Books & Cooks Letter P: Paprika

This year I’m going to be combining two of my passions – cooking and kid lit for Books & Cooks! I’ll be bringing you great recipes based on spices of the alphabet that pair perfectly with kid lit books! Next up? The letter P and diverse paprika!

Spice: Paprika

Paprika comes in three main categories – and yes, they each impart a different flavor! Sweet paprika, just paprika, is made from sweet peppers and is often used as a garnish for deviled eggs and potato salad. Hungarian paprika, or hot paprika, is used to flavor food like goulash and adds a little kick. And finally, smoked paprika, usually from Spain, adds a smoky, grilled flavor to food. Make sure to check your recipe to figure out what type of paprika you should use!

Book Review: The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman

A book set during the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl was a book I never thought I would read. But, I was excited to learn more about the disaster and the people who lived in the area, so I picked up this book. Although this book is a work of fiction, it’s based loosely on a person’s life which lends itself to a wonderful historical fiction novel.

Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko are not friends, at least that’s what they thought the morning they woke up to a disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant where both of their fathers worked. Soon they are sent to live far away with Valentina’s grandmother whom she’s never met as they tackle what it means to be loved, what safety looks like, friendship, and bias. This was a fascinating story and was just published within the past month!

Recipe: Hungarian Goulash

Hungarian Goulash, like many of the recipes I’ve shared this month can be made in a varirty of ways, but usually is a soup or stew with red meat, lots of paprika and served over egg noodles. Although my book pairing isn’t actually set in Hungry, there are versions of goulash from around Central and Eastern Europe.

During the month of April, I’ll be participating in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2020. For my theme this year (Books & Cooks), I’ll be combing children’s books with cooking spices and including a recipe to bring the book into your very own kitchen! I love to cook and read, so I thought this would be a fun way to combine two of my passions. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it! Let’s dig in! And if you want to see what I’ve done in the past, check out the past few years – 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019!