There’s a version of me who reads cookbooks for fun, enjoys meal planning, loves trying new recipes, and feels my heart swell several sizes too big whenever a new cookbook list drops.

I’m currently not that version of myself. In fact, I’m in a bit of a cooking funk.

I can’t quite put my finger on the reason. I think summer broke something in me. Resting, swimming, and reading became the priority and meal planning suddenly felt like too much work. So I let myself lean into easier rhythms and do the bare minimum. I trusted things would fall back into place.

But now it’s almost October and I’m questioning why I haven’t gotten my groove back. Did I lose my joy of cooking? If so, how do I find it again? Where is it hiding? Do I just need to try harder? (admittedly, “trying harder” is never a good solution for me, but it always feels like the thing I should be doing).

Meanwhile, the people I love who live in this house still need to be fed. And I’m not sure how to explain it, but I think that sentence is what is going to see me through this season. Cooking might feel different, but some things haven’t changed. My kids still love my banana chocolate chip muffins and freak out when it’s pasta night. We’ve got Taco Tuesday locked in. And there’s always Italian Chicken Soup (my favorite soup of all time!) to cozy up with as the weather changes.

I’m trusting that if I keep showing up—if I keep cooking for my loved ones, keep pulling out the cutting board, keep chopping the onions and stirring the pasta—the joy will return. And when it does, it probably will look different than it did before. Can I be okay with that? Can I give myself grace for this season and let it be what it is (instead of trying to fix it immediately)? I hope so. 💛

Writing this newsletter is one small way I’m showing up today. I’m worried I don’t have enough to tell you about, but at the very least we have one wonderful cookbook (plus a bonus one!) to discuss and one delicious salad to add to your repertoire. So let’s get into it!

Cookbooks:

I DREAM OF DINNER (So You Don’t Have To): Low-Effort, High-Reward Recipes |
Is it any wonder that the book I’ve reached for most often lately is the one that promises to plan dinner for me?! I think not. I’m learning that if is the one who is dreaming up dinner for us, we are in very, very good hands.

This is a great cookbook. I am saying that with authority, even though I’ve only made a handful of recipes from it thus far. Sometimes, you just know (and it helps that so many of you love it too!). The organization is smart, the recipes are straightforward, the headnotes are the shortest and sweetest things I’ve ever read, and the food is GOOD. It feels fresh & timeless, which is a tricky balance to strike in a cookbook.

Truly, I barely made a dent in the recipes. But I’m such a fan and now can’t wait for Ali’s new cookbook that will be coming out soon! Here’s are a few things I loved!

1. The Oven Quesadillas are a keeper of a recipe at our house. I’ve made them at least 3 times since having this cookbook and I don’t plan to stop. My kids love them, we love them; enough said. They are crispy, melty, and especially good with chicken.

   

2. The Cheddar Broccoli w/ mustard crumbs was such a great spin on roasted broccoli. The mustard crumbs were delightful and added such a good crunch!

3. The All the Time Chicken Thighs were so easy and flavorful! I practiced my grilling skills and loved having enough for leftovers.

   

4. The Lemon-Pepper Chicken & Potatoes recipe was SO DELICIOUS. I’m so sad I didn’t get a picture of it. But I already have it bookmarked to make again. If you’re sensing a chicken theme, it’s because we 1) eat a lot of chicken around here and we 2) love a cookbook the offers a variety of good chicken recipes. This cookbook has 45 pages of recipes in the chicken section alone!

5. The One-Pan Chicken Piccata & Orzo was the easiest and most comforting dish to make. So cozy, the leftovers were a dream, and I loved that it was all made in one pan!

   

DON’T THINK ABOUT DINNER |
Ahhh, another cookbook that simplifies dinner! I’ve had this book for a while now and it truly has become a weeknight hero for me. I’ll pull it out when I’m just not sure what to make, but know I have enough ingredients on hand that could turn into something. is crushing it on Substack right now and has the most incredible meal plans. If you don’t know her stuff, check it out!

Recipes I’ve loved: Stovetop Beef & Bean Taco Skillet, Lemony Chicken Thighs & Rice, Weeknight Honey-Garlic Turkey Skillet, Garlic & Herb Spatchcock Chicken and Deconstructed Turkey Lasagna Skillet.

Books:

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
📚 I listened to the audiobook of this recently in preparation for the new movie coming out in October (!!). It had been decades since I had read this book and it was absolutely wonderful to revisit it. I recommend listening on audio; I felt totally immersed in the story and loved every minute.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
📚 I first heard about this book from the wonderful . And then one of my dear friends texted me to ask if I’ve read it, which was enough for me to finally give it a go. This novel is the first in the Neapolitan Quartet. It’s about friendship, growing up, poverty, Naples in the 1950s, and a whole lot of layered and emotionally complex themes. As I was reading, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, but then I got to the end and was convinced to continue on in the series.

What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience by
📚 This book has been a balm for my soul. I’m so grateful for the ministry of Tish and her ability to write with clear honesty & hope. This book asks the question: how do we stay steady in our faith during seasons of weariness and burnout? It’s so timely and wonderful and I want to underline every single thing I’ve read.

Other enthusiasms:

I have only one enthusiasm to tell you about and it’s this:

I’ve eaten the same salad nearly every day for the past month and a half. And I would love to tell you how to make it!

The thing about salads—for me—is they need to be 1) easy to make, 2) easy to repeat and 3) absolutely delicious. I will die on this hill.

Make my own dressing? No. I can’t. Roast some squash? Absolutely not. Bake my own croutons? Not today (or most days)!

So we’ve established the rules (easy! repeatable! delicious!). Once you make the chicken, it’s a breeze to throw together.

THE SALAD OF MY DREAMS (working title):
Ingredients:

• Arugula

• Seasoned chicken breast (recipe linked below)

• Cherry tomatoes

• Cucumber

• Gouda cheese

• Italian dressing (I love Olive Garden’s version, no lie)

• Squeeze of lemon + some salt

Directions:

First, make the best chicken recipe ever (please know this tutorial has some language/is a bit crass—I’m sorry!) and chop up how much you want to eat (the flavors of this salad depend on this specific chicken recipe, so don’t skip this!!*).

Then, grab a big bowl. Fill it with a giant handful of arugula. Toss in your chicken. Grab some good cherry tomatoes and a cucumber; chop & add. Cut off a hunk of gouda cheese, cube it up, throw it in the bowl. Add a bit of dressing (not too much!), a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkling of salt. Toss. Eat. Realize you have everything in your fridge to make this again tomorrow. Repeat. That’s it!

*You do have some liberty as to which seasonings you pick. Right now, I am loving Kinder’s Buttery Poultry Blend and Dan-O’s Cajun Seasoning.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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If you have been around me lately, there is a 95% chance I have talked your ear off about two specific things:

1) Finishing my personal slow read of Lonesome Dove, a gorgeous Western novel that was definitely outside of my usual reading journey and which contains some of my favorite book characters ever written, and 2) obsessing over every single thing I now make on our pellet grill smoker. Is there a connection between these two things? I’ll let you decide.

A bit more context: somewhere in the middle of our most recent heat wave, I was complaining to my husband that I couldn’t make zucchini bread because it was too dang hot to turn on the oven. He reminded me that it was theoretically very possible to make anything on the pellet grill … even baked things. Guess what? He was right. I whipped up some zucchini bread, threw it on the smoker, and never looked back.

So I’m here to tell you: I’m now a person who bakes things using a smoker. And I LOVE IT.

Things I have made on our wood pellet grill in the past week:

• Zucchini cake/bread

• Blueberry crisp

• Cowboy cookie bars

• Focaccia Pizza (!!)

• BFF Brownie Cake

• Blueberry muffins

Honestly, I am just getting started. My enthusiasm is unhinged. The sky is the limit and the pellet grill is my muse!!

One of my friends who listened to me gush about this suggested I rebrand my Substack to “The Smokin’ Hot Baker.” I don’t think I’m going to do that because 1) I have standards and 2) see #1. But it is true that summer me is a different person, one who now bakes on a smoker that is, indeed, hot. If you want to string those words together into “smokin’ hot baker,” that’s a choice I will allow but won’t personally be promoting at this time. 💀 😂

Here are a few things I’ve made, a few things I’ve learned, and a few recipes I think you should try. If you don’t have a pellet grill, don’t sweat it! Everything here can be made in your oven. Also, don’t miss the FAQ section at the end!

1. Zucchini cake/bread

The cake that started it all. I’m calling it a cake, because I made it in a cake pan, and because I was two seconds away from making a cream cheese frosting for the top, which would have put it decidedly in the “cake” category. However, it is a traditional zucchini bread recipe and it’s the only one I ever want to make when I have zucchini to use up!

Recipe: Ultimate Zucchini Bread by . Don’t skip the sugar on top!

2. Blueberry Crisp

A recipe I have made for YEARS and one I will make every time I have fresh Michigan blueberries on hand. This one is so adaptable. I like to sprinkle some brown sugar over the blueberries (before adding the crisp topping), and make a half oil/half butter mix for the crisp.

Recipe: Blueberry Crisp by .

3. Cowboy Cookie Bars

My friend Peg brought a pan of these bars—warm out of the oven—to a playdate last week. I think they were completely demolished in five minutes. So delicious and easy! I now want my party trick to be showing up with a warm pan of these bars. I think I let these bars bake a few minutes too long on the smoker … I’m still figuring out bake times!

Notes from Peg: This recipe is for cookies, but it can easily make a 9x13 pan if you just want to bake it all at once. If you like peanut butter, it’s worth adding a 1/2 cup to this batter. Pro tip: she recommends doubling the batch and rolling some of the dough as cookies to freeze and bake off later!

Recipe for Cowboy Cookies below, thanks to Peg! (I LOVE a recipe share from a church cookbook, esp one that includes a coffee mug stain!!).

Cowboy Cookies Recipe

444KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

4. Focaccia Pizza

I love this pizza SO MUCH and have been making it in my oven for years. The best thing about this recipe is you can decide at 2pm on a Friday to start the dough; it rises in a few hours and then is good to go! Baking this on a pellet grill resulted in a crispy bottom that was divine. I have plans to make it again this weekend!

Recipes: Sheet Pan Pizza by (this recipe is also found in her cookbook Nothing Fancy)

5. BFF Brownie Cake

I sat outside and read this STUNNING new book by Maggie O’Farrell while this chocolate cake baked on the smoker. It was a moment of delight in the middle of my week!

This is one recipe I can’t share here, but you can find it in ’s new cookbook, Anytime Cakes! My friend Ann, who is an incredible baker, recommended this cookbook to me; I can’t wait to try sooooo many more things out of it.

6. Blueberry Muffins

The easiest and best muffins. One bowl, with lemon zest and tons of blueberries. I made them as jumbo muffins this time around (and I’m making another batch of them as I write this!).

