A Couple Cooks Pretty Simple Cooking - by Sonja Overhiser & Alex Overhiser (Hardcover)

About the Book

Collects recipes with a Mediterranean flair from the husband-and-wife bloggers and podcasters, including such dishes as peach salsa fresca, veggie lasagna, and vegan chili, along with their top ten lessons for a lifelong healthy approach to food.

Book Synopsis

Popular husband-and-wife bloggers and podcasters (acouplecooks.com) offer 100 recipes with an emphasis on whole foods and getting into the kitchen together.

Pretty Simple Cooking was named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious and best healthy cookbooks of 2018 by Mind Body Green.

A love story at its finest, Alex and Sonja Overhiser first fell for each other--and then the kitchen. In a matter of months, the writer-photographer duo went from eating fast and frozen food to regularly cooking vegetarian meals from scratch. Together, the two unraveled a "pretty simple" approach to home cooking that kicks the diet in favor of long-term lifestyle changes. While cooking isn't always easy or quick, it can be pretty simple by finding love in the process.

A Couple Cooks Pretty Simple Cooking is an irresistible combination of spirited writing, nourishing recipes with a Mediterranean flair, and vibrant photography. Dubbed a "vegetarian cookbook for non-vegetarians", it's a beautiful book that's food for thought, at the same time providing real food recipes for eating around the table. The book features:

• 100 vegetarian recipes, with 75 vegan and 90 gluten-free options
• A full-color photograph for every recipe
• Recipes arranged from quickest to more time-consuming
• 10 life lessons for a sustainably healthy approach to cooking, artfully illustrated with a custom watercolor

Review Quotes

"Pretty Simple Cooking is the ultimate cookbook that everyone needs. Sonja and Alex have written a collection of delicious and approachable vegetarian recipes that are sure to delight. Their enthusiasm is infectious and we can't wait to start cooking these mouthwatering recipes right now."--Corky, Dana, Tracy, and Lori Pollan, authors of The Pollan Family Table

"Alex and Sonja Overhiser nailed the modern conundrum about cooking real, nurturing food: you have to fall in love. Their Ten Lessons, sprinkled between accessible, mouth-watering recipes, are the perfect guide to inspiring just that--a deep love of home cooking."--Sarah Copeland, edibleliving.com, author of Feast

"An amazing cookbook that will help you adopt a healthy and happy lifestyle. It must be part of your kitchen and life."
--Washington Bookreview

"An irresistible combination of spirited writing, nourishing recipes with a Mediterranean flair, and vibrant photography...A beautiful book that's food for thought."
--City Book Review

"Approachable, scratch-made meals...Many of the recipes...are suitable for entertaining and special occasions...If you're trying to eat a healthy vegetarian or flexitarian diet but can't imagine giving up indulgences such as pizza, pasta, cheese boards, and dessert, this cookbook is a great starting point."--Library Journal

"Cover[s] the spectrum from breakfast with almond butter and balsamic blueberry parfait through starters, healthy snacks, salads, breads, entrées and desserts."--Milwaukee Shepherd-Express

"Fresh produce shines in Pretty Simple Cooking, which offers a delectable range of beautiful and approachable vegetarian recipes. Sonja and Alex offer helpful guidance in the recipes and thoughtful lessons throughout. Whether you're looking for quick, healthy recipes or fresh inspiration, this book is for you. I can't wait to start cooking!"--Kathryne Taylor, cookieandkate.com, author of Love Real Food

"I love this cookbook. It's filled with the colorful, delicious brain-healthy foods I prescribe to patients. Cook up some family happiness with them tonight!"--Drew Ramsey, MD, Nutritional Psychiatrist

"Incorporating life lessons into their recipes, the Overhisers will get you excited about any meal you're looking to embrace, no matter how quick or complex."--Epicurious, "The Best Vegetarian Cookbooks"

"Nourishing recipes with a Mediterranean flair, and presented with vibrant photography...Vegetarian, with plenty of vegan and gluten-free options...It's a beautiful coffee table book that's food for thought, at the same time providing real food recipes for eating around the table...Will prove to be fun to plan menus with, as well as an enduringly popular addition to personal, family, and community library Vegetarian Cookbook collections."--Midwest Book Review

