How do you read a cookbook?

For me, I thrill at opening it up and seeing how the author organized it.

I knew I was in for something different based on the title of this month’s selection by Alice Hart:

Good Veg: Ebullient Vegetables, Global Flavors – A Modern Vegetarian Cookbook.

And it doesn’t disappoint. The cookbook is broken down into digestible sections that just make sense: mornings, grazing, quick, thrifty, gatherings, grains, raw-ish, afters, and pantry. Very intuitive, right?

July is all things summer. For me, it’s concert season. There are concerts all over my local community – I usually spend several nights a week in the park, picnicking and enjoying great music.

I turned to this book the first night. The temperatures were climbing into the 90s. I knew I wanted something light without a lot of cooking. The “raw-ish” chapter caught my attention. I settled on the Grated Brassica and Data Salad, with broccoli and kale directly from my own garden!

That’s the way food is meant to be eaten.

That’s the way food is meant to be enjoyed.

And this recipe (and this cookbook) have turned into Gorgeous additions to my kitchen library.

About the GorgeousWellth Cookbook Club

Each month I select a cookbook for the month and use it as inspiration for dinner at least once a week. Each month I’ll choose a favorite I’m working with, and share a thing or two I learn.

Wanna play along? I’m keeping this pretty informal – I just want to inspire you to pick up a great cookbook and start cooking too. Hopefully, you can get a lot of these from your local library. If not, you might be able to pick them up gently used through Amazon. Or if you choose to use them for your inspiration as much as I do, maybe it’s time to invest in these and have them ready and waiting on your shelf.

I won’t be sharing the recipes, but I will share some of the results. Let me know if you try any of these, and let me know what you think. Be sure to tag me on IG @loriosterberg or use #GorgeousWellth Follow along as I’ll be adding new cookbooks each month!

Happy plant-based cooking!