Recipe: Perfect Blueberry Muffins by

FAQ’s about making things on a pellet grill:

Q: Do your bakes tastes smoky?
A: No, honestly they don’t!! You can adjust the smoke setting on the pellet grill, which helps. At the most, I notice a “cooked in the wide outdoors” flavor, which makes me feel like I’m camping, but without all the effort, and also suggests that I could have been a main character in Lonesome Dove (I absolutely could not have been, I am not nearly tough enough!).

Q: How does this work?
A: The grill functions as a wood pellet-fired outdoor oven for convection-style cooking. The grill has a a fan, which helps the heat stay well-regulated and consistent (perfect for baking things!). This is the pellet grill we have! We love cooking all sorts of things on here, esp chicken and sheet pan dinners.

Q: Is the cook/bake time the same as it would be in an oven?
A: Things cook hot and fast on this grill. I continue to experiment with preheating it a good 5-10 degrees lower, and also watching my bake times closely. Things can go from almost-done to overdone in a shockingly brief amount of time.

Q: Do you just put your pan on the grill?
A: I put everything I bake on top of a cookie sheet. It helps the bottom of bakes to not get too dark, and also helps with transferring things in and out easily.

Q: Why are you obsessed with this so much?
A: Tbh, I have been feeling very uninspired by summer cooking this year. Nothing was really lighting me up or appealing to me. It took me a minute to remember that it’s good for me to change things up and challenge myself in new ways. I’m riding the high of this for now!

That’s a wrap for now! ✌🏼 Off to figure out my next thing to smoke … maybe cookies?

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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Over the years, I’ve had a few friends ask me for cookbook recommendations. I usually respond with an over-the-top, extra detailed, enthusiastically curated list of my favorites, hoping that somewhere among the stacks, they will find their next favorite cookbook. One time I even made an entire google spreadsheet for a friend, complete with color-coded sections of recipes from cookbooks I especially love.

What I’m saying: it’s hard for me to be chill about cookbooks. 🤩

I don’t think my cookbook collection is particularly large, but it’s full of heart, with well-worn pages that have seen me through so many life moments. I can’t tell you exactly how many cookbooks I own, but I can tell you which cookbook has the best brown butter cupcakes, which one has that perfect eggplant pasta, which one taught me how to spatchcock a chicken, which one I pull out every winter, and which one(s) I return to again and again.

This is the first part of my cookbook collection series. I couldn’t possibly sum up everything here, but it’s a start. I still plan to continue with my deep dives into cookbooks, while also making space for other cookbook and food-related posts like this. It’s a journey, I’m adapting and learning as I go, etc., etc. 😉

So let’s get into it with part one! Here are seven cookbooks I love and cook from regularly:

1. Repertoire by Jessica Battilana

I’m starting with one of my dearest and most loved cookbooks: Repertoire by . The tag line for this book is “All the recipes you need” and while that feels like a bold claim, I really think Jessica pulls it off. This is one of the cookbooks I reach for the most. It’s the one I gift to people and it’s the one that recently made the rounds in my friend group. It’s just really delicious!

Recipes I adore from this book: Harissa & Honey Chicken Thighs, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Candy Pork, Beef-and-Pork Meatballs in Tomato sauce, and the Maple-Blueberry Cornmeal Cake. You really can’t go wrong!

2. Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman

I’m guessing the work of is well-known territory for many of us, but it’s good to be reminded of a good thing. If I had to pick only one of her cookbooks to keep, it would be this one. It has all the vibes I love & all the recipes I want to eat.

Two of the recipes I’ve made the most over my cooking career (can we call it a career if it’s simply something I do for me & my people? lol) come from this book: Overnight Foccacia, Tonight (which also makes the most INSANE pizza), and Pot of Pasta w/ Broccoli Rabe and Chorizo Bread Crumbs (which I’ve totally adapted and made my own: see this post where I share my version of this recipe!).

3. Ripe Figs by Yasmin Khan

Oh, this cookbook has so much heart. I adore and think that this cookbook, which gathers recipes & stories from refugees, is one of the most beautiful expressions of a cookbook I’ve ever seen. This is the cookbook I pull out every winter. It invites you in to linger, savor, and enjoy. But there are also SO many vibrant and fresh recipes, so I wouldn’t limit it to any specific season! In fact, I might pull it out this summer and see what else I fall in love with.

Recipes I return to again and again: Beef Stifado, Pomegranate & Sumac Chicken, Chana Masala. A few others I’ve loved: Sweet Tahini Buns, Date & Walnut Brownies, and Bougatsa.

4. Simply Julia by Julia Turshen

This cookbook is splattered and worn—signs of true love. I love the approachable food, the heartfelt essays, the good flavors and the unfussy vibes. ’s recipes are consistently DELICIOUS and this one will always be a favorite book on my shelf!

Recipes I love: Stewed Chickpeas w/ Peppers + Zucchini, Arayes w/ Yogurt Sauce, Honeymoon Chicken, and Pear, Polenta & Almond Cake.

5. My Kitchen in Rome

This was one of the first cookbooks I bought when I was starting to build my collection. It’s such a cozy read and every time I pull it out, I find something new I want to make. I appreciate how invites us into her home kitchen and makes the whole process of Italian cooking feel inviting and doable.

Recipes I return to often: Fettuccine w/ rich meat sauce, Pasta and Potato Soup, and the Ricotta and Lemon Bundt Cake.

6. Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman

Oh, will always be a cooking queen to me. Her blog was my on-ramp to cooking and I learned SO much from her. Her first cookbook (not pictured here) is literally falling apart on my shelf. But this cookbook, her second one, is perhaps even more beloved to me, as there are a few recipes in here I reference often.

Recipes that are truly SO GOOD: Grilled Yogurt Flatbreads, One-pan Farro w/ Tomatoes, Chicken and Rice, Street Cart Style (couldn’t possibly count the number of times I’ve made this!!), and her Bake Sale Winning-est Gooey Oat Bars.

7. Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden

Another well-known cookbook that hits all the marks by . I bought a fancy pepper grinder years ago because of this book. I avoid buying tomatoes in winter because of this book. I love eggplant because of this book. I could go on, but the short of it is this: the recipes are spot on and the seasonal approach to vegetables is magical. 🪄

Recipes I love: Rigatoni and Eggplant alla Norma, Swiss Chard, Leek, Herb, and Ricotta Crostata, Tomato-Rubbed Grilled Bread Topped w/ Tomato Salad (UNREAL in flavor and ridiculously easy to pull off), and Peperonata.

That’s a wrap for now! ✌🏼 I hope this inspires you to return to some cookbooks you love, or find a few new favorites that you can rely on. Oh, and I’m already working on my round-up of my best-loved baking books. Be back sometime with that one!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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As someone who adores cookbooks—the reading of them, the cooking from them, the buying too many of them—I always have several new books on my shelf that I have yet to really crack open. I know they are there for me when I need them or decide to dive in. And, at the risk of sounding slightly unhinged, I really believe that cookbooks often come to you in particular seasons, ready to teach you something about yourself that you never quite realized before.

When I finally pulled this cookbook, Start Here, off the shelf a few months ago, it was during a time when I stressed and worried about a lot of things in my life. I felt buried under expectations and fearful I wouldn’t be able to do anything well. I wanted to feel capable and confident in my work and in my home, but I mostly felt stretched too thin and very uncertain about next steps.

This cookbook offered me the gift of being a beginner. Beneath my doubts and questions, I found freedom in this confession: there’s so much I don’t know. What if I say that out loud more often? For me, it takes the pressure off and invites a curiosity into the way I approach my days.

Maybe the point isn’t to always feel capable or confident in my kitchen … or in my life. And so I wonder: what else I can learn if I’m willing to admit that I’m often just a beginner? I’m excited to find out.

Alright, let’s talk more about this cookbook and what I’ve been up to lately!

Cookbooks:

START HERE |
I absolutely have to give credit where credit is due: the reason I even know about this cookbook is because of & , the brilliant duo behind who gushed about this book for a long while before I finally sat up and paid attention. They were right: it’s a GEM and totally worth adding to your collection!

is the gracious and approachable teacher we all want in our kitchen. Her attention to detail and her care for the process of making food and feeding people well is SO evident. I think what I loved about this cookbook was the breadth of knowledge that’s paired right alongside a recipe you can totally whip up on a Tuesday night. It’s adaptable to where you are at. And it’s not just a cookbook for new cooks! Truly, there is SO much to learn, no matter what level or skill set you bring to the table (or cutting board!).

I spent a few months in this book, and I barely made a dent in the recipes. If you’ve made things from this cookbook, let me know what you loved so I can try it next!

1. The Monday Chicken Dinner for Winners made me legit feel like a winner! I FINALY learned how to properly carve a chicken! Sohla has the best step-by-step photos and I now only ever want this chicken, with these roasted potatoes and schmaltzy lettuce (!!) for all my future Mondays.

   

2. The Chickpea & Swiss Chard Stew is simple, flavorful, and perfect for leftovers. It’s a super adaptable version of chana masala and it’s so good over rice with yogurt on top!

3. The Taco-Party Black Beans recipe is already on repeat over here! When tells you to make something, you listen. 😉 The beauty of these beans is that they are SO easy to make and truly are the perfect accompaniment to weekly taco night.

   

Worth mentioning:

• Walnut Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: Ohhhhh, these were delicious. I will ALWAYS say yes to a brown butter recipe. These cookies do require a bit of work and a whole lot of patience (they have to chill 24 hours before you bake them!) but they are worth the wait! I loved stashing some in my freezer to bake off when I needed them.

  

• Waldorf Salad w/ Buttermilk Honey-Mustard Dressing: I brought this to a friend dinner and while it wasn’t the star of the show, it had strong supporting character energy. It’s a bright and refreshing change to boring salads. It’s full of apples, celery, toasted walnuts and grapes with a wonderful creamy dressing. Just typing this out makes me want to eat it again RIGHT now.

• Brothy Same-Day Slow-Roasted Whole Chicken: This chicken was DELICIOUS. The genius is in the recipe, which comes together quickly and tucks in your oven to slow-roast (although I will say it took a lot longer in my oven to cook than the recipe states!). Served with crusty bread, a simple salad and LOTS of butter, it’s a great recipe to have handy!

• Bisteeya-Inspired Phyllo Chicken Pie: I made this because I adored the idea of eating phyllo for dinner. This pie is full of ground chicken, almonds, warming spices, and golden raisins. I prepped the filling in advance, and then later assembled everything together and baked it off. I am still such a newbie when it comes to working with phyllo (it’s okay to be a beginner!) and I was glad this time I actually remembered to defrost my dough ahead of time! Small wins.

HUCKLEBERRY: Recipes, Stories, and Secrets from our Kitchen | Zoe Nathan
I was feeling a bit uninspired in my kitchen last week and decided to pull out an old favorite cookbook. It’s been years since I’ve opened this one and I forgot just how GOOD it is. I found a recipe for salty caramel sauce to add to lattes and had a clear and present thought: I need this immediately. So I spent a happy morning making something JUST for fun and it was such a mood boost. I then batched up a few jars for friends (and my mom!) and got to spread the joy further! More recipes just for the fun of it, please. 🫶🏼

Books:

Love Like a Mother: How the Sacred Work of Motherhood Reveals the Maternal Heart of God by
📚 My friend wrote a book!!! And it’s just now out in the world this week! 🥳 In my early days of motherhood I came across the writings of Elizabeth; her work was truly an anchor for me as I navigated all the hard and beautiful days of everyday life. She became a cheerleader and friend to me—I’m so grateful for her continued writing and am so excited for this book. If you need a gift for the mothers in your life, snag a copy of this one!!

