Hello, Cupcake


Alan Richardson - 2008
    Spotting the familiar items in the hundreds of brilliant photos is at least half the fun.  America's favorite food photography team shows how to create funny, scary, and sophisticated masterpieces using a ziplock bag and common candies and snack items. With these easy-to-follow techniques, even the most kitchen-challenged cooks can:• raise a big-top circus cupcake tier for a kid's birthday• plant candy vegetables on Oreo earth cupcakes for a garden party• trot out a line of confectionery "pup cakes" for a dog fancier• serve spaghetti and meatball cupcakes for April Fool's Day• bewitch trick-or-treaters with eerie alien cupcakes• create holidays on icing with a white Christmas cupcake wreath, turkey cupcake place cards, and Easter egg cupcakes

How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food


Mark Bittman - 1998
    Just as important, How to Cook Everything takes a relaxed, straightforward approach to cooking, so you can enjoy yourself in the kitchen and still achieve outstanding results.

The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making


Alana Chernila - 2012
    Come on in, but be prepared—it might not be quite what you expect. There is flour on the counter, oats that overflowed onto the floor, chocolate-encrusted spoons in the sink. There is Joey, the husband, exhausted by the thirty-five preschoolers who were hanging on him all day, and he is stuffing granola into his mouth to ease his five o’clock starvation. There are two little girls trying to show me cartwheels in that miniscule space between the refrigerator and the counter where I really need to be.” In her debut cookbook, Alana Chernila inspires you to step inside your kitchen, take a look around, and change the way you relate to food. The Homemade Pantry was born of a tight budget, Alana’s love for sharing recipes with her farmers’ market customers, and a desire to enjoy a happy cooking and eating life with her young family. On a mission to kick their packaged-food habit, she learned that with a little determination, anything she could buy at the store could be made in her kitchen, and her homemade versions were more satisfying, easier to make than she expected, and tastier.              Here are her very approachable recipes for 101 everyday staples, organized by supermarket aisle—from crackers to cheese, pesto to sauerkraut, and mayonnaise to toaster pastries. The Homemade Pantry is a celebration of food made by hand—warm mozzarella that is stretched, thick lasagna noodles rolled from flour and egg, fresh tomato sauce that bubbles on the stove. Whether you are trying a recipe for butter, potato chips, spice mixes, or ketchup, you will discover the magic and thrill that comes with the homemade pantry.            Alana captures the humor and messiness of everyday family life, too. A true friend to the home cook, she shares her “tense moments” to help you get through your own. With stories offering patient, humble advice, tips for storing the homemade foods, and rich four-color photography throughout, The Homemade Pantry will quickly become the go-to source for how to make delicious staples in your home kitchen.

Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner


Ashley Christensen - 2016
    Poole's is her master class in making the best foundational recipes and then turning these into exceptional sides, mains, and desserts--all inspired by the food at her James Beard award-winning restaurant, Poole's Downtown Diner. The ingredient-driven recipes range from beloved Southern favorites like Pimento Cheese, Buttermilk Fried Chicken with Hot Honey, and Dark Chocolate Pecan Pie to modern updates like Turnip Green Fritters with Whipped Tahini, the one-dish Pork Cassoulet with Pit Peas and Collards, and Zucchini Doughnuts with Marscapone.From the Hardcover edition.

Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook


Ina Garten - 2020
    Many of these dishes are inspired by childhood favorites--but with the volume turned way up, such as Cheddar and Chutney Grilled Cheese sandwiches (the perfect match for Ina's Creamy Tomato Bisque), Smashed Hamburgers with Caramelized Onions, and the crispiest hash browns that are actually made in a waffle iron!There are few things more comforting than gathering for a meal with the ones you love, especially when dishes like Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas are at the center of the table. Old-fashioned crowd pleasers like Roasted Sausages, Peppers, and Onions are even more delicious and streamlined for quick cleanup. For dessert? You'll find the best Boston Cream Pie, Banana Rum Trifle, and Black and White Cookies you'll ever make. Home cooks can always count on Ina's dependable, easy-to-follow instructions, with lots of side notes for cooking and entertaining--it's like having Ina right there beside you, helping you all the way.From cocktails to dessert, from special weekend breakfasts to quick weeknight dinners, you'll find yourself making these cozy and delicious recipes over and over again.

