"everyday food" news and stories

World, meet Martha.

The queen of refined living is taking a few of her most recognizable brands and extending them into the U.K. and the Middle East this fall. As reported by the Independent, Stewart has a television show and four magazines in the works for the United Kingdom, including her flagship publication Martha Stewart Living.

Also scheduled for sometime later this year, is the launch of Everyday Food and Martha Stewart Weddings in Dubai, with distribution slated for several other Middle Eastern countries. "By October, we will have a total of eight international editions of our magazines in circulation in more than a dozen countries," said Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia's chairman Charles Koppelman in a conference call (via Seeking Alpha). "These developments are not in an [and] of themselves game changing, but they signal our commitment to the international market place and the opportunity we see here for our company. As we often say, media lease and merchandising follows."

Amazon.com

'Everyday Food: Great Food Fast'
From the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living
Clarkson Potter -- 2007
Buy it on Amazon

Launched in 2003, "Everyday Food" was designed for home cooks who didn't have a lot of time on their hands to make elaborate weeknight dinners but did have a desire to make high-quality, satisfying meals.

The diminutive magazine, which was put out by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, gained a devoted following thanks to its practical recipes, approachable ingredient lists and low-fuss food that yielded great flavor.

"Everyday Food," the cookbook, offers these same qualities, with 250 recipes that put both the seasons of the year and multiple variations on favorite foods front and center.

See what we tested and whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

I've always had a love/hate relationship with upscale cookbooks and food magazines. I enjoy flipping through them, ogling the stunning food images and imagining a life where I have the time and energy to create dishes that take 7 pots, 11 hours and 26 ingredients. However, it's that level of intensity that so frustrates me, as while those recipes are nice to look at, reality says that they aren't something I can tackle. It's one of the reasons that the only food magazine that I've consistent subscribed to over the last five years is Everyday Food (the recipes are just so darn accessible).

However, according to an article in today's New York Times, it appears that those more refined and haughty food magazines are changing their ways and including recipes that home cooks can make on a budget and in that window of time that exists between the end of your commute home and the start of the dinner (half) hour.

Gourmet is including a new feature in their monthly publication called "Cook Smart" that tries to help the folks at home with easy, budget-friendly meals that will produce leftovers and keep them from calling out for pizza in desperation. Other publications like Food & Wine and Bon Appétit are choosing similar paths.

As readers and consumers of food media (I'm guessing that at least a few of you still subscribe to some of the glossies), what are you looking for? Do you use the food magazines that land in your mailboxes each month? Would you appreciate it if those glossies started printing more useful recipes?

Looking at this picture makes me realize that I haven't had a single piece of barbecued chicken this summer. Seems I'll have to do something about that before the grilling season is out, possibly with this exact recipe (the volume of Everyday Food from which it comes is currently sitting on a stack next to my bed). This picture comes to us from the guys over at The Bitten Word, who discovered that until this batch of chicken, they'd been making barbecue the wrong way all their lives. However, it seems that they are now converts to this dry rub prior to cooking, saucing at the end of grilling technique.

Thanks Clay and Zach, for adding your image to the Slashfood Flickr pool!

Source

I know that's a rather fattening-sounding name, but this recipe is under the "Light & Healthy" category over at Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. Hmmm...I'm not so sure. Yeah, they're made with unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder and egg whites and light cream cheese, but still. Maybe "lighter" and "healthier" is a better phrase.They sound pretty darn good.