Tis the season for giving (and eating!). If you’re looking for a great gift for the veggie-loving foodie in your life pick up a copy of Simple Green Suppers: A Fresh Strategy For One-Dish Vegetarian Meals, my first cookbook with three time cookbook author and farmer Susie Middleton. Released earlier this year, Simple Green Suppers is chock full of helpful tips and recipes for preparing seasonal vegetables and plant-based meals, not to mention it was a blast to work with Susie. Once the holidays are behind us we’ll all be eager to jumpstart the New Year with good, clean, eating and Simple Green Suppers has you covered.
Even non-vegetarians will be impressed with the flavorful veggie-centric recipes that Susie compiled – I know I was. What I genuinely love about this book is that it educates people on how they can easily feature vegetables as the star of their meal, and pairing them with staple ingredients like noodles, grains, beans, greens, toast, tortillas, eggs, and broth. The book even offers tips on stocking your pantry, and streamlining your food preparation to save time. Ultimately, it’s a manual for enjoying vegetables in easy, delicious ways and her recipes are so, so tasty. The flavor these dishes deliver is truly remarkable; we ate all the food on the shoot so I know first hand!
I spent four seasons working on the book, regularly shooting at Susie’s farm and capturing many of the ingredients at peak season, ripe for the picking. I also had the opportunity to take many still life shots of the vegetables, highlighting the vibrant colors, interesting textures and unique variations of the main ingredients. The final eighty dishes featured in the book were prepared in the studio, shot with pottery by Leslie Freeman Designs and against beautiful, rustic, wooden backdrops by ReFabulous Decor, a local, upcycled home decor company. It was truly a labor of love.
I have long been committed to promoting local, sustainable food choices on Martha’s Vineyard, and using my work as a photographer to help educate and encourage social change and healthy habits. The book allowed me to showcase my food photography skills and celebrate the bounty of our Island’s local produce. Contributing to Simple Green Suppers was the perfect project; it married my love of photography and devotion to food activism, and enabled me to have a lot of fun working with an author I really admire.
Hungry yet? You can pick up a copy of Simple Green Suppers locally on Martha’s Vineyard at Bunch of Grapes bookstore or online from Shambhala Publications/Roost Books, Independent Booksellers, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.
R A N D I B A I R D PHOTOGRAPHY | 508.505.5909 | info@randibaird.com
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