Hallelujah! We’re two days from the official first day of spring. I’m so happy for more sunshine and longer days. Winter makes me crave hearty, cheesy dinners, and I’ve had enough! Seriously, my pants are snug.

I’m transitioning to more light, fresh meals, and I bet you are looking forward to those, too. Somehow it has been ten months since my cookbook, Love Real Food, hit the shelves last May. So, I thought I’d highlight some of my favorite spring-y recipes from the book.

If you already own Love Real Food, I have loved reading your reviews and your kind notes about the book. I sincerely hope it’s become a go-to cookbook in your kitchen. You might see one of these recipes with fresh eyes now that the weather has changed, and I hope it inspires you to cook a new recipe.

If you don’t have the book yet, I’ll admit that I hope these recipes entice you to get a copy. I poured all of my energy into the recipe testing, writing and photography for this book for over a year, and I’m over the moon by the feedback. Over 400 five-star reviews on Amazon and counting!

I still absolutely love every single recipe in the book, and you can browse 10 recipes that are particularly spring-y below. Find more information about the book here (including a video trailer that shows the inside of the book).

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Crisp Celery, Plumped Cranberries, and Lemon Dressing

This kale salad is simple, redeeming, and delicious by design. It’s a great picnic salad, or more realistically, a great pack-for-work or dinner-after-indulgent-vacation salad. (Page 59)

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Raise your hand if you haven’t bought any Christmas gifts yet this year. (I’m waving wildly over here.) The good news is that I’ve heard that my cookbook, Love Real Food, makes a terrific gift. If you have purchased the book for yourself and your friends and family, thank you so much for your support. If you don’t have a copy yet, add it to your Christmas list!

One of my favorite gifts I’ve received over the years was a cookbook with a set of measuring spoons. It was a cute and thoughtful gift, and I reached for those measuring spoons in my drawer earlier today.

So, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite gift-worthy items to give along with a copy of Love Real Food. For even more gift ideas, don’t miss my holiday gift guide.

Head’s up: these items are affiliate links, meaning that I earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you make a purchase through these links. Thanks for supporting Cookie and Kate!

1. Measuring Spoons: I love the shape of these measuring spoons, which fit easily into spice jars.
2. KitchenAid Hand Mixer: I hate pulling out my heavy stand mixer, and this hand-held mixer can do everything I need.
3. Love Real Food Cookbook: You’ll definitely want to make the Blueberry Maple Muffins and Carrot Cake.
4. Fiesta Loaf Pan: This loaf pan is so pretty and bakes evenly.
5. Measuring Cups: These sturdy stainless steel measuring cups are just right.

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I almost called these my fifteen “favorite” recipes from my cookbook, but I couldn’t do it. All 100 recipes in the book are my favorites. It took testing at least 150 concepts to narrow down to 100 worthy of print. I photographed each one, agonized over the instructions and provided as many tips and tricks as I possibly could.

I pulled a few all-nighters to meet my deadlines, but your feedback on the book so far has made all the hard work totally worth it. The book has nearly 250 five-star reviews! Thank you. The book also got a starred review in the Library Journal, it landed on Amazon’s best cookbooks of 2017 list, and it’s available in Whole Foods stores as of this month.

If it has seemed quiet around here lately, it’s because I’ve been on a family vacation and I’m gearing up to co-host this awesome event in NYC (you should come). I have some exciting new projects and recipes in the pipeline and can’t wait to share. In the meantime, I rounded up fifteen recipes that are perfect for cooler temperatures and game days this fall. Tell me, what’s your favorite recipe from the book so far?

P.s. If you don’t have a copy of Love Real Food yet, get your copy today at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, BAM! or Indigo.

1) Apple Crisp Breakfast Parfaits (page 7)

Creamy yogurt, chunky homemade applesauce and homemade granola make this a healthy breakfast that tastes like a treat.

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I’m writing today because there are only two more days until my cookbook, Love Real Food, hits the stores and your mailboxes. I can’t wait!

Since you seemed to love reading about the recipe development process for the cookbook last week, I wanted to offer the visual effects that I use in my food photos today. I’m using examples from the book so you’ll get some sneak peeks at the recipes, too. (For details about my photography equipment and more, check here.)

You can use these visual effects to your advantage whether you’re snapping pictures with your phone or shooting with a fancy camera. I’d love to see you put them to work. When you get your book, please share your snaps of the recipes in Love Real Food on Instagram with the hashtag #LoveRealFood. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites soon!

The post How to Photograph Food appeared first on Cookie and Kate.

Good morning! I haven’t said this enough, but thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered Love Real Food. You’re setting it up for successful rankings and I really appreciate your faith in my cookbook. I worked so hard on every aspect of the book and I’m just dying for you to get your hands on it.

