Dedication

I have a big problem.  I browse cookbooks and on-line recipe sites. The pictures are yummy. The descriptions are delicious. But then I read the ingredient list. Where the heck do I find mascarpone in a town of 1,200 residents, forty minutes from a grocery store that carries more than five types of jam? Let's face it--trying to find gourmet ingredients in your local Food Lion or Aldi is often fruitless.  Paying for shipping for something that has to be refridgerated--yeah, right!  I watched "Julie and Julia" and realized that if Julie lived anywhere other than NYC, Chicago, or San Francisco, she'd have the exact same problem.  Have you seen any suckling pigs in your grocery store?  I didn't think so.

This blog is dedicated to those who salivate as they read a description of a recipe, only to have their heart drop as they realize that there is no way they can find (or afford) one of the necessary ingredients. It is also dedicated to teetotalers who desperately want to make a flambe'. For the gourmet in all of us, welcome to Mangled Recipes!

Each month I'll post a new recipe--mangled for those of us who just can't find mascarpone or whose recipe calls for heavy cream but her husband brought home half-and-half or, well, you get the idea.  If you have a recipe you've tweaked, please share.  Together we'll bring gourmet to the average kitchen.