Soups and stews

Spring Pea Soup
Spring Pea Soup

Spring Pea Soup excerpted from The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook, 10th Anniversary Edition by Tracey Medeiros (The Countryman Press, June 2023). Photographs by Oliver Parini.

The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook: Homegrown Recipes from the Green Mountain State

The picturesque Green Mountain State is known for its maple syrup, stunning peaks, and undeniable farm-to-table spirit. Truly the core of Vermont’s community, independent farms and agricultural diversity are the wellspring of the state’s fresh, whole-food dining scene.

From small family-run operations to locally owned and nationally recognized brands, the recipes and stories of The Vermont Farm Table Cookbook bring a little piece of that Vermont spirit into your home kitchen.

Now, after 10 years, author Tracey Medeiros has revised and fully updated this culinary tome to highlight the dedication of Vermont’s farmers, with brand-new recipes, photos, and local farm profiles. (more…)

Tortellini Soup with Lemon Peel Broth
Tortellini Soup with Lemon Peel Broth

Tortellini Soup with Lemon Peel Broth excerpted from Love and Lemons: Simple Feel Good Food Copyright  ©  2023 by Jeanine Donofrio. Published  by Avery,  an imprint  of  Penguin  Random  House  LLC.

Love and Lemons: Simple Feel Good Food: 125 Plant-Focused Meals to Enjoy Now or Make Ahead

What type of cook are you? That is the question Jeanine Donofrio, creator of the wildly successful blog Love & Lemons and bestselling cookbooks by the same name, asks her readers in her newest book, Love & Lemons: Simple Feel-Good Food.

Jeanine is beloved for her bright and breezy cook-from-the-hip style where trips to the farmers market lead to impromptu, seasonal meals. But, as life has gotten busier (she’s a mom now), meal plans and weekly prep have entered into the rotation, too.

Over the last few years, Jeanine has realized that getting fresh, nourishing, and flavour-packed meals to the table daily is doable through different approaches. After engaging with millions of her followers, two cooking camps crystallized: those who love easy, at-the-ready dishes that can be made at the drop of a hat and those who like to plan in advance (like Jeanine’s mom who always has a whole lasagna in the freezer, a trick Jeanine has since adopted). Now, for the first time, she’s put pen-to-paper serving up feel-good recipes for both types of home cooks, and those who toggle between, just like herself. (more…)

Malian Peanut Stew
Malian Peanut Stew

Malian Peanut Stew excerpted from from Vegan Africa: Plant-Based Recipes from Ethiopia to Senegal by Marie Kacouchia © Éditions La Plage, 2021.

Recipe from Vegan Africa: Plant-Based Recipes from Ethiopia to Senegal by Marie Kacouchia © Éditions La Plage, 2021.

Drawing from the cultures and traditions of more than 15 countries, years of cooking expertise, and cherished memories from her own childhood on the Ivory Coast, Marie Kacouchia takes us on a tour of flavourful, healthy, naturally plant-based African dishes. Explore over 70 irresistible recipes for main courses, rice dishes, sauces, snacks, desserts, and drinks, including:

  • Peanut Hummus
  • Cassava Tabbouleh with Radishes and Herbs
  • Yassa Burger
  • Paprika-Spiced Plantain Chips
  • Sweet Potato and Ginger Loaf
  • Coconut Rice Pudding
  • Lemongrass Lemonade, and so much more! 

Vegan Africa guides you through diverse vegan cuisine from Ghana to Ethiopia, from Nigeria to South Africa. Kacouchia also shines a spotlight on the superfoods—like cacao, garlic, ginger, and sweet potato—that make these recipes both mouthwatering and packed with vital nutrients. Whether you’re a newcomer to African cuisine or looking to make familiar favourites, Vegan Africa will help you bring healthful, delicious dishes to your kitchen. (more…)

Chicken Corn Soup
Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook by Melissa Thompson

Chicken Corn Soup excerpted from Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook by Melissa Thompson. Photography by Patricia Niven.

Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook by Melissa Thompson

Acclaimed food writer and chef Melissa Thompson takes us on a journey to this Caribbean jewel through 80 recipes and more than 500 years of history and influences. The recipes include classic Jamaican favourites, such as Jerk Pork, Braised Oxtail, Ackee & Saltfish, and Peanut Punch, as well as original dishes created with Jamaica’s abundant natural larder and twists on classics.

This beautiful cookbook features in-depth research into the evolution of Jamaica’s food. It charts the contribution of indigenous Jamaicans, the Taino. It follows the impact of colonization, and how the periods under Spanish and British rule left an indelible mark on the nation’s gastronomy, without shying away from their brutality: Eyewitness accounts describe the barbarity of the colonial powers. And it recounts how enslaved men and women from West and Central Africa brought inspiration from home and familiar cooking techniques to create legacy dishes that are still celebrated today. The contribution of Indian and Chinese indentured workers is also examined. These stories are woven into the recipes, so the reader is invested in the dishes they cook. (more…)

Simple Sweet Pumpkin Soup
Simple Sweet Pumpkin Soup

Simple Sweet Pumpkin Soup excerpted from The Vegan Chinese Kitchen by Hannah Che. Copyright © 2022 Hannah Che. Photographs by Hannah Che.

The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition: A Cookbook by Hannah Che

When Hannah Che decided to become a vegan, she worried that it would separate her from the traditions and food that her Chinese family celebrated. But that was before she learned about zhai cai, the plant-based Chinese cuisine that emphasizes umami-rich ingredients and can be traced back over centuries to Buddhist temple kitchens.

In The Vegan Chinese Kitchen, through gorgeous photography, stories, and recipes, Hannah Che shows us the magic of this highly developed and creative tradition in which nearly every dish in the Chinese repertoire can be replicated in a meatless way, such as Blistered Dry-Fried String Beans or Sweet and Sour Tofu.

You’ll also find recipes that are naturally plant-based and as irresistible as they are nourishing, such as flaky scallion pancakes, corn stir-fried with peppers and pine nuts, or pea shoots braised in a velvety mushroom broth made with sesame-oil roux. (more…)

Lobster Bisque
Lobster Bisque

Canada’s Food Island: A Collection of Stories and Recipes from Prince Edward Island. Stories and captions by Stuart Hickox. Photography by Stephen Harris.

Canada's Food Island: A Collection of Stories and Recipes from Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Islanders are famous for hosting family and friends in the kitchen. Canada’s Food Island invites you to celebrate the Island’s farm-to-table cooking and meet the farmers, fishers and artisans who make those delicious dishes possible. From preparing the perfect lobster roll in spring and galettes filled with sweet fresh-picked strawberries in summer to making savoury potato pizza in fall and roast turkey with an oyster, bacon and wild mushroom stuffing in mid-winter, you’re sure to find a favourite recipe to delight guests and satisfy your own cravings.

Canada’s Food Island combines nearly 100 inspired seasonal recipes with homegrown stories and beautiful photographs to capture the island’s unique food culture’s blend of people, place and locally sourced fresh natural ingredients. You’ll learn how mussels and oysters are sustainably raised and harvested, why Island beef is so flavourful and what makes wild blueberries so special. Whether you’ve spent time on Prince Edward Island or not, you’ll want to visit these pages again and again to experience a taste of the Island in the comfort of your own kitchen. (more…)

Eggplant and Vegetable Stew
Eggplant and Vegetable Stew

Eggplant and Vegetable Stew excerpted from Cooking alla Giudia by Benedetta Jasmine Guetta (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2022.

Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy by Benedetta Jasmine Guetta

Cooking alla Giudia is the ultimate tribute to the wonderfully rich, yet still largely unknown, culinary heritage of the Jews of Italy. From Roman deep-fried artichokes (carciofi alla giudia) to Venetian sarde in saor (sweet-and-sour sardines), Apulian orecchiette pasta, and Sicilian caponata, some of Italy’s best-known dishes are Jewish in origin. But little is known about the Jewish people in Italy and their culinary traditions.