As a thank you, I’ve compiled a free digital “Companion Guide” to the book. It’s a nine-page, print-friendly PDF (see below). It includes the cheat sheet from the back of the book, in case you would rather print it off than cut out the pages. You’ll also get the full kitchen equipment rundown that we had to cut from the book, and a handy grocery list with checkboxes.

The Companion Guide is exclusive content for people who pre-order—if you haven’t yet, you can pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, BAM!, Indigo, Anthropologie or iBooks. Once you’ve pre-ordered, get your Companion Guide here.

Enough about that! I’m sharing my recipe development process with you today. If you’re a cookbook collector, aspiring cookbook author or process nerd (hey friend), this post is for you. I stole the idea from Adrianna and Ashlae, so check out their posts for more perspective on the subject. Are you ready?

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It’s official! Cover number two for the win! Thank you all so much for voting last week. It’s all becoming very real and I’ve had a blast reading all of your feedback. I didn’t know so many of you detest cabbage; now I’m on a mission to bring cabbage back!

For those who are curious, here’s the final count:

FINAL RESULTS: 7445 Votes
Cover 1 – 949 Votes (12.8%)
Cover 2 – 3425 Votes (46.1%)
Cover 3 – 3058 Votes (41.1%)

Funny enough, those percentages match perfectly with my own preferences. One of a million reasons why you all are the best people on the internet! Thank you again for your support throughout this crazy cookbook-making process, and for your input on the cover. I wanted a bold, vibrant, eye-catching photo of a fresh and satisfying recipe on the cover, and I think the salad is exactly that.

The book comes out May 16th, which seems so far away, but it will be here before we know it. It’s available for pre-orders on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can find more details here. Chris pre-ordered some cookbooks to give as gifts this Christmas, and he’s printing out copies of the cover to give for now. I love it.

Thank you so much for your support! It means the world to me.

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Help! I can’t decide on the cover for my new cookbook, Love Real Food. The book’s designer, Rae Ann, came up with three awesome options. I love them all, and I can’t decide which one should make the cut.

I proposed to my publisher that we let you guys pick the winner and they said yes! You all have been so supportive throughout the cookbook-making progress (thank you) and I’m thrilled that you get to pick the cover.

The book is officially available for pre-orders on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I’m working on some final edits for the book now, and it’s so fun to see it all come together. I can’t wait for you all the see the book on May 16th!

Click through to see all three and vote for your favorite. Voting ends Wednesday, December 14 at noon CST!

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Welcome to my messy kitchen! I’ve been so busy living and breathing recipe development for my cookbook that I’ve done a lousy job sharing the process. So today, I thought I’d give you an update and a very real look at my kitchen while we’re at it.

On the cookbook front, I’ve created and worked through about half of the recipes for the book so far (that’s fifty recipes, with fifty more to go!), with the help of my lovely and talented assistant, Mara. The chaos is always more organized when Mara is here.

I make the most progress on Fridays, when Mara comes to help. She’s in nursing school and has Fridays off. To prepare, I clean my house, try to get most of the groceries we’ll need and edit and print all the recipes we’ll be making. Some days, I’m more prepared than others. She picks up any remaining groceries on the way over.

Sometimes, we’re making a recipe for the first time; other times, we’re making it for the fifth time. We can usually knock out ten recipes in one day, although we might only be finalizing a few. Imagine Mara as the busy worker bee and me as the mad scientist/absent-minded professor, wandering about and muttering ideas (“But wait! What if we…?”). That’s us.

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I have never enjoyed keeping secrets, even the good kind. I just might burst from anticipation so here it goes: I’m making a cookbook! It has been in the works for ages, and by ages I mean years, which is a long time in the blog world.

My cookbook is called Love Real Food, as in Cookie and Kate Love Real Food. It’s a title that makes a statement, one that I hope will appeal to you, my most wonderful readers, and a broader audience that hasn’t yet stumbled on this blog or this way of cooking. It’s a statement that conveys my bursting-at-the-seams enthusiasm for real, wholesome food, the kind that both delights the senses and nourishes the body. I hope you like it!

Love Real Food will be an extension of what you have come to expect on this blog, plus some fun special features. It will include 100 recipes that are all vegetarian, fresh and full of flavor. I’m being very careful to use accessible ingredients and have been testing the recipes over and over again to make sure they’re perfect.

I’ve finalized about a quarter of the recipes so far and I CAN’T WAIT to share them with you all. The blueberry muffins alone! They took me nine tries to get just right but they were worth it. The book won’t be complete without a few favorite recipes from the blog (even those will be reworked and tweaked), but the vast majority will be brand new. My stomach is so full right now, you guys.

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