The Cover!

Annd now, for your viewing pleasure! (Please click on thumbnail for the full effect)


What do you think? We in The Bag Lady's kitchen are quite pleased. The cover has come a long way from the first designs. I even have an insider secret for you, and I can tell you this because I was there. See those 4 delicious pictures at the bottom? Those are actual recipes from the book, cooked by The Bag Lady herself, in her very own test kitchen. Lots of times when you look at a cook book you wonder if the luscious pics are really made by the cook, if it was the work of a food stylist, or if it's even real food (we've all heard that's it's actually glue, not milk being poured in cereal commercials.) Let me tell ya, on this baby, that's the 100% genuine article. Here's the story.

First off, these mouth watering results could never have happened without the work of our photographer. Although primarily specializing in photographing people, we were able to get one of the finest photographers in Utah county, Stacey Pointer, to join us for a foodie photo shoot. She does amazing work. Notice the incredible depth of field in the Sweet Roast Tortillas, how the light plays on the toasted Coconut Pancakes, the artistic and tantalizing cropping of the Cracked Wheat Breakfast Cereal, and the casually natural and inviting pose of the Vegetarian Chili. Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. We really can't sing her praises enough. To check out her work with subjects of the human variety, click here. Stacey works primarily in UT, but is open to travel.

It was a wild day. In addition to the works on the cover, we made Shrimp Soup, Caribbean Chicken and Rice (our photographer's favorite, nicknamed "Heaven in a Pan") Pad Thai, and Chocolate Chip Muffins. When you get your copy of It's in the Bag, look for these other photos. One of my favorite pics is the muffin, look at it carefully and see if you can tell why. It was completely unintentional. :)

Work started nice and early so that we could use natural light. Spoons whirled through the air! Sauces bubbled! Flour dangerously spewed across the kitchen (protective eye wear probably would have been a good idea!) Pots and pans clanged together and tension ran high as we engaged in a carefully choreographed dance across the kitchen! Breathlessly I dodged a collision with a pot of soup in transit. The Bag Lady plated and garnished with a flourish worthy of Iron Chef. The photographer tragically burned her tongue while conducting field research! Several fingers were nearly severed! Then TRAGEDY struck!!! We had no sour cream for the vegetarian chili garnish. Oh, woe unimaginable! Madly I rummaged through the fridge looking for something, anything! Then, I saw it. The last pint of homemade yogurt. Thick, creamy, delicious, and looking just enough like sour cream to fool the camera! Ha! HA! Deftly dolloping some "imitation" Daisy, we triumphed! A pinch of parsley and it was complete. Tragedy had been averted and 8 different dishes emerged from their bags into full meal glory! Action, adventure, dueling, magic, deceit, true love (well, at least FOOD love), this tale has it all!