From the yearly recipe compilation edited by the folks at Southern Living, to a host of books to jumpstart New Years resolutions, here are 10 December food books to watch out for.
But I Could Never Go Vegan!: 125 Recipes That Prove You Can Live Without Cheese, It's Not All Rabbit Food, and Your Friends Will Still Come Over for Dinner, by Kristy Turner (The Experiment), December 2
It’s all in the subtitle. In our September roundup of vegan titles pubbing this fall and winter, we wrote that “Turner, a former professional fromagier turned vegan blogger behind Keepin’ It Kind, spells out the counterargument for every excuse not to go vegan: Expensive special ingredients, life without cheese, inability to cook for a crowd, and giving up butter, eggs, and, therefore, baking.”
Southern Living Annual Recipes 2014, by the editors of Southern Living (Oxmoor House), December 2
The magazine’s annual collection of recipes, now in its 35th year, features, every single recipe from the magazine for 2014, more than 750 dishes in total. It includes an ample batch of recipes, from November and December issues, for holiday cooking.
Sheet Pan Suppers, by Molly Gilbert (Workman), December 2
Sheet Pan Suppers offers up recipes for the “one-pot meal reinvented,” from Gilbert, blogger and tester in the Saveur kitchen, and ensures that “food tastes better when cooked on a sheet pan.” The book covers weeknight meals, special occasions, and desserts in 120 recipes, all cooked on the humble sheet pan.
The Dutch Oven Cookbook, by Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne (Sasquatch Books), December 2
Another book centered on a single cooking vessel, The Dutch Oven Cookbook is an updated version of the 2009 edition, and includes all-new photos, a different cover treatment, and additional recipes. The re-design of the authors' previous title, The Cast Iron Skillet, came out last October, and yielded a 60% increase in sales of the last year of the original edition, according to Sasquatch editor Susan Roxborough. “We were so pleased that we decided to do the same with The Dutch Oven Cookbook which has been slowing down in sales the last couple of years,” added Roxborough.
Every Last Crumb: Paleo Bread and Beyond, by Brittany Angell (Victory Belt), December 9
Angell, author of the Essential Gluten Free Baking Guides, solves the woes of carb-loving paleo dieters, taking them on a “revolutionary bread-making road with recipes that look, taste and smell like their gluten-filled counterparts.” With breads that swap traditional flour for coconut flour, almond flour, and chestnut, plantain and sweet potato flour, the book’s 150 recipes also target eaters with allergies and other dietary restrictions in dairy-free, egg-free, and sugar-free meals.
Passionate Nutrition: A Guide to Using Food as Medicine from a Nutritionist Who Healed Herself from the Inside Out, by Jennifer Adler (Sasquatch), December 16
Part "power-foods cookbook, part handbook for healthy living and eating, and part memoir," certified nutritionist and debut author Adler "provides digestible information, tips, and techniques for how to find your way to optimal health." In our starred review, we write that the book is an "essential healthy living primer that’s equal parts no-holds-barred memoir and low-key self-help tome, and a vital resource for anyone who wants to live a healthier, more empowered life."
Clean Slate: A Cookbook and Guide: Reset Your Health, Detox Your Body, and Feel Your Best, by the editors of Martha Stewart Living (Clarkson Potter), December 16
Another title pulled together by magazine staffers, Clean Slate gets a jump start on the New Year New You spate of books, emphasizing “clean, whole, unprocessed foods as part of a primarily plant-based diet.” The book also features a guide for a 21 day detox, for the post-holiday reset.
Supermarket Healthy: Recipes and Know-How for Eating Well Without Spending a Lot, by Melissa d'Arabian (Clarkson Potter), December 30
The end of the month brings yet more New Years resolution books. Food Network host d’Arabian follows her 2012 Ten Dollar Dinners (also the title of her show) with a cookbook that aims to make healthy eating more affordable, without trips to expensive, specialty food stores. It includes 130 recipes, with nutritional information throughout.
Start a Community Food Garden: The Essential Handbook, by Lamanda Joy (Timber Press), December 30
In our starred review, we wrote about how this "delightful 'handbook' by Joy, a master gardener, offers equal parts sociology skills, organizational principles, business management tips, and illustrated guides for (among other things) planting seeds with the tip of a finger." It's an "excellent tool that cultivates human communities as much as it grows vegetables in group gardens."
The Plan Cookbook: More Than 150 Recipes for Vibrant Health and Weight Loss, by Lyn-Genet Recitas (Grand Central Life & Style), December 30
The cookbook companion to Recitas’s bestselling The Plan, which documented what "healthy" foods (like salmon, turkey, oatmeal, asparagus, black beans, and Greek yogurt) can cause weight gain and other health issues.
