What we eat and how we prepare it may have changed a lot since 1993 and the publication of the first edition of "Beat This! Cookbook" by Ann Hodgman. But if there's one thing that hasn't changed over the years, it's Hodgman's well-honed sense of humor — as important an ingredient in her cookbooks as the recipes themselves.

Also the author of "One Bite Won't Kill You" and more than 40 children's books, Hodgman, who lives in Washington (Conn.), has just come out with a new edition of "Beat This!" with 50 new recipes, and, as she points out, "more variety and less flour." There's also a new foreword by novelist Elizabeth Berg, who calls it a cookbook, self-help book, humor book, security blanket and bible rolled into one.

Interviewed recently for Daybreak, here's the scoop on what constitutes unbeatable recipes straight from the food writer's mouth:

Q. How did you get into cooking and writing cookbooks?

A. I was always a good eater as a kid. I liked to make cookies, and started seriously cooking at 13. I was dieting and obsessed with food. One of the forms it took was cooking. In ninth grade I entered the Seventeen magazine contest for Teen Gourmet of the Year. I had to submit a menu for a complete meal with recipes, and I just knew it was going to work and that I'd win. I got to go to magazine's headquarters, and realized, 'Gee, there are ways to work in this field without being a cook in a restaurant,' which I never wanted to do. I wrote for the Harvard Lampoon in college and cooked dinners for their (events) but I didn't start to write about food until Spy magazine was founded in 1986 — I did a humorous food column — and for Eating Well magazine. A couple of years later I began writing (cookbooks).

Q. Why do you think people connect so much with your recipes and commentary?

A. From the time the first edition came out, I was determined to keep up this chatty tone — although blogging has loosened up writing in such a great way, but the humorous tone was unusual for the day. And the fact that it threw down this challenge: "These are my best recipes, if you can beat them, I'll put it in my next book."

Q. Were you always funny?

A. I had two hilarious parents. I wasn't a pretty little girl. I had friends partly because I worked hard on being funny because I wasn't athletic or particularly good looking. I had to push being funny to get positive attention.

Q. Can you talk about infusing humor in your recipes?

A. I read cookbooks a lot as a kid-I loved the "I Hate to Cook" cookbooks. Domestic life wasn't written about as the humor-providing thing it can be. I always loved domestic humor and was in awe of anyone who could pull it off. Cooking takes place within a family and is so involved in people's emotions that are so funny and sort of resonate with everyone, and that vein hadn't been mined yet.

Q. You say in "Beat This!" that your forte isn't so much creating new dishes as improving recipes. You say, "I just double the chocolate and add some bacon." Can you explain?

A. I don't seem to have the kind of brain that can innovate from scratch — I'm in awe of people who can. Adding more fat, more chocolate, is an easy way to improve a recipe. Just add more of whatever makes the recipe good. Bacon improves almost anything. Instead of "How can I make it faster or cheaper or low fat?" I think, "How can I make this better?" Rather than cutting corners to make recipes easier, improving a recipe will take more work, more time, or better ingredients.

Q. Can you elaborate on why you chose the 50 new recipes for the new version of "Beat This!" and kept the ones you kept from the original version?

A. I cut a couple recipes that I knew people wouldn't make, like kimchi — no one makes it unless they're Korean. Also, bread cooking has improved so much — the first book had very basic bread recipes, I put in more complicated ones. There are still lots of desserts, but I added more main dishes, salads and vegetables. You can get great ingredients that weren't available when we moved from New York to our small town 25 years ago. You can get more fabulous produce, butter and spices than we got in 1993.

Q. In your afterward you stress the importance of where people purchase meat and chicken, and that it's humanely raised and slaughtered. Wouldn't it just be easier to become a vegetarian?

A. Animal rights is a huge issue for me-since the first "Beat This!" came out. It's only recently that we really know how terrible factory farming is. I know a lot of vegetarians disagree with me, but just becoming a vegetarian and not advocating your position won't solve the problem, or make conditions better for animals. I don't see people stopping eating meat for awhile, so we should make it easier for humane farmers who do treat animals okay and slaughter under decent conditions. If you buy their stuff, you're helping solve the problem — it is more expensive, so people should try to eat way less meat/save it for special occasions.

Q. If you had to briefly summarize your cooking philosophy, what would it be?

A. Cooking is a very important gift you're giving your family and the people you love. People really get excited about food. It's one of life's simplest pleasures.

"Beat This! Cookbook" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is $14.95, softcover. Ann Hodgman will be at Grey Goose Cookery on Saturday, May 21, from noon to 2 p.m. during the annual "Greet the Author" event in Olde Mistick Village. Hodgman will make treats from the new edition of "Beat This!" in the store's kitchen and sign books provided by Mystic's Bank Square Books. Autographed copies will also be available after the event at the bookstore at 53 West Main St., Mystic For info, call (860) 536-3795.

SUGAR HILL BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

From "Beat This! Cookbook" by Ann Hodgman

Makes 1 dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries (if frozen, do not defrost)

2 tablespoons sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, with a rack in the middle.

Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin-cup liners. (Don't skip the liners; the batter sticks to the muffin cups.) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs with sour cream until thoroughly combined. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt together butter and brown sugar. Beat this mixture into egg mixture. Stir in oats.

Fold in flour mixture and then blueberries. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Drop a generous pinch of sugar onto top of each muffin. Bake muffins for 25 to 28 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins (in their papers) and finish cooling them on a rack.

Hodgman notes that frozen blueberries hold their shape better than fresh when cooked, and that the recipe works well with other fruits too (like chopped peaches and toasted almonds).

LIME AND PEANUT COLESLAW

Recipe and commentary from "Beat This! Cookbook" by Ann Hodgman.

Serves 6 as a side dish. Wait, isn't coleslaw always a side dish?

Too often, coleslaw is served with foods that the last thing they need is a mayo-based side dish. As you know, I'm all for fat, but a main course that contains both melted butter and mayonnaise reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Lisa asks Nelson what he's drawing and he answers, "A robot with guns for arms shooting a plane made out of guns that fires guns."

This recipe from my sister Nelie solves the problem. It's as fresh and keen-tasting as can be. It will cut right through that lobster's melted butter or those barbecued ribs and baked beans.

½ medium cabbage

1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1-2 scallions, sliced

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon Asian toasted sesame (or toasted peanut) oil

1½ tablespoons fresh lime juice

½ teaspoon sugar

1 cup roasted (salted) peanuts, chopped

Cut cabbage into the finest slivers possible. In a large bowl, combine with tomatoes, cilantro and scallions.

In a small bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss well. Chill-or let sit at room temperature, whichever you prefer-for at least 2 hours. Just before serving, toss in chopped peanuts. Check the seasoning, adding more soy sauce or lime juice if you want, and serve.