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
📚 I cannot stop gushing about this book. I ADORED IT. It’s imaginative, unexpected, and engaging. If you haven’t read it yet, this is my advice: don’t read anything about it (not even the back cover!) and just dive right in.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
📚 This one was on my TBR list for years. I’m so glad I finally read it! Doerr does a remarkable job weaving together stories & timelines in a way that keeps you turning the pages. It is a commitment, so I would pick it up if you’re feeling ready to get lost in a world (or several worlds!).

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
📚 This one was recommended by my friend Hannah and was definitely outside of my comfort zone. At one point I almost stopped listening to the audiobook because I was CREEPED OUT, which is definitely the overall vibe of the book. There’s a big house, lots of secrets, and people who are acting in confusing, bizarre ways. I’d compare it to Rebecca, but scarier? You might be tougher than I am and have no problem with this book! I’m a wimp!

Other enthusiasms:

Listening to this album by Raye, making these lovely chocolate chip cookies by , discovering The Book Club podcast (!!), drinking this Poppi flavor, playing bocce ball for the first time, painting with my kids while watching these watercolor tutorials, and reading on my back deck in the sunshine. ☀️

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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It’s been a year since I started this little Substack project. A year of writing about cookbooks, gushing about recipes I love, and sharing the small things that bring me deep joy. 💛

I’ve learned that cookbook people are the best people, food is infinitely better when it’s eaten with those you love, and it’s really okay to do less. I’ve learned that the most beloved recipes are invitations: they ask you to come closer, settle in, and listen closely. I’ve learned that sourdough is a wonderful way to build fortitude in my life (a virtue that doesn’t come naturally to me!).

In truth, so many of the lessons I learned this past year about cooking are actually lessons about living. I can try, I can fail; I can challenge myself, I can rest; I can settle into this present moment and trust that the work of my hands matters.

Right now, this present moment includes freezing weather and piles of snow. ☃️ Of course I’m dreaming of sunnier, warmer days. But I’m here—in this time and place—hoping and believing that the work of slicing an onion or stewing some apples on the stove will nourish and support us through these dark, cold months.

Here’s how I cozied up the past month!

Cookbooks:

THE SECRET OF COOKING |
This cookbook has been on my radar for ages, but I finally got a copy in December and I’ve been lost in it ever since. The magic of this cookbook (for me) is in the writing of . She can take the simplest thing (carrots! water!) and write a 3-page essay about it that will make you want to cry with joy and immediately start cooking.

So yes, the essays in this cookbook are worth it alone. And the recipes are delicious and cozy. If you’re a person who likes to read cookbooks like they are novels, you’ll adore this one. With chapter titles like, “Cut yourself some slack,” and “Treat cooking as a remedy (because it is),” this cookbook invites us to step into the kitchen with a mindset of honesty, wholeness, and joy. I loved this quote from Bee:

This book sprang from personal experience. I wanted to crack the code of how to fit cooking into the everyday mess and imperfection of all our lives without it seeming like yet another undoable thing on the to-do list or yet another reason to berate ourselves for falling short.

That’s a goal I can get behind!

Here are the highlights from what I made in January!

What I loved:

1. The Chicken Milanesa w/ Nutmeg Mashed Potatoes and Chimichurri is my favorite recipe I made from this book, hands down. I’m leading with the best! The chicken is divine and the nutmeg mashed potatoes were a revelation. Also, she recommends you pair this was the simplest arugula salad that’s just SO GOOD.

2. The Molasses and Oat Soda Bread is easy, cozy, and delicious. Bee writes, “Even if you think you can’t make bread, you can make this.” I happily slathered butter and fig jam on my warm-from-the-oven slices!

3. The Ten-Minute Chana Masala was something I ate for lunch 3 days in a row. It reheated perfectly and truly came together quickly.

   

Worth mentioning:

• Chicken Stew: This recipe was slotted under the header, “two stews for tired people.” Check, I’m tired and check, I want stew! This was such a comforting dish to eat. My kids thought it was weird. But kids are unreliable taste tasters, ya know? 😉 I still would make it again!

  

• Orange and Cardamom Shortbread Squares: Oooo I loved this recipe. These buttery, flaky bars—with a kick of orange and the warming spice of cardamom—were the perfect winter dessert, in my opinion!

• No-Knead Herb Garden Focaccia w/ Slow-Start Roasted Chicken: This was a great pairing of two recipes! Yes, another chicken recipe…but listen: we eat a lot of chicken around here, ha! My chicken took a LOT longer to cook than she said, so be aware of that. But the focaccia was decently easy and came out with that perfect crisp bottom in my cast-iron skillet. I slathered an untold number of slices with peach jam! 🍑

TARTINE BREAD |
I was gifted this book for Christmas (thanks, mom!) and finally took a stab at his opening sourdough recipe: sourdough country bread. I was sooooo pleased by the result! I thought his directions were fantastic and I can’t wait to make this my go-to bread book.

Books:

War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
📚 I joined another slow read with for this year, and I’m thrilled to be diving into War and Peace!! It’s a chapter a day for the full year, and yes of course I’m behind on the schedule, but that’s okay! The story is drawing me in and I can’t wait to keep slowly making my way through.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
📚 After finishing this book, I texted my friend and said, “I kinda loathed all the characters, but now I miss them.” That’s how I felt about this book. It was my first time reading Donna Tartt; she seems incredible at character development (even unlikable ones!) and knowing how to slowly tease out a story. This one was definitely in the dark academia camp, as it’s set on a college campus with students who form a unique bond and wrestle with issues of belonging, friendship, and morality.

Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
📚 I read this to my kids and we really enjoyed it! We’re slowly making our way through the whole series. Farmer Boy is next for us!

Other enthusiasms:

Remembering that pan-banging cookies are a thing (thanks to Sarah Kieffer!) and making these delicious snickerdoodle cookies, eating a piece or two of this chocolate nearly every day, listening to this album, reading the coziest cookbook list by the always-fabulous , also reading anything and everything that & write about food and life and living in Spain (this 2025 recipe round-up they put together is INSANE, there’s so much goodness there!), watching season 2 of The Pitt, using this peppermint mocha syrup that my amazing sister-in-law made and shared with me (it’s perfect for stirring into coffee/espresso!), and checking out too many books from the library, knowing full well I’ll never read half of them. 🫠

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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This last month was so different for me, in so many good ways. I didn’t pick a cookbook to cook through, opting instead to follow my own whims in the kitchen and make whatever sounded good (hint: cookies & soup!). I also hopped on a plane and spent three wonderful days in Boston where I joined my husband at his work conference and also got a lot of solo time to explore the city. It was wonderful.

I’m always delighted by a few writers on Substack who publish great lists of simple things, like and . Following their inspiration, I’m rounding up a few things I have to tell you about from this past month:

1. Boston, Babka, & Bookstores

If you end up anywhere near Boston, the babkas from Bakey will change your life. It’s now my particular goal to learn how to make a babka that tastes even somewhat close to the perfection of their loaves. Another bright spot for me in Boston was visiting a bunch of bookstores, including the charming Trident Booksellers & Cafe, where I happily spent a few hours drinking hot chocolate and browsing endless stacks of books. And then my husband and I visited MFA Boston, where I fell in love with the work of Ruth Ruysch.

2. Alison Roman’s New Cookbook

Alison Roman is one of the people who taught me how to cook. Her new cookbook, Something From Nothing, is great and feels like something I’ll reach for often (so far I’ve made the pot of chickpeas, which was a cozy and approachable recipe!).

3. Batched Cocktail/Mocktail

I made my first batched cocktail for Thanksgiving and it did not disappoint. Here’s the recipe for Apple Ginger Fizz, which came together pretty quickly and is endlessly adaptable!

On The Rocks

Apple Ginger Fizz (Batched Cocktail/Mocktail)

crisp, cozy, and just the right amount of spicy. this drink really does taste like fall in a glass and is perfect to serve at a holiday gathering. i always batch my mocktails for parties because shaking each one individually is a recipe for chaos and sticky counters and somehow i always end up messing up the measurements…

Read more

a year ago · 77 likes · 4 comments · Olivia Noceda

4. ’s Focaccia

I wrote last month all about Samin’s new cookbook, Good Things, and I’m still pulling it off my bookshelf for recipe inspiration. I made her focaccia and it was dreamy and everything she promised it would be: sky-high, chewy, salty, delicious.

5. Italian Sausage and Orzo Soup

This is just a really wonderful soup! Make it if you can! 🍲🍲🍲

6. Josh Garrel’s New Album

If you need a peaceful album to listen to as we begin this Advent season, check out this one!

7. Chocolate Tart

I discovered this chocolate tart recipe from and made it for a Christmas party this week. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time making a recipe: I learned a surprising way to make a french tart dough (it involves browning butter in the oven!!) and also learned that you can add hot coffee to caramel and it will turn out! Can’t wait to make this one again. 🤩

8. My Favorite Cookies

Is it too soon to once again share the recipe for my favorite cookies? I’m gonna say it’s fine, because it’s cookie season! I have this recipe taped inside one of my kitchen cabinets; that’s how much I love these cookies!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Oat Cookies

That’s a wrap for now! ✌🏼 I’m starting to dream about what to make in my annual Christmas cookie boxes, so if you have any recipes I should try, let me know!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. Wishing you a peaceful Advent and cozy Christmas season. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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I had the highest of hopes for October. I’ll just tell you my goal right out of the gate: I wanted to make 31 recipes in 31 days from Samin Nosrat’s new cookbook, Good Things. Unhinged? Yes. But, because I love a good challenge, I felt like it was totally feasible.

It was not.

You see, as a dear friend reminded me, “goals can’t be made in a vacuum.” And dang it, she was right. By October 11, the realities of my life bumped up against my best laid plans and the result was not pretty. I had to reckon with the truth that I cared more about impressing others and less about my values of cooking from a place of joy, care, and love.

I lost the plot. I lost sight of my why. That’s the thing about performance and striving: it becomes about other people and the elusive hope that we’re somehow measuring up. But who gets to decide what’s good enough? And when can I take a nap? 😉

I abandoned my goal. I didn’t even come close. And I’m so glad for that. I still have to reckon with my tendency to hustle and chase validation, but the first step was admitting I can’t (and shouldn’t) do all the things.

I can honestly say: I’m so thankful for this cookbook. It’s beautiful and everything I hoped it would be. But more than that, it’s a tangible reminder to me of a good lesson I learned this past month, a lesson about how I want to live my days and how I want to move forward with grace, intention, and love.

Cookbooks:

GOOD THINGS: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love |
I’m pretty sure that described in the best way in one of her recent posts, saying, “In Samin we trust!” Yes! We trust her implicitly; this is why her new book was such a highly anticipated release. I’ve loved Samin’s work for so long (her podcast with , Home Cooking, is SUCH a bright spot for me) and I credit her with teaching me so much about what makes food taste good.

This cookbook is a delight: full of delicious recipes, detailed notes, and thoughtful essays. It’s the whole package, with recipes for anything you need, along with an entire guide for seasonal produce. Even if I had made 31 recipes (who was that girl? lol), I wouldn’t have begun to scratch the surface of all that’s found in these pages.

No surprise, Samin is still the wise teacher she’s always been. She’s here to help us cook food and gather people. I LOVE that. I will say, a lot of the recipes I made aren’t “quick and easy”—even some of the simpler recipes took me a while to make. But don’t let that deter you from grabbing a copy and picking out some recipes that sound good to you. 😍

Here are the highlights from what I made in October!

What I loved:

1. The Olive Oil Fried Bread is something I made so often, it’s now become a household staple. It’s very similar to ’s version in her cookbook, That Sounds So Good, and I was so happy to be reminded of how transformative it is to simply fry up some bread and eat it. 10/10.

   

2. The Creamy Tomato Soup was extra delicious and great for making ahead and reheating when you want it. I recommend pairing this soup with the bread above.

3. The Fluffy Pita Pockets were soooooo good. And fun to make! I got out the tahini & date syrup for dipping and could honestly eat that every day.

   

Worth mentioning:

• Crunchy Cabbage Slaw w/ Creamy Sesame Ginger Dressing: This was the salad that inspired Samin to write Good Things, so I knew I had to try it. It’s bright, tangy, and flavorful; I ended up putting the salad dressing on my lunch grain bowls for the next week.

  

• Sparkling Banana Bread: Worth all the hype. We devoured this so quickly, everyone loved it. My new favorite banana bread recipe for sure (plus I love when banana bread is baked in a square pan!!).

• Basic Crispy Rice: This was a fun and fairly easy recipe to make. I’m proud of how it turned out! I made it along with another recipe of hers, joojeh kabob roast chicken, and the pairing was wonderful.

  

Books:

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
📚 A friend recommended this book to me and I am so glad I picked it up. It’s moody, mysterious, and a bit dark. I’m not quite finished but can’t wait to see how it ends. I’m fully invested in the story that centers around Helen Graham, a woman with secrets and sadness who is trying to make a new life for herself and her son.

The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
📚 I worked at a bookstore all through college; this tiny little book by Brother Lawrence is one we would sell often. I’m so glad I finally read it (thanks to another friend’s recommendation at book club!). It’s remarkable how Brother Lawrence—who lived as a cook at a monastery in Paris—cultivated a quiet, constant awareness of God’s presence with him at all times. An encouraging, thought-provoking read.

Other enthusiasms:

Making pumpkin muffins as often as I can (NOTE: I take this pumpkin bread recipe from and just fill 8-9 jumbo muffin cups with the batter, bake for about 30-35 min, and it comes out perfect every time), burning my new favorite candle, taking daily walks, reading anything writes (her new post is incredible), and waiting for ’s new cookbook to arrive.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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When you take a break from something, there’s a temptation to return as a shinier version of yourself. There’s a pull to prove what you’ve done, how you’ve rested, and all the ways you’re now better, brighter, happier.

I threw around a few subject lines for this month and the one I kept saying to myself was, “She’s back, but she’s ✨tired✨.” I didn’t end up using it, but I found the honesty to be particularly helpful for me. Because yes, I did take a good break away from Substack (you guys, I even deleted the app off my phone, which mostly just made me sad, haha). And now I’m back (yay!). And yet—I’m the same me, if not a bit more tired than when I left. And that’s okay, it doesn’t have to be any other way.

The question I keep asking myself lately is this: what’s mine to hold, and what’s not? And when that question feels too big, I’m working to make it smaller: what’s mine to tend to today?

Today, I get to write about a very delicious month of cooking. I also get to wash a stack of dishes and pull out some leftovers and hopefully give thanks for this season of life, with all the messy, beautiful, and tiring things that are mine to hold. ❤️

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

Cookbooks:

NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS: Recipes That Make the Most of Your Time |
The best way I can describe this cookbook is that it seamlessly fit into my everyday life. I have a feeling would love that review, because it’s the reason she wrote this book: to give people “low-effort, high-reward recipes” to carry them through the week and into the weekend. ✌🏽

For Alexis, living through an intense season of caregiving forced her to re-assess the ways she was accustomed to getting dinner on the table. I think that’s why this cookbook feels authentic—it’s born out of a real life-experience of needing to cook faster and smarter, without sacrificing flavor.

—> And let me just say, I’m usually suspicious of the “make dinner quick!” cookbooks. But this is NOT that! It’s delicious and accessible, boasting an impressive variety of recipes, which you can totally mix + match depending on your mood and schedule.

🤩 Here are the highlights from what I made in September—13 recipes in all!

What I loved:

1. The Grilled Chicken Sandwiches are so good, we ate them twice this month. 😍 You start with a simple marinade for the chicken thighs, then grill them up, pop them in a bun, and add a few toppings. Absurdly easy and sooooo delicious!

2. The One-Pot Rice and Beans recipe made for a delicious dinner and many happy days of lunch leftovers. The flavors just got better with time.

   

3. The Turkey Butternut Squash Bowl is delightful. It’s so great to have a meat + veg recipe that’s easy to mix with farro or rice and top with whatever sounds good. This one I will absolutely be making again!

Worth mentioning:

• Udon Noodles w/ Peanut Sauce: Make a quick peanut sauce, boil some noodles for 3 minutes, and you’re basically done. If you love a good noodle + peanut sauce situation, you will LOVE this. Better than takeout, hands down.

  

• White Turkey Chicken Chili: I’m always on the hunt for good chili recipes that don’t take all day to make. This one was cozy and quick and had all the vibes I wanted as we ease into fall. 🍂

• Everything Bagel Tomato Panzanella: Some recipes are just fun to make. This one involves frying cubes of bread, making an everything bagel dressing (!!) and using up some late-summer produce. Delicious! Give me more food in giant bowls.

  

TO THE LAST BITE: Recipes and Ideas for Making the Most of Your Ingredients |
Different book, same author. 😏 What I need to tell you: there is a recipe in this cookbook—One-Bowl Salted Walnut Brownies—that I made three times this past month. They are incredible, with a crinkly top and a fabulous fudgy center you would swear is the same texture as flourless chocolate cake. I’ve made them both with and without walnuts and I don’t even have a favorite way, I just have a favorite new brownie recipe: this one. 🤎

(P.S. I recommend getting the cookbook, but you can also just find the brownie recipe + tutorial below) ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

One-Bowl Salted Walnut Brownies

Books:

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
📚 I’m slowly making my way through classics I missed in high school! This one was beautifully narrated by Donada Peters; I listened to most of it while taking walks around my neighborhood. A fascinating look at Puritan society and how people respond—personally and collectively—to complex issues of morality.

The Names by Florence Knapp
📚 I read this in a day and a half, which is WILDLY unusual for me. I couldn’t put it down. This stunning debut novel by Florence Knapp is so compelling, so heartbreaking, and so fascinating. The whole book hinges on this idea of a single choice—and the potential consequences of that choice. I don’t want to ruin it by saying more, but do know that domestic abuse is a major theme.

The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
📚 This is the third book I’ve read by Ann Patchett. I picked it up after reading a monthly newsletter by where she shared her personal challenge of reading all of Ann Patchett’s novels. I followed this inspiration and picked up her debut novel. It follows the story of Rose, a woman who decides to leave behind her current life and move to Kentucky to live at a school for unwed mothers. My review: this one wasn’t my favorite; it felt too long as a story and I didn’t especially love the characters.

Lovely War by Julia Berry
📚 This book is hard to describe because it has a bit of everything: WWI history, romance, Greek mythology, and jazz music (yes, music plays in the audiobook!). I thought the story was clever and well researched (this makes ALL the difference for historical novels!) and very cozy and sweet. I really felt like I stepped into the time period of WWI while listening to the book!

Other enthusiasms:

New episodes of the Home Cooking podcast with and , following along with and her Ireland cooking school adventures 😍, this warmer I finally broke down and bought for my sourdough starter, this cozy cooking video, the trailer for Hamnet (one of my favorite novels EVER), and my go-to soup recipe that’s stood the test of time.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛 See ya next month for more cooking adventures (get excited; I’m spending the month of October doing a deep dive into ’s new cookbook, Good Things!).

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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Many years ago, I taught as an adjunct professor at a local university. My favorite class to teach was Intercultural Communication. I would always end the semester in the same way: reading aloud Maya Angelou’s poem, Human Family. Without fail, I would tear up when reading the last lines to my students:

We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.

There’s something about the repetition of that last refrain that moves me. The poem insists that we remember our similarities, while still celebrating the beauty of our differences.

The cookbook I chose for this month became, in many ways, an embodiment of Maya Angelou’s message. I can’t wait to tell you more about it and why I loved it.

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

Cookbooks:

SETTING A PLACE FOR US: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community from Eight Countries Impacted by War |
I first learned about this incredible cookbook from , who interviewed Hawa Hassan about her new book over at the Cookbookery Collective. In this interview, Hawa says, “In all of my work, I want people to feel transported,” and let me tell you: that was EXACTLY what I felt while reading & cooking my way through this book. I mean, just look at it:

This cookbook is clearly a labor of love, knit together with this intention: to tell the stories and share the recipes of people and communities who have experienced the pain, devastation, and displacement of war. If that feels heavy, it is. However, threads of hope and resilience shine through the ache. And the longing for home, which unites all of us, surrounds the recipes with such joy and love.

—> I love the way Hawa organizes this book, with one chapter for each country: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, andYemen.

If I were still teaching Intercultural Communication, I would absolutely use this book as a resource, as it’s so well-researched and deeply thoughtful. And it tells the deeper stories that are often missed beneath the shadow of war—like the lives of people who aren’t so different from us, but have persevered through so much.

Oh, and the recipes are delicious. ❤️ Here are the highlights from what I made in July … 11 recipes in all!

What I loved:

1. The Moambe (Chicken Peanut Stew) is so flavorful and very easy to make! If a recipe calls for peanut butter, I’m on board. This one was delicious and made for wonderful leftovers!

2. The Salata (Afghan salad) is something I made three times this month. And I’m already planning to make it again this weekend. It’s SO EASY and perfect for when you want to make a salad but only have like 5 minutes to do so. My favorite way to eat this is with pita chips. Great way to use up summer produce + herbs!

3. The Casamiento (Rice and Beans) hardly feels like a recipe, and that’s probably why I loved it. You can use canned beans! It comes together so quickly and is flavorful + satisfying. Will be making again!

Worth mentioning:

• Arayes (Meat-stuffed pitas): This isn’t my first time making Arayes, but this is definitely a new favorite recipe. You make your own spice mix for the meat mixture and that REALLY adds a punch of flavor.

