20 Ways to Become a Better Cook

This may sound a bit cliché, but it's true: you don't have to be a vegan, or even a vegetarian, to appreciate Vegan Holiday Cooking From Candle Cafe: Celebratory Menus and Recipes From New York's Premier Plant-Based Restaurants ($23) by Joy Pierson, Angel Ramos, and Jorge Pineda; we're certainly not. Sure, a good portion of the recipes use divisive vegan substitutes like soy milk, tempeh, or egg replacer, but if those ingredients aren't your thing, there are plenty more that don't. Alongside chapters for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve are sections for Lunar New Year, the Super Bowl, and Valentine's Day. And many of the recipes are appropriate year-round.

Recipes we can't wait to try:

• Benito's passion (tequila, passion fruit, and citrus cocktail)
• Christmas pomegranate punch
• Soba noodle and seaweed salad with wasabi-tahini dressing
• Lemongrass-infused celeriac soup with matzo balls
• Crispy black bean tacos
• Wild rice, cornbread, cranberry, and apple stuffing
• Broccoli rabe with shallots and hazelnuts