"Mums Know Best": The Hairy Bikers' Family Cookbook


Hairy Bikers - 2010
    Yummy mummies, Northern matriarchs, West Indian foster mums and ladies of the manor all come togther with recipes to share, tips to swap and techniques to learn, in a book that contains over 100 different recipes.

Just the Good Stuff: 100+ Guilt-Free Recipes to Satisfy All Your Cravings: A Cookbook


Rachel Mansfield - 2020
      Rachel Mansfield’s vibrant debut cookbook proves that living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean adhering to restrictive diets or giving up all the foods you crave. Using better-for-you ingredients, such as grain-free flours, collagen peptides, and coconut sugar, you can indulge while still maintaining a balanced approach to eating.   Rachel’s recipes focus on creative, flavor-forward takes on favorite, comfort food dishes—think Almond Butter Pad Thai, Sweet Potato Nachos with Cashew Cheese, Homemade Pastry Tarts with Berry Chia Jam, and Epic Quinoa Burrito Bowls. Though Rachel personally doesn’t prescribe to a single diet or label, many recipes are Paleo-friendly, dairy-free, and gluten-free, and none include any refined sugar. This highly approachable book is organized to reflect the rhythms of real life: grab-and-go breakfasts, meat and vegetables perfect to mix and match for meal prep, easy solo dinners, potluck-friendly spreads, shareable snacks, and, of course, sweets—lots of ’em because as Rachel says, “You can have your gluten-free cake and eat it too!”   Perfect for those who are new to cooking or learning how to incorporate healthy ingredients into their everyday lives, Just the Good Stuff includes an entire chapter on food prep (both a money and time saver!), lots of confidence-building tips, and inspirational advice.Advance praise for Just the Good Stuff“In Just the Good Stuff, Rachel creates recipes that are gluten-free, dairy-free, and deliciously vibrant. Her Crunchy Tahini Chocolate Grain-Free Granola and Paleo Everything Bagel Bread are just two of the many recipes you’ll crave over and over again. Plus, having a guide to prepping food for the week, this book has you covered for all aspects of eating.”—Frank Lipman, MD, bestselling author of The New Health Rules and How to Be Well  “Rachel’s recipes are modern, approachable, and simple enough that anyone can make them! Just the Good Stuff is a new staple on my bookshelf!”—Gina Homolka, New York Times bestselling cookbook author and founder of Skinnytaste

The Lemonade Cookbook: Southern California Comfort Food from L.A.'s Favorite Modern Cafeteria


Alan Jackson - 2013
    Like Los Angeles, Lemonade's cuisine is carefully blended with variety. L.A. is agents and movie grips, surfers and yoga moms, students and celebrities, and a wide mix of different culinary traditions. At Lemonade the marketplace salads, unique sandwiches, and slow-simmered stews taste as though every culture stirred a bit into the pot—for example, the skirt steak with grilled onions and piquillo peppers with its smoky depth, pairs perfectly with the snappy salad of Chinese long beans, plums, and scallion vinaigrette.A comfortable place where locals and visitors enjoy a rotating daily spread of deliciousness, the recipes, more than 120 in all, stress simple cooking preparation with a global taste, and are a perfect fit for today's on-the-go lifestyles and perceptive palates. And, of course, it wouldn't be L.A. without the amazing desserts—from banana mascarpone layer cake to caramel fleur de sel macaroons to peanut butter milk chocolate cookies, there are recipes for treats galore, plus ten different recipes for delicious flavors of lemonade. The Lemonade Cookbook: Southern California Comfort Food from L.A.'s Favorite Modern Cafeteria speaks to all cooks who want to make sophisticated highly-urban "comfort food" with ease.

