Julia Turshen is a lovely, down-to-earth cook whose work we’ve seen for years as the co-author of cookbooks with the likes of Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow. Now she’s compiled a lifetime of recipes developed and honed at home with family and friends and created Small Victories: Recipes, Advice + Hundreds of Ideas for Home Cooking Triumps. Julia describes 100 lessons in overcoming our cooking fears, tackling topics such as working with yeast. Then she expands each recipe so that once you’ve conquered the basics, you can expand on it with variations many times over. Check out Julia here to understand her approach. Even the Barefoot Contessa writes, ” I can’t wait to cook my way through this amazing new book.”

And speaking of the Barefoot Contessa, my favorite kitchen diva, Ina Garten, has a new book out in October called Cooking for Jeffrey. In case you don’t know, Jeffrey is that wonderful, smiling fellow that’s always trying all those great concoctions Ina cooks in her cookbooks and on her shows. In a recent interview, Jeffrey even claimed in over 30 years of marriage and thousands of new recipes, Ina has only made one thing he didn’t like: fish stew. Not bad for a Dean Emeritus at Yale who teaches and advises on international business and travels around the world advising corporate bigwigs and heads of government, then runs errands and helps in the garden on weekends. Who wouldn’t love a husband like this!

Anyways, back to the topic, Cooking for Jeffrey is out late in October and is sure to have a ton of publicity, so get your hold in now.

And if this isn’t enough home and cooking swooning on my part, October also brings us The Magnolia Story. If you’ve never seen Chip and Joanna Gaines… well, I don’t know what to say except watch this! They are just so darn cute! So anyways, they do the show Fixer Upper where they help people renovate old houses (usually old dumps) so they can get the house they want, but can’t afford. The book takes you through the story of how they got together, had four children and built the Magnolia brand which includes their family home/farm, the reno business, the store and more spin-offs.

We get stories like:

• When Chip ran to the grocery store and forgot to take their new, sleeping baby
• When Chip bought a houseboat sight unseen that was NOT a good investment
• Joanna’s agonizing decision to close her dream business to focus on raising their children
• Memories and photos of their wedding
• The harrowing stories of being young entrepreneurs with a growing family, and
• The significance of the word magnolia and why it permeates their story.

I hate to sound nosy, but I can’t wait to get lost in these stories for awhile. So what a great mix for winter, learn to cook the basics in a way so versatile you’ll have hundreds of options under your belt. Meanwhile, warm yourself with the love stories of some of our favorite couples. Bring on the snow!