Book Love

Yesterday I started to see how much like my mother I am.  I called her about canning jars and we got talking about our newest library books.  Before I go, on let me give some background.  Growing up we would make fun of my mom because she would get a book from the library, fall in love with the ideas in said book and suddenly want to implement them.  At one time our entire family was not allowed to eat pork or catfish, which was a shame because bacon is sooo good! 

Now I find myself with a similar vigor.  Which is why yesterday's conversation was too funny.  My mother and I had a who's book is better competition.  It went something like this:

Me: "Hi mom, do you have any large canning jars I could barrow?"
Mom: "Yeah, I think I have some in the attic.  What do you need them for?"  (Normal people who ask for a canning jar understand that it is for canning but I use jars for pretty much everything.)
Me: "I got this new book and it mentions the best ways to stock your pantry and using canning jars or just glass jars in general is the best way to keep goods fresh."
Mom: "I have a new book too! And it tells you how to make a number of  pantry essentials that I originally thought we could only get from the store."
Me: "Yeah, my book has a lot of recipes that are not only thrifty and less wasteful but make a better meal all the way around.  Like using dried beans instead of canned, and making your own vegetable stock or chicken stock." 
Mom: "That is great and so useful, but MY book has..."

We spoke on the phone for 30min about our treasured books, and since she was planning on coming to KC yesterday to watch N we decided it best to show each other the grandeur of our "books".   Her book (whose name escapes me), did have some really useful recipes.  I even asked if she could copy them down for me (If they turn out I'll post about them!), and I'm sure given the chance I would really like to sit down with her book and dream of the opportunities that implementing its ideas would bring.  But for now I would like to talk about "Urban Pantry".

Just given the look of the book you are wooed by its gorgeous pictures and old world romantic ideas.  "Pantry"  you mean canned goods right? wrong & right.
" 'Pantry' simply means, 'a room or closet used for storage from which food is brought to the table.' it doesn't make a distinction between dry and fresh goods." (Urban Pantry pg 17).  Pennington goes further in how to build your own pantry and then how to keep it stocked so that you can make a meal on a moments notice. 

From homemade bread crumbs to herb staples to homemade ice cream and what to do with the leftover egg whites! 
Though, some of the recipes sound a little too foodie for me (like Tomato & Cinnamon Chickpeas) there are a number of very inspiring thrifty tips and recipes that make saving money and food fun.  Plus, I would love to have a pantry filled with beautiful cans such as these.