Soda gets a bad rap these days, but that's largely because of all the corn syrup, artificial flavors, and other junk that goes into commercially produced beverages. Homemade soda is a different story. Grab some fresh produce, a bottle of seltzer water, and a copy of Anton Nocito's Make Your Own Soda, and you'll be mixing your own vibrantly flavored, natural sodas in no time. 

What do birthday cake, chocolate chip cookies, and animal crackers all have in common — besides, of course, all being desserts that we grew up loving? Answer: they each have a long and venerable history that started way before our own memories of those first sweet bites. As Jesse Oleson Moore, creator of Cake Spy and self-proclaimed dessert detective, puts it in her new book The Secret Lives of Baked Goods, "...recipes are not necessarily invented — they evolve."

For as long as I've known Faith Durand, she has been ever so slightly obsessed with no-bake — a.k.a. bakeless — desserts. There's her love of panna cotta, and her tendency to layer delicious things with whipped cream. Of course, we also have her no-bake strawberry icebox cake, which has become one of our top recipes here on The Kitchn. 

Faith has now taken those years of playing with custards, fluffs, and other sweet stovetop creations, and she's put them into her latest book: Bakeless Sweets, which is being released today! So we thought we'd do an interview with Faith and get a peek into how she got hooked on these desserts, her favorite kitchen tools, and which recipes you should try first. 

Most Americans are familiar with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall through his well-received River Cottage Meat Book, so it may come as some surprise that he has penned a 400-page vegetable-centric tome devoted to the appreciation and cooking of vegetables.  But it makes a lot of sense that this passionate, out-spoken pioneer of local food has finally turned towards vegetables. River Cottage Veg is a lovely book, a love song to the many inspiring things you can pluck from your vegetable patch and bring into the kitchen.

If you have ever been to Seattle, then surely you went to Pike Place Market. And if you went to Pike Place Market, then surely you have stood under the awning near the fish market and waited eagerly for one orange-trousered gentlemen to yell, "HALIBUT!" and toss a ginormous glittering fish over the counter to another orange-trousered gentlemen. And if you haven't, you need to turn around and go back. My point is: this book. This book captures that experience better than a snapshot — plus you get recipes!

It sometimes seems that big name chefs like Alex Guarnaschelli spring onto our favorite food TV shows fully-formed, already successful and possessing some inherent and unwavering internal cooking compass. Not so. Alex Guarnaschelli, for instance, comes by her culinary chops through a combination of genetics (daughter of a cookbook editor) and sheer determination. Old-School Comfort Food takes a step back from the big smile we all recognize and shows us where this bright chef came from.

Oh boy. If you often find yourself lost in the galleries of Tastespotting, you know that the deliciousness borders on overwhelming. With that in mind, you may be thrilled or dismayed when we tell you about the latest crowd-sourced recipe site. CookieHound is basically like Tastespotting, except it's only cookies. Repeat. Only cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. 

My wife and I cook like to cook together in the kitchen. A lot. We meal plan and secure all our groceries on the weekend, effectively pulling together a menu that will feed us, both lunch and dinner, at least four days out of the week. The inspiration for what we put on our dinner plates comes from a variety of books, magazines, and online sources. Each week there is one stand out, and this week the best thing we cooked Bon Appetit's Indian-Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach.