Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life’s Big and Small Moments

In this peppy collection, Grandbaby Cakes blogger Adams encourages celebrating the everyday by “cooking and sharing that joy with others.” Whether that means making a praline sweet potato pound cake to welcome autumn or serving salmon glazed with whiskey and sweet tea after getting a raise at work, Adams’s flavorful recipes are suitable for nearly any occasion—with busy weeknights, for the most part, a notable exception. Home cooks will find themselves welcomed into Adams’s kitchen by the touching, if sometimes twee, sense of occasion and feel-good family anecdotes (“peach cobbler is my family’s signature dessert, and Big Mama, whose cobbler was the best, inspired me to master it,” Adams reminisces while introducing her tipsy buttered Baileys peach cobbler) and appreciate the precision of the expert tips (when grilling ribs—Moroccan-influenced with a date glaze, in this case—baste them with glaze only in the last 15 minutes of cooking, lest the sugars burn and char the meat). For home cooks looking to whip up soul food fare with a bit of flare, this is a quality guide. Brandi Bowles, United Talent. (Mar.)