Regional & International
![Jocelyn Delk Adams - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B00WQ32QSS.jpg)
Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life's Big and Small Moments: A Cookbook
"Jocelyn's infectious joy and love for food and family leap from the pages to your table. Your family will be begging for seconds in no time."-JENNIFER GARNER
A joyous cookbook full of gratitude, positivity, and 80+ Southern-inspired comfort food recipes from the culinary sweetheart and blogger behind Grandbaby Cakes.
Jocelyn Delk Adams believes every day deserves to be celebrated, from seemingly mundane weekdays to exuberant weekends and holidays. Her approachable take on comfort food features Southern-steeped recipes that are jazzed-up, remixed classics, all sprinkled with the vibrant, colorful personality she's best known for.
Each flavor-packed recipe suggests a reason to celebrate, a reminder that events big and small can have a moment of culinary gratitude. Try the Georgia Peach Salad with Candied Pecans and Cornbread Croutons on that perfect summer day or the Mojito-Marinated Skirt Steak with Chimichurri for a backyard date night (BYO blanket and bubbly). Or enjoy a Southern Sunday supper of spicy Hot Sauce Chipotle-Fried Chicken and whip up the Turkey and Mustard Greens Enchiladas to deliver to your bestie "just because." Don't forget gooey Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies for a really good hair day (because yes, you deserve to celebrate this!).
Everyday Grand shows readers how to cultivate their inner joy through affirmations, thankfulness, and most important, ridiculously good food.
A joyous cookbook full of gratitude, positivity, and 80+ Southern-inspired comfort food recipes from the culinary sweetheart and blogger behind Grandbaby Cakes.
Jocelyn Delk Adams believes every day deserves to be celebrated, from seemingly mundane weekdays to exuberant weekends and holidays. Her approachable take on comfort food features Southern-steeped recipes that are jazzed-up, remixed classics, all sprinkled with the vibrant, colorful personality she's best known for.
Each flavor-packed recipe suggests a reason to celebrate, a reminder that events big and small can have a moment of culinary gratitude. Try the Georgia Peach Salad with Candied Pecans and Cornbread Croutons on that perfect summer day or the Mojito-Marinated Skirt Steak with Chimichurri for a backyard date night (BYO blanket and bubbly). Or enjoy a Southern Sunday supper of spicy Hot Sauce Chipotle-Fried Chicken and whip up the Turkey and Mustard Greens Enchiladas to deliver to your bestie "just because." Don't forget gooey Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies for a really good hair day (because yes, you deserve to celebrate this!).
Everyday Grand shows readers how to cultivate their inner joy through affirmations, thankfulness, and most important, ridiculously good food.
Editorial Reviews
"To say Jocelyn is one of my favorite food voices is an understatement. Her recipes are beyond delicious and gorgeous, and I've never made a dish of hers that I didn't love and devour. Hands down one of my favorite cookbooks in recent memory!"-Ree Drummond, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pioneer Woman Cooks
"There isn't a cookbook I am more excited about than Everyday Grand! The recipes are colorful, full of so much incredible flavor, and simple to make for the everyday home cook. I am so excited to continue to cook through it!"-Tieghan Gerard, founder of Half Baked Harvest
"Everyday Grand is like having a slice of sunshine on your bookshelf. It radiates joy, love, and the promise of good times for friends and family."-Al Roker, feature and weather anchor on Today, cohost on 3rd Hour Today
"Jocelyn can make anything taste grand. From her delectable desserts to her savory Southern dishes, I can't wait to cook through all these amazing recipes with my own family."-Tiffani Thiessen, actor, producer, and author
"Jocelyn incorporates family into every meal, offering a fresh take on all the favorites you grew up with, including new, delicious additions!"-Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, New York Times bestselling author
"Everyday Grand is worth your time in so many ways. This is a tasty invitation to thrive and dine with generations of Jocelyn's family."-Sunny Anderson, Food Network host, New York Times bestselling author of Sunny's Kitchen: Easy Food for Real Life
"This cookbook highlights Jocelyn's positivity, reminding us to celebrate moments both big and small. I can't wait to make so many recipes, starting with Auntie's Southern Baked Chicken!"-Gina Homolka, author of The SkinnyTaste Cookbook
"Filled with delicious, approachab...
