The craving to borrow from Chrissy Teigen’s ‘Cravings’
Chrissy Teigen is in your magazines (Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue), on your TV ("Lip Sync Battle") and all over your Twitter feed with hilarious by-the-minute updates on her pregnancy and husband, musician John Legend.
Now with her new cookbook, "Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat," she's in your home as well — and with good reason.
The 100+ recipes are well crafted, with a good deal of humor and a great deal of cheese. And we were particularly taken by her never-fussy, always-fun brand of entertaining. (Think: roasting bacon simply to cover up unpleasant house smells.)
See the most-read in Life & Style this hour >>
Here are four easy entertaining tips that we can all steal from her.
- Involve booze in all courses.
- Whether it's bribing guests with cheap tequila to get their help rolling shrimp summer rolls or simply serving her brilliant Actual Drunken Noodles (complete with whiskey in the sauce), Teigen makes sure her guests never go thirsty. We'll toast to that.
- Get creative with your presentation.
- As creative as serving chili in individual bags of Fritos, alongside a self-serve bar of toppings. "It also makes for Instagram-like heaven," Teigen writes. (With 5.6 million followers, she would know.) It doesn't hurt that this makes cleanup a cinch.
- Include a draw besides the meal.
- Teigen regularly invites friends over to "shower them with gift-bag-giveaway parties" (her way of making up for missing milestones while she's traveling). It's harder to replicate if you're not regularly accumulating swag bags but a good reminder that a small parting gift goes a long way.
- Be an engaged host.
- Don't be so focused on cooking, serving and tidying that you forget to have fun. Teigen openly and joyfully recounts loving coconut rice and fried chicken so much that she'll eat it off guests' plates when they're too engaged in conversation — and that watching as they ooh and aah over the cheese stretch of her garlic bread makes "her icy heart melt."
Chrissy Teigen and her mom, Vilailuck Teigen, kick back with some pork-stuffed cucumber soup. (Aubrie Pick / Clarkson Potter)
Chrissy Teigen's Frito pie bar, complete with husband John Legend's chili and her own concoction, cheesy guacamole. (Aubrie Pick / Clarkson Potter/Publishers)
Champagne bottle in bag. (Richard Griffin / Getty Images)
Steak Bites with Melty Blue Cheese Butter. (Aubrie Pick / Clarkson Potter/Publishers)