Vol. 10, The Kitchen Library

The Secret of Cooking, weathering the cold, and all the recent cozy, delicious things

It’s been a year since I started this little Substack project. A year of writing about cookbooks, gushing about recipes I love, and sharing the small things that bring me deep joy. 💛

I’ve learned that cookbook people are the best people, food is infinitely better when it’s eaten with those you love, and it’s really okay to do less. I’ve learned that the most beloved recipes are invitations: they ask you to come closer, settle in, and listen closely. I’ve learned that sourdough is a wonderful way to build fortitude in my life (a virtue that doesn’t come naturally to me!).

In truth, so many of the lessons I learned this past year about cooking are actually lessons about living. I can try, I can fail; I can challenge myself, I can rest; I can settle into this present moment and trust that the work of my hands matters.

Right now, this present moment includes freezing weather and piles of snow. ☃️ Of course I’m dreaming of sunnier, warmer days. But I’m here—in this time and place—hoping and believing that the work of slicing an onion or stewing some apples on the stove will nourish and support us through these dark, cold months.

Here’s how I cozied up the past month!

Cookbooks:

THE SECRET OF COOKING | Bee Wilson
This cookbook has been on my radar for ages, but I finally got a copy in December and I’ve been lost in it ever since. The magic of this cookbook (for me) is in the writing of Bee Wilson. She can take the simplest thing (carrots! water!) and write a 3-page essay about it that will make you want to cry with joy and immediately start cooking.

So yes, the essays in this cookbook are worth it alone. And the recipes are delicious and cozy. If you’re a person who likes to read cookbooks like they are novels, you’ll adore this one. With chapter titles like, “Cut yourself some slack,” and “Treat cooking as a remedy (because it is),” this cookbook invites us to step into the kitchen with a mindset of honesty, wholeness, and joy. I loved this quote from Bee:

This book sprang from personal experience. I wanted to crack the code of how to fit cooking into the everyday mess and imperfection of all our lives without it seeming like yet another undoable thing on the to-do list or yet another reason to berate ourselves for falling short.

That’s a goal I can get behind!

Here are the highlights from what I made in January!

What I loved:

1. The Chicken Milanesa w/ Nutmeg Mashed Potatoes and Chimichurri is my favorite recipe I made from this book, hands down. I’m leading with the best! The chicken is divine and the nutmeg mashed potatoes were a revelation. Also, she recommends you pair this was the simplest arugula salad that’s just SO GOOD.

   

   Chicken Milanese w/ nutmeg mashed potatoes and chimichurri

2. The Molasses and Oat Soda Bread is easy, cozy, and delicious. Bee writes, “Even if you think you can’t make bread, you can make this.” I happily slathered butter and fig jam on my warm-from-the-oven slices!

3. The Ten-Minute Chana Masala was something I ate for lunch 3 days in a row. It reheated perfectly and truly came together quickly.

   

   ten-minute chana masala

Worth mentioning:

• Chicken Stew: This recipe was slotted under the header, “two stews for tired people.” Check, I’m tired and check, I want stew! This was such a comforting dish to eat. My kids thought it was weird. But kids are unreliable taste tasters, ya know? 😉 I still would make it again!

  

  chicken stew! the coziest recipe

• Orange and Cardamom Shortbread Squares: Oooo I loved this recipe. These buttery, flaky bars—with a kick of orange and the warming spice of cardamom—were the perfect winter dessert, in my opinion!

• No-Knead Herb Garden Focaccia w/ Slow-Start Roasted Chicken: This was a great pairing of two recipes! Yes, another chicken recipe…but listen: we eat a lot of chicken around here, ha! My chicken took a LOT longer to cook than she said, so be aware of that. But the focaccia was decently easy and came out with that perfect crisp bottom in my cast-iron skillet. I slathered an untold number of slices with peach jam! 🍑

  

  focaccia + chicken, a match made in heaven!

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TARTINE BREAD | Chad Robertson
I was gifted this book for Christmas (thanks, mom!) and finally took a stab at his opening sourdough recipe: sourdough country bread. I was sooooo pleased by the result! I thought his directions were fantastic and I can’t wait to make this my go-to bread book.

she’s got some class! look at her!

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Books:

War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy
📚 I joined another slow read with Simon Haisell for this year, and I’m thrilled to be diving into War and Peace!! It’s a chapter a day for the full year, and yes of course I’m behind on the schedule, but that’s okay! The story is drawing me in and I can’t wait to keep slowly making my way through.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt
📚 After finishing this book, I texted my friend and said, “I kinda loathed all the characters, but now I miss them.” That’s how I felt about this book. It was my first time reading Donna Tartt; she seems incredible at character development (even unlikable ones!) and knowing how to slowly tease out a story. This one was definitely in the dark academia camp, as it’s set on a college campus with students who form a unique bond and wrestle with issues of belonging, friendship, and morality.

Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
📚 I read this to my kids and we really enjoyed it! We’re slowly making our way through the whole series. Farmer Boy is next for us!

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Other enthusiasms:

Remembering that pan-banging cookies are a thing (thanks to Sarah Kieffer!) and making these delicious snickerdoodle cookies, eating a piece or two of this chocolate nearly every day, listening to this album, reading the coziest cookbook list by the always-fabulous Jenna Helwig, also reading anything and everything that Katie & Meredith write about food and life and living in Spain (this 2025 recipe round-up they put together is INSANE, there’s so much goodness there!), watching season 2 of The Pitt, using this peppermint mocha syrup that my amazing sister-in-law Amber Lawrence made and shared with me (it’s perfect for stirring into coffee/espresso!), and checking out too many books from the library, knowing full well I’ll never read half of them. 🫠

Thanks for reading, and thanks for being here. 💛

-Amanda

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
-Mary Oliver

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