Selected by the New York Times as a Notable Cookbook, by USA TODAY as a Best Holiday Gift For the Foodie, and by More.com as one of their Best Cookbooks of the Year.

This unique combination of recipes, memoir, and advice is “pure entertainment in an original, fresh voice” (Mollie Katzen, author of Moosewood Cookbook).

When blogger Jennifer Reese lost her job, she began a series of food-related experiments. Economizing by making her own peanut butter, pita bread, and yogurt, she found that “doing it yourself” doesn’t always cost less or taste better. In fact, she found that the joys of making some foods from scratch— marshmallows, hot dog buns, and hummus—can be augmented by buying certain ready-made foods—butter, ketchup, and hamburger buns. Tired? Buy your mayonnaise. Inspired? Make it.

With Reese’s fresh voice and delightful humor, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter has 120 recipes with eminently practical yet deliciously fun “make or buy” recommendations. Her tales include living with a backyard full of cheerful chickens, muttering ducks, and adorable baby goats; countertops laden with lacto-fermenting pickles; and closets full of mellowing cheeses. Here’s the full picture of what is involved in a truly homemade life and how to get the most out of your time in the kitchen—with the good news that you shouldn’t try to make everything yourself.

Why is Santa sitting behind a clear protective barrier? And how can parents and caregivers explain to the children in their life that, even though some things will be different this year, Christmas magic remains the same?

That’s easy! Let Santa do it!

Santa in a Snow Globe is the origin story of how and why St. Nick will be found sitting “in a place that is clear and quite round” when families come to share their wish lists with him this holiday season.

Relayed straightforwardly by Santa to author AH Edelman and illustrated with inclusiveness by Serge Gall, Santa in a Snow Globe offers a starting point for grownups to talk about life’s new realities–including climate change, the Coronavirus and protests–with their kids.

So curl up with your children while Santa shares some recent observations, offers some timeless advice and concludes with a big dose of Christmas cheer.