The Adult Department at the Homewood Public Library currently hosts a monthly recipe club. Every month a new theme will be chosen and each attendee will make a dish based on that month’s theme.

Thus far, we have showcased everything from cookies to healthy favorites. You will not be assigned a feature cookbook to cook from.  Instead, choose any cookbook and pick a recipe that represents the month’s theme. Put on your apron and cook like the culinary star you are in your own kitchen. We would love for you to share your masterpiece with the rest of us and invite you to try the other delicious dishes represented as well. Don’t forget to jot down or print off your recipe so one of our staff members can make copies and pass it around.

Don’t have a cookbook that is just right? We’ve got you covered! Come on in and select one of the many cookbooks we have on our very own shelves. Still can’t find what you want? A staff member will be happy to help you locate just the right book from one of our other 39 Jefferson County Library branches.  We can have your cookbook sent and ready for pickup at the location of your choice.

The month of April Boasts a Soup and Salad theme.  Join us the evening of Thursday, April 6, to try some satisfying soups, salads, and conversation.

Need a little inspiration in the kitchen? Here are some of my favorite cookbooks for soups and salads.

Happy Cooking!

Get the best of both worlds with a cookbook new to our Collection here at the Homewood Library, Betty Rosbottom’s cookbook:  SOUP NIGHTS

Here you have it all; hearty soups, lite soups, soup for the vegetarian, soups for the seafood lover, soups that don’t look like soups, and the salads to compliment each. This cookbook has pictures for every recipe (because we all know the important role pictures play in a cookbook), the book also features the basics for homemade stock , helpful techniques and hints for keeping your cooking up to par. Like croutons with your soup? Soup Nights has you covered there too. Try “Soup Nights” at home and feel free to share with us ;).

If detox is what comes to mind when you think soup, Alison Velazquez, owner of Soupology, has created a book called SOUPING.

The center of “Souping” is detox, cleansing, re-energizing, and weight-loss. This book hosts over 80 holistic recipies, charts for which soups to eat at which meals, how many days before to prep and tips for cleanse boosting. Check out SOUPING and discover how souping can improve your health.

*also note worthy is SOUPELINA’S SOUP CLEANSE by Elina Fuhrman. These are plant-based soups and broths to heal your body and transform your life.

The perfect complement to any soup is a salad. You can find salad recipes almost anywhere, but I’m highlighting a few of my favorites.

I don’t always eat salad to be healthy.  In fact, I rarely eat salad to be healthy, being good for me just happens to be a happy perk. One of my favorite salads is the Heirloom Tomato Panzanella. Being the Southern Belle that I am, I have a fondness for those heirloom tomatoes found at the local farmers markets and roadside stands. This recipe is a good use of stale bread and ripe tomatoes. I toss in a little avocado because, avocado makes everything better! You’ll find this wonderful recipe on page 236 in the book ROOT TO LEAF: A Southern Chef Cooks Through the Seasons 

Another awesome and unusual salad recipe comes from the book: PLENTY MORE: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking From London’s Ottolenghti.

Globe Artichoke and Mozzarella with Candied Lemon: Does this not just sound amazing? And it is! Here’s a tip, to keep this recipe from becoming too complicated, use frozen artichokes. I am the absolute worst ever at cooking artichokes. I have no clue. I’ve never been shown how-to, and each time I attempt it, it’s an epic Pinterest fail! That’s OK, because I can’t be awesome at everything; and some sweetheart thought to freeze them and make them available to me in the frozen food isle of the grocery store. This recipe is Ah-mazing and can be found on page 98.