Make Good on Your Resolution With 1 of These Killer Cookbooks

The second cookbook from My New Roots blogger Sarah Britton, Naturally Nourished ($30) is focused on elevated but weeknight-friendly recipes made from accessible ingredients. Vibrantly plant-centric and generously seasoned with spices and herbs, more recipes than not are vegan and gluten-free, though Britton makes smart use of ingredients like goat cheese, yogurt, whole-wheat flour, and the occasional egg. If I had to pick one favorite of the bunch, this title might be it.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
North African Sun-Dried Tomato Soup with Couscous Topping
Garlic Cloud Soup

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Cauliflower Steaks with Chermoula and Eggs
Quinoa and Black Beans With Radish Cilantro Salsa
Brown Butter Carrots With Pistachios and Dill

Many Paleo cookbooks rehash the same set of dull, meat-and-potatoes-crowd recipes, but not Ready or Not! ($35) from Nom Nom Paleo's Michelle Tam and Henry Fong. Yes, meat is a big part of the equation here, but so are fresh produce and bold flavors, with many recipes drawing inspiration from Italy and Asia. One of the most practical books of this bunch, its pages are filled with plenty of Instant Pot and slow-cooker recipes, as well as strategies for meal planning and prep. It's also worth noting that this is a great purchase for less-experienced cooks, as the recipes are thoroughly tested and clearly written, with plenty of detail.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Duck Confaux
Roasted Catalan Shrimp With Romesco
Cumin Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
Cantonese Crispy Chicken Thighs

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Roasted Carrots With Ginger-Sesame Sauce
Garam Masala Vegetable Soup
Honey Harissa Salmon

With its textured cover, elegant design, and stunning photography, Deborah Madison's In My Kitchen ($33) could easily be mistaken for a coffee-table book, but it will serve you just as well in the kitchen. Arranged by ingredient, rather than course or season, it is my favorite of Madison's many vegetarian-friendly cookbooks, as the recipes are relatively pared down and shaped by her decades of cookbook-writing experience. An emphasis is placed on the sourcing of ingredients — some recipes will send you searching specialty and farmers markets — but Madison typically provides substitution ideas for harder-to-find items.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Broccoli With Roasted Peppers, Feta, Olives, and Herbs
Summer Squashes With Herb Blossoms, Basil, Pine Nuts, and Pamigiano-Reggiano

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Citrus and Avocado With Lime-Cumin Vinaigrette and Shredded Greens
Red Lentil Soup With Berbere
Scrambled Eggs Smothered With Crispy Breadcrumbs

The Vegetable ($40) by Caroline Griffiths and Vicki Valsamis is a worthy purchase for adventurous cooks and farmers market shoppers. While there are plenty of recipes using broccoli, zucchini, spaghetti squash, and the like, underappreciated vegetables like turnips, tatsoi, amaranth, and celeriac are featured heavily. Drawing from a globally inspired pantry, these craveable vegetarian dishes might just introduce you to a new favorite spice or technique. Bonus: the aesthetically-minded will admire this title's copper-edged pages and gorgeous photos.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Roasted Broccolini, Kale, and Chickpeas With Herbed Ricotta
Roast Cauliflower With Pomegranate and Yogurt

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Smashed Edamame With Mint and Soba Noodles
Pan-Tossed Turnips and Nashi With Stilton
Moroccan Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, and Lentil Soup
Sichuan Eggplant

If you're keen on grain bowls (and really, who isn't?) Bowls of Plenty ($28) by Carolynn Carreño is a no-brainer addition to your cookbook library. Flipping through it, I found myself tabbing nearly every other recipe, and once I started cooking from it, I became even more certain of its place on this list. Written by a veteran cookbook author — Carreno collaborated on 13 titles before this, her first solo venture — the recipes are globally inspired, and exceptionally well-written and -tested. Vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike will find inspiration here; whole grains are the thread that ties it all together.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Quick and Easy Breakfast Fried Quinoa
Shaved Brussels Sprouts With Spelt, Walnuts, and Pecorino

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Sunday Night Detox Bowl
Spicy Tuna Tartare With Brown Sushi Rice and Avocado
Brazilian Bowl With Quick-Cooked Collard Greens and Aji

CSA subscribers and farmers market devotees, Andrea Bemis' Dishing Up the Dirt ($30) is the 2017 title for you. This, of course, is fitting, given that Bemis runs an organic farm and CSA with her husband and is no stranger to finding exciting ways to cook up their harvest. Organized by season, killer farm-to-table recipes are interspersed with snaps of the couple's farm and honest, memoir-like writing.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Spiced Cauliflower with Honey Tahini Sauce

