If you do any gluten-free baking, you're fully aware that baking without regular flour requires some skill and patience in the kitchen. Thankfully, with gluten-free baking mixes, it's easy to make your favorite cookie and cake recipes without ripping your hair out in the process. Anne Byrn — aka "The Cake Mix Doctor" — is at it again with her latest cookbook, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Read more

If eating healthy is one of your goals for 2011, I suggest investing in some quality cookbooks to enhance your culinary experience. Flipping through recipe books always inspires me to pull out an apron and get to chopping. The new cookbook Power Foods ($25) will certainly have you sharpening your knives and preheating your oven. Written by the editors of Whole Living Magazine, the cookbook Read more

If you're not sure what to do for Earth Day, raise a fork to Mother Earth today with a brand-new book title, Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods ($20), written by Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, the two founders of Edible Communities. Edible is an organization that publishes magazines throughout various regions of North America that focus on the local food industry; its just-published Read more

Although Passover lasts for only a few more days, its occurrence is always a reminder (for Jews and non-observers alike) of how much Jewish culture has shaped contemporary culture and cuisine. What's the origin of dill pickles, and how did cream cheese come to be paired with salmon? Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking ($24) tackles such questions, all while offering more than 100 traditional Read more

Upon realizing that March is National Noodle Month and National Sauce Month, I've been obsessed with learning more about Eastern noodle dishes and Asian sauces. So I swore it was culinary kismet when I got sent a copy of Easy Asian Noodles ($18). The title is by Helen Chen, a writer with three other Chinese cookbooks under her belt and the founder of an Asian cookware line. For an established Read more

If you're well-read in the food blog department, chances are you've come across Steamy Kitchen, a haven for East Asian-inspired recipes. A friend once described Jaden Hair, the mastermind behind the site, as "the Asian version of Rachael Ray," because her recipes are simple, straightforward, and speedy to prepare at home. Recently, she released her first-ever cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook Read more

I should have put self-control on my list of New Year's resolutions, because I haven't been able to resist temptation this month, especially when it comes to nostalgic candies, dragées, or any charming confection. At least one publisher appealed to my weakness when I received a copy of Peter Greweling's Chocolates and Confections at Home With the Culinary Institute of America ($23), I think my Read more

Call her what you will, but it's undeniable that Alice Waters is a pioneer in sustainable cooking practices. I personally had never even heard of eating locally or organic until I had a conversation about Waters's famed northern California restaurant Chez Panisse, which opened in 1971. Today restaurants and grocery stores are filled with the words "local," "organic," and "sustainable," as well as Read more

The latest book from Food & Wine, Quick from Scratch Chicken Cookbook ($25), might be dedicated entirely to chicken, but it is by no means boring. We all know that chicken is a wonderful lean protein, but cooking a boneless, skinless breast can become awfully dull. This cookbook is the antidote to monotonous chicken. With lovely photos accompanying every recipe, it is easy to become inspired Read more