  

• Eggah (Baked Omelet): This is basically a recipe for a frittata, with the addition of some spice and fresh tomatoes. My eight-year-old son made this with me and it was such a fun morning activity to tackle together. I also ate it for three mornings in a row, which was delightful.

  

What flopped (for me!):

• Kishmish Panir (Homemade Soft Cheese w/ Raisins): Okay, maybe this wasn’t a flop, but this cheese didn’t have a taste. At all. I felt like it could have benefitted from a lot more salt. But still, I made cheese for the first time ever!

POTLUCK DESSERTS |
I’m thinking that my time with The Big Book of Bread may be coming to an end. My plan was to cook through that book for a year, but lately I’ve just had too many new cookbooks vying for my attention. Like this one: Potluck Desserts. If you need a fresh cookbook that’s full of WONDERFUL desserts, please check out this book. I whipped up the blueberry poppy seed poke cake and the raspberry buckle this month and they were both SO DANG GOOD. More desserts like these, please.

Books:

A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle
📚 I spent several quiet, slow mornings reading this book. Madeleine L’Engle reflects on her life and career, stringing together stories and remembrances and themes of what it means to be a writer. Parts of this I loved; other parts were all over the place. It’s a journal, so the organization isn’t a priority. Something I found especially fascinating was how she describes herself as both an Episcopalian and an Agnostic. I’m hoping to read A Wrinkle in Time next (which I’ve never actually read), as she references that book a lot in this journal.

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
📚 I’ve plugged this book before, but I finally finished it! This is book two in the Cromwell trilogy by Hilary Mantel and it’s incredible. So many layers of history and so much I didn’t know about King Henry VIII and his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Next up: The Mirror & the Light.

Other enthusiasms:

A highlight of my summer has been spending time in our backyard. It’s especially lovely this time of year, thanks to the efforts of my husband (I can take NONE of the credit for this garden! It’s all him).

Three things I have to tell you about:

1. You can make homemade popsicles from smoothies, and we’ve done that already a BUNCH of times in the past month (thanks, , for this tip!).

2. This homemade salty lemonade recipe from is SO DANG EASY and delicious. Be sure to get the good lemon juice; it makes all the difference!

3. This recipe for Peach Bars w/ Brown Butter Crumble is perfect, no notes (another fab recipe share from ).

Other things I’ve been enjoying:

Summer salads, like this chickpea pasta one, swimming in our neighborhood pool, Shauna’s blueberry crisp, this poem by , rewatching Downton Abbey, checking out too many books from the library, pre-ordering ’s new cookbook (can’t WAIT), and this post on writing & rejection from my dear friend Brenna!

Oh, and one more thing: I’m taking the month of August off from Substack, so I’ll see you in a few months! I already have my cookbooks picked out for September & October; it’s going to be a delicious fall and I’m excited for what’s ahead!

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

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The minute June started, I knew it needed to be a month of less. Last month I did a fairly intense deep-dive into a cookbook; I don’t want to say I got burnt-out in the process, but maybe I did, just a touch?

Whatever the case, my mantra for this past month became this: it’s okay to do less.

So I decided to just cook for fun and ended up leaning on a lovely new cookbook—without any expectation of how many recipes I would get through. And you know what? It was great and freeing and pretty wonderful.

Choosing to do less made space for other things, like relaxing by the pool during my kids’ swim lessons, reading a few great books, eating a LOT of ice cream, and helping my kids bake cookies and set up a lemonade stand. And maybe all those things would have still happened, but I know I would have been a lot less present for them.

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

Cookbooks:

BY HEART: RECIPES TO HOLD NEAR AND DEAR | Hailee Catalano
This is a good one! Hailee Catalano draws on her experience as a chef and recipe developer to pull together this beautiful collection of recipes. Her whole goal is to inspire people to cook in their own kitchens and create food they actually enjoy making + eating.

As I thought about why I liked this cookbook, I realized it reminded me of Simply Julia from , which is a serious compliment! It’s similar in all the right ways: approachability, delicious flavor combos, and building out your own recipe repertoire.

—> I really only scratched the surface of this cookbook. I made nine recipes and had a dozen more bookmarked to try. She’s got pizza! Sourdough! Salads! So many things I hope to get to someday. 🧡

Here are the highlights from the recipes I made in June!

What I loved:

1. The Roast Chicken w/ Red Wine Vinegar + Honey is SO GOOD. The balance of salt/fat/acid/heat (always crediting for this language!) is perfect. This is my definitely my new go-to roast chicken recipe!

2. The Mustardy Herb-Buttered Potatoes are what I made as a side to the roast chicken above. I was really happy with the ease of this recipe and how great the flavors were together!

   

3. The Tina’s Meatballs recipe is absolutely wonderful. I’m always on the hunt for a fantastic meatball recipe and this checked all the boxes. It makes just the right amount of meatballs to pair with a box of spaghetti. My whole fam loved this one!

Honorable mentions:

• No-Churn Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream: The issue I have with this recipe is that I mistakenly thought no-churn meant quick and easy. IT DID NOT. That’s on me. My “I’ll make this real quick before bed” thought turned into a 2+ hour project in my kitchen with a giant stack of dirty dishes. Even though it’s delicious, I’m positive I won’t make this again and will instead buy a pint of Jeni’s. 😉

• Malted Milk Butter Cookies: Take everything you know about butter cookies, then add malt powder and vanilla bean paste. 🤩 Two thumbs up, esp. if you pair it with vanilla bean ice cream.

• Chicken Milanese (w/ Shaved Celery & Mushroom Salad) : In the spirit of doing less, I didn’t even make the side salad that’s paired with this recipe. And that’s ok! The chicken was the star of the show and a great addition to summer salads.

  

FAT + FLOUR | Nicole Rucker
I usually talk about my bread adventures from The Big Book of Bread, but I don’t have any updates from this past month! So instead I’m gonna gush about this cookbook I got from the library: Fat + Flour. I whipped up the classic soft chocolate chip cookies from this book and they were DIVINE. She utilizes a reverse-creaming method that’s brilliant. I can confidently say: if you like cookies, you’ll really like this cookbook. A new favorite for me!

Books:

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
📚 It took six months for my hold on this book to arrive from the library; I read it in only a few days. I couldn’t stop reading it and brought it absolutely everywhere with me. If you need a mystery that’s about summer camp + rich people + secrets that are slowly revealed, this is the read for you.

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green
📚 Everything is Tuberculosis, and everyone is reading this book. 😉 It is a fascinating historical look at the disease, made particularly interesting to me because of some family history connected to TB. I do have some critiques of the book (it’s repetitive and a bit preachy), but also acknowledge that it’s well-researched and important. If you’ve read it, let me know!

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
📚 This is the book I need to talk to someone about. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before. I picked it up because recommended it (and I respect her recommendations!). It’s a novel that forces you to take your time and really sit with each sentence. It feels like a book you would discuss in an English class, where you could unpack all the layers and discuss the use of language, symbolism, and faith.

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
📚 Some of my favorite book recommendations come from my friend Brenna; this is the most recent one she recommended to me. All you need to know is that it’s set on a cherry farm in northern Michigan (I live in MI so this is a particular delight) and the audiobook is narrated by MERYL STREEP. Absolute perfection. 😍

Other enthusiasms:

This fun interview I was asked to do by the wonderful Substack, visiting the Art Institute of Chicago with my husband, making this chopped asian peanut chicken salad from , getting the chance to talk about kitchen hacks (and learn sooo many great ones!) from , listening to this album as my writing soundtrack, and watching season 2 of America’s Sweethearts!

See you next month for more kitchen library chronicles!

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

Buy Me a Coffee

May felt like three months packed into one. Between all the end-of-school stuff for kids, a new part time job for me, and a thousand other things (camping! swimming! kids’ soccer! birthday parties!), I’m unsure exactly how we made it through.

But here we are, on the cusp of summer. I’m so ready for more meals on our back deck, more lazy afternoons of reading, more pool days, and more space. Less running around, less busy, less “have-to’s.”

I carry the hope of a lighter season ahead, and also know that the goodness of the next season can’t be attached to more or less of any one thing. Instead, I’m trying to spot the daily grace that’s sustaining us and notice how even on the hard days—the long days, the days where my toddler is clingy, the days where I feel behind on nearly everything—there’s always something that’s bringing joy.

This past month, the joy was found in a STUNNING cookbook, the discovery of chocolate sourdough (OMG, you guys), the dependability of a good cookie recipe, and the time spent together with people I love.

Here’s what I’ve been up to lately!

Cookbooks:

HOT DATE!: SWEET & SAVORY RECIPES CELEBRATING THE DATE, FROM PARTY FOOD TO EVERYDAY FEASTS | Rawaan Alkhatib

I grabbed a copy of this book from my library and when I opened it, I was overcome with the immediate + overwhelming desire to make ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.

So I made 19 recipes in May, why not. 🫠 As I’m typing this, my peanut butter-stuffed chocolate-covered dates are setting up in the fridge. 😍 It’s just been a delicious month and I’m not sure where to start in telling you about this cookbook.

Let’s start here: this is a cookbook about dates. Specifically, every single recipe features dates in some form: actual dates, date syrup, date sugar, date jam … the list goes on. Rawaan Alkhatib has created this stunning book that not only gives you a mind-blowing amount of date recipes, but also teaches you about the history of dates, explains the different varieties, and really sets you up to understand how to cook with dates.

—> Also please don’t miss that this cookbook is FUN and absolutely beautiful: the pages are edged HOT PINK (!), the illustrations by Rawaan are incredible, and the whole vibe feels like a summer party.

This cookbook changed my palate for the better. I now love dates (& tahini!) in a whole new way. I will say this: for me, it’s less of a weeknight dinner book and more of a appetizer/party food/dessert book. It will be the book I reach for when I want something different or fun.

Here are the highlights from the recipes I made in May!

What I loved:

1. The Tater Tots Tossed in Hot Date! Butter is an a-ma-zing recipe. It’s exactly what you think it is: crispy tater tots slathered with a delicious, garlicky date butter. I whipped them up for mother’s day dinner and my sister-in-law declared that she wanted to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 😉 The only review you need!

2. The Date & Tahini Granola is what I ate for a week straight. If you need a new granola recipe that feels and tastes different but is still super delicious, this is it. I gotta be honest: my fam didn’t love it, which is no fault of the recipe and more just a personal preference thing. My preference? THIS GRANOLA.

   

3. The Dibs wa Tahini is something I made over and over again this past month. It’s basically a grown-up version of pb&j and I could.not.stop.eating.it. I’m already on my second bottle of date syrup because of this recipe! Great with pita, sourdough, or really any type of bread.

Honorable mentions:

• Sticky Toffee Pudding: I mean, yes. It’s a delicious cake that’s gets even better the next day. This recipe calls for a FULL POUND of dates and my gosh is it worth it. Make this for your next cookout or party or anytime you need some cake that makes you happy.

