Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for Your Oven!

What can I say about Casserole Crazy except that it's gotten me into the kitchen and cooking? I'm hardly a cook, and my usual meals come from takeout food or my freezer, but I was intrigued by the blog enough to check out the cookbook and I'm so glad I did. So far, I've made two recipes, the first being the garlic mac and cheese that I made with some friends. We wound up with two pans of it (substituting rotini for elbow macaroni) and both were gone by the time we went to sleep. It was delicious. Then on my own I made the Tater Tot Turkey Casserole and was reminded a) how delicious tater tots are and b) what a fun, simple meal this was. There's such a wide variety of casseroles, for the food snob and the starving artist and everyone in between, and Farris's fun attitude infuses her recipes. I really like that anyone can make these recipes, and trust me, if I can make them, anyone can. I look forward, especially as the weather is freezing out, to cranking up my oven and trying more of Farris's inventive casseroles, as well as tweaking them since it's so easy to do. Now, armed with my giant new glass casserole pan, I'm also officially casserole crazy!

As a smug urbanite who didn't grow up with casseroles, I wasn't sure this book would have anything for me. Turns out, my famous mac and cheese counts, and Farris's recipes have made in a million times better. Filled with a variety of fresh and gourmet ingredients, these recipes are for everyone, foodie or five-year-old. And the writing is clever enough to read in bed or on the subway--cracking it open in the kitchen is just gravy (er...crispy cheese topping?)

Emily Farris has taken that sad avatar of 1950's middle America -- the casserole, the purgatory of onion soup mix and government cheese, the anti-gourmet meal -- updated it for the 21st Century, and made it delicious. At once fresh and traditional, it's roots rock for your oven.