The CSA Cookbook Is Coming Soon! A Peek Inside Its Pages

Yesterday, the very first copy of my book arrived in the mail. Tears of joy, everywhere. (Better than pee everywhere, which is what I nearly did in my pants!) It is just so surreal to finally see a project I’ve worked on for an entire year take tangible form. After feeling reluctant to open the…

Linda Ly

Written by Linda Ly

The CSA Cookbook is coming soon! A peek inside its pages

The CSA Cookbook title page

Yesterday, the very first copy of my book arrived in the mail. Tears of joy, everywhere. (Better than pee everywhere, which is what I nearly did in my pants!)

It is just so surreal to finally see a project I’ve worked on for an entire year take tangible form. After feeling reluctant to open the package, then overwhelmed with the first sight of the cover, then nervous as I thumbed through each page, hoping there wasn’t a spelling mistake we missed, I grew more and more excited as I made my way through all 224 pages of The CSA Cookbook.

I can’t even put into words how proud I am of the finished product and how grateful I am for the incredible team involved in its creation, from my editor and designer to my photographer husband and recipe testers.

There’s often an unsettling fear of inadequacy with a project of this scope (Will the food turn out well? Will my readers enjoy it? Will the critics hate it?), but I can confidently say that I believe (I hope!) you will love this book as much as I do. At the very least, I think you’ll find it an interesting and useful reference to keep in your kitchen when you’re looking at a pile of produce and wondering how you’ll ever go through it all.

If you’ve been on the fence about preordering the book, I hope this post will nudge you toward getting a copy of your own. While The CSA Cookbook can be called a farm-to-table book, it’s not just any farm-to-table book. It takes a nose-to-tail approach to cooking with vegetables so you have as little waste as possible in the kitchen. If you grow your own at home, it’ll help you look at vegetables in a whole new way, with recipes for using the edible but unconventional parts of your plants like pepper leaves, bean leaves, squash shoots, radish pods, and watermelon rind.

The CSA Cookbook table of contents

Inside the book, you’ll find 106 recipes (actually 1 more than the 105 stated on the back cover — a good mistake to have!) of which:

  • 92 recipes are (or can easily be) vegetarian
  • 95 recipes are (or can easily be) gluten-free
  • 89 recipes are (or can easily be) dairy-free
  • 91 recipes are brand-new and never before seen on my blog
  • 106 recipes (yes, all of them!) include a beautiful full-color photo

The recipes are sectioned off into Tomatoes & Peppers, Leafy Greens, Peas & Beans, Bulbs & Stems, Roots & Tubers, Melons & Gourds, and Flowers & Herbs.

The CSA Cookbook basics

Roots and tubers chapter

In the beginning of the book, you’ll find all the basics: my go-to ingredients and tools, a guide on storing produce for maximum freshness, a cheat sheet for creating a balanced vegetable stock, and a foolproof formula for pesto (you’ll be surprised at all the things you can actually turn into pesto!).

Stuffed and roasted baby bell peppers

Chicken soup with wilted pepper leaves

I also include a list of online resources for my favorite grocery items and many, many tips throughout The CSA Cookbook on substituting similar ingredients and using up your odds and ends.

Butter-braised radishes and radish greens

Charred fava bean pods

We’re a little less than a month away from the book’s release and I cannot wait until it lands in your hands! If you haven’t preordered a copy yet, you’ll find all the information here and don’t forget to send me your proof of purchase to receive a bonus recipe bundle!

Pan-charred beans with bean leaf pesto

More coverage of The CSA Cookbook:

Linda Ly

I'm a plant lover, passionate road-tripper, and cookbook author whose expert advice and bestselling books have been featured in Time, Outside, HGTV, and Food & Wine. The National Parks Cookbook is my latest book. Garden Betty is where I write about modern homesteading, farm-to-table cooking, and outdoor adventuring—all that encompass a life well-lived outdoors. After all, the secret to a good life is... Read more »

24 Comments

  1. Congratulations, on the book AND preventing the tears from running down your leg!

    Has your publishers’ marketing team sought to place the books in actual CSA locations? I referred this book to a husband and wife I know who are very active in a Massachusetts CSA, and they replied with this very question.

    Reply

    1. Thank you! We’re working with LocalHarvest.org to promote the book with its database of CSAs, but ultimately it’s up to individual farms to approach us if they would like to sell the book. If you’re part of a CSA, please do send the manager a link to the book! http://thecsacookbook.com

      Reply

  2. I have per-ordered and I see now i will have to get more and save them for gifts as friends and family all need inspiration as we move towards organic, gluten free, dairy free diets. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!!!

    Reply

  4. I’d be happy to help promote it and I also voted for you over at the Garden Bloggers hall of fame awards. Love your site. Good luck! So glad you followed me on twitter so I could follow your wonderful work here.

    Reply

    1. Karen, thanks so much for the offer and the vote! If you’d like a review copy of the book for your blog, please send me an email. I’ll have limited copies to give to bloggers next month and your support would be wonderful!

      Reply

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