Here we have a collection of thirty highly unusual, original recipes in a small hardcover cookbook, Twisted, selected from the online food channel of the same name. Although supposedly easy recipes, they are not. The Team Twisted uses three designations of difficulty: “Eyes Closed,” “Painless,” and “Sweating a Bit.” Even recipes of the easiest designation will take you an hour or longer kitchen time, and if you are successful, the results are spectacular.

Here is a very good vegan cookbook by vegan super-athlete Matt Frazier and journalist/recipe developer Stepfanie Romine: The No Meat Athlete Cookbook. It’s aimed at athletes who prefer no meat in their diets yet want to keep their competitive edge at the highest level. The authors write extensively in the introduction about a plant-based diet and a plant-based kitchen to prepare the non-vegan reader for the change from a traditional kitchen.

Salma Hage, the culinary mind behind The Lebanese Kitchen, is back with The Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cookbook. Her new cookbook contains about 150 recipes using spices and flavors from the Middle East. While all recipes are vegetarian, Hage also includes some gluten-free and vegan options for those that are interested. I thought the complexity of flavors found in Middle Eastern dishes would be a daunting task to achieve, but Hage simplifies the recipes for even the most ill-fated home cooks.

This cookbook is incredibly beautiful with its gorgeous, matte photos of a dizzying variety of cakes and breads made in Bundt pans. Bundt pans are made in a dazzling range of styles, from plain to intricately fancy, and these photos showcase how beautiful your recipes can be when made in one of these iconic pans. There are many recipes included for molded desserts — both cooked and uncooked — such as flan or various gelatin molds; however, most of the recipes in this book are for breads, quick breads, and cakes.

The term Amish conjures images of a lifestyle that is “traditional” and devoid of most modern conveniences. As a result, I was expecting “from scratch” recipes that may call for other ingredients that are “basic staples” (for example, in Middle Eastern cookbooks a recipe for hummus is provided if called for in other recipes). When the book arrived, it was spiral bound (to make it easier to lay flat) with glossy pages, making it ideal to use in the kitchen.

With The Pumpkin Cookbook, you introduce a new, rarely used ingredient to your repertoire. As author Deedee Stovel points out, pumpkin is widely used in the kitchen but once or twice a year, during the holiday season. In this cookbook, she opens a new welcome dimension to cooking with pumpkin, and incorporates it into virtually every type of dish, from starters to beverages to desserts.