It was the Jews, for example, who taught Italians to eat the eggplant, and thus helped inspire the classic eggplant parmigiana and many other local specialties. With a collection of kosher recipes from all regions of Italy, including plenty of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options, author Benedetta Jasmine Guetta is on a mission to tell the story of how the Jews changed Italian food, to preserve these recipes, and to share with home cooks the extraordinary dishes prepared in the Jewish communities of Italy.

(more…)

Chilled pea soup
Chilled pea soup

Chilled pea soup, Your Daily Veg: Innovative, fuss-free vegetarian food by Joe Woodhouse.

Your Daily Veg: Innovative, fuss-free vegetarian food by Joe WoodhouseBold, fuss-free cooking that just happens to be vegetarian, Your Daily Veg celebrates everyday vegetables in a fresh and modern way.

Chapters focus either on one core vegetable or a group of similar vegetables, celebrating seasonality and encouraging you to make swaps if you don’t have the exact ingredients. These recipes can then be used as a base for experimenting.

Starting with the ingredient and working forward from there, Joe Woodhouse blends textures, spices and flavours to create satisfying meals that use minimal ingredients but achieve maximum flavour.

With tips on how best to prep dishes and advice on minimizing stress and time in the kitchen, each recipe is as straightforward as possible.

Your Daily Veg: Innovative, fuss-free vegetarian food is available at Amazon.com and Indigo.ca.     (more…)

Fast White Bean, Chorizo, 
and Hearty Greens Stew
Fast White Bean, Chorizo, 
and Hearty Greens Stew

Fast White Bean, Chorizo, 
and Hearty Greens Stew, Good Enough: A Cookbook: Embracing the Joys of Imperfection and Practicing Self-Care in the Kitchen by Leanne Brown.

Good Enough: A Cookbook: Embracing the Joys of Imperfection and Practicing Self-Care in the Kitchen by Leanne Brown

Good enough is a cookbook, but it’s as much about the healing process of cooking as it is about delicious recipes. It’s about acknowledging the fears and anxieties many of us have when we get in the kitchen, then learning to let them go in the sensory experience of working with food.

It’s about slowing down, honouring the beautiful act of feeding yourself and your loved ones, and releasing the worries about whether what you’ve made is good enough.

It is a generous mix of essays, stories, and nearly 100 dazzling recipes, Good Enough is a deeply personal cookbook. Its subject is more than Smoky Honey Shrimp Tacos with Spicy Fennel Slaw or Sticky Toffee Cookies; ultimately it’s about learning to love and accept yourself, in and out of the kitchen.

Good Enough: A Cookbook: Embracing the Joys of Imperfection and Practicing Self-Care in the Kitchen is available at Amazon.com and Indigo.ca.    (more…)

Sopa Azteca
Sopa Azteca

Sopa Azteca, Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes: A Cookbook by Charity Morgan. Photography by Emily Dorio.

Unbelievably Vegan: 100+ Life-Changing, Plant-Based Recipes: A Cookbook

Whether you’re new to plant-based eating or already a convert, when you cook vegan with Charity Morgan, private chef to elite athletes and rock stars, you may be leaving out the meat, dairy, and eggs, but you won’t be missing out on the flavour and indulgence of all your favourite comfort foods.

In her highly anticipated first cookbook, Charity lays out a plan for anyone who wants to eat less meat—whether they are looking to go completely vegan or just be a little bit more meat-free. Pulling inspiration from her Puerto Rican and Creole heritage as well as from the American South, where she lives with her family, Charity’s recipes are full of flavour. Think Smoky Jambalaya; hearty Jerk-Spiced Lentils with Coconut Rice & Mango Salsa; Jalapeño-Bae’con Corn Cakes with Chili-Lime Maple Syrup; and a molten, decadent Salted Caramel Apple Crisp.

Unbelievably Vegan offers more than 100 recipes for living a meat-free life without giving up your favourite rite comfort foods. Charity guides readers on how to use oyster mushrooms to stand in for chicken and how to spice walnuts to taste like chorizo! She proves that vegan food can be fun, filling, healthy, and above all else unbelievably delicious. (more…)