Chef Castro’s lively and wide-ranging debut collection pays homage to her Puerto Rican roots and her grandmother’s home cooking. After a brief history of the Taíno, Spanish, and African influences on the island’s cuisine, Castro covers equipment and pantry essentials, including a useful guide to viandas, the starchy fruits and tubers such as breadfruit, yuca, and chayote, that serve as the “backbone” of Puerto Rican cooking. Foundational seasonings and sauces include homemade adobo and sofrito, while beverages include horchata and cafecito. There’s classic pega’o, or crunchy, sticky bottom rice, alongside Castro’s unique spin on arroz con pollo, a dish that secured her win on the cooking competition show Beat Bobby Flay. She also shares a recipe for grilled skirt steak or pork tenderloin that took the top prize on Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen. Seafood abounds, from crispy grouper nuggets to saucy crab stew, while plantains and coconut also make frequent appearances. Castro provides useful descriptions for those unfamiliar with the dishes at hand—saltfish serenade is a “down-to-earth Latin cousin of a tuna Nicoise salad”—and shares personal connections (adding beer to black beans is her mother’s “special touch”). Those nostalgic for their home cuisine and those new to Puerto Rican fare will be equally taken with this expansive collection. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

With this zesty outing, Geary (The Cheesecake Bible) offers a love letter to citrus. The collection is divided into eight sections, each devoted to a specific type of fruit—grapefruit, kumquat, lemon, lime, orange, tangerine, citron, and Buddha’s hand, , a segmented Asian citrus,—offering fun facts and quick overviews of different varietals. Recipes range from tried and true, including a “world’s best” lemonade, to more inventive, such as blood orange glazed carrots. Australian finger limes, distinct for the caviarlike “flavorful beads” that make up their innards, make a fun and refreshing topping in a shrimp and sea bass ceviche appetizer. A martini featuring vodka infused with Buddha’s hand is garnished with a finger of the flamboyant fruit. Desserts include a breezy no-bake key lime pie and decadent chocolate fudge cake with tangelo icing. A final section of multi-citrus recipes encourages inventiveness and hybridity in triple citrus cookies and triple citrus vinaigrette. Geary, an Angelino, proves a charming narrator, sharing his love of storied L.A. restaurants in recipes such as chicken salad with mandarin oranges, inspired by a dish served at the tearoom of the now closed department store Bullock and Wilshire. Hollingsworth’s illustrations are vibrant and sweet, but the lack of photography, especially of unfamiliar fruits and dishes, may frustrate some home cooks. Still, this cheerful labor of love is approachable and endearing. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Nephrologist Fung (The Obesity Code) offers a convincing argument that the prevailing weight-loss advice to “eat less, move more” is overly simplistic. Fung proposes a new framework: People gain weight because they are overly hungry, which causes them to overeat. He identifies three kinds of hunger that can be controlled to promote weight loss: homeostatic (physical hunger), hedonic (eating for pleasure or comfort), and conditioned (eating out of habit). Homeostatic hunger is regulated by hormones, Fung explains: different foods stimulate certain hormones that the body responds to in various ways. Cookies, for example, stimulate insulin, which tells the body to store the incoming calories as fat, whereas eating eggs boosts GLP-1, which causes satiety. To lose weight, he recommends a low-insulin diet, which involves eating fewer refined carbohydrates and being sure to eat carbs with fats and proteins to slow digestion. Addressing hedonic and conditioned hunger, Fung details how the chemical nature of ultra-processed foods makes them addictive and how their cheap cost and prevalence makes them hard to resist. Interspersed amid the explanations are 50 practical tips for losing weight, such as “eat more fiber to satisfy hunger” and “find a weight-loss buddy.” This is an important contribution to the conversation about nutrition. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Food stylist Worndl (Fruit) adapts a collection of recipes from Therese Schultz, the bakery manager at Vienna’s Grand Hotel during the 1920s, for the modern kitchen in this ambitious guide. Linzer torte, baked quark cheesecake, striezel (sweet braided bread), and other appealing Austrian classics abound. However, the considerable amount of skill and time many of these recipes require will intimidate some home bakers: the show-stopping imperial torte, for example, involves baking a Japonaise cake and preparing a whole-egg chocolate buttercream before cutting and layering. The cake is then refrigerated overnight and covered first in rolled-out marzipan and then a final layer of melted chocolate. Similarly involved are the Ischler cookies, which require preparing vanilla custard, cookie dough, and Parisian cream, then assembling with apricot jam, melted chocolate, and pistachios. For less intimidating options, readers will want to check out panettone-like fruit bread, drunken capuchin puddings (mini cakes soaked in a spicy wine mixture), and vanilla crescent cookies. Lovely photos of Vienna and scans of Schultz’s handwritten recipes add a charming, nostalgic feel. Veteran home bakers looking for their next challenge will want to check this out. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Balchandani, creator of the Instagram account @thebeardedplantaholic, debuts with a funny and practical guide to caring for houseplants. After nearly killing a “scrappy little vine” with neglect, he watched it miraculously bounce back, an experience that helped him understand plants are living things with unique needs and behaviors. He was hooked and began filling his home with greenery. Asserting that “most of the plant advice out there is absolute nonsense,” he shares the tips he’s learned. For example, houseplant labels that urge buyers to “water once a week” or keep in “low light” are misleading. Plant parents should instead trust their instincts and observe their plants to understand their needs (if a plant is stretching toward a window and its leaves are getting smaller, it needs more light). To help readers find the best plant for them, he offers “personality tests” determining “what kind of plant parent are you” and “what’s your plant soulmate.” Elsewhere, he guides readers through how to handle common pests, propagate houseplants, design verdant displays, and care for rare flora. Balchandani writes with wit and energy, warning about “divas in disguise” and “care instructions that are so ridiculously vague, they might as well just say: ‘Good luck, sucker.’ ” Aspiring plant whisperers will find this a windfall. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Dietitian Cotton debuts with a compassionate guide to healthy eating geared toward helping women undo disordered eating habits. Believing that the path to a better relationship with nutrition begins with awareness, she helps readers unpack their ideas about food, encouraging them to reflect on what they learned during childhood and how those beliefs evolved as they grew up. She traces diet trends through the decades, like the diet pills of the 1960s and the Atkins diet resurgence in the 1990s, explaining how advertisers make women insecure about their bodies to drive up profits. Meanwhile, quick weight-loss solutions not only deprive people of essential nutrients but lead to a cycle of stress, disappointment, and low self-esteem. She urges readers to view food as nourishment and pay attention to their bodies’ unique cues and signals, which change over time. Cotton also debunks myths about eating disorders, demonstrating how they can’t be identified by outward appearance alone, and outlines treatment options, including family-based treatment, which allows the patient and their family to meet with a therapist together. Elsewhere, she offers tips for cultivating a positive body image, applying mindful eating principles, and navigating nutrition during menopause. She imbues her practical advice with empathetic and empowering messages (“You are worthy of nourishment”). The result is a welcome antidote to a diet-obsessed culture. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

TikTokker Hinds debuts with a charming guide to crafting cat toys and accessories from upcycled or repurposed materials. Arguing that the DIY approach is more affordable and fun than buying something ready-made, she identifies essential materials, like sisal rope, cardboard shipping tubes, wood, and fabric, and offers tips for understanding what kind of toys one’s cat would enjoy, as some are always ready to pounce while others are laid-back observers. She begins with cat accessories, detailing how to make a sparkly resin name tag and jazz up a cat collar with charms (crafters can make matching “fur-endship” charm necklaces for themselves, too). Elsewhere, she teaches readers how to make catnip-filled plushies, suction springs, and braided ropes adorned with jingle bells. More advanced projects include a crescent moon–shaped hammock for cat naps and a hidden litter box to keep spaces tidy. For a budget-friendly project, there’s the cardboard scratcher, which requires little more than a box and cardboard. Hinds’s favorite project is a strawberry-shaped scratcher made with a plastic planter and red and green sisal rope. Adorable photos of cats using their DIY pieces accompany accessible step-by-step instructions. This is a must for cat-obsessed crafters. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Kelly, a textile artist and founder of the Brooklyn-based design studio Flora Obscura, debuts with a dazzling guide to botanical contact printing, or using plants and flowers to print designs onto fabrics and paper. Describing the practice as a “delicate dance between chemistry, botany and art,” she encourages crafters to first experiment with fabric scraps or recycled paper before investing in nicer materials. She spotlights botanicals that can be used for printing, explaining that anemones impart strong prints, as do eucalyptus, hibiscus, and hollyhocks. The material on which the design will be printed, be it fabric or paper, must first be soaked in a solution of metallic salts, a process known as mordanting, so the fibers will accept the pigmentation. For printing on fabric, she outlines such techniques as bundle dying, which involves layering leaves and flowers onto fabric, rolling it around a dowel, and then steaming it. Turning to paper printing, Kelly demonstrates techniques like steaming vegetation onto paper with a damp cloth blanket. Highlighting a plethora of striking plants and a variety of printing methods, this is a comprehensive manual for creating visually stunning designs. It’s a valuable resource for anyone seeking a natural approach to art and fashion. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/30/2026 | Details & Permalink

Glow Diaries blogger Douglas aims to make “cooking with plants as simple and delicious as possible” in her wholesome if somewhat scattered debut collection. In lieu of an overview of pantry items and equipment, there’s a single sentence in Douglas’s brief introduction instructing home cooks to “get yourself some textured vegetable protein (TVP), nutritional yeast, flaxseed, tapioca flour, soy sauce and miso paste, plus a good-quality blender, and you should be set.” It’s indicative of her breezy tone, but those newer to vegan cooking may wish for a bit more orientation. The opening section, “Basics,” offers recipes for homemade dairy and meat substitutes, including “Parmesan” powder made with nuts, nutritional yeast, and salt, and tofu bacon crisped in an air fryer. Breakfast fare includes chocolate chia seed mousse, while the “Soups, Sides and Starters” chapter (which also, unexpectedly, includes sandwiches) offers broccolini in a lemon tahini sauce. Wide-ranging “Main Meals” include jackfruit and black bean tacos, Egyptian koshari, and mushroom bourguignon, while a chapter on pastas primarily features cream-based sauces veganized via soy milk and nuts. Salads, sauces, and desserts round things out. The organization occasionally confounds (lasagna appears in the main meals section instead of in the pasta chapter, for instance), but enticing photography and testimonials from a team of volunteer recipe testers add appeal. The author’s fans will be pleased. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Nutritionist Swanson debuts with a disappointing guide to optimizing health to improve one’s chances of getting pregnant. Swanson takes a “whole-body, longevity-focused” approach, encouraging readers to see their fertility as part of their overall health and understand that “the patterns that lead to accelerated aging are often the same ones that can create roadblocks to fertility.” She directs readers to actively manage the collection of microbes that live in their gut and vagina by eating a diversity of fruits and vegetables and opting for fragrance-free hygiene products, and urges improving metabolic health (“your body’s internal energy economy”) by eating protein throughout the day and exercising regularly. Much of the advice is intended for both partners; for example, she stresses avoiding environmental toxins, like microplastics, which have been linked to decreased odds of women conceiving and lowered sperm quality in men. Elsewhere, she discusses how omega-3s and vitamin D can “supercharge” one’s mitochondria (the part of cells that generates energy), the health of which she says is fundamental to reproductive vitality. Overall, Swanson’s method reads more like general health advice than a fertility-specific program. At times, the account is unhelpfully granular, as when she discusses the various microbial communities found in one’s vagina. Prospective parents will find little of use here. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink