Cookbooks: the gift that keeps on giving!

Cookbooks

I guess with new life in the house, I haven't been reading cookbooks like I usually do. However, I do still read and below are the cookbooks on my list to check out.

Here are my latest recommendations, many by authors whose cookbooks I already have.

Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed  Bryant Terry does it again (and again). His Vegan Soul Kitchen changed my cooking. I think this has more of a diaspora bent, but it is quite in the line of his usual fare. Great for newcomers to his style, but I don't see anything groundbreaking for those who have his other books.

I've been meaning to pick up Pati Jinich's Mexican Table: The Secrets of Real Mexican Home Cooking. I get sucked into her PBS show. She has a pretty songbird voice and quick, flavorful recipes. I'm betting her tres leches recipe is the truth.

The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food I really like Vietnamese food and like the influences of France, especially for the desserts.

Plenty More, by Yotam Ottolenghi helps along the adage, "Eat your vegetables!" Infinitely easier when armed with this cookbook and "Plenty", "Jerusalem" (my favorite) and "Ottolenghi".

I am curious to peruse Mama Dip's Kitchen, named after a North Carolinian's woman's restaurant. Plenty of southern cooking recipes I often yearn to make.

For the vegan potty mouth: Thug Kitchen. I will just leave it there.

B. Smith is on my mind, given her Alzheimer's disease diagnosis and recent struggles. I love this cookbook and use it often.

Marcus Off-Duty is probably closest to the way I cook. Samuelsson's chicken-fried steak on salad juxtaposed with quinoa with coconut, broccoli and cauliflower exemplify the meaty and earthy sides of indulgence, yet balance each other nicely.

It is now my goal in life to get invited over to Dorie Greenspan's home in Paris for dessert. But for now, I will consult this cookbook.

"You are what you eat" is an oft-quipped phrase, but I didn't curtail my wheat intake until I witnessed my newborn suffer. She is what I eat, too, at least for now. So, after a gastrointestinal consultation, I cut out wheat and dairy from my diet, adding back limited dairy. Every time I try some wheat, I am reminded that it is no longer welcome in my temple! As a food lover, cook and inquisitive person, I've thought of many ways to "have my cake and eat it too." I layer cheeses, turkey pepperoni on tomatoes, kale and onions sans crust for veggie pizza; I use chestnuts, coconut, tree nuts and flax to make delicious cookies and wrap blanched kale leaves around my favorite hot dogs topped with ketchup, onions, tomatoes and homemade cole slaw. But I still have a ways to go, so I will probably consult Dr. Davis' latest Wheat Belly cookbook.

You are probably wondering: How do I feed my voracious cookbook appetite? The "library". I get hardcover and Kindle library books; the latter I use through Overdrive, an app that links to my library and library card and enables me read and return books all day, every day. It is 1000% free and so convenient!!!!