partial cover of Simply Julia- 110 Recipes for Easy Comfort Food by Julia Turshen
Read This Book

A Mindful, Holistic Cookbook for Everyday

This cookbook is perfect for people looking to cook with ingredients already in their cupboards, and who'd like to expand on easy meals.

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Kendra Winchester

Contributing Editor

Kendra Winchester is a Contributing Editor for Book Riot where she writes about audiobooks and disability literature. She is also the Founder of Read Appalachia, which celebrates Appalachian literature and writing. Previously, Kendra co-founded and served as Executive Director for Reading Women, a podcast that gained an international following over its six-season run. In her off hours, you can find her writing on her Substack, Winchester Ave, and posting photos of her Corgis on Instagram and Twitter @kdwinchester.

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Here in the South, the only signs of fall—so far—are the ridiculous amounts of Halloween decor showing up in department stores. While I love all of the colorful leaves, carved pumpkins, and corn mazes, autumn, for me, means soup season. And when I’m not making soup, I’m making some other to-die-for comfort food. So this week, I’m sharing one of my favorite cookbooks that’s full of mouth-watering recipes.

a graphic of the cover of Simply Julia

Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food by Julia Turshen

When Turshen’s wife had to change her diet for medical reasons, she decided to rethink the way that she made her favorite dishes. But in Simply Julia, she isn’t thinking about grams of fat, calories, or cholesterol. Turshen rethinks the big picture of her food, looking for more holistic, more nutrient-dense ingredients. 

Turshen includes staples like stewed chicken and lemon ricotta cupcakes. There are these incredible one-pot meals. There are vegan dishes filled with flavorful spices and the perfect balance of textures. I love her complete adoration for legumes. She shows their versatility and the depth of flavors they can achieve. Plus, she makes it easy to swap out ingredients or adapt recipes to make them dairy or gluten free.  

With Simply Julia, Turshen isn’t here to make you adjust your cooking style or favorite flavor profiles. She’s here to make you the best cook that you want to be and help you create dishes you love. She includes a page of her go-to essentials that are a must-have in her kitchen. These key items help her when she, like everyone else, opens her cabinets and wonders, what am I going to make for dinner?

In between recipes and gorgeous food photography, Turshen shares these mini essays that help her readers better understand where her love of food comes from. She tells us the stories behind her recipes, shares her happy memories around food, and just her general philosophy of cooking. These peeks behind the curtain take Simply Julia from a good cookbook into a great one. We get to know Turshen as a person and how that informs the recipes she’s shared with us, and that’s something truly special.

You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, on TikTok @kendrawinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.