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Hello sweet friends!
I thiiink I’ve uncovered the last of my boxes filled with cookbooks, but each time I think there can’t possibly be more in my collection, I run across another box, or a few stray books hastily bundled into a box of small kitchen appliances. Three things are true: I’m a slow unpacker, I own too many cookbooks, and I’m showing no signs of slowing my cookbook collection growth.
Some beautiful new books came out this Spring! Cake magic, a trip to Rome, Padma telling us her truth (and hopefully beauty secrets), and food with (and for) friends. These are my favorite:
• Layered by Tessa Huff who literally makes the most beautiful cakes on the Internet at Style Sweet CA. This book is filled with cake creations that are the stuff of DREAMS…. but dreams that you can make come true in your own kitchen, like London Fog Cake (there’s Earl Grey involved) or this Riesling Rhubarb Crisp Cake on Hungry Girl Por Vida.
• Eating in the Middle by Andie Mitchell is a book about balance on the plate. Loads of healthful recipes from breakfast through dinner… plus butter laden desserts. I’m looking forward to making the Cheddar Biscuit-Topped Barbecue Chicken Pie. Those words! Put them on my plate. You may also know Andie as the New York Times bestselling author of It Was Me All Along. That is MAJOR!
• Tasting Rome by Katie Parla and Kristina Gill is a gorgeous, mouth-watering jaunt through Rome. It’s a beautiful snippet of life and culture told through recipes. I have so many recipes bookmarked in this book: a savory pie with spinach, dandelion greens and ricotta, sweet buns with whipped cream, and a gin cocktail with elderflower. Or… a plane ticket to Rome?
• Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz looks SUPREME because Dana has a very keen sense of how to make vegetarian, mostly vegan, mostly gluten-free food incredibly delicious. I’m the #1 fan of her Gluten Free Dairy Free Pizza. Yea… you heard me right.
• Love, Loss, and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi An honest and candid book… where someone opens their chest so you can see the shape of their heart. I’m reading this now and it’s beautiful, colorful, delicious, and bittersweet. It’s love, all sides.
• Good + Simple by Jasmine Hemsley and Melissa Hemsley. I half expected this book to be on the Gwyneth Paltrow Goop spectrum of mostly unapproachable healthful living, but this book is packed with approachable recipes and so many variations and tips. It’s fantastic! There’s a Fish Curry with cilantro lime rice that I can’t wait to make. (I’m on a savory kick.)
• Sweeter Off The Vine by Yossy Arefi is fruit forward, bold in flavor, and approachable in feeling. From the baker extraordinaire behind the beautiful blog Apt. 2B Baking.
• Whole Bowls by Allison Day is everything healthy and delicious we want in a bowl. The perfect book to go with my extensive bowl collection.
• The Love & Lemons Cookbook by Jeanine Donofrio. A book after the very beautiful blog, Love & Lemons. The images are gorgeous and there’s a Quinoa Taco Salad in this book with my name all over it (I’m going to add a pound of cheese k thanks).
• Food With Friends by Leela Cyd celebrates the joy, playfulness, and delicious adventure of gathering with friends. I made a Kale Pesto from this book that I’ll post next week. Healthful, comforting, and fun recipes!
• The Cookies & Cups Cookbook by Shelly Jaronsky is written for the dessert fiend in all of us. S’more Cake is added to the list of summer baking adventures.
• Little Flower Baking by Christine Moore is the baking companion to Little Flower, and if you’ve been to this sweet cafe in Pasadena California, you understand how incredible this food is!
I hope you find some kitchen inspiration among this collection. These books are little works of art.
Happy Friday!
xo Joy
21 Responses
Thanks so much for including Sweeter off the Vine. I hope you love it!
LOVE this list. I’ve already purchased a few of them. And I’m so stoked that Little Flower Bakery came out with another cookbook. That place is GOLD. xo
So many good books! All of these are on my list, I have Eating in the Middle and Layered (obvs). Both are excellent. I also met Andie and absolutely embarrassed myself by being a total fangirl. Thanks for sharing my cake, Joy!