  

• Malai Chicken with Creamy Stuffed Dates: If there’s a chicken thigh recipe, I’m going to try it. This one has cheddar cheese in the marinade which was so unusual and also so wonderful. A great meal I will be making again!

• Red Lentil Soup w/ a Date Molasses Drizzle: This soup was so easy and so comforting and so wonderful to pull out of my fridge throughout the week for lunches. The date molasses drizzle really makes it shine!!

• Midsummer Salad: A bright, lovely salad with corn + green beans + tomatoes, all tossed in a punchy/sweet vinegar dressing. So yummy!

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THE BIG BOOK OF BREAD | King Arthur Baking Company
We went camping with a group from our church recently, and it was full of wonderful things, but there was one distinct highlight: my friend Emily casually setting out a loaf of chocolate sourdough to share. Did you know that there’s a happier way to start your mornings, and it absolutely involves chocolate sourdough? Did you know that when you toast chocolate sourdough, the chocolate chips get PERFECTLY melty and that when you add salted butter, you enter another dimension?

I came home from camping, immediately fed my starter, and got to work. I made two loaves of this Chocolate Levain and can’t overstate my obsession.

I also made two other things from this cookbook in May: Pita Bread and a repeat of the Pain au Campagne (basic sourdough). Three cheers for a good month of bread!

Books:

The Illustrated Emily Dickinson: 25 Essential Poems edited by Ryan G. Van Cleave
📚 Isn’t this cover gorgeous?!? My mom bought this book for me when she saw me gushing over it and it’s been such a delight to read through these beautifully illustrated poems.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins
📚 This was a fun listen—one of those books you can’t put down because you want to know what happens. I feel torn on whether I actually liked it or not, mostly because several of the main characters make TERRIBLE CHOICES but are still surprisingly likable. So if you want a mystery/thriller that involves rich people, a giant estate, and layers of secrets that are slowly uncovered/revealed, give it a go!

Bring Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel
📚 I continue to make my way through Mantel’s brilliant Cromwell trilogy. This is book two; Hillary Mantel continues to blow me away as a writer and storyteller. And the year-long slow read of this series has just been so great.

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
📚 I made a deal with my kids: we would listen to this book, and then we would watch the movie. It was such a great goal and they were totally into it. If you have other kids’ books that you would recommend reading first—then watching—let me know!!

Other enthusiasms:

Do y’all have a house cookie? You know, a cookie that you can whip up at a moment’s notice, one that’s dependable, easily adaptable, and feels like it belongs in your home? If you do, please tell me about it/share your recipe! My house cookie is basically Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for whole wheat chocolate oat cookies. I prefer to add more chocolate and esp. love more vanilla + toasted pecans. But really, any way you make them, they are GOOD. 😍

Other things that brought me joy this month:

Visiting a new local bookstore, reading ’s new post (the amount of happiness I feel when she writes anything is ABSURD), watching Andor season 2, this incredible cookbook list by (be sure to follow her work!), starting my mornings with this album, walking in my neighborhood more, and painting my nails this color. 🩵

See you next month for more kitchen library chronicles!

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

Buy Me a Coffee

When I was a new mom, I spent a lot of my days walking my neighborhood while pushing a stroller and listening to audiobooks. One of my favorite audiobooks from that season was Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by . I remember the THRILL of discovering a person who talked about food and cooking and connection in such a joyful, honest, and embodied way. This book became a north star for me, encouraging my love of cookbooks and deepening my enthusiasm for feeding the people I love.1

But I gotta be honest: part of Shauna’s approach to cooking has always intimated me. In the book, she writes:

“Recipes are how we learn all the rules, and cooking is knowing how to break them to suit our tastes or preferences.”

Listen. As someone who loves to bake (me! 🙋🏼‍♀️), this idea of breaking rules or adjusting recipes does NOT come naturally to me. What if I mess up a good thing? What if it doesn’t work? WHAT IF I REGRET IT ALL?

This is a long prelude to say that the cookbook I picked for April was the BEST teacher and guide for helping me lean into Shauna’s wisdom of breaking the rules and changing up recipes for what’s needed in the moment. It’s been the most delicious, most delightful month of trying new things and embracing the freedom of cooking real-life recipes that work for me and my fam.

Here’s what I’ve been up to this past month!

Cookbooks:

THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week |
I don’t know how to reign in my enthusiasm, so I’m not going to. I LOVED THIS COOKBOOK SO MUCH. The minute I picked it for my cookbook of the month, I sent a message off to and then she sent back the sweetest response and all that to say, I think we’re friends now? 😉 I hope so, because she’s exactly the type of friend you want: someone who loves food, knows how to have fun in the kitchen, and isn’t too afraid to take risks and try new things.

—> It’s impossible to sum up all the things I loved about this cookbook, but if I had to pick one, it would be the “spin it” section at the bottom of every single recipe. In this section she suggests a range of substitutions, freeing her readers to break the rules, use different ingredients, and change it up—for every single dish.

Come for the FRIED BREAD, stay for the game-changing way to cook chicken that will have you questioning every other chicken recipe in your life. Learn that cooking can be adjusted for your actual life (I struggle with this sometimes!!), and that you can cook differently on busy weeknights vs. on the weekends.

In short, take this cookbook, make it your own, and try out every recipe that sounds good to you. 😘

I ended up making 19 recipes from this book in April!

What I loved:

1. The Blank Slate Whole Grains + Fernando’s Famous Burned Broccoli + Spicy Creamy Sauce is a combo I put together by combining three recipes! It was exactly as fantastic as I hoped and such a great thing to throw together after coming home from the grocery store and having no idea what to make for dinner.

2. The Low-and-Slow Spiced Chicken Legs with Garlic Crunch-Crumbs is so absurdly good, I can’t gush about it enough. The GENIUS of this recipe is the slow-roasting of the chicken (I picked chicken thighs, b/c we love those!) at a low heat. The result: insanely juicy chicken that literally falls off the bone with perfectly crispy skin. The garlic crunch-crumbs just push them over the edge in the best way and please stop reading this and just go make it, ok? 😉

   

2. The Little Gems w/ Sugar Snap Peas is the perfect spring salad. It’s so bright and flavorful and great with parmesan on top. The dressing is this creamy/salty/tangy buttermilk ranch of sorts that’s easy to whip together and endlessly dippable for any other snacks/veggies you have around.

3. The Carole’s Fried Bread recipe is something I’ve made three times already, with zero plans to stop. It’s bread, it’s fried, there’s flaky salt and a garlic clove and every time I eat it, I’m very very happy.

Honorable mentions:

• Pork & Pozole Stew: Oooo this was a fun one. You soak some dried hominy, you brown some pork, you throw some things together in a dutch oven. And then you let it do its thing in the oven for 3 hrs. I tackled this on a Sunday afternoon and it was sooo great to enjoy this for dinner AND have a crazy amount of leftovers ready for the week ahead! Great with all the toppings, including onions, sour cream, avocado, and thick, salty tortilla chips.

  

• Purple Cabbage & Parm: Perhaps the easiest recipe in the whole book? Slice some cabbage, make a quick dressing, top it with parmesan and DIVE IN. So yummy! I will totally make this when I need a quick salad but don’t want to spend a bunch of time prepping a lot of things.

• Mocha Hazelnut Biscotti: Yeah, this was just so good. Fun to make, fun to eat, fun to share with friends and family. Amazing with a hot cup of coffee!

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THE BIG BOOK OF BREAD | King Arthur Baking Company
Hey hey, guess who finally resurrected her sourdough starter (just in time for Easter!) and started making bread with it? This girl!

I finally realized that I can’t get better at sourdough if I’m not actually trying, failing, practicing, and learning. This probably applies to a lot of life. 🫠 So I’m trying to be okay with the loafs that don’t turn out (jk, I obsessively googled and watched youtube videos on sourdough for hours just last week, haha) and keep going!

What I made: Pain au Levain, which was mostly a complete flop for me! One loaf was so tragically over-proofed, it went immediately into the trash. But then I made the Pain au Campagne, and it turned out much better! A good beginner sourdough recipe. I’m excited to keep flexing my sourdough skills. I’ve got lots to learn!

Books:

Stolen Focus: Why you Can’t Pay Attention, and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
📚 Whew, this book! I still have to go back and write down all the things I want to remember (notice all the tabs sticking out of the book in my pic!). A thoughtful, compassionate, well-researched argument on how our attention is being stolen, why it’s not our fault, and ways to regain some of our ability to think without distraction.

Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival Baking from the Heart of the Low Countries by Regula Ysewijn
📚 I first learned about this cookbook from the fabulous (if you love cookbooks, you will absolutely LOVE her Substack, The Cookbookery Collective!). I borrowed this cookbook from a friend; it’s been such a delight to look through! Even though I have a lot more of it to read, I had to include it in this month’s roundup because I’m obsessed with the writing + recipes and think it’s stunning.

He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter J. Ciszek, S.J., with Fr. Daniel Flaherty, S.J.
📚 I joined a few of my friends from book club in reading this book together during the Lenten season. A remarkable story about a Catholic priest who spent 23 years in Soviet prisons and in the labor camps of Siberia. An incredible story of faith, devotion, and fortitude, one that will stick with me for a long time.

Night by Elie Wiesel
📚 There’s no way to soften this read: it’s brutal, haunting, and heavy. In this autobiography, Elie recounts his experience as a Holocaust survivor who lived in Auschwitz and then in Buchenwald. The book is fairly short, but certainly not easy to get through because of the content. However, I think it’s an incredibly important read and I’m thankful my friend suggested it to me.

Other enthusiasms:

🍩 My husband went on a work trip to Indy a few weeks ago and he made sure to return with a box of Parlor Doughnuts, which is the truest form of love. 😍

Other things that brought me joy this month:

Discovering hiking trails near our house, watching Paradise (so good!), cooking with the windows open, listening to Mumford’s new album, seeing the Hadestown Broadway tour (!!), getting new book ideas from , and drinking this flavor of Bonsai on repeat.

See you next month for more kitchen library chronicles!

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!)

Buy Me a Coffee

I have so many things I could say about this past month. I could talk about my dad, who famously says, “there’s always hope in March!” and how that theme of hope was a constant thread throughout this month’s cookbook (note: my dad is specifically referring to his golf game when he says this, but that’s beside the point 😉). I could talk about the dangers of using a mandoline without the guard (ASK ME HOW I KNOW), or about the particular joy of trying out new recipes on willing friends and family. I could talk about porch drops and cookbook club and so many little, wonderful things.

But I really just want to talk about Ukraine. Many years ago, my dear dear friend Karissa was serving with the Peace Corps in Ukraine. She invited us (my husband and me) to visit her—and so we went! She was the best and kindest host, showing us all around her city of Vinnytsia and teaching us about the beauty and resilience of Ukrainian culture + its people. We ate ribs on the river, Khachapuri in a Georgian restaurant, and borshch in an underground mall. We rode a midnight train, hopped on a bus tour of Kyiv, and logged so many steps walking all over the city. It was wonderful.

