“‘More is more’ is an ideology to live by,” says New York Times Best Seller author Molly Baz. Fresh from the success of her first publication, Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes to Repeat, the former Bon Appétit recipe developer is back with a second tome, and this time around, she’s focused on making us more daring and intuitive cooks. This book is stacked with 100 quirky recipes—from Spicy Coconut-Smothered Green Beans to Fried Morty-D (short for mortadella) Sandos to Tangled Leek’Za pizza (for onion lovers only)—designed to encourage you to let go of inhibitions, measure less, taste more and always add a fat pinch of salt to ensure the flavours hit just right. Fun fact: Adding booze to cacio e pepe—her recipe contains an entire bottle of red wine—is a trick she picked up from Elena, Montreal’s beloved pizza, pasta and natty-wine joint.

If you’re dialed into Canada’s cocktail scene, you might recognize Evelyn Chick as the über-talented owner of Simpl Things, an all-day cocktail and snack bar in Toronto. With her first book, she’s levelling up the at-home happy-hour experience for any occasion. Eschewing the pretense of a fancy bar (or a two-piece Boston cocktail shaker, for that matter), Chick mixes artistry and alchemy with practical advice, easy-to-find ingredients and mood-based recipes that deliver. Try the Calm Seas, with its nori-infused fino sherry, to help cool you down on the hottest summer days, sip on a stiff Guerrilla Girls-inspired rye drink (a nod to the underrepresented women of whiskey) when you’d like to take things slow, whip up a big-batch Group G&T when friends roll up or dabble in the world of cannabis cocktails for a hazy touch.

“Think of this book as a one-stop culinary school in a book (without years of inescapable debt!),” writes American chef and first-time author Sohla El-Waylly. Each chunky chapter covers a fundamental skill—from heat management to sauce secrets to all things butter and dough—and it’s all laid out in order of difficulty. Teaching the “hows” and “whys” of cooking with nerdy deep dives and easy-to-digest instructions, the beloved New York Times recipe developer is by your side to help you pre-empt every bump in the recipe road. When things go wrong—and they will—her Jedilike nuggets of gentle wisdom in her “What the Hell Happened?” sections will soon have you back in the kitchen trying again (and again). Unlike with many other cookbooks, savoury and sweet receive equal billing here, so you can fearlessly cook all the courses.

Sure, there are a ton of vegetarian cookbooks out there, but few accomplish what celebrity chef Michael Smith and his team patiently do at The Inn at Bay Fortune on Prince Edward Island. Guided by the seasons, Farmhouse Vegetables encourages readers to cook like a farmer. It’s a book of unconventional ideas, flavours and techniques that challenge expectations and celebrate the mind-boggling biodiversity of plants. No matter where you fit on the veggie-to-meat spectrum, you’ll appreciate standout recipes such as Cumin Corn Fritters, Fresh Pea Mash and Purslane, Shiitake Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli) Noodle Bowl, and a show-stopping Honey- Roasted Sunflower Head. For a lick of nostalgia, try the parsnip ice cream smooshed between two carrot-cake cookies—an earthy riff on a classic