My friend and colleague Michele Morris has written a wonderful new cookbook that celebrates the best food of our state. Tasting Colorado is 164 glorious four-color pages of recipes and photos from some of Colorado’s best restaurants, lodges, bed-and-breakfasts and guest ranches.
Michele is a chef, food writer and sommelier who leads culinary tours to places like Italy and Germany and writes the popular food blog Cooking With Michele. Not only can she cook like a fiend, she photographed and styled all of the stunning food images in the book.
Tasting Colorado is divided in chapters illustrated with her big, glorious food photos, like Soups and Stews:
Breakfast and Brunch:
Appetizers and Snacks:
The recipes in this book are just over-the-top special and good. Michele somehow managed to coax celebrated chef and restaurateur Frank Bonano to share his acclaimed Lobster Mac and Cheese recipe:
(Couldn’t you just eat that off the page?)
She also snagged the luscious recipe for Bear Creek Smoked Trout Pâté from my dear friend and queen of hospitality Gail Riley at The Highland Haven Creekside Inn:
…and this silky Slow-Poached Chicken with Red Pepper-Citrus Sauce and Stewed Artichoke from one of my favorite restaurants in Colorado, or anywhere for that matter, Opus:
Look at this salad of grilled Palisade peaches, Serrano ham and rocket greens from Larkspur Restaurant in Vail:
And aren’t these the most gorgeous, golden biscuits you’ve ever seen? Oh, my goodness! They’re flavored with goat cheese and rosemary, the creation of the amazingly talented chef Jennifer Jasinski who owns Rioja, Bistro Vendome and Euclid Hall:
These crispy Southwestern crab cakes are from the Mahogany Grille in the Strater Hotel in Durango, accompanied by a roasted red pepper tartar sauce:
Spaghetti squash fritters are from Cafe Diva in Steamboat Springs:
You probably know that I have a major weakness for bacon recipes, so it thrilled me to discover several in the book like this classic wedge salad from New Belgium Brewery with a dressing enhanced by Saison farmhouse ale :
…and this yummy Amish Breakfast Casserole with potatoes, cheese, eggs and bacon from Eastholme in the Rockies B & B:
Michele asked me to write the foreword to the book, which was very exciting and something I’d never done before. I explored the question “Does Colorado have a trademark food?” and talked to a number of notable food experts who provided some lively answers.
Tasting Colorado is selling faster than the corn hotcakes pictured on the front cover, and the publisher has already ordered a second printing. That kind of success doesn’t happen without a passionate author, and Michele has been on television, at book signings, doing cooking demonstrations and participating in events all around the state to help promote the book. Tasting Colorado retails for $29.95, and you can order a copy directly from the publisher Farcountry Press or from independent and online booksellers as well as at many of the outlets mentioned in the book.
Win a Signed Copy of Tasting Colorado
Michele has graciously donated a brand-new, signed copy of Tasting Colorado for one lucky Happy Simple Living reader in the U.S. or Canada. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below and answer this question:
Now that summer is firmly upon us, what have you been cooking lately?
Whether it’s melon ball salad, weenies on the grill or Lobster Mac and Cheese, just shout out what you’ve been making and you’ll be entered. The drawing will be open through midnight MST Tuesday, June 18. Good luck!
Hugzzz,
About Eliza Cross
Eliza Cross is a full-time writer and the author of 15 books about food and home design. She has been blogging about simplicity and sustainable living since 2006.
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We’re been grilling a lot. My husband makes a great cheese burger with the cheese on the inside, and a salad with veggies grown in our garden.
Blueberry Jam
Salads!
Tabbouleh (Cooking Matters recipe) and lots of salads/pasta with homemade basil and pea pesto
Michele’s cookbook looks lovely…congratulations on writing the foreword; it is such an honor.
So far, it’s that beloved veggie aka fruit – rhubarb! Make sauce regularly to add to the breakfast oatmeal; also on the agenda is garlic pesto, made with my prolific garlic scapes – yummmy!
Cookbook sounds fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Cookbook looks awesome!! For summer, I make a lot of salads… but cold pasta salad is very common lately, with lots of tomatoes, cucumber, celery, purple onion & herbs!!
Just made our first of many blueberry-peach cobblers!