"There isn't a cookbook I am more excited about than Everyday Grand! The recipes are colorful, full of so much incredible flavor, and simple to make for the everyday home cook. I am so excited to continue to cook through it!"-Tieghan Gerard, founder of Half Baked Harvest
"Everyday Grand is like having a slice of sunshine on your bookshelf. It radiates joy, love, and the promise of good times for friends and family."-Al Roker, feature and weather anchor on Today, cohost on 3rd Hour Today
"Jocelyn can make anything taste grand. From her delectable desserts to her savory Southern dishes, I can't wait to cook through all these amazing recipes with my own family."-Tiffani Thiessen, actor, producer, and author
"Jocelyn incorporates family into every meal, offering a fresh take on all the favorites you grew up with, including new, delicious additions!"-Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt, New York Times bestselling author
"Everyday Grand is worth your time in so many ways. This is a tasty invitation to thrive and dine with generations of Jocelyn's family."-Sunny Anderson, Food Network host, New York Times bestselling author of Sunny's Kitchen: Easy Food for Real Life
"This cookbook highlights Jocelyn's positivity, reminding us to celebrate moments both big and small. I can't wait to make so many recipes, starting with Auntie's Southern Baked Chicken!"-Gina Homolka, author of The SkinnyTaste Cookbook
"Filled with delicious, approachab...
Short Excerpt Teaser
Let's Celebrate!
"Thank you, God, for waking me up this morning." This is a popular Black Christian adage that I say to myself every day and have heard in probably every church service I've ever attended. The simple act of breathing is truly a blessing, and it's the most basic thing we should be grateful for. If you are breathing, it's reason enough to celebrate.
Most people tend to focus on major events and holidays: birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Passover, Ramadan. But what else deserves to be celebrated? In my world, anything and everything. In between those big events are life's little moments, and they, too, are bursting with joy. When my daughter took her first steps, I baked a cake. When I finally finished reading a book that was on my to-do list for over a year, I threw a batch of cookies in the oven. When my favorite show returned after a long hiatus, I cooked the most epic dinner. I've found that surprising your loved ones or friends with a mini celebration of LIFE is always more fun than expected.
The seed for this book may have been originally planted by my grandmother Maggie Small. Big Mama, as we used to call her, celebrated two birthdays. While she had a birth certificate with a specific birthdate, she insisted the date was wrong. And so we celebrated twice, on August 6 and August 13-the date she thought was the right one and the date on the birth certificate. The joy Big Mama had, and her desire to celebrate more-not less-is a lesson we can all learn from. (Inspired by her, I've really run with the birthday concept and now celebrate my whole birthday month, because why not?)
Most of our lives are made up of small moments, and those moments can bring us so much more joy when we take time to appreciate and acknowledge them. We all know the stress that comes with the big holidays, when stores build their displays and try to convince us that happiness and fulfillment lie in a gift. But this is different. What happens in between those big calendar events is the everyday life we live-the glorious, messy, filled-with-tiny-moments life-that is also worth appreciating. Are you having a good hair day? Celebrate! Did you just cross something off your bucket list? Let's toast! Did your pet have a birthday? If that's not an excuse for cake, what is? Honoring those moments with a pressure-free dinner or dessert can create memories that last a lifetime.
In the spirit of this mindful shift to celebrating life and cultivating joy, I also want this book to honor the African American experience. Part of Black survival is learning to laugh, dance, and smile through the most painful and troubling moments. From slavery to segregation to Jim Crow laws to the civil rights and BLM movements-these experiences have steeled us into a people of resilience, strength, and power. Even our homegoings (funerals), despite the somber occasion, are filled with celebration and gratitude as we come together and remember the life of the deceased. Our joy truly comes from within, because even our everyday experiences are cloaked in being Black. Finding joy even amid pain or monotony is the way we get through things. It's our survival mechanism. We can form a Soul Train line or do the Wobble anywhere-and everywhere.
My appreciation for life's small moments was a gradual shift that took place over time. The birth of my daughter, Harmony, made me take stock of what I considered a priority. Watching her grow and change was a celebration in and of itself. First smile, first word, first steps-these moments were as important as any holiday I've ever observed. I started to search for more meaning and joy in everyday things. I started questioning some practices we hold sacrosanct: We keep these insanely long to-do lists and work ourselves into a frenzy, and where does it get us? I had been running on autopilot for too long.