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Collard Green Slaw With Bacon Gremolata
Garlic Cashew Herb Sauce aka "Hippie Ranch Dressing"
Kale, Sausage, and White Bean Soup
Honey and Cardamom Whipped Sweet Potatoes

One does not need to be a plant-based eater to find inspiration in Laura Wright's The First Mess Cookbook ($30), the first cookbook from the beloved vegan blogger. Recipes using wellness-world favorites like turmeric, nutritional yeast, fermented foods, chia seeds, cauliflower rice, and tempeh get their due here, as do twists on comfort-food classics like burrito-stuffed sweet potatoes, millet polenta, and eggplant bacon. Really, there's something for pretty much everyone here.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Deep Immune Cup of Soup
Crispy Maple Mustard Cabbage

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Creamy Quinoa and White Bean Risotto With Crispy Brassica Florets
Glowing, Fermented Vegetable Tangle
No-Bake Salted Peanut Butter "Cookies"

Phoebe Lapine’s The Wellness Project ($25) is not your average cookbook. In fact, it’s not really a cookbook at all. There are no glossy photographs and only 22 recipes within its 384 pages. And yet, it is one of my favorite collections of recipes from 2017 — it's a title that I’ve found myself recommending to others often and wholeheartedly. Written by the blogger behind Feed Me Phoebe, this memoir follows Lapine through a year of experimenting with lifestyle changes, devoting a month each to topics like green beauty, gut health, fitness, stress, and hormonal regulation, all along reporting on what works for her and what doesn’t. Healthy, gluten-free recipes are interwoven throughout its pages, and the ones included are of the appealing and easy-to-make sort.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Turmeric-Braised Chicken Legs With Golden Beets and Leeks
"Pho Real" Slow-Cooker Ginger-Chicken Bone Broth
Raw Gingerbread Cookie Beauty Balls

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Golden Milk Chia Pudding With Cinnamon Yogurt
Almond-Sesame Soba Zoodles With Quick Pickled Veggies
Sleepy Tummy Tea

For vegetarian recipes that are quick, easy, and fun (think carrot cake overnight oats), consider The Savvy Cook ($20), written by Top With Cinnamon blogger, Izy Hossack. Taking inspiration from her own life as a college student, most of Hossack's recipes are scaled to feed one to two eaters, affordable ingredients are prioritized, and tips, swaps, and suggestions for how to use leftovers are sprinkled throughout the text. Beginner-friendly, but not too basic, it also includes a chapter entitled "cheeky treats," to, as Hossack says "nourish your soul as well as your body."

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Single-Serve Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie
Microwave Blueberry Oat "Muffin"

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Fattoush Dip
Crispy Broccoli and Barley Bowl With Tahini Dressing
Charred Lettuce With Tofu and Peanut Dressing

I'll admit that initially I was a bit unsure about The Beauty Chef ($35) written by Carla Oates, the founder of the Australian skincare and supplement brand by the same name. But my skepticism quickly faded as I flipped through and cooked from its gorgeous, gluten-free recipes. The concept: glowing, healthy skin starts with a healthy gut, and the ingredients used are chosen with that in mind. Dairy is mostly absent here, but meat, seafood, healthy fats, and eggs appear often.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Savory Custards With Shiitake Mushrooms and Spring Onions
Sweet Potato Wedges With Almond and Chili Dukkah, Goat Cheese, and Fresh Herbs
Lebanese-Style Stuffed Eggplants

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Autumn Spice Smoothie Bowl With Pear, Banana, and Turmeric Cream
Daikon Noodle and Grilled Salmon Salad With Lime and Ginger Dressing
Za'atar Chicken With Cauliflower Rice, Raisin, and Pine Nut Stuffing

Kathryne Taylor's Love Real Food ($28) is a seamless extension of her blog, Cookie and Kate. This means one can expect crowd-pleasing, unfussy vegetarian recipes, including an abundance of hearty soups and salads, as well as clever spins on guacamole, enchiladas, avocado toast, hummus, and burrito bowls. Buzzy ingredients like kale, quinoa, avocados, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower feature heavily here.

Recipes I've Tried and Loved:
Everything Avocado Toast
Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Recipes I'd Like to Try:
Shredded Brussels and Kale Hash With Crispy Parmesan
Green Goddess Hummus
Moroccan Butternut, Chickpea, and Couscous Stew