Lots of fish on the grill, plus tons of salads – with asparagus, pea greens and fresh herbs – all right from the garden!
You are all making me SOOOO hungry. Got leftovers? I’m happy to provide you with my address. 🙂
I have not been so much cooking thing but grilling some shrimp for dinner or lemon squares we have been baking for dessert.
Grilled salmon
My menu is constantly changing during the summer. I am getting used to grilling on a charcoal grill again and have mastered chicken, steak and soon seafood on the grill. We converted a broken gas grill into charcoal so there’s a re-learning curve. Love that we will be eating so many great vegetables from our garden.
The cookbook and photos look amazing. Nicely done.
We’ve had a lot of salads and lots of slow cooker meals!
The photography in that book is as beautiful as the state of Colorado! Makes me miss my home state just a little bit more.
I’ve been doing a mix of things, including melon and berry fruit salad, and pork ribs for the first time (My husband declared that they were almost better than his favorite steak restaurant.). I’m also trying to move us away from prepackaged food, so I’ve been experimenting with creating my husband’s favorites (anyone have a recipe for the General Tso’s sauce from Tyson appiteaser line? or one that is even better?).
Ahhhh man, it’s breakfast time and those pancakes look amazing! Hungryyyyyy. I’m an awful and lazy when it comes to cooking. My dinners mainly consist of peanut butter and honey sandwhices, frozen pizzas, or cereal…horrible, I know. Still stuck in my college eating habits.
I love the summer because I crank up grill and start the season with a very traditional Mexican Carne Asada with Fresh Avocado Pico de Gallo, grilled green onions, portabella mushrooms, quesadillas and fresh salsa. We also love to do “grilled” pizzas and Citrus=Marinated Chicken. Happy Grillin’!
Nothing really different from other seasons, except I’ve been eating a lot more fresh fruit.
A lot of mega salads.
Hmm. One day they will make edible paper that tastes just as good as it looks. The book will sell even quicker then!
Thrilled to have my Trout Pâté in this fabulous new cookbook!
Try it, always a big hit! You can substitute salmon but, watch at store for smoked trout,
My mom and I have been doing salads with rotisserie chicken. Very easy and we don’t even have to turn on the oven!
I used to live in Colorado – how fun to see a cookbook featuring recipes from my home state. I’ll be cooking up the rhubarb from my garden, which is looking great and ready to go. Pies, cakes, crisps, sauce, even cocktails. Yum!
I have been grilling out pepper shrimp and roasting sweet corn.
since it is summer, we have definitely been cooking lighter. also, nothing in the oven unless very early in the morning. we have also been having salads each night with dinner. thanks for the opportunity to win such a nice cookbook from a regional cuisine that i am not too familiar with 🙂
Lots of sandwiches and salads, and grilling quite a bit as well. No need to fire up the oven and heat up the kitchen…it’s already hot enough here in Georgia! 🙂
During summer we’ve been cooking much lighter meals, wraps and salads. Also grilled chicken!
I actually haven’t been cooking much at all. We’re having work done in the kitchen. I plan to make fruit salads for some upcoming get-togethers when all this mess is done!
BBQ ribs, corn, and pinquito beans
Those pictures are so mouth watering. I’m salivating even though I just ate:)
We have been grilling a lot and trying to eat as many fresh fruits and veggies as we can.:) This weekend we had a spice-rubbed plank-grilled salmon with a pear, walnut, and fennel salad and grilled zucchini. So fresh and yummy.:)
Summer comes late here in Maine, and the only thing coming up in my garden have been the fresh herbs. So I’ve been cooking with herbs! Parsley, chives, rosemary, mint, and my favorite, thyme, have been finding their way into lots of meals. I still need to plant or get some basil. Can’t have tomato season without basil, right?
Grilled pizza topped with fresh veggies!
We’ve had a lot of company lately, so have been doing a lot of grilling and a lot of vegetable casseroles….zucchini being a favorite.
I LOVE all of your summer ideas and hope that Sean enjoys the cookbook! My hands down summer favorite is a salad I learned while taking clients to Italy to cook – diced cucumbers and tomatoes with lots of fresh basil and olive oil. In Puglia they include frisee – not the lettuce we think of, but dried bread that it soaked in water to rehydrate then crumbled into the salad. Sometimes we add burrata too which just makes it over the top. Delicious!