As I started to settle into my new routine, I began to discover joy in the moments I was building rituals around: writing in my journal, creating a meditation practice, putting a pause on social media-even though my profession depends on it. When I started to spend less time online, I became much more present in the here and now.
Then the 2020 pandemic hit, and everyone's lives changed overnight. Get-togethers, vacations, social plans were all put on hold-indefinitely. We had to relearn how to live with the people in our homes. Whereas I once saw my husband for just a few hours every morning and evening, now I was seeing him around the clock, along with my mother and father, with whom we were living as we waited for our new house to be built. We wer...
"Thank you, God, for waking me up this morning." This is a popular Black Christian adage that I say to myself every day and have heard in probably every church service I've ever attended. The simple act of breathing is truly a blessing, and it's the most basic thing we should be grateful for. If you are breathing, it's reason enough to celebrate.
Most people tend to focus on major events and holidays: birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Passover, Ramadan. But what else deserves to be celebrated? In my world, anything and everything. In between those big events are life's little moments, and they, too, are bursting with joy. When my daughter took her first steps, I baked a cake. When I finally finished reading a book that was on my to-do list for over a year, I threw a batch of cookies in the oven. When my favorite show returned after a long hiatus, I cooked the most epic dinner. I've found that surprising your loved ones or friends with a mini celebration of LIFE is always more fun than expected.
The seed for this book may have been originally planted by my grandmother Maggie Small. Big Mama, as we used to call her, celebrated two birthdays. While she had a birth certificate with a specific birthdate, she insisted the date was wrong. And so we celebrated twice, on August 6 and August 13-the date she thought was the right one and the date on the birth certificate. The joy Big Mama had, and her desire to celebrate more-not less-is a lesson we can all learn from. (Inspired by her, I've really run with the birthday concept and now celebrate my whole birthday month, because why not?)
Most of our lives are made up of small moments, and those moments can bring us so much more joy when we take time to appreciate and acknowledge them. We all know the stress that comes with the big holidays, when stores build their displays and try to convince us that happiness and fulfillment lie in a gift. But this is different. What happens in between those big calendar events is the everyday life we live-the glorious, messy, filled-with-tiny-moments life-that is also worth appreciating. Are you having a good hair day? Celebrate! Did you just cross something off your bucket list? Let's toast! Did your pet have a birthday? If that's not an excuse for cake, what is? Honoring those moments with a pressure-free dinner or dessert can create memories that last a lifetime.
In the spirit of this mindful shift to celebrating life and cultivating joy, I also want this book to honor the African American experience. Part of Black survival is learning to laugh, dance, and smile through the most painful and troubling moments. From slavery to segregation to Jim Crow laws to the civil rights and BLM movements-these experiences have steeled us into a people of resilience, strength, and power. Even our homegoings (funerals), despite the somber occasion, are filled with celebration and gratitude as we come together and remember the life of the deceased. Our joy truly comes from within, because even our everyday experiences are cloaked in being Black. Finding joy even amid pain or monotony is the way we get through things. It's our survival mechanism. We can form a Soul Train line or do the Wobble anywhere-and everywhere.
My appreciation for life's small moments was a gradual shift that took place over time. The birth of my daughter, Harmony, made me take stock of what I considered a priority. Watching her grow and change was a celebration in and of itself. First smile, first word, first steps-these moments were as important as any holiday I've ever observed. I started to search for more meaning and joy in everyday things. I started questioning some practices we hold sacrosanct: We keep these insanely long to-do lists and work ourselves into a frenzy, and where does it get us? I had been running on autopilot for too long.
As I started to settle into my new routine, I began to discover joy in the moments I was building rituals around: writing in my journal, creating a meditation practice, putting a pause on social media-even though my profession depends on it. When I started to spend less time online, I became much more present in the here and now.
Then the 2020 pandemic hit, and everyone's lives changed overnight. Get-togethers, vacations, social plans were all put on hold-indefinitely. We had to relearn how to live with the people in our homes. Whereas I once saw my husband for just a few hours every morning and evening, now I was seeing him around the clock, along with my mother and father, with whom we were living as we waited for our new house to be built. We wer...
