Martha Stewart OmMmmnimedia

I never quite understood the Martha Stewart thing, but as I've gotten older, I have started to realize that she is quite amazing. Maybe not her personally. That whole securities fraud thing was not hot, nor was her appearance with Busta Rhymes at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. Know your place Martha! But when she's on, she's on. I admire the brand that she's built. I never identified myself as a "Martha" girl, but she snuck her way into my life so I'm not fighting it anymore. Two of my dirtiest cookbooks (stains and dog eared pages = sign of a great cookbook) are Everyday Food's Great Food Fast and Martha Stewart's Cookies. Everyday Food's is a great brand extension for Martha. It's pretty much 30-Minute Meals minus the "YUM-O!". (Dont' even get me started on Rachel Ray...) I've made about 60% of these recipes and my dining companions and I have liked them all. There's a lot of diversity in the recipe (Mexican, Asian, Italien and American) and she keeps the ingredients simple. Simple is good for weeknight meals. Martha Stewart's Cookies was an impulse buy over the holidays and I am so glad I have this in my kitchen library. She divides the book into types of cookies (crispy, chewy, cakey, sandy) and there's something for everyone. I think this book is responsible for my department's winter weight gain. I've never purchased so much butter in my life but I had to put that beautiful blue Betty you see in the picture above to work. Both books have easy to follow instructions, tips on the basics and enticing color photos for each recipe.

Martha's at it again with the upcoming release of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I have no doubt that this book will be a hit, which is why I pre-ordered it 2 months ago. (Damn you Amazon!) If you don't want to shell out $15 for the book, you can get a taste of what Martha has to offer on her website. In honor of the new cupcake book, she's replaced Cookie of the Day with Cupcake of the Day. I probably won't even make a cupcake that looks like a hamburger, but it's fun to see what other people can do.