Gloss Cookbook Shelf: The Homesteader's Kitchen

Kitchens have always been a gathering point in the home; a place where family and friends unite to reminisce and enjoy food together. Though cooking with whole, foods has become somewhat of a lost art for much of the United States, home cooks are starting to realize the value in eating farm fresh fare.

Whether you have a backyard garden, a community garden, a working farm or just a nagging Whole Foods habit that you can’t seem to shake, it can be inevitably difficult to decide what to make once you’ve shopped for your raw material.

The latest addition to my cookbook shelf, The Homesteader’s Kitchen by Robin Burnside,  helps teach lifestyle changes that people can make in the way they consume food through cooking with local produce.

From recipes as simple as fresh vegetable stock to complex sourdough starters and homemade yogurt, Burnside really does accomplish sharing with readers the simple side of cooking. It’s an ultimate back-to-basics because even if you don’t cook all of the recipes right away, you might look at the ingredients in the dish and reconsider whether you buy a heavily processed version at the grocery store.

The author is a former chef and restaurant owner who has been a food service professional for the past 40-years. She even practices what she preaches; she and her family hve been homesteading and practicing a sustainable lifestyle for 17 years.