LuLu's Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life Paperback – April 26, 2016

This is a perfect cookbook to find recipes those perfect recipes perfect for a hot summer, The book is filled with great recipes and commentary that will make readers feel they either are part of or the desire to become part of the southern lifestyle. It's filled with lots of colorful pages, lots of photos of the author and her family and lots of photos of great looking food.
Lucy’s brother, Jimmy Buffett writes an introduction starting with “Fellow eaters, if you don’t think food is important in the Buffett family, let me tell you a little story.” Jimmy has proven his story telling skills with the many bestsellers he’s written both in book form and in his music.
Lucy proves her storytelling skills and her cooking skills in this book. Readers will get a real sense of who she is right at the beginning of the book.
“Cooking has been a main character in personal story since I was a ten-year-old child frying up my own French fries for an afternoon snack,” Buffett writes.
“At that time, I was also making constant C’s in conduct due to too much “visiting with neighbor” (as the nuns used to call it). My love of cooking and talking both came naturally, as did my inclination toward rebellion,” she continued.
Readers get a quick history of her restaurant called LuLu’s. The book’s cover details Buffett’s personal career path leading up to opening her two locations of LuLu’s. She was a personal chef who cooked her way from coast to coast for high-powered clients including working for Harrison Ford.
The book includes several sections with titles such as “How to LuLu,” “Gumbo Love & Other Deep South Soup,” “Sweet Things,” and “Life is Good Grits.” Recipes in these section and many others include seafood, chicken fingers, shrimp butter, salads, sandwiches, desserts and of course the perfect cocktail to top it all off. There are three different, easy-to-make coleslaw recipes in the book. I love coleslaw.
The recipe names are just wonderful and give the book a real flair. Samples include LuLu Essentials,” “Salty Peppa for Everything,” LuLu’s Crazy Frying Flour,” and LuLu’s Crazy Frying Cornmeal.”
This is a great cookbook that I would recommend to anyone who wants to cook some great meals for entertaining over the summer for the northern states and anytime for the southern and western coastal states. It was really a lot of fun looking through this book, reading about Lucy.

Reading this book is like sitting with Lucy Buffett as she chats and cooks and tells stories. I love this cookbook, not just for the yummy recipes but even more for the author's voice. Besides the book is full-color which I love!!

This is a really good one! If Southern Coastal is what you fancy, this is your book! Even if it's not, I still think you'd find lots of gems in here!! The recipes are easy to follow and have always delighted the ones they have been made for. I love the stories throughout the book and the fact that you get to know LuLu throughout. The charm that carries with the South is filled in the pages of this book! A must add to your collection!!

It’s the 4th of July Holiday weekend and after celebrating America and our troops, what comes to mind? EATING and more eating, and drinking, too! We have a cookbook we think you might want to checkout this holiday, all summer really. It’s LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of The Gulf Coast Good Life (GrandCentral/Life&Style).

What makes LuLu such an expert? She’s been “wasting away for years in Margarita-ville,” cooking up all kinds of classic southern delicacies and her brother, superstar, Jimmy Buffet vouches for her in the foreword.

Lucy “LuLu”comes from a long line of cooks in the Buffett family, and they’ve all added a little bit of this ‘n that to the family recipes. Once you crack open her book, you’re going see it’s not like most. LuLu takes you by the hand into her kitchen. The book’s broken down into sections you’d expect: starters, salads and check this out! Nothing screams summer more than a cold beer and peel and eat shrimp with LuLu’s secret sauce.

Cocktail Hour runs for hours at Lulu’s, especially if you want to try all the drinks on her Specialty menu. They’re frosty and sweet in curvaceous glasses; some with pretty umbrellas speared through tart lime wedges, that glisten in the sunset with fresh fiery red cherries. Tequila, Vodka, Patron...

Here’s the recipe for LuLu’s Rum Punch, which is pictured here: Fill a tall glass with crushed ice, add 1 ounce spiced rum, 1/2 ounce dark rum, 1/2 ounce coconut rum, 2 ounce sour mix, 1 ounce pineapple juice, 1 ounce cranberry juice, splash grenadine (optional) cherry & fruit garnish.*LuLu prefers Captain Morgan’s Rum

Classic southern coast cooking always includes gumbo and LuLu’s got that covered. Check out this Summer Seafood Gumbo. Hope you have a great place to buy fresh seafood where you live. This recipe is on page 88. YUMMY! Better like it hot! LuLu has two restaurants: one in Gulf Shores, Alabama and the other, Destin, Florida. You’re going to want to get some of her Perfect Pepper Hot Sauce to make these recipes sizzle. $5-bucks! [...] Tell them LuLu sent you.

And of course there are half-dozen recipes for “sweet things.” I gained 5-pounds just looking at Sara’s gorgeous photographs. My favs? Key Lime Pie with Grand Marnier whipped cream and Key Lime squares. Chocolate lovers will be happy, too. Heck, anybody who loves dessert will be thrilled.

Here’s something sweet: We have one copy of LuLu’s Kitchen to giveaway! Just tell us what you like cooking. We’ll pick a winner Thursday.

“If I had to whittle my whole ‘How to LuLu’ down to one simple message, it would be to cook with love. Cooking with careful preparation and gentle handling, fresh ingredients, and positive intentions adds up to a heartfelt experience. Bring love into the kitchen, and you will be serving it in the dining room.”Lucy “LuLu Buffett

Amen Sista!

Lucy Buffet is a super successful business owner and as she just opened her 2nd restaurant I knew that she knew how to cook...well. As a Parrothrad, I've also follow Jimmys sis on FB and see the wonderful pictures of her food, the book has wonderful entries about her life with some pictures also. I was so excited I advance ordered her book and can't wait til I try her recipes! I'll be staying up late to read her stories and going to buy some ingredients to try it out. Yum!

This is such a good read! There's family stories and really great recipes to choose from. I'm already making a list of the tasty treats I'm going to make for my friends and family. So excited to get started!!