This one’s for you — and me
It’s been a while, but I’m back with a new book, Good Enough, available January 4, 2022: A self-care cookbook that offers personal and vulnerable storytelling, delicious recipes, and encouraging advice to teach you how to accept yourself, love yourself, and find peace through the act of cooking.
I’m going to be very real with you: after the unexpected success of Good and Cheap, I felt lost and purposeless, unworthy and uncertain. Then I got sick while I was pregnant with my daughter and fell into the life-changing experience of new parenthood. For a long time I didn’t feel like myself. I had changed, grown and learned. I knew I had so much to share, but I didn’t know how and was afraid to make a mistake.
That soul-searching was the groundwork for Good Enough. I had been living for the approval of others for a long time, and I could see that reflected in how I cooked and fed myself. I needed to do something differently because I also knew, deep down in the wisest part of me, that cooking is freedom and joy and healing. Good Enough is my way back to you, but most importantly to myself. It is how I learned that cooking can be both an act of self-care and an expression of love for yourself and others.
Here is a short story from the book:
Good Enough imparts my cooking philosophy through personal and vulnerable storytelling. Perfection isn’t the goal of cooking. For me—and many other cooks—cooking is a safe space where I can make mistakes, learn, grow, and become more resilient.
The Good Enough philosophy has helped me get through the last couple of years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the everyday struggles of being a person. It has even helped me find my courage to write and publish this book. I hope that Good Enough can be a lantern for you in dark times. It was for me. I’ll share this quote from the introduction:
“My intention is for this book to be a gentle hug and a whisper in your ear that you are stronger than you know, and you deserve love and care, wherever you are, whoever you are, and no matter what anyone else might have told you.”
Here is a recipe spread:
It means so much to be able to share this book and enter into conversation with you again. I wish I could put this book in each of your hands with a gentle hug, but instead I have to ask something from you. If you feel moved, please ask your local bookstore to order it or pre-order at Amazon, Amazon.ca, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or Powell’s. Pre-orders make a big differencefor getting the book into stores, on best-seller lists, and in front of people who otherwise might not see it.
Thank you for considering — I am so grateful for your support and to be in a position to ask.
Free ways to support the project:
- Tell your friends
- Follow me @leanneebrown on Instagram, where I will be posting regularly
- Ask your local bookstore to order the book
Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading, for being here for me, and for your patience.
Yours,
Leanne
6 Comments
Hi, Leanne. Thank you so very much for both of your cookbooks. Those were great ideas by the way! I’m not really a social media person, so I probably won’t be following you on those platforms. However, I’ve perused some of your recipes and will most likely try some, since I’m a broke grad student and all (still working on the food stamps bit, need but don’t have).
I LOVE bread, cake, pies, fried breads, etc that uses wheat. However, I cannot have wheat as it screws with my digestion. I’m gluten intolerant. I’m also diabetic and so cannot eat sugar either. I do partake of these once in a while, but I have to be VERY careful.
So, I have a couple of requests for the next cookbook you put out (which I figure will happen eventually). Could you also include some gluten-free recipes for things that typically are made from grains with gluten such as bread (LOL), pasta, cakes, cookies, pies, and other dishes? Also, can you add in some sugar free recipes? Not with artificial sweeteners (those are worse for you than sugar!) but with natural sweeteners such as stevia or monkfruit?
I’d sure appreciate it if you could! Thanks so much and have a blessed week!
Sincerely,
Donna V. Young
jadesaver120@gmail.com
I will keep it in mind for sure Donna. In the meantime I wonder if you might want to check out my friend Aran Goyoaga at https://www.cannellevanille.com/ who shares the most amazing gluten free baked goods recipes. 🙂
Congratulations on surviving the (seemingly inevitable) career and social backlash from “Good And Cheap”. My first thought on getting it was, “Oh, boy…this poor lady is going to take a pounding from every disaffected critic out there who will somehow blame her for not single-handedly saving the world.”
Well, it didn’t save the world, but it WAS a great book and an inspiration, and I hope you haven’t lost faith and hope that one person can make a difference. You made a difference, and you will continue to make a difference.
With respect and affection…
Thank you so much Jim, that really means a lot. I feel seen! It indeed was/is not about me. Onward!
Just saw you and this book profiled on CNN and I just wanted to send a gigantic thank you to you for engaging this topic — meal burnout has been one of my biggest sources of stress and burnout as a pandemic mama of a three year old. So excited to dig into this book. Such an important topic and because it is so “mundane” we tend to gloss over how much effor is involved for caregivers around the issue of food amd feeding. Thank you!
Thank you for being here Jennifer!