Whether you like thumbing through recipes just for pleasure or are looking for inspiration for meals, these five cookbooks will definitely spice things up. Through reading them, you will be introduced to new homemade soup recipes, Chinese baked goods, simple and healthy paleo meals, new ways of cooking with eggs, and recipes born out of foraging.
Soup Club: 80 Cozy Recipes for Creative Plant-Based Soups and Stews to Share
by Caroline Wright
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 192 pages, $24.99
This is a cookbook unlike any other. It is not only about the recipes, but is also a heartwarming story of a community coming together and giving to a member during a frightening period of her life. Caroline Wright was given a crushing brain cancer diagnosis, and not long after this, she found herself really craving homemade soup. She told her friends, who started rallying around her, and then Wright started finding soup on her doorstep daily for several months afterwards. Thankfully she survived, and this book is a thank you to those friends and followers who were touched by her story. The recipes in this book are plant-based and sound very delicious. They are not the blended kind but more the chunky kind, and many of the recipes use nutritional yeast. The instructions are for cooking on the stove, although there is a section dedicated to instant pot instructions. There are also recipes for breads and salads and how to make your own spice blends. Some of the soup recipes that sounded particularly delicious were the Moroccan Vegetable Stew, Golden Borscht, and Cowboy Chili. Soup Club really is a must-have for soup and stew fans, and you do not have to be vegan to enjoy these recipes.
Mooncakes and Milk Bread: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries
by Kristina Cho
Harper Horizon, 304 pages, $29.95
If you are interested in Chinese baked goods, then this book is for you! Mooncakes and Milk Bread is filled with Chinese bakery recipes, and it is made simple by the step-by-step instructions for the heavenly family-based recipes provided by food blogger Kristina Cho. If you are intimidated by the Chinese ingredients, Cho takes you through the experience of shopping in an Asian grocery store and explains the differences between ingredients and the equipment needed to create these recipes. The recipes included in this book consist of different types of Chinese buns and breads, cakes, cookies, dumplings, and drinks. Additionally, there are no-bake recipes for dim sum, pancakes, and potstickers. The pictures that accompany each recipe help to provide visual guidance, and all the food looks like it has been made by a modern Chinese professional chef/baker. The book is an all-round winner for fun and expanding your repertoire.
Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Volume 3)
by Michelle Tam and Henry Fong
Andrews McMeel Publishing, 352 pages, $35.00
Michelle Tam and Henry Fong, the creators of the New York Times bestseller Nom Nom Paleo, offer a new Asian-inspired collection of paleo recipes in Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! There are even keto, whole30, and vegan-based recipes, and they are all full of umami flavor. Tam and Fong emphasize that the best and healthiest meals are the ones cooked at home, and this cookbook will give you the enthusiasm necessary to get going in your own kitchen. You will be surprised at how simple these recipes are and how they are perfect for when you are cooking for others. Your guests will be surprised by how tasty the food turns out, even though they are wholefood recipes and free of gluten, dairy, grains, and refined sugar. Some of the delights include Cantonese Roast Duck, Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole, and Paleo-Friendly Cream Puffs. You only need to be a novice cook and you can make food that tastes heavenly!
The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook: Over 100 Fabulous Recipes to Use Eggs in Unexpected Ways
by Lisa Steele
Harper Horizon, 320 pages, $27.99
Fifth generation chicken keeper and top-selling author Lisa Steele shows how easy and appetizing meals can be after adding eggs. The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook teaches you all about eggs, such as debunking certain egg-related myths and explaining what particular labels on egg cartons signify. Steele works with you, starting from the basics of cooking eggs and moving through all the different techniques. The photography in the book is fantastic and really inspires you to try the recipes. You can learn how to make a French Tri-fold Omelet, Swedish Egg Coffee, and Hand Pies, as well as other sweet and savory recipes, and they all come with Steele’s own modifications. This book is an inventive and exciting cookbook for a novice or an accomplished cook looking to branch out and discover new things every day.
Field Notes for Food Adventure: Recipes and Stories from the Woods to the Ocean
by Brad Leone
Voracious, 352 pages, $35.00
Brad Leone teaches us about being resourceful and inventive in the New York Times bestseller Field Notes for Food Adventure as he seeks out the wonderful natural ingredients of the North East. Exploring all that nature has to offer, foraging in fields, rivers, forests, and the sea, Leone captures your imagination by providing outstanding ideas for inspirational home cookery. He introduces you to ramps, different types of mushrooms, and the various ways of preserving them, as well as to undervalued oceanic ingredients such as squid and seaweed. All the recipes have the Brad Leone stamp, with the Spicy Tomato Chicken, Sous Vide Mountain Ribs, and the Cold Root Salad seeming particularly appetizing, in addition to the recipes for drinks such as Fermented Bloody Mary and Sumac Lemonade. There’s even a simple recipe for Chile Hot Sauce. Voted Food52’s Best Cookbook of the Year, this flavorsome tome is not your typical cookbook, but it will certainly open your mind to exciting new ideas and ingredients.