Description

From New York Times Cooking contributor Yasmin Fahr comes a guide to tackling weeknight dinner, with simple, delicious recipes that suit the needs of even the busiest home cooks.

What’s for dinner? It’s a question we ask ourselves most nights—pressed for time or groceries, searching through the fridge for inspiration. Dinner can be a time to unwind and connect with family or friends, but it can also feel like a chore.

Recipe developer and cookbook author Yasmin Fahr gets it, and is here to help readers create nourishing meals even when real life seems to have other plans. In Cook Simply, Live Fully she offers 120 recipes for taking the grind out of dinnertime, with dishes that span the range of “too tired to chop vegetables” to “up for a challenge but please make it snappy.”

Yasmin’s approach is all about simplicity and flavor while keeping things nutritious and vegetable-forward. Cook Simply, Live Fully is organized into three progressive sections based on energy level and mood. Lap Dinners includes low effort/high reward hits such as Sheet Pan Asparagus with Tomatoes, Eggs, + Feta. Readers can take things up a notch in Coffee Table Dinners with satisfying dishes that require a little more prep work, like Roasted Chicken Thighs with Grapes, Feta + Mint. At the Dinner Table is for those days when time and energy are not at a premium, or when entertaining is on the menu, including Roasted Mustard Salmon with Hint-of-Mint Escarole Salad with a side of Blistered Olive + Asparagus Salad with Feta + Turmeric-Stained Onions (with suggested wine pairings!).

Yasmin’s recipes are designed to teach readers how to become better, more intuitive cooks, and are open to creative substitutions (and some trial and error). Throughout, she shows readers how to transform the familiar by creating new pairings and flavor combinations that will inspire endless iterations—all while keeping prep and cleanup time to a minimum. An inviting, beautifully styled cookbook featuring 75 full-color photographs, Cook Simply, Live Fully is the answer to the most difficult question home cooks face every day, and is sure to become a trusted resource for years to come.

Praise For…

“Cook Simply, Live Fully sparkles with Yasmin’s innate ability to gift us with recipes that make us smile. This book brims with joyous energy and with Yasmin’s signature bright flavors and super simple techniques that make cooking fun and, perhaps most important, our lives a little less complicated.” — Hetty Lui McKinnon, food writer and author of five cookbooks including Tenderheart and To Asia, With Love

“I’m often envious of Yasmin’s life as an itinerant cook: no matter where she is, she manages to cook simple, delicious food that I always want to eat. This book, filled with Yasmin’s joie de vivre, takes into account your mood and your energy level as well as your tolerance for cleanup. It’s packed with low-effort, high-impact meals, and it is perfect for novices or more experienced cooks who get permission to loosen up in the kitchen and have more fun, all while eating very well.” — Susan Spungen, author of Veg Forward and Open Kitchen

“Yasmin Fahr delivers what we need now—unfussy, happy recipes loaded with solid cooking wisdom. This concise book will get you through many situations, from impromptu solo meals to impressive dinner parties. From these pages, you’ll gain smart advice for fulfilling kitchen lives.” — Andrea Nguyen, award-winning author of The Pho Cookbook and Ever-Green Vietnamese

“Cook Simply, Live Fully is right on time—with flavor, joy, and grace to spare. Sections like Lap Dinners and Team Broiler fill us with a sense of ease and pleasure. It is a delicious canon of self-care and a sustainable path forward for feeding ourselves.” — Sarah Copeland, author of Every Day is Saturday and Instant Family Meals