Sigma Beta Pi Cookbook

By Nikki Anne Ellison

Have you ever wanted to eat a meal that you read about in a book? Well, now you can! The Sigma Beta Pi Cookbook contains all the foods--all the dinners, desserts, breakfasts, appetizers, and drinks--eaten or mentioned in the author's other book The Sigmas of Midon. This book contains nearly 80 recipes that will allow you to eat like the girls of the Sigma Beta Pi sorority, melt into Tia's beignets, drink Bree's hot chocolate, or make Embry's lemon-chicken gravy, all in your own kitchen. Also included are hints, tips, tricks, and suggested side dishes to help you along and explain why some cooking methods are better than others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639854967

Book preview

Author’s Note

Welcome to the Sigma Beta Pi Cookbook! It has been so fun to put this together, with many of my favorite recipes. I am not a chef, but I love to cook, and I love to bake.

In the book The Sigmas of Midon, food is an important facet of life in the sorority house, as it is mentioned quite frequency. The characters Tia James, Embry Miller, and Whit Snow are excellent cooks, making all the dishes that are found in this cookbook. In writing them, I gave my love of cooking and baking to these three characters though I think they are much better than me.

Here are some Helpful Hints before we get going:

At the top of every recipe is an On the Menu section. In it is listed the meal or party foods that the Sigmas eat. They are suggested combinations for you, but you do not have to fix the exact same meal as in the book. But isn’t it fun to eat what the characters eat?

All ovens are different. Some run a little hot; some are a little cold; some are just right. When in doubt about which version your oven is, aim to undercook your meals and work up from there. It is better to undercook than overcook.

I do not drink coffee, tea, or alcohol. If any of my recipes calls for alcohol, I substitute it with the appropriate liquid. In the following recipes, I have written down the substitutions, not the alcohol content.

I do not like spicy food. I don’t think the human body was meant to consume spicy food. The spiciest thing in my kitchen is black pepper. So you might notice that there is nothing spicy in this book. If you’re like me and don’t like spicy food, then you won’t have to make any substitutions. If you do like spicy food, then pull out your chili powder, cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, pepper jack cheese, or whatever else you like. But you’re on your own when it comes to spicing up your dishes!

I have noticed that, sometimes, measurements are relative. In cooking, especially, ingredients are fluid, so to speak. So feel free to add or subtract to the measurements I give you. Make it spicy or bland or add that extra handful of mini marshmallows or leave out the shredded coconut, just because you want to. Make it your own! But I have also noticed that with baking, measurements must be exact! However, if you’re a better baker than me, then have fun mixing it up! (Pun not intended. Mostly.)

Seasoning your pans! Many pans need to be seasoned regularly. Seasoning makes your pans nonstick, makes your pans easy to clean, and prevents rust (if it’s a cast iron). There are many methods to season a pan—some with heat, some without—and the method you use depends on the type of pan you have. I season my quiche pan and tart pan with oil after every cleaning—put a little oil in the pan and rub it in with a paper towel, making sure to get in between all the fluted edges. My cast-iron pan came pre-seasoned, so I don’t have to season it in the oven, as with most cast-iron pans. However, I still do rub it with oil after every use.

I grew up learning to cook from my mom. We didn’t have much by way of kitchen toys, as I call them—no food processor, no blender, no real grill, no griddle pan, no electric mixer, no bread maker, and no rice maker. We had only an immersive blender, a hand mixer, an electric skillet, a crock pot, a wok, and a seldom-used ancient grill. So I learned to substitute and do without. All my instructions are my substitutions and do-withouts. But if you have the more convenient kitchen toys, feel free to use them.

Save your drippings! Every time I make a chicken or beef dish of any kind, I always save my drippings, carefully labeled and placed in the freezer. I make those drippings into gravies, and sometimes I even use them instead of broth, like in soups. Using drippings not only saves some money and time, it also adds awesome flavors to your dishes that you wouldn’t get using regular broths.

Save your meat! Meals should not be kept in the fridge above 4 days—5 days, absolutely tops! But sometimes you have more leftover meat than leftover sides. If that’s the case, you have 2 options. One, reuse the meat in another meal. For instance, make a pot roast and then make a beef casserole two days later. Or two, freeze the meat to use in later recipes. For instance, make drumsticks, then use the leftover, frozen meat in a salad or quiche.

Invest in a digital meat thermometer. That’s not even a question, in my mind. My mom had to make do without one, and she taught me the alternative, nonprofessional-chef way of seeing if your meat’s done. But that method, while it worked—and she and I made do with it—ultimately dried out the meat. Get a digital meat thermometer.

In the movie No Reservations, we learn the three secrets to French cooking—butter, butter, and butter. In my house, we love our butter, and we love it salted. Many baked-goods recipes call for unsalted butter. I haven’t studied baking, so I don’t know why that is. But my mom bought unsalted butter once, and that was the last time. For those of you bakers who know better than me, feel free to use unsalted butter. But whenever I say butter, I mean the salted kind.

Pasta. My mom taught me to break all long noodles (like spaghetti, linguine, and fettuccine) in half before adding them to the water. I don’t know that it makes the pasta go a little longer, but it certainly feels like it. It also makes the noodles easier for younger ones to eat.

Just before adding your pasta to boiling water, add a little butter or oil to the water. A tablespoon of either one will probably be enough. Doing so will help keep the pasta separated while it’s cooking.

I learned on cooking shows that you shouldn’t