Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers: Fresh Ideas for the Weeknight Table


The Moosewood Collective - 2005
    Fresh fruits and vegetables. Lean, nutrient-rich fish. We all know the virtues of a well-balanced diet—of choosing foods that nourish our bodies and respect the environment—but as the world around us gets busier and more complicated, we also know how difficult it can be to prepare a wholesome, satisfying supper. With an emphasis on healthful natural foods, Moosewood Restaurant has operated successfully for more than thirty years and has been acclaimed as a driving force in the world of creative vegetarian cuisine. Now the Moosewood Collective goes back to basics with Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers to deliver fresh, imaginative, and quickly prepared dishes for the weeknight table that are also delicious and reliable.Shortcut Chili. Creamy Lemon Pasta. Warm French Lentil Salad. Pine Nut–Crusted Fish. Mocha Sorbet. From soups and pastas made with just a few pantry essentials to crisp salads, stir-fries, sandwiches, and desserts, these easy-to-prepare recipes are brilliant as is. However, the folks at Moosewood realize that flexibility is the cornerstone of weeknight cooking, so you’ll find clever ingredient substitutions, alternative cooking methods, and serving suggestions alongside the recipes in Simple Suppers—it all depends on what’s in the fridge and what sounds appetizing at the moment. Make extra Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Salad on Monday and toss leftovers with hot pasta for Tuesday’s supper. No onions for Black Beans with Pickled Red Onions? Try the beans over rice with Quick Avocado and Corn Salsa instead. The 175-plus recipes in Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers are as flexible as they are flavorful—the perfect go-to for a quick, healthy meal any day of the week, any time of year.We crave simple food. We want cooking at home to be a small pleasure—relaxed enough that we can enjoy the process as well as the results. When we mentioned to friends that we were thinking of doing a book of recipes for simple suppers, inevitably they exclaimed, “That’s the one I need” or “Write that book for me.” The idea of simple suppers strikes a chord within us all. We hope this cookbook will help make suppertime a welcome, peaceful time of your day. —from the Introduction

My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life


Ruth Reichl - 2015
    No one was more stunned by this unexpected turn of events than its beloved editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, who suddenly faced an uncertain professional future. As she struggled to process what had seemed unthinkable, Reichl turned to the one place that had always provided sanctuary. “I did what I always do when I’m confused, lonely, or frightened,” she writes. “I disappeared into the kitchen.”My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons—and Reichl’s emotions—as she slowly heals through the simple pleasures of cooking. While working 24/7, Reichl would “throw quick meals together” for her family and friends. Now she has the time to rediscover what cooking meant to her. Imagine kale, leaves dark and inviting, sautéed with chiles and garlic; summer peaches baked into a simple cobbler; fresh oysters chilling in a box of snow; plump chickens and earthy mushrooms, fricasseed with cream. Over the course of this challenging year, each dish Reichl prepares becomes a kind of stepping stone to finding joy again in ordinary things. The 136 recipes collected here represent a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring. Here, too, is Reichl’s enlivening dialogue with her Twitter followers, who become her culinary supporters and lively confidants. Part cookbook, part memoir, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Year may be Ruth Reichl’s most stirring book yet—one that reveals a refreshingly vulnerable side of the world's most famous food editor as she shares treasured recipes to be returned to again and again and again.

Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook: More Than 100 Classic Italian Dishes to Make at Home


Michael Ronis - 2008
    Carmine's flavors are the tastes Americans love to cook and eat at home--fresh garlic, bubbling tomato sauce, and pasta boiled just to the perfect al dente. Try any of the recipes in Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook and bring home that classic Italian flavor to your family.

The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old Fashioned Recipes From New York's Sweetest Bakery


Jennifer Appel - 1999
    This unassuming shop, where the smells of home-style baking weaken even the strongest will, has attracted a clientele that ranges from kids on their way home from school to celebrity glitterati. Cupcakes swirled with pastel frosting crowd the counter, and cakestands display Lemon Vanilla Bundt Cake, Apple Walnut Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing, and Coconut Layer Cake, swathed in fluffy white frosting and covered in drifts of coconut. As Time Out New York says: "The secret to Magnolia's success is simple: Nobody knows how to bake like this anymore." Magnolia's owners Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey know how, and in The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook they share their most mouth-watering recipes, from sweet breakfast treats like Dried-Cherry Crumb Buns to classic Iced Molasses Cookies, from decadently rich Caramel Pecan Brownies and Raspberry Marzipan Cheesecake to refreshing Lemon Icebox Pie. Their easy-to-follow recipes and invaluable baking hints mean that even the inexperienced baker will be able to frost the perfect layer cake, turn out the flakiest pie crust, and whip up the creamiest cheesecake. Illustrated with eight pages of glorious color photographs, The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook will inspire you to turn on the oven and create sweet memories for your family and friends.