Kale & Caramel: Recipes for Body, Heart, and Table

Lifestyle and wellness blogger Lily Diamond (Kale & Caramel) collects 80 innovative plant-based dishes and beauty formulas that “transcend the boundary between food and body products.” Celebrating the healing power of herbs and flowers, Diamond advocates “wildness in the kitchen,” sharing recipes for vibrant vegetarian dishes and nourishing potions and lotions. Each chapter showcases an herb or flower. Cilantro lime crema tops black bean bisque; rosemary-laced goat cheese enhances a roasted fig pizza; a mix of minted tahini and cumin-fried chickpeas dresses Greek salad. Elixirs include a pomegranate spritzer with thyme, and lemonade with cucumber and basil. There’s an abundance of dessert options, such as mini no-bake goat cheesecakes with lavender blueberries, and fragrant wine-laced rhubarb fennel ice cream. Diamond provides instructions for storing herbs and flowers, as well as infusing aromatics into natural oils, honey, sugar, or salt. She includes a chart describing each herb’s floral profile and flavor pairings. In an enchanting narrative, Diamond describes her awakening to the power of plants, crediting her herbalist mother and childhood on Maui as inspiration for her guiding philosophy: “What beautifies within beautifies without.” (Apr.)