Of course, there’s still so much I don’t know about Ukraine. I experienced it as a tourist (a few photos below!). But because of Karissa, and because of writers and chefs like Olia Hercules, I continue to learn a bit more about this beautiful country. And maybe a tangible way to keep learning is to keep cooking, keep reading, keep sharing. 💛 🇺🇦

Here’s what I’ve been up to this past month!

Cookbooks:

MAMUSHKA: Recipes from Ukraine & Eastern Europe |
I love it when a cookbook tells a story. In Mamushka, Olia Hercules—activist, author, and chef—tells us the story of her Ukrainian heritage. The recipes are woven together by personal recollections of the people, the moments, and the land that shaped her upbringing. It’s a love letter to her grandmother and aunt, and to all the strong women who raised her. It’s an offering of belonging, abundance, and flavor. It’s such a stunning cookbook; I’m obsessed with it.

—> I just ADORE how Olia makes sure to say that none of the recipes are too prescriptive. There’s permission to play, to riff, to create. She’s intentionally widening the table, inviting us pull up a seat, cook instinctively, and find our own way with each recipe.

🤩 I first heard about this cookbook from my lovely friend Hannah, who has the most dreamy cookbook collection and who honestly makes the best food. She said I would love it and she was so right. I can’t wait to pick up more titles from Olia (she has several, including a memoir coming out summer 2025!!).

I ended up making 15 recipes from this book in March!

What I loved:

1. The Spring Radish and Tomato Salad is a new favorite for SURE. It’s a bright, tangy, fresh salad that’s basically a bunch of sliced cucumbers, radishes, and tomatoes, tossed together in a tangy yogurt sauce. Super simple, super yummy. My tomatoes weren’t in season and it was still incredible.

2. The recipe for Pampushky (Ukrainian Garlic Bread) is so dang delicious, I made it twice this month. With minimal effort, you get these gorgeous, plump rolls that bake up beautifully and are immediately slathered with an infused garlic oil. They are tender, super garlicky, and traditionally served with borshch. Can confirm they are just as delicious served with pasta … or even on their own. ;)

2. The Plum, Rum, & Raisin Conserve brought so much delight to my morning toast. You soak golden raisins in rum overnight, and the next day add some chopped plums, vanilla, and a few other things to simmer together on the stove. It all comes together to make a chunky jam with a subtle rum flavor. Olia recommends making this to give as a Christmas gift and I 100% plan on doing that this year.

3. The Kefir + Herb Barbecued Chicken was easy, summery, and delicious. It was my first time using Kefir; now I’ve used it a lot more this month! The chicken is simple and flavorful and perfect with rice and fresh veggies.

Honorable mentions:

• Kharcho (Spicy Georgian Beef Soup): Olia describes this recipe as “thick and sumptuous” and “spicy and sharp.” YES PLEASE. I will say, I wasn’t initially getting the sharp kick she promised, so I gave myself permission to play around and add more things, like soy sauce, more pomegranate molasses, LOTS more salt, and so on. It was really fun to build the flavors of this soup and come up with something I was proud of.

  

• Ukrainian biscotti: I described this recipe as a drier, less sweet version of pecan sandies. My husband replied, “so, like actual sand?” :) But then we all tried them and they are surprisingly good!! A nutty, fruity, crumbly cookie that’s FAB with a hot cup of coffee. I loved them so much and ate a bunch. Will be making again!

• Raspberry Conserve: Yes, another conserve recipe that I fell in love with! Honestly, you could buy this cookbook just for the gorgeous small-batch conserve/jam recipes she includes. This raspberry one was crazy easy to make and impossibly good. As soon as apricots are in season, I’ll definitely be trying out her apricot jam.

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THE BIG BOOK OF BREAD | King Arthur Baking Company
Well, I made ONE thing from this book all month. I know one thing still counts, but I’m sad I haven’t made this book more of a priority over here. There’s always hope in April!

What I made: Everyday Bread, which is as simple and practical as it sounds. It uses whole wheat flour, is shaped for a loaf pan, and bakes up sooooo beautifully. It was perfect for toasting and slathering with butter!

Books:

Lent by Esau McCaulley
📚 A small little book that concisely summarizes the season of Lent. Whether you’ve practiced Lent for years, or don’t even really know what Lent is, this book is a gracious guide and companion to walk you through the liturgical season. (Our family is Anglican; I’m so grateful for this little resource and for the writings of Esau McCaulley)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
📚 This was my second time reading this short story! It’s one of my favorite books and it was absolutely worth the re-read. There aren’t many authors who match Claire Keegan. I was motivated to read this again so I could watch the movie. It’s a beautiful movie, but feel like it’s definitely the case that the book is better. ;)

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon
📚 Oh, this book was so lovely. I waited for the audiobook to come available for what felt like literal years—it was worth the wait! Sharon reads the book and it’s so tender, so uplifting, so dear. It’s wonderfully researched and tells the stories of Americans who weren’t famous, but who nonetheless changed the course of history.

Yours from the Tower by Sally Nicholls
📚 Such a fun read! My wonderful friend Heather recommended this one as a delightful regency-era read. I spent several happy days making food in my kitchen while listening to this one, which is about three friends who exchange letters in the year 1896. It’s a coming-of-age story and the audiobook is whimsical and fun. I definitely recommend!

The Love of my Life by Rosie Walsh
📚 You know when you just need a quick read you can lose yourself in? This was that. It’s a bit of a thriller, a bit of a mystery, a bit of a love story. It keeps you turning the page to figure out what’s coming next. It wasn’t my favorite read ever, but I did enjoy immersing myself in this story for a few days!

Other enthusiasms:

A long-standing enthusiasm for me is checking out too many cookbooks from the library. Will I read through all of them before they are due back? Impossible. But that doesn’t stop me. I’m comforted to know I have them and they look so pretty in my kitchen right now. Also, I’m doing research! Gotta pick my next cookbook of the month! Stay tuned for what I pick. :)

Other things that brought me joy this month:

Listening to the rain, rewatching BBC’s Pride & Prejudice 😍, playing with watercolors, learning how to organize + stock my pantry from , visiting my local bakery, listening to this album from Georgian-French pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, and eating this chocolate non-stop.

See you next month for more kitchen library chronicles!

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!

Buy Me a Coffee

This past month felt like an exercise in endurance, as winter months so often do. Thankfully, the tiniest, simplest things were some of the most life-giving. Grocery store flowers. Baked bread. Naps. Walks in the snow. Frozen pizza. All these little delights reminded me that it doesn’t have to be complicated or exhausting to be helpful and good.

The cookbook I chose for this month echoed many of these same themes. It also helped me lighten up in the kitchen and trust myself more. Sure, everything could go wrong, but what if it doesn’t? What if good enough is just enough for me and the people I love?

I’m grateful for this month of embracing limits, moving forward in small ways, and leaning into what brings me joy (chocolate chip cookies, always and forever). 🍪

Here’s what I’ve been up to!

Cookbooks:

MIDNIGHT CHICKEN (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) |
Can a recipe save your life? That’s the question framing this gorgeous book by . It’s a cookbook, it’s a memoir, it’s a story of what makes life worth living. The recipes are inviting and feel like a warm hug, promising to wrap you up and hold you close. Perhaps what I loved most is the way Ella becomes your kitchen confidant and friend, with her repeated “it’s gonna be okay!” mantras and her reminders to not worry, take a deep breath, and make yourself a cup of tea.

—> Also, her recipe titles are incredible: “Wicked Stepmother Black Bread,” “Marital Harmony Sausage Pasta,” and “Would I Lie To You Labneh” are just a few of my favorites.

10/10 (do I rate cookbooks now? lol) is what I give this one. It’s going to be the one I pull out when I need something delightful and comforting. It’s just really, really good. And how great is that cover? I gifted the book to my sister-in-law long before I had even made a single recipe from it; that’s how confident I was that it would be wonderful. And it is.

I ended up making 17 recipes from this book in February!

What I loved:

1. The Trashy Ginger Beer Chicken is a new favorite. I opted to double the marinade so I could add in some chopped sweet potatoes to make a sheet-pan dinner. I also used boneless thighs, because that’s what I had on hand, and I would totally do that again!

2. The Bolognese (shortcut version) is delicious. So great when you want all those flavors of a bolognese but don’t have hours to babysit it. On a dreary day in February, this recipe was the coziest thing to have simmering on the stove. I think a different noodle (other than linguine) would be even better; perhaps farfalle or something similar? Garlic bread on the side is a must, in my opinion. ;)

   

2. The “Three Lemons for the Healing” Lemon Possets were something I whipped up for my husband’s birthday dessert. He doesn’t really love cake, but he does love things like cheesecake + lemons. This recipe came together so quickly and hit all the marks. With a graham cracker crust bottom, it reminds you of cheesecake but is lighter and better (can I say that?). So so good.

3. The How to Grieve with Challah Bread was truly a joy to make. I learned how to braid a six-strand dough and also learned that grief is a lot like the process of bread baking, as Ella writes about so tenderly.

Honorable mentions:

• Tipsy Amaretto Squash Soup: a fun version of butternut squash soup. Other than chopping up the squash, everything else comes together pretty quickly. She recommends that you crumble Italian Amaretti cookies on top (yes, cookies on soup; you read that right) so I opted to make my own and that was absolutely the right choice. Here’s the recipe for those cookies!

  

• Viennese Eggs: It shouldn’t surprise me that some of the simplest recipes in this cookbook were the ones I loved most. This is basically a recipe for soft boiled eggs + green onions + buttered toast. Maybe I will eat this for breakfast every day?

• Improper Burnt Butter Berry Crumble Muffins: These are hard-to-define muffins. They are hearty, not very sweet, and closer to baked oatmeal in texture than that of cake. And I loved them. The berries inside and oat crumble topping are so good. I don’t think they were a fan favorite, but my daughter and I happily ate them for a few days.

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THE BIG BOOK OF BREAD | King Arthur Baking Company
I’m making my way through this book, more slowly than surely. Isn’t that the way of bread? This month I tackled naan (a perfect accompaniment to Ella’s chicken curry recipe), golden raisin + fennel seed rolls, and english muffin toasting bread (yum!).

The raisin + fennel rolls were a bit touch-and-go: I sadly overproofed them a bit, and I also didn’t quite nail the “pour water into your skillet to make steam and shut the oven door quickly so the steam doesn’t rush out” step. And then I learned that gas ovens immediately vent out steam? WHO KNEW. The rolls were still delicious, but now my new goal is problem-solving the steam-in-the-oven step, specifically for rolls.

GROSSY’S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES | Dan Pelosi
I’ve got a thing for chocolate chip cookies. I will try any recipe that promises to give me the cookie of my dreams. At this exact moment, my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is this one by Dan Pelosi.

Why I love it: it doesn’t involve chopping chocolate (although you totally can, if you want!), it makes A BUNCH, and the requirement of the recipe is that you freeze ALL the dough, which means you end up with 5 dozen cookie balls, ready and waiting for you to bake at a moment’s notice.

