Barefoot Contessa Foolproof - Recipes you can trust by Ina Garten

                                  

I've got a fascination with Ina Garten.  I could watch Barefoot Contessa episodes all day.  That said, I often feel her recipes seem too complex and fancy for me.  Foolproof drew me in with promises of successful dinners made easy.  It seems much more laid back, but still with the Barefoot Contessa flair.  The first paragraph could easily be a line from something I post on Facebook occasionally: Why go through the trouble if the result is just ho-hum?  Well, I don't use the phrase ho-hum, but you know what I mean.  Foolproof means just that, but also satisfying to eat, company friendly and delicious.  She believes each recipe should be made as-written the first time around, but from then on, it's fair game.  We should tweak it to make it our own.  But making it right the first time helps give confidence and shows us what the recipe is "supposed" to look and taste like.
One thing I noticed right away: she's an obvious East-Coaster.  There's Lobster Mac & Cheese, Lobster Corn Fritters, Lobster & Potato Salad...those are recipes I probably won't try.  I don't think I can get the quality of lobster that comes when you live on the East Coast...at least not without paying through the nose.  But, I bet it's all delicious.  Her pictures make it look so, anyway.
I often wonder if something I make would be ok to freeze...I have a small family (1/3 of us are VERY picky) so the chances of a meal getting eaten before spoiling are sometimes slim.  Ina gives us a few tips on that very subject.  Don't re-freeze meat that's already been frozen and thawed.  Same goes for cooked meat.  And don't freeze a frosted or glazed cake.  Freeze the cake and make the frosting or glaze fresh.
Are you the hostess with the mostest?  Or do you long to be?  That would be me in a nutshell...the dream of having a huge dinner party and not having a clue where to start.  She's got a game plan for you, and she even shares her personal place settings to give you an idea.  She's created menus, and even a foolproof Thanksgiving meal.  And in a brilliant marketing move (she's a former White House nuclear policy analyst if that tells you about the way her mind works!) some of these menus include recipes found in her other cookbooks.  Ding ding ding, we have a winner!  Winner winner Fennel & Garlic Shrimp dinner!