"Offer[s] 100 recipes with an emphasis on easy prep, whole foods, and healthy dishes-and getting into the kitchen together."
--Eat Your Books

"Packed with 100 multi-serving recipes sorted by cook time, interspersed with lessons for making healthier meals, this cookbook is a great resource for anyone looking to brush up their home cooking skills."
--Bon Appetit's Healthyish

"So many people are wanting to clean up how they eat, but there is so much information and in so many places, it's overwhelming. Sonja and Alex break it down in this book! I am eager to cook these recipes and also pass this book along to friends and family who need great recipes for the day to day meals we seek inspiration for!"--Sara Forte, sproutedkitchen.com, author of Sprouted Kitchen

"Sonja and Alex Overhiser...make change seem possible and sustainable by learning to love cooking and vegetables."--W.E.L.L. Insiders

"Sonja and Alex's recipes spin everyday ingredients into colorful exciting dishes that are satisfying and healthy. Pretty Simple Cooking is the type of book that I could open up on any day and find something delicious to make that I know is going to be special. These pages are going to be soup stained in no time!"--Molly Yeh, mynameisyeh.com, author of Molly on the Range

"The couple want us to focus on getting in the kitchen and back to basics. That is, with nourishing recipes using whole foods and fresh produce. It's delicious, uncomplicated, and totally approachable."--Brit + Co

"Their blog was born when they were teaching themselves to cook, and now, many years later, their recipes still showcase that same true home-cook accessibility that makes a book become a kitchen staple. It's the little thoughtful touches that make this book a true winner, though: Chapters are organized from quickest to hardest recipes, and every single recipe has a photo."--MindBodyGreen ("The 10 Best Healthy Cookbooks of 2018")

"These days, 'simple' cooking often means 'fast! easy!' or '10 minutes or less!' Pretty Simple Cooking instead says that simple cooking should be about thoughtfulness and love for food, the process of cooking it, and the people around you. This book is for anyone who feels intimidated to step into the kitchen, because Sonja and Alex have such encouraging lessons about life, love, and food. It's also for food lovers of any level looking for creative recipes to up their veggie game."--Jeanine Donofrio, loveandlemons.com, author of The Love and Lemons Cookbook

"This book is for anyone who feels intimidated to step into the kitchen, because Sonja has such encouraging lessons about life, love, and food. It's also for food lovers of any level looking for creative recipes to up their veggie game."--Love & Lemons

"This is a terrific book for the new chef, or the more seasoned one who wants to trim things right back to flavorful, plant-based basics."--January Magazine

"To be clear, this is not a cookbook, it is a love story. Sonja and Alex have poured their hearts into crafting a simply beautiful and accessible menu of opportunities for us all to learn to love what we feed ourselves and our families. Their passion for simple and wholesome sings out from every page, with sparing, clear recipes and dazzling photos. I love this book and you will too!"--Gary Hirshberg, Chairman and Co-Founder, Stonyfield Farm

About the Author

Sonja Overhiser is a writer, recipe developer, podcast host, and healthy and sustainable food advocate. Along with her husband Alex, she created the A Couple Cooks website, a collection of whole foods recipes and inspiration for healthy and sustainable eating. She is co-host of the A Couple Cooks podcast, which features conversations in food with personalities from local farmers to celebrity chefs. She loves a good cup of coffee, a morning trip to the farmer's market, eating pizza in Italy, and she has a hidden talent of salsa dancing.

Alex Overhiser is food photographer, recipe developer, podcast host and web designer behind A Couple Cooks. Alex's food photography is nationally known and has been featured in the Huffington Post, People.com, Food52, Buzzfeed, The Kitchn, and Indianapolis Monthly. In addition to A Couple Cooks, Alex maintains freelance gigs in food photography and web design. He loves a good cup of coffee, hiking, and his smartwatch.

Sonja and Alex are married and live in Indianapolis.