These bake up into a perfect, gooey, buttery, slightly-crispy-on-the-bottom cookie. If I know I’m going to bring someone a meal, I like to make these up several days in advance and bake them right before I drop off the meal.

Let me know if you make these and love them as much as I do. 🍪

Books:

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
📚 A while back I swore off ever reading any more Sarah J. Maas. This was mostly because I found the ACOTAR series (and another one of her books) just too spicy for my taste. But a dear friend assured me that the Throne of Glass series is different and that I would like it more. She was right! I really enjoyed listening to this on audio and escaping to Celeana’s world as I powered through some gray February days.

Habitat by Lauren Leiss
📚 Lauren is a crazy talented designer who writes books that are winsome, very practical, and surprisingly accessible. I don’t think my decorating style is like Lauren’s (do I even have a decorating style? lol), but I do think this book is great to read through and helpful for understanding the design process. I spent many cozy nights reading this on my couch, along with a couple other books that Lauren has written.

Watercolor is for Everyone by Kateri Ewing
📚 I wasn’t sure whether to include this book, because I haven’t actually painted anything from it yet! But I’m so, so happy to have stumbled upon it and have loved reading it thus far. invites us to embrace an “intuitive, process-based watercolor” practice that’s steeped in curiosity + creativity. I just adore her whole approach and have a few final art supplies on the way to my house so I can really dive in!

Lifeform by Jenny Slate
📚 Ehhhhh. I kept seeing this one as highly recommended, so I listened to the audio. I do like Jenny Slate, so it was fun to hear her read it. The opening essays were disarming and hilarious, but the further I went along in the book, the more of a struggle it became to finish. This one is topping a lot of lists and I can totally see why, but overall I didn’t love it as a whole, even though a few essays were really brilliantly written.

Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel
📚 I continue to make progress with my slow read through Hillary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy. Am I going to mention this every month? Probably. :) It’s just fantastic. Check out the slow read with Simon to learn more and dive deep into this wonderful series.

Other enthusiasms:

Making my own simple bouquets from grocery-store flowers, this breathtaking poem I can’t stop thinking about (shared via ), these peanut butter cups from Aldi, Surface season 2 on Apple TV+, Yoga w/ Tim, phone chats with family and friends, this album, the hope of spring.

See you next month for more kitchen library chronicles!

-Amanda

I don’t have paid subscriptions turned on, which means everything you’re getting from me is free! If you enjoyed this post, I would be so grateful if you considered supporting my work by buying me a coffee (or ensuring I have enough cookies on hand to fuel my writing!

Buy Me a Coffee

January was a tender month. We lost my father-in-law, a wonderful man we loved so much, someone who walked a long and difficult health journey over the past few years. We lost my aunt, a dear woman who was a fun, loving, constant presence in my life. It’s been a lot.

In the midst of loss and grief, we’ve been nourished and cared for with love, support, and food. Friends and family sent flowers, dropped off meals, mailed cards, and showed up in profoundly tangible ways. I continue to be so grateful for a community and who sees and cares.

I’m learning that grief and joy definitely co-exist, and feeding those you love is an offering of comfort + hope. I spent the month deep-diving into Julia Turshen’s new cookbook, trying to resurrect my sourdough starter (we’re getting there!), attempting to rush a cheesecake (not advised, ha!), and reading a few books that will stick with me for a long time.

Here’s what I’ve been up to!

Cookbooks:

WHAT GOES WITH WHAT |
I’ve been excited about this new cookbook by for a long time. Her previous cookbook, Simply Julia, is a staple in my kitchen. This new book is smart, simple, and full of delicious ideas. This book has six sections and tons of helpful charts to think about the essential elements that make up a recipe.

I ended up making 13 recipes from this book over the past month. Overall, I really liked this cookbook and I’ll certainly be pulling it out again. It’s fresh, easy, approachable, and really solves the “what’s for dinner” problem. I would totally gift it to a friend and gush about several recipes inside.

What I loved:

1. The Chicken Fajitas are THE BOMB. We adored them, they cook up pretty quickly in a skillet and are full of flavor. I appreciate not having to pre-make a marinade or fuss with much. Everything comes together in one cast-iron skillet, which makes you feel like you are eating at Chili’s, but in the year 2025. BLESS.

2. The Easiest Almond Cake is delicious. One bowl, in the truest sense, and super easy to whip up for simple dessert. Very good topped with a bunch of powdered sugar!

   

3. The Chicken Scarpariello dish surprised me in the best way. You basically brown some sausage + chicken, sauté a bunch of onions + peppers, add some wine + broth and then let all those flavors simmer together for a while. I was skeptical and shouldn’t have been; it was delicious! We ate it with spaghetti noodles and garlic bread.

4. The Olive Oil Buttermilk Loaf is SO good. Another easy recipe, one that would be fantastic to bake + gift to a friend along with a jar of jam (because yes, I layered some peach jam on mine and it was delightful!). I will say, if you don’t love the taste of olive oil in baked goods, this one might not be for you.

Honorable mentions:

• Roasted Chicken Pot Pie: a pretty straightforward recipe for a cozy, comforting meal. Really easy to double the recipe—make one for you, and one for someone you love!

• Roasted Broccoli w/ Carrot-Miso Dressing: I’m always a fan of roasted broccoli; this carrot-miso dip offers a bright, punchy flavor to complement the broccoli.

  

• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread: I’ll be honest: this one didn’t blow me away, BUT my kids devoured it, which is a win in my book. Simple to throw together; the chocolate chips really make it shine!

• Italian Sausage + Ricotta Meatballs: I’m always rotating between meatball recipes and I think this one is a good one to add to the lineup. It’s great if you don’t want to stand over a hot pot and fry up a bunch of meatballs. However, I did miss the browned, crispy crust that comes from that step. The meatballs are the size of golf balls, and I ate them for leftovers several days in a row. Hearty and filling!

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THE BIG BOOK OF BREAD | King Arthur Baking Company
I wish I made a better dent in this, but the past month didn’t offer a lot of margin for diving deep into bread. I did make the Focaccia (delicious!) and then I’m using all their tips for reviving my sourdough starter.

—> I have a bunch of recipes on deck next month; I’m so glad to be traveling with this book throughout the year! Stay tuned for more bread adventures.

SEVEN SPOONS |
I wasn’t intending to pick this book up this month, but then my mother-in-law had a birthday and she loves cheesecake and no one has a better cheesecake recipe than . I stand by that … and also heartily recommend reading recipes in advance and not assuming you can make a cheesecake a few hours before a party. 🤦🏼‍♀️

My theory: You know how bears in the wild can sense fear, so you’re supposed to remain calm? I’m pretty sure that cheesecake can sense a rush job, and in turn decides to sabotage your efforts.

In the end, I made the cheesecake, because even though I did the math and knew it was hopeless, I was committed. WHY AM I LIKE THIS. Cue several panicked texts to a dear friend, who cheered me on and reassured me it would still be delicious. I definitely overbaked it, there was a giant crack in the top, and it didn’t chill nearly long enough. All of that was somewhat still okay because I made a cream layer + some chocolate sauce and drizzled it on thick.

Tldr: good cheesecake takes time. But you can put it in a freezer to firm up, in a pinch. ;)

Books:

I can’t start this section without mentioning , who writes a fantastic monthly Substack that includes her current reads. Her writings inspired me to talk about the books I’m reading, too. Give her a follow if you want some great book recs & gorgeous cake pics!

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley
📚 Oh, I ADORED this book. The characters are absolutely delightful and they quickly became my dearest friends. I didn’t want this book to end and I’m already checking out other books by Clare Pooley! The audiobook is perfect; I would recommend listening, if you can. A powerful story about noticing people around us in our everyday encounters and cultivating friendship wherever we find ourselves.

The Little Book of Living Small by Laura Fenton
📚 I loved flipping thru this book to see how other people style their small spaces. This book inspired me to declutter a shelf in my bedroom and think about other areas in my house that could be set up better. Great photos, gorgeous design, smart ideas!

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
📚 This book is about a woman who befriends a mouse. Yes, really. And I loved it. Helen Cartwright is 83 years old and lives alone, spending most of her days sitting deep in her grief. An unlikely friendship with a mouse opens up her world to connection, hope, and purpose. A really sweet story, read beautifully on audio!

Brightly Shining by Ingvild H. Rishø
📚 I read this in one day. And I’m not entirely sure if I liked it. It’s a short story that’s an engaging, fast read. It’s also heavy, dealing with themes of alcoholism and neglect. A loose retelling of The Little Match Girl, it’s heartbreaking, but also intentionally ambiguous at the end to remain somewhat hopeful. I know a lot of people LOVE this one, so don’t let me be the one to stop you!

Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel
📚 I joined a slow read this year with of Footnotes and Tangents to journey through the Cromwell Trilogy by Hillary Mantel. This book is already taking over my brain in the best way and the slow read with Simon is incredible. There’s no way to describe the perfection that is Hillary Mantel’s writing. I can’t wait to keep learning about Thomas Cromwell and the band of characters surrounding King Henry VIII.

Other enthusiasms:

French press coffee, homemade play-doh, Severance season 2 (!!!), these baskets from Target, happy mail from friends, snow days, this album.

See you next month for more kitchen library chronicles!

-Amanda

A few days ago, Substack sent me an email to the effect of, “why not start a Substack of your own?”

Listen. If you had walked up to me on the street and told me to start my own Substack, I most likely would have found a reason to refuse. But—to my great surprise—a generic email from my favorite app was enough to convince me to take the first step.

And so I decided: it is time. Time to create something I’ve been dreaming about and turning over in my mind for a very long time. Time to gather the things I love most (cookbooks! books! other random delights!) and gush about them in a dedicated space. Time to start something new and see where it goes.

What will I be writing about? Here’s what I’m currently thinking:

Cookbook Reviews & Recipe Testing

I adore cookbooks. I campaign hard for my favorites. On any given week, I’m checking out new cookbooks from the library and shuffling giant stacks of them around my kitchen. I’m generally the happiest when I’m trying out new recipes and feeding the people I love.

Every month, I’ll review a cookbook I’ve been loving. I’ll highlight the recipes I tested, the things that worked, what didn’t, etc. Expect some honest feedback and some enthusiastic recommendations about what you should make for your next meal.

I’ll also pick a cookbook of the year to travel with for the next 12 months. This year’s 2025 book will be the Big Book of Bread from King Arthur Baking Company. I’m ridiculously excited to deep-dive into this cookbook, expand my bread-baking skills and give my sourdough starter a fighting chance to stay alive.

Books I’m Reading

If I’m loving a book, I’m LOVING IT. I tend to be a touch obnoxious and will kindly force you to read the book, too. My favorite thing is when someone shares their reading list and tells me all about the current read they can’t put down.

Every month, I’ll talk about a book or two I’ve read and what I think. I’m excited to have a space to gush about books (other than my Goodreads app, ha!).

Other Enthusiasms

Who knows what else I might want to write about? I’m excited to find out and uncover future delights.

Thank you for reading! I’m delighted you’re here and excited for what’s to come.

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