Wild Bread: Sourdough Reinvented


MaryJane Butters - 2018
    Wild Bread completely reinvents the concept of healthier-for-you, naturally fermented sourdough. Until now, sourdough was perceived as too much work and sour-tasting, artisan-style-only loaves. In Wild Bread, her  quick and easy 1 minute 2x/day technique demonstrates the use of eight different types of flours for each bread featured—everything from gluten-free brown-rice flour to quinoa to common white to heirloom whole wheat—for a whopping 295 recipes and 475 photographs. Using her step-by-step method, every style of bread imaginable, including gluten-free, will loft with wild abandon without the purchase of a single packet of not-so-healthy, store-bought yeast. In nutritionally superior wild-yeast bread, fermentation triggers the release of vital nutrients and breaks down carbohydrates. In MaryJane’s world, there’s no such thing as too much bread because once you convert to slow-rise wild-bread making, that bagel you’ve been thinking about is more like a vitamin pill than a source of “carb-loaded” guilt. Lessons gleaned from MaryJane Butters’ diverse pioneering background, from carpenter to dairy owner to former wilderness ranger turned organic farmer, led her eventually to stewardship of the 4-story, historic Barron Flour Mill. It was only natural that her years spent living on remote Forest Service fire-watch towers with only a living, breathing sourdough “mother” for companionship would lead her to write a pioneering wild-yeast bread book. She is the author of eight books; editor of MaryJanesFarm magazine, now in its 18th year of publication; and lives on an organic farm in Idaho. Two of her grown children and their spouses are employed full-time at her farm and she is “Nanny” to half a dozen grandchildren.

Everyone Is Italian on Sunday


Rachael Ray - 2015
    It represents decades of enjoying and working with food and the people I love most in this world.” —Rachael If you’re like Rachael Ray, you’ll agree that there is something comforting and heartwarming about a heaping plate of perfectly cooked spaghetti with moist and tender meatballs covered in a luscious, dark-red tomato sauce. Now, in Everyone Is Italian on Sunday, Rachael invites you into her home to share her family’s culinary history and the recipes that have shaped her life and career.For Rachael, Italian food—spinach gnocchi, linguine puttanesca, chicken saltimbocca, pizza capricciosa—has the power to summon cherished, happy memories. In this one indispensable book, she has brought together signature recipes for the traditional Italian staples that she grew up with and still cooks for her family and friends today. From arancini to saffron gnocchetti sardi, from small bites to hearty meals, from her sister’s favorite Italian desserts to her husband’s Italian ingredient-inspired cocktails, here is a treasury of delicious dishes to prepare with love and devour with gusto. Classic Italian cooking has always been the foundation of almost every meal that Rachael prepares, and she hopes that you and your family, friends, and neighbors will love savoring everything that Italian cooking has to offer. Italian Sundays are all about bringing people together and creating wonderful memories while enjoying the pleasures of great homemade food. So pull up a chair at Rachael’s kitchen table and experience the magic of an Italian Sunday!

Sugar, Butter, Flour: The Waitress Pie Cookbook


Jenna Hunterson - 2017
     In the cult classic movie-turned-Broadway production, the eternally optimistic protagonist of Waitress expresses her hopes, dreams, fears, and frustrations through the whimsically named pies she bakes each morning. Sugar, Butter, Flour celebrates this art of baking from the heart, with foolproof and flavorful pies for seduction, pies for mending a broken heart, pies for celebrating new beginnings and pies for all the little milestones that come afterwards. Taking its inspiration from the iconic mile-high pies of the diner case, Sugar, Butter, Flour offers an array of showstopping pies, each with a twist that puts it over the top; from rum-spiked cookie crusts to hidden layers of passion fruit preserves, these are familiar favorites with hidden depths. The ideal gift for anyone who has ever eaten her feelings or baked away the blues, Sugar, Butter, Flour proves there's a perfect pie for every occasion - and that everything looks better with pie.

