Recipes for Runners: Anouk's Top 2021 Cookbooks and Blogs

by Anouk Booneman

What a year 2021 has been, and we are ending it confronting another Covid wave. While I didn't escape this round, I am looking back at many, many wonderful moments in 2021. The last week of the year was spent in isolation, cleaning out closets. As usual, I realized that I have too much stuff. While I drastically reduced the number of books that I purchased this year (mostly thanks to the reading app from the NYC library), I still bought many. In my defense, a lot were cookbooks, and the following are the ones I will use a lot in 2022.

Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love: Recipes to Unlock the Secrets of your pantry, Fridge, and Freezer: A cookbook by Noon Murad and Yottam Ottolenghi.

For those who come to our workshops and cooking classes, you have probably made (or tasted) one of Ottolenghi's recipes. I am a huge fan and had planned a visit to London in April to visit one of his restaurants. That didn’t happen (for obvious reasons), and I will have to try again in 2021. This book is number 8 on my shelf. Shelf Love might be the one that I will use most. This book will help you to cook with ingredients that you already have in your pantry. The very user-friendly format also has suggestions on how to modify the recipes. Note that this is still a typical Ottolenghi book, and the recipes are heavily influenced by the Middle East. Since I have cooked a lot of his recipes over the years, my pantry is filled with Ottolenghi style ingredients, but that might not be the case for everyone.

Grains for Every Season : Rethinking our ways with Grains by Joshua Mc Fadden

I loved Joshua’s book “Six Seasons: A new way with Vegetables” and had to get this one. This is a great cookbook. The recipes are interesting and accessible. There are a lot of useful tips about grains. If you want to start cooking anything beyond rice or quinoa, this is definitely a cookbook to consider.

The Chef’s Garden: A modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables by Farmer Lee Jones

This is a great reference book for vegetables, and very useful if you have a CSA. The book is organized by type of vegetable, and gives a lot of tips and tricks in selecting, storing and using. Beautiful photographs as well. This is not strictly a cookbook, but there are recipes. While the recipes are really beautiful with very interesting flavor profiles, many are not easy to make and may require unusual ingredients.

Bosh! Simple recipes *Amazing foods* All Plants by Ian Theasby and Henry David Firth

I am a fan of this duo. Their recipes are relatively easy to make and easily adapted even if you don’t have all the ingredients. Both vegans and non vegans will enjoy them. They range from very healthy to less so (but delicious!). This duo wrote several books and can be followed on their YouTube channel. I have made their lasagna so many times this year, that I lost count.

Wicked Healthy by Chad Sarno

This book is innovative and fun. I have cooked (and been inspired by) several recipes. This is more a book for the confident cook with access to unusual ingredients. Chad is also the driving force behind the cooking platform Rouxbe, where I have taken several courses.

Best Blogs/Websites of 2021

Wicked Healthy (Derek and Chad Sarno)

Wicked Healthy was mentioned above. It is more than just vegan recipes. Chefs Chad and Derek Sarno are in the fight to be free from animals. The website from this brother duo will inspire you to cook and eat more plants.

Zero Waste Chef by Anne Marie Bonneau
This year I want to lose most of my plastic waste. This blog will be very helpful. Zero Waste Chef is a blog and also a cookbook written by Anne-Marie Bonneau. The book and blog are filled with plant forward recipe and tips for a sustainable kitchen and planet.

Alexandra’s Kitchen
Local blogger Alexandra Stafford excellent site is filled with (simple) seasonal recipes. Highly recommended especially if you have an CSA. She is also the author of the book Bread Toast Crumb.

Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman
I have followed Deb Perelman for years and will continue to do so. She is a self-taught home cook and creator of a very popular website. She has published two cookbooks: Smitten Kitchen and Smitten Kitchen Everyday. Her stories are very personable and funny. Her recipes are always spot on and very feasible.

Graduate of Culinary Institute of America & Yoga Instructor

Anouk Booneman, co-founder of Spring Into Health, was a baker at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies before moving to Clifton Park, NY. She believes that Industrialized eating has created major health crises all over the world and that food can be the strongest medicine. Real Cooking (not reheating or microwaving) with real food (mostly plants) will make people happier and healthier. She is the mother of a teenage son who eats most of her cooking. She wishes that she had the willpower to exercise five days a week.

Spring Into Health with Anouk and Danielle Maslowsky offer cooking classes that promote cooking with real, well grown, unprocessed foods. Their next class ison Vaentine’s Day.

Click here for Facebook Account. In addition, they have been doing fun yoga walks this winter followed by a brunch. Check it out.

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Pace Setter : January 2022