Weekend Cooking- Come Home to Supper by Christy Jordan

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food. 

Come Home to Supper by Christy Jordan
Published by Workman Publishing ISBN 978-0761174905
Paperback, $16.95, 320 pages

The premise behind Christy Jordan's newest cookbook, Come Home to Supper, is the importance of the family gathering together every night for supper. Her mother told her that you can learn the most interesting things from your children at the family supper table.

I firmly believe this; my husband and two sons and I tried to eat supper together as often as possible and it is also a great way to teach your children proper table manners. Even though my sons are in the twenties, we enjoy having Sunday dinner together when we can.

Jordan's book includes 200 recipes in the traditional categories of Beef, Chicken, Pork, Salads, Breads, Casseroles, Desserts, etc. She adds some interesting side bars about family trips, mealtime conversation starters and sweet remembrances of her grandparents. The family angle adds a lovely dimension to this book.

Come to Supper is geared towards people who probably have not been cooking much for their family, more advanced cooks will already have many of these dishes in their repertoire. Jordan covers many of the basics, with a Southern flair to her dishes.

She did have several recipes that I would like try, including:

• Beef Patties With Ketchup Gravy (my guys would love this!)
• House Autry Pork Chops
• Old Fashioned Sticky Chicken
• Italian Beef Sandwiches
• Chocolate Sundae Cake

I like that the recipes don't call for ingredients that most of us don't already have in our pantries. She uses saltine crackers, Italian dressing and makes lots of BBQ-flavored dishes. She includes a Mix and Match Casserole Chart, listing ingredients and the different ways to combine them to make several casseroles. 

Jordan uses her slow-cooker frequently, and this will be helpful for those people who don't have lots of time in the afternoon or evening to cook a meal. She also has two pages- one for Sunday Menus and one for Weeknight Menus- that will help pull the entire meal together.

At the end of the book, Jordan gives recipes for things like Cream of Mushroom Soup, BBQ Sauces, Simple Marinara Sauce, and Homemade Whipped Cream. This is perfect for those of us who don't like to use processed canned foods and wish to control salt and preservatives in our diets.

Workman always does a wonderful job with their cookbooks. This book is a bargain at only $16.95 list price, you get 200 recipes; you won't find that in many places.

Here is Christy Jordan's recipe for

Granny’s Oven Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs*
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup Italian dressing
• 3-4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a shallow bowl or pie plate, stir together bread crumbs, cheese, parsley flakes, garlic salt, and pepper. Pour Italian dressing into a separate shallow bowl.
3. Dip each chicken breast into the salad dressing to coat both sides, then dredge it in the bread crumb mixture and transfer it to a plate.
4. Place chicken breasts in the prepared baking dish and bake until they are cooked through, 30-40 minutes.

Christy Jordan's website, Southern Plate, is here. 

 rating 4 of 5