I recently made the BBQ chicken pot pie from Andie’s book. It is AMAZING. I recommend you make it sooner rather then later!
My copy of Layered is on its way! Can’t wait. If I had know you were coming I’d have baked a cake…
I love diving into a batch of new cookbooks! I would love to read Sweeter Off the Vine, with summer right around the corner and everything.
Thank you Joy!
I’ll take one of each, please ;)
In all seriousness, I moved to Ottawa for 4 months to do a semester of Basic Pastry at Le Cordon Bleu, and I literally packed up and dragged ALL my cookbooks with me. For 4 months. I just couldn’t bear to leave them behind and to be alone in a new place without them. They are comfort and home, so I had to take them with me. That being said, I have too many, and I know it. But they make me happy dammit, so I won’t give them up. I’d rather find a bigger apartment for me and my cookbooks and my dog and my cat, or even a house if I have to!
Yessss such a good collection! Except now I want them ALL, yikes. xo
thanks for the love, friend!
As I was reading this blog, I was listening to Dana Schultz’ interview on The Lively Show Podcast where she was talking about the creation of this cookbook! And here it is! I think the universe is speaking to me. ;)
meant to be!
So excited about the Love and Lemons cookbook!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Such great variety! Cooking memoirs also inspire me to get into the kitchen and try something new – or to keep us from going out to eat when there is a fridge full of food. Here are three of my favorite books:
https://www.shopwithstyle.com/stylewise/2016/4/22/get-cooking
Joy,
You have out done yourself with this collection ………. so many fabulous cookbooks and so little time. And each one
has it’s own vibe. You have also found my obsession … cookbooks.
“Layered”. I am hopeless as a baker, fortunately my daughter got that gene from my mother-in-law, this will be a
great birthday gift for her.
“Tasting Rome” will be a present for my wife ….. to recall the week in August of 1983 we spent in Rome celebrating
her birthday. This one I get to cook from.
I have to mention “Love, Loss, and What We Ate” by Padma Lakshmi. I read a few pages on Amazon and am
already hooked on the story and I also look forward to exploring new Indian recipes. I think this will be a purchase for
all three of us. But it will go on in MY cookbook collection!
I think “Sweeter Off The Vine” for experimentation with basic baking. And “The Love & Lemons Cookbook” for the
diversity of ingredients and styles will be my other choices from this collection.
Thanks for the great posts …….. I learn something new and interesting in each one
I’m still waiting with bated breath to hear that you have finally found your favorite dinner plate …. LOL
A big list of cookbooks. Great job. Well done. I liked the concept of each cook book and how carefully the recipes are chosen under each category.
What a fantastic list! I feel like I need all of these! Thank you times 1000 for featuring my book and for providing a sweet blurb for the back cover! Now…Barnes & Noble, here I come :)
Oh man, I have had that Andie Mitchell book in my kitchen for a few weeks and have made So. Much. Goodness. from it. Favorites: the Asian salad & the banana bread donuts. Yum.
What a beautiful collection. It’s like poetry with food. I wish I had time to unpack and savor my cookbooks, but we are moving again soon. Writing a counter offer on the little farm we want this week. Hoping to have chickens, big gardens, and a beautiful orchard in our future.
I love this round-up! So many new cookbooks! I have Love & Lemons and Minimalist Baker on my list next :)
Okay, girlfriend, I know you’re a bit overwhelmed by all the unpacking, but there is No Such Thing as “too many cookbooks”!! I use Eat Your Books to help me find things in my smallish collection, but even so, sometimes, I just love to read my cookbooks (as you obviously do!). The stories behind the recipes, the photography, and the places I travel with ethnic recipes in particular are such a lovely escape from stress and strain, better than meditation or yoga. So, what I suspect you really meant to say is, “I have so many cookbooks that it is taking forever to unpack, because every time I find an “old friend” I have to spend at least a half-hour looking through it!” That’s really it, isn’t it?! Don’t worry, you’ll get there in the end. I think getting to Packing Box Zero is highly over-rated anyway. Who said, it’s the journey, not the destination, that matters? Who ever said it, they were right!