Good. Food. Stories. Potluck: Links from Around the Web

Apologies to Seals & Crofts, but the summer breeze has not been making me feel fine this year–was there a breeze at all? I remember nothing but the cool, slightly sticky linoleum as I lay prone on my kitchen floor, crushed by the heat of the oven and the constant humidity. Fall, I’m ready for you.

And since we’re all basically checked out until after Labor Day, there’s nothing like the traditional Good. Food. Stories. potluck of links to get you in the mood for the long weekend:


Firing up the grill one last time for a summer cookout finale? Get yer steaks, beans, burgers, slushies, and slaw recipes here with the GFS cookout roundup.

We’ve covered some of my favorite cookbooks in the past, but you can now take a voyeuristic peek at my cookbook library on Crunchings & Munchings. Even if you’re one of those crazy people who has fewer than 40 cookbooks (ahem, Garrett), this might inspire you to do a little collecting of your own; and I’ve got a few recommendations for beginning cooks thrown in for good measure.

Hey, Target, Staples, and every other big-box store in existence. We know it’s back to school time. We’ve known since June. You don’t need to remind us. Whether or not you’ve got a brood of young ones heading back into the trenches, my iVillage recipe slideshow of 10 sweet and savory classroom treats might make snack time a little more fun. I could see the Goldfish fiesta snack mix or the bbq popcorn making an appearance during pre-game tailgating this fall, and the baked donut holes were a huge hit with the MLB.com team working the late-night shift.

Also on iVillage, there are more ways to eat zucchini than you can shake a stick (or an obscenely overgrown squash) at–I’ve rounded up ways to sneak it into Bundt cakes and whoopee pies, bake it up as chips, use it to fill out guacamole, and more.

In one of the more amusing assignments I’ve taken on lately, I ventured into the belly of the pizza buffet beast to report on the 28 different flavors of CiCi’s Pizza for Slice. With Dan’s help, we managed to down about 15 slices, from mac and cheese to zesty ham and cheddar with Parmesan ranch sauce. The comments alone are worth five minutes’ of reading time. (And now I’m hungry for Little Caesar’s Crazy Bread. Damn.)

Finally, if you’re intrigued by the idea of compiling and saving your family recipes through Danielle Oteri’s company Culinary Ancestry, check out a custom cookbook cover she just produced for the Rusconi family. Can you imagine all those near-unintelligible scribbles and chicken-scratch notes from your aunts and grandmas bound into a book? The holidays will be here sooner than you think, is all I’m saying.

Click through, take a load off, and we’ll see you in a week!