Eat This Book: Cooking with Global Fresh Flavors


Tyler Florence - 2004
    In Eat This Book, Tyler draws inspiration from kitchens around the world to enliven America’s favorite foods in more than 150 new real kitchen recipes for everyday occasions. Now you can wake up tired weeknight chicken with the zing of North African spices. Turn Sunday’s same old spaghetti dinner into an authentic Italian abbondanza with Pappardelle Bolognese and Veal Saltimbocca alla Romana. Hit a home run on game day with Fresh Tortilla Chips, Guacamole, and Farmstand Salsa. Each recipe zeroes in on the bright notes of fresh, global fare and a handful of readily available ingredients that engage the senses and spark the palate, and all are as easy to prepare as they are flavorful.From the simple pleasures of midnight fridge raids to the exotic and sophisticated, Eat This Book satisfies an array of hunger pangs in chapters that truly speak to the way we eat today: Eating introduces pantry basics with a twist, like Lemon-Caper Mayonnaise and Ginger-Soy Vinaigrette; Devouring presents snacks and cocktail bites such as Toasted Almonds in Chile Oil and Sautéed Feta Cheese;Noshing offers crowd-pleasing fare for impromptu gatherings like Cold Sesame Noodles and Grilled Pizza with Mozzarella di Bufala; Consuming lays out easy dishes for weeknight suppers, including Roasted Chicken Stuffed with Lemon and Herbs and Pan-Seared Tuna with Avocado; Tasting harvests ideas from the summer garden such as Spanish Gazpacho and Roasted Corn with Parmesan and Cayenne; Savoring serves up hot pots for cold nights, like Braised Brisket and Buttery Turnips; and Licking the plate clean showcases irresistible desserts, including Peach and Blueberry Crostata and Chocolate Tart.Packed with the excitement of a culinary wanderlust fulfilled and all the comforts of coming home again, Eat This Book proves there’s really no reason to eat out when the food from your own kitchen can be so delicious.

Starter Sourdough: The Step-by-Step Guide to Sourdough Starters, Baking Loaves, Baguettes, Pancakes, and More


Carroll Pellegrinelli - 2019
    Starter Sourdough helps you get the tricky starter process down pat, so you can have mouthwatering loaves, rolls, baguettes—and even cakes and cookies!This guide simplifies the process of making your own starter so it’s accessible to anyone, no matter your skill level. Keep your tasty new creation alive and thriving with the help of clear instructions accompanied by beautiful photographs. Then try your hand at baking Perfect Italian Sourdough, Sourdough Marble Rye Bread, Double Piecrust, Sourdough Pretzels, Sourdough Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnuts, and more.Inside Starter Sourdough, you’ll find: Great start—Master the secret to a good sourdough bread using this basic starter recipe: just flour, water, and a little attention. Creative variations—Craft whole grain breads, pizza dough, biscuits, and cake—there’s a huge variety of recipes to explore, all from your starter. Nonstop starter—Sustain a hearty, long-lasting starter with a simple weekly feeding schedule, so it will repay you in baked goods for years to come. Put a unique twist on baked goods with Starter Sourdough!

Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes


Alison Roman - 2017
    But all of the recipes in Dining In have one thing in common: they make even the most oven-phobic or restaurant-crazed person want to stay home and cook. They prove that casual doesn't have to mean boring, simple doesn't have to be uninspired, and that more steps or ingredients don't always translate to a better plate of food.Vegetable-forward but with an affinity for a mean steak and a deep regard for fresh fish, Dining In is all about building flavor and saving time. Alison's ingenuity seduces seasoned cooks, while her warm, edgy writing makes these recipes practical and approachable enough for the novice. With 125 recipes for effortlessly chic dishes that are full of quick-trick techniques (think slathering roast chicken in anchovy butter, roasting citrus to ramp up the flavor, and keeping boiled potatoes in the fridge for instant crispy smashed potatoes), she proves that dining in brings you just as much joy as eating out.

Appetites: A Cookbook


Anthony Bourdain - 2016
    And for many years, first as a chef, later as a world-traveling chronicler of food and culture on his CNN series Parts Unknown, he has made a profession of understanding the appetites of others. These days, however, if he’s cooking, it’s for family and friends.Appetites, his first cookbook in more than ten years, boils down forty-plus years of professional cooking and globe-trotting to a tight repertoire of personal favorites—dishes that everyone should (at least in Mr. Bourdain’s opinion) know how to cook. Once the supposed "bad boy" of cooking, Mr. Bourdain has, in recent years, become the father of a little girl—a role he has embraced with enthusiasm. After years of traveling more than 200 days a year, he now enjoys entertaining at home. Years of prep lists and the hyper-organization necessary for a restaurant kitchen, however, have caused him, in his words, to have "morphed into a psychotic, anally retentive, bad-tempered Ina Garten."The result is a home-cooking, home-entertaining cookbook like no other, with personal favorites from his own kitchen and from his travels, translated into an effective battle plan that will help you terrify your guests with your breathtaking efficiency.