devoted used cookbooks. I picked up this one, Simple Pleasures by Helen Hecht last December while I was in Portland (the main Goodwill Store in lower SE has one of the best book sections around) and it's become one of my new favorites. The first time I leafed through it, I had to leap up for a pad of post-it notes, to mark all the appealing recipes.

Helen Hecht wrote a series of cookbooks in the late seventies and early eighties, all of which seem to be out of print now. I'm sad about that, as this book is an accessible and gentle entry into home entertaining (and contains a number of recipes that are also perfect for everyday) and I imagine her other books are just as nice.

I've been trying to make at least one pot of soup a week, so as to get six to eight meals for Scott and me from a single cooking effort. This week, I used Hecht's recipe for Black Bean Soup (recipe after the jump) as my starting place (I made a few changes, as I'm simply unable to follow a recipe word for word). It turned out perfectly and will be good eating all week long (I'm also taking a couple of quarts to friends who had their second baby on Thursday).

Other recipes from this book that I've marked? Whole Roasted Onions, a Tomato, Peach and Red Onion Salad, White Bean Salad and Miniature Lime Muffins. When I make them, I'll be sure to let you all know how they turned out!