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This is a story of one of the simplest dishes having the most impact. I have this memory of a Greek Salad that I ordered at a restaurant in Palm Desert during one of our trips there. It was my favorite thing I ate that entire trip. Tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta makes for such a simple combination that it’s weird that I even remember it. But, it was perfect. When I read my review copy of A Girl and Her Greens , I found myself nodding in agreement with April Bloomfield’s description of her Greek Salad. It starts with fresh, ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, and I have a little thing about fresh cucumbers. Just like tomatoes, farm-fresh, just-picked cucumbers have so much more flavor than anything from the grocery store. And, I love bringing home different varieties of cucumbers. I found two types of cucumbers and several types of tomatoes at Boggy Creek Farm including the red and purple Indigo Rose tomatoes. After you gather the best of those two ingredients, Bloomfield suggests you t...

Despite the fact that when it comes to meat I only eat fish and fowl, I still own plenty of cookbooks with lots of recipes for red meat. So, with most cookbooks when I arrive at a meat chapter, I imagine coming back to those recipes some day when we have people visiting or maybe when I want to surprise Kurt with a beef dish for his birthday. They become the ‘’sure, maybe, one of these days” recipes. When I started reading my review copy of A Bird in the Hand , I quickly realized how unusual and refreshing it was to have a cookbook in which 100% of the recipes were made with meat that I personally would eat. In Diana Henry’s new book, every single recipe is one I’d want to try. Some are quick and easy for weeknight meals, others are grander for parties, one chapter is just for chicken salads, and another is all comfort foods. There are classics, takes on classics, and chicken dishes from all around the world. I tried the Vietnamese Lemongrass and Chile Chicken made with chopped, boneles...

Tomato season is in full swing here in Austin, and I’ve been bringing home as many as the two of us can consume. A tomato is possibly the easiest type of produce to put to good use in the kitchen, but I had no idea that the leaves of the plant can be used as well. I received a review copy of the new book The CSA Cookbook by Linda Ly and learned about eating tomato leaves and a few other ways to use even more of edible plants. The goal of the book is to share ideas for using every bit of what shows up in a CSA box including the less popular vegetables. But, it’s also a great reference for gardeners who have entire plants at their disposal. I’ve eaten sweet potato leaves when they show up in our CSA in late summer, but I didn’t know leaves from pepper plants are edible too. And, entire squash plants are edible from the vines and leaves to the blossoms, vegetables, and seeds. Now I want to grow my own so I can make Sicilian Squash Shoot Soup. There’s even a recipe for Quick-Pickled Swee...