Product Description

The host of A&E's All Year Round with Katie Brown invites you to 16 of her favorite parties and occasions. From a Texan Fourth of July to a homespun family Christmas, from a book club dinner to a beach party, Katie Brown shares delicious recipes, inventive craft projects, and other secrets for successful get-togethers and parties.

With step-by-step instructions and color photographs throughout, Katie Brown Entertains covers every element of the event, including more than 125 party-pleasing recipes and 125 projects that add a hip yet homey touch to invitations, tabletops, place cards, and party favors.

Combing innovative tips and practical how-tos with Katie's personal anecdotes, Katie Brown Entertains takes the stress out of party planning and makes the formal art of celebration a relaxing and fun occasion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #654511 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-01
• Released on: 2005-11-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
As host of her own Lifetime TV show, Katie Brown provides easy and affordable advice on casual entertaining. Her Katie Brown Entertains offers readers 16 menus for as many occasions, plus table décor and other party projects, including invitations, centerpieces, and favors. Thus, for example, Lone Star: A Fourth of July Celebration offers easy recipes for such dishes as Skillet Corn Bread with Jalapeño and Pecans, plus instructions for projects like branded wooden place mats and napkin rings with a Stars and Stripes motif. Readers who enjoy craftwork in the service of homey entertaining plus basic yet winning recipes should welcome the book.

Events are themed and include, in addition to the above, Kitchen Garden Lunch for Four, Book Club Dinner, and It's All About You: A Birthday Dinner for Six. Projects range from the simple, such as Spoon Soap Place Cards--you write guests names on wooden spoons and tie them to Mason jars containing glycerin soap--to the more ambitious, such as Stamp It, for which readers create rubber stamps (from computer mousepads) to decorate the sides of the dining table. If Brown's recipes confusingly list ingredients before giving quantities needed (as in, "celery: 1-1/2 cups, diced 1/2 inch"), instructions for both the dishes and the projects are clear and easy to follow. With anecdotal introductions to the projects and fully photo-illustrated features, the book should keep many hands busy and many guests happy with the work and food produced. --Arthur Boehm

About the Author
Katie Brown is a Cornell-educated art historian who has raced on the U.S. Ski Team, acted in TV commercials (for Kodak, AT&T, Saturn) and run a catering business out of her house in Los Angeles. Born in Petoskey, Michigan in 1963, she has three brothers and sisters and grew up surrounded by thirty-two cousins and fourteen aunts and uncles.

Her enthusiasm for entertaining, gardening and cooking inspired her to open her own store called Goat. Located in Los Angeles and Mackinac Island, Michigan, Goat quickly became a popular antique store and cafe. Katie has been serving up dime-store domesticity on Lifetime's Next Door with Katie Brown since October 1997. Brown has opened Katie Brown Workshops in Los Angeles, New York, and Bridgehampton.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Shakespeare's Frost Get Started 1. Apply stencils letter by letter to each bottle until the name of choice is spelled on the bottles. 2. Apply etching cream as directed. 3. Peel stencils. 4. Fill each bottle 3/4 way up with water. 5. Place a single flower in each bottle. 6. Line bottles up in the center of the table. You Need Supplies Adhesive stencils in Olde English font Collection of vintage glass bottles Etching cream Long-stem fresh flowers (e.g., spider mums) Tools Rubber gloves Shepherd's Pie Serves 6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups small pearl onions, peeled and halved

3 cloves garlic thinly sliced

3/4 cup celery chopped (approximately 2 stalks)

2 cups mushrooms cleaned and sliced

3 tablespoons flour

2 pounds ground beef

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup beef stock

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 cup (plus a bit for garnish), roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

garlic mashed potatoes (recipe follows)

1/4 cup, grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup, grated cheddar cheese Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. 2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. 3. Add pearl onions, toss, cover, and steam until they begin to soften, 5 to 7 minutes. 4. Add the garlic and celery and stir. 5. Add mushrooms and cook until they give off liquid and start to brown, approximately 5 minutes. 6. Add 1 tablespoon of flour, stir, and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add meat, break it up, season with salt and pepper, and cook until browned. 7. Add stock, tomato paste, thyme, and pepper flakes and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until gravy thickens and is absorbed by meat. 8. Stir in 1/2 cup parsley and remaining flour. 9. Pour filling in a deep pie dish and let cool. 10. Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the meat. 11. Sprinkle potatoes with Parmesan and Cheddar cheeses. 12. Bake pie for about 15 to 20 minutes. 13. Remove from oven and sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Hints and Clues

Allow all the liquid to be absorbed by the meat and vegetables so it doesn't spill out later.

If you cannot find pearl onions, just chop and add the onions you have at hand.

You can use leftover cooked hamburger meat rather than raw, or make the meat a day ahead and reheat it

before cooking.

Top the pie with the Parmesan and Cheddar cheeses to help with the browning process. As the cheese

bakes, it makes a nice crust on top of the potatoes. Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

4 medium to large Russet potatoes peeled and sliced

5 whole cloves garlic peeled and smashed

1 cup milk

6 tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste Instructions 1. Place potatoes and garlic in a large pot and cover with cold water. 2. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 12 minutes. Check the potatoes by piercing one through the center with a knife or skewer to see if it is tender. 3. Drain. 4. While the potatoes are cooking, place the milk and butter in saucepan over low heat until butter melts. 5. Mash the potatoes and garlic in a Kitchen Aid mixer with the whip attachment. 6. Add the milk and butter and continue mashing. 7. Add salt and pepper to taste. 8. The potatoes will be used to cover the Shepherd's Pie (or they can be used alone). Hints and Clues

Be careful not to overwhip because the potatoes will become sticky and gluey.

I like lots of salt and pepper in this recipe.

Customer Reviews

Cookie Cutter Designs
If you want to recreate one of the party themes featured in her book, then this is the book for you. However, if you want to learn more about creating your own themes and ideas, get another book. I saw Katie Brown on Oprah today, and she came across as very professional and creative. I was hoping her book would have the same creativeness and would be full of ideas as well, but I was mistaken. Her book lays out 16 plans for specific parties, and gives no real information on what she was thinking as she planned them, ideas for future parties, and the like. I was lucky enough to browse the book before I bought it, and it seemed like the majority of the book was recipes, and instructions, as well as anecdotes about herself. I would not recommend this book to buy, it is not worth the $25-$35 you would put into purchasing it, unless you plan to use every design in the book, or you already know how to entertain and want a few new ideas. The book doesn't teach you about entertaining, it only give you a few entertainment ideas.

A real waste of money
When I saw this book in the store, I was glad to see Katie resurface after Lifetime cancelled her television show.

And even though the photography is gorgeous in the book, I must say it's not a very good book. Even with the help of a co-writer, stylists and recipe developers, projects are strange (at best) and the recipes are poorly written.

But this shouldn't come as a surprise. Katie has no background in lifestyle. She is an actress who starred in a Saturn car commercial. She knows how to smile, how to read cue cards, and how to "play an expert on tv."

There was a real lack of authenticity in this book and I highly recommend waiting until it hits the bargain remainder bin.

Katie Brown Entertains: 16 Menus, 16 Occasions, 16 Tables
I enjoyed the book and plan to try some of the menus and decorating ideas. I am hoping the reviewer that said that Katie would be getting her own TV show is correct! I am really sorry that Lifetime dropped her show. Katie made a headboard on her Lifetime show which I made. It turned out great and I received compliments from my family and friends. Katie comes over as a real person who makes you feel you can do the projects and menus. Katie comes over as a real person and not superficial.