Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993 TAG: 9305260221
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH S. HARTZ KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Meet Susan Lee Mintz, author of "Safe Sex Never Tasted So Good" (Boner Publications, 1990).
She swears she will have her book in every bookstore in the country within a few years, even though she doesn't advertise and has no public relations firm or distributor. She just has (sex) drive and what she calls "a good idea."
"The first couple of years, I sold the book out of the trunk of my car, like an old-time peddler," she says. Now, it's in shops in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. She has sold 11,000 copies.
Her book features healthful recipes with naughty (make that very naughty) names. She got the idea for it during Labor Day weekend in 1989, when she was sitting around with friends.
"After a few glasses of wine, we all got very silly and would have some fun," she says. That year, someone said something about doing strange things on the floor with fudge and it sent the whole group into gales of laughter.
"I was laughing so hard I had to go shut myself in the bathroom to get myself under control," Mintz says. When she came out, her friends looked at her and said, "Hey, you're a great cook, you should write a cookbook about sexy food."
So she left her 15-year career as a dental hygienist, and nine months later had herself a book. A good, self-taught cook, she says she selected naughty words, then picked recipes that seemed to go with them.
Among her choices: Chew Me, a crunchy cole slaw recipe. "What else do you do with slaw but chew it?" she asks.
Although she had a book, she didn't have anyone willing to publish it. So she got a loan and went into business. Now, she has four other sex-and-food cookbooks planned (one of them, "Filthy Minds/Healthy Bodies," is ready to be printed). And she's thinking about creating a comic strip featuring her chicken logo, being host of an adult cooking show for television, opening a restaurant in Boca Raton and putting that chicken logo on everything from aprons to boxer shorts.
But before we go any further, note that Mintz is no nut, no sex-crazed lunatic, no pervert. In fact, she describes herself as a happily married 46-year-old who's into body building and living healthfully. She contributes some of the proceeds from her book sales to AIDS charities. ("AIDS has hit my family, but I don't want to talk about it," she says.)
She just has a rather strange sense of humor - one she finds many people share. And these people come in all shapes and sizes. She has sold the book to men and women 14 to 80 years old.
She tells of a 73-year-old woman in Oregon who saw a copy of the book while playing bridge. The woman wrote Mintz, saying she had never laughed so hard, and ordered several books for friends.
Mintz recommends the book as a gift for bachelorette parties, where she says it makes a great ice-breaker. "We all know why the woman is getting married - and it's not necessarily to cook," she says.
The following are recipes whose titles actually could be published in a family newspaper. They are adapted from "Safe Sex Never Tasted So Good" (Boner Publications, 1990). Mintz admits her recipes are rather "rough," so we have edited them for clarity and style.
Buff Wellington
INGREDIENTS FOR FILLING:
8 slices cooked turkey breast, sliced thick enough to roll securely
1 cup chopped brocolli, steamed and drained
1 (11 oz.) can mandarin orange sections, drained; reserve liquid
1/2 cup low-calorie sweet and sour dressing, French dressing or Catalina dressing
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup cooked white or brown rice
COMBINE FOR SAUCE:
1/4 cup mandarin orange juice
1/2 cup low-sugar orange marmalade
Juice of 1 lemon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 11 x 9-inch baking dish or 9-inch round pan with non-stick cooking spray.
In large bowl, combine all filling ingredients except turkey slices. Place 1/4 cup of mixture on each turkey slice. Roll slices and place seam side down in baking dish. Secure with plain toothpick. Pour on sauce.
Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Baste. Bake 10-15 minutes longer. Garnish with orange slices and/or parsley sprigs. (Serves 4-8)
Suggestion: Use any leftover filling to stuff a tomato or green pepper.
Fondled Breast of Chicken
MARINADE:
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, defrosted
1 egg
1 tsp. garlic powder
4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half CRUMB COATING:
2 cups crushed corn flake crumbs
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 Tbsps. light brown sugar or 25 percent reduced calorie light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. curry powder
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsps. butter, melted
GARNISH:
Orange slices
Parsley sprigs
Raisins
To make marinade: Combine orange juice concentrate, egg and garlic powder. Place chicken in a single layer in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Pour marinade over. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
To make crumb coating: Combine all ingredients except the butter in a wide, shallow dish.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. When chicken is done marinating, drain off marinade and reserve it. Wash out baking dish. Then dredge chicken in crumb coating, patting it so it adheres. Place in a single layer in the clean baking dish.
Combine butter with reserved marinade and pour over chicken. Bake, covered with aluminum foil, for 30 minutes. Uncover and baste chicken with pan juices. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. The coating will keep the breasts moist. Serve on a large platter garnished with orange slices, parsley sprigs and raisins. (Serves 6 to 8)
For more information, call (407) 391-2058, or send $12 for postage and handling to Boner Publications, P.O. Box 273883, Boca Raton, Fla., 33427-3883.
by CNB