It’s time for another edition of Reel Food! In this episode, I cook something inspired by one of my favorite television shows ever, I Love Lucy (make sure you check out the post I linked to about the annual Lucy Comedy Fest in Jamestown, New York). I was fortunate to discover The I Love Lucy Cookbook: Classic Recipes Inspired by the Iconic TV Show by Jenn Fujikawa.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s funny how we (or maybe just me) do not notice all of the food and cooking that goes on in these shows. LOL Then, I get a themed cookbook and I can’t believe the entire thing was filled with recipes from the show.

One night, I decided to make Ricky’s favorite dish, which is Arroz Con Pollo, found on page 20 of the cookbook. Translated it means chicken and rice. This recipe makes four servings and uses chicken thighs and spices, long grain rice, peas, onions and more.

I only made one change and that was that Jenn uses a Dutch oven, but I used my crockpot, putting all of the ingredients in at once and putting it on low for six hours. I really don’t think it would have turned out any differently in taste if I had cooked it any other way and that’s good, because this was delicious and I understand why it’s Ricky’s favorite.

Jenn (who has written other pop culture cookbooks too) does I Love Lucy justice in this book. It is one of the few cookbooks that I’ve seen through my local library or skimmed through at bookstores and bought one of my own (many of them are fantastic, but I’m picky about what I purchase). The book is broken up into seven parts, which include A Little Bit of Cuba; A Big Hunk of America; European Delights; Entertaining the Tropicana Way; Breakfast with the Ricardos and more. Each section is chock-filled with great recipes that take you right back to the show they are inspired by.

For example, if I say Aunt Sally’s Pecan Pralines, all of you I Love Lucy-diehards know it’s from the road trip to California. Or the McGillicudy Soup recipe is inspired from the episode where the couples traveled to Scotland. If you don’t know what the recipe is inspired by, Jenn doesn’t leave you hanging. She fills you in on which episode it’s from and there are a ton of great photos from the show and background info.

If you know an I Love Lucy fan in your life, this is a must-have, even if they don’t cook. If they do, maybe they will invite you over for some homemade bread and butter!