T. Susan Chang

Amazon.comThere are many slow-cooker cookbooks on the market -- perhaps more than there are dedicated to any other single appliance -- but many are really just stew cookbooks, slightly edited to accommodate the cooker. What makes a slow-cooker cookbook good? (1) Lots of recipes, since you ... Read More

Amazon.com Everyone jumps on the "healthy" bandwagon in January, which means exercise, but don't forget the other half of the equation: eating right. Today's healthy-eating cookbooks stress eating better food, not eating less or depriving yourself. Don't be fooled by "diet" books that ... Read More

Amazon.comBetter Food for Kids: Your Essential Guide to Nutrition for All Children from Age 2 to 10 (2nd ed., Robert Rose $24.95) by Joanne Saab and Daina Kalnins I am always a little wary of one-stop guides to anything -- I've seen so many single-subject cookbooks that only broach the tip ... Read More

Amazon.comBarefoot Contessa How Easy is That?: Fabulous Recipes and Easy Tips by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, $35) Does it seem that every famous cook these days has a catchphrase? Emeril has "Bam!" Rachael Ray has "Yum-O!" Bobby Flay has "Are you ready for a throwdown?!" And Ina Garten has ... Read More

Amazon.comDouble Delicious! Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives, by Jessica Seinfeld (William Morrow, $28.99) You might remember Deceptively Delicious, which Jessica Seinfeld published to some fanfare in 2007. Part of its success was the appealingly retro packaging, part of it was ... Read More

Amazon.comMake It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking by Stephanie O'Dea (Hyperion, $19.99) If there were a statewide contest to determine who least needs more kitchen equipment, I'd win it hands down. Do I love my immersion blender? My lemon zester? My ice-cream ... Read More

Amazon.comDora & Diego Let's Cook, from Nickelodeon (Nickelodeon, $16.95) I'm always a little suspicious of cookbooks that have no author listed. That happens a lot with TV tie-ins, especially when it's kids' TV. Maybe the idea here is to keep Dora and Diego real -- to convince their ... Read More

Amazon.comNow Eat This!: 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods All Under 350 Calories, by Rocco Dispirito (Ballantine Books, $22) Your favorite comfort foods, made less fattening! Hmmm, why does this premise sound so familiar? Because great-taste, less-fat cookbooks are popular and ... Read More

Amazon.comSimple Comforts: 50 Heartwarming Recipes, compiled by Sur La Table ($15.00, Andrews McMeel Universal) Every so often, you need a cookbook that's just for giving. There's a whole industry revolving around these little books, many of them sold in museum shops and stationery stores. ... Read More

Amazon.comTeen Cuisine, by Matthew Locricchio (Marshall Cavendish, $22.95) Every once in a while, someone ventures into the wild and peril-fraught territory that is cookbook publishing for teens. If you write cookbooks for kids under 12, the rules are pretty simple -- keep it colorful, keep ... Read More