In her inspiring New York Times bestselling memoir, It Was Me All Along, Andie Mitchell chronicled her struggles with obesity, losing weight, and finding balance. Now, in her debut cookbook, she gives readers the dishes that helped her reach her goals and maintain her new size. In 80 recipes, she shows how she eats: mostly healthy meals that are packed with flavor, like Lemon Roasted Chicken with Moroccan Couscous and Butternut Squash Salad with Kale and Pomegranate, and then the “sometimes” foods, the indulgences such as Peanut Butter Mousse Pie with Marshmallow Whipped Cream, because life just needs dessert. With 75 photographs and Andie’s beautiful storytelling, Eating in the Middle is the perfect cookbook for anyone looking to find freedom from cravings while still loving and enjoying every meal to the fullest. – Goodreads

Damn, did I miss reviewing cookbooks. I took a brief hiatus because I kept getting distracted by other shiny objects (gardening books) and couldn’t focus. I’m back.

Fun fact: I used to write a cooking column for my college newspaper. It was titled Hooker in the Kitchen, because, well, my last name is Hooker and I cooked stuff. In the kitchen. I digress.

I was thrilled when I unwrapped this heavy number from its postage wrap. The cover art is gorgeous and the paper is thick — it’s a great quality cookbook.

I love that most of the meals are light and clean, which some not-so-light-and-clean recipes thrown in — after all, the whole theme of the cookbook is moderation and balance.

My one gripe with the book? The insanely long ingredient lists. It’s not very budget friendly to pick up a jar of apricot preserves, some special cheese, etc. if all you need is a tablespoon. I was a little bit disappointed at this (and at my barren fridge).

My new roommate and I decided that roommate dinner needed to happen, so we decided to make the Lemon-Herb Fish with Crispy Oven Fries.

Now, I’ve made oven fries before. Yes, they’re in the shape of fries, but they’re usually limp and meh. According to Mitchell, the secret to these fries is the hot water soak right before baking. I didn’t believe her.

But she was so right. These fries came out AMAZING. Crispy baked fries?! What?! Yes. This alone made the whole book worth it. The fish was pretty fantastic, too.

Overall, I loved the wide variety of dishes to choose from (though I didn’t love the wide ingredient lists). Everything seems relatively simple to make and I’m excited to try more recipes out of this book. Give this one a shot!

I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d like to grow your own food but don’t think you have the space, look up! In urban and suburban areas across the country, farms and gardens are growing atop the rooftops of residential and commercial buildings. In this accessible guide, author Annie Novak’s passion shines as she draws on her experience as a pioneering sky-high farmer to teach best practices for raising vegetables, herbs, flowers, and trees. The book also includes interviews, expert essays, and farm and garden profiles from across the country, so you’ll find advice that works no matter where you live. Featuring the brass tacks on green roofs, container gardening, hydroponics, greenhouse growing, crop planning, pest management, harvesting tips, and more, The Rooftop Growing Guide will have you reimagining the possibilities of your own skyline.

This one is pretty self-explanatory — it’s a book about growing a garden. On a rooftop (or other small area).

I’m not planning on growing a garden on my rooftop, but I am pretty green (hah!) to this whole gardening thing. So, the information on irrigation, soil types, containers, depth, pests, diseases, etc. was all VERY simple and helpful for someone who knows nothing about keeping plants alive, much less producing a basketful of goods.

I love the concept of small farming, so it was cool to see Novak also introduce the idea of rooftop beekeeping and chicken farming.

Bonus: the photos were gorgeous and inspirational. I definitely cannot grow anything on my roof, but I wish I could. The views of rooftop gardens from all over were very cool.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and am looking forward to planting my first garden. Thank you to Blogging for Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review!

So you know your four-letter personality type. You know what some of your strengths and weaknesses are. You know which career you ought to pursue and which situations you shine in.

But now it’s time to explore everything the research won’t tell you.

In this entertaining collection, Heidi Priebe, author of The Comprehensive ENFP Survival Guide and prominent writer of all things Myers-Briggs, explains how you’ll grow up, hook up, break up and everything else in between, based on your personality type. – Goodreads

I am a sucker for Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator posts. So, when I stumbled upon Heidi Priebe’s articles on Thought Catalog, I pretty much fell in love.

See, I’m an INFP. Which means 98% of the time, I feel misunderstood and that nobody “gets me”. When I read an article that nails how I am when I’m thriving, what exhausts me, and what kind of employee I am, well, I feel this sense of *finally* being understood (and if you don’t know your MBTI, I recommend checking out 16personalities.com)

When I saw Priebe’s new book, How You’ll Do Everything Based On Your Personality Type, I was like…shit yes. I need this in my life. And it was $0.00 in the Kindle store, so DOUBLE SCORE.

I read it in an evening, giggling over the different chapters and how I do things based on my type (and the people I’m with the most often and how they do things). Some were a tad off, but hey, you can’t fit everyone in one of sixteen boxes. It was a quick, easy, enjoyable read.

4/5 on Goodreads because I love the information. I’m glad I didn’t sink money into it, though, because all (or most) of the chapters can be found on Thought Catalog.