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About Bella, My Life in Food
For the first time, Annabel Langbein, New Zealand's most popular cookbook author, writes about her remarkable life and how food has shaped it, highlighting some of the recipes that have resonated most strongly with her over the years.

From her childhood fascination with cooking to a teenage flirtation as a Maoist hippie, to possum trapping and living off the land as a hunter and forager, to travelling and starting her own croissant business in Brazil, Annabel's life has always been centred on food and nature. Out of this came an obsession with creating cookbooks, introducing a generation of cooks to her simple recipes for delicious, stylish meals.

Annabel has lived a huge and varied life, and she writes vividly about her many adventures. From throughout this rich life in food she has chosen 60 key recipes, created with her signature style and flair that make cooking easy for everyone, sharing them in this beautifully photographed book.

ISBN 9781988547619

$49.99

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Get Essential Volume One and Essential Volume Two together for a special price of only $90 + postage (usually $65 each)

A brilliant Christmas, wedding or special occasion gift for you or a friend. For a limited time only. 

Delivery around New Zealand is usually 2-3 working days, but can take up to 10 working days. For international delivery please see our terms and conditions. 

About ESSENTIAL Volume One: Best-Ever Meals for Busy Lives

Annabel’s 25th book is an essential contemporary, authoritative and comprehensive kitchen companion for today’s home cook – a 320-page treasury of easy but delicious savoury recipes illustrated with full-colour photography and accompanied by an encyclopedia of tried-and-true cooking tips. 

Featuring more than 650 recipes, ESSENTIAL Volume One: Best-Ever Meals for Busy Lives offers something for all tastes, all seasons and all occasions. Some recipes are Annabel’s own personal favourites. Others are timeless classics, selected by popular demand then retested and tweaked to make them better than ever. Plus there are dozens of new recipes created by Annabel especially for this book, inspired by the food she’s cooking and eating right now. 

This new book celebrates 20 years since Annabel’s enduring bestseller The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives was published. Over two decades The Best of Annabel Langbein has become a bible in countless New Zealand households, but the world has changed a lot in 20 years, and so have cooking and eating tastes, trends and even techniques. This new collection provides a road map for the next 20 years. 

About ESSENTIAL Volume Two: Sweet Treats for Every Occasion

In this superb new book, bestselling New Zealand cookbook author Annabel Langbein shares her best-ever versions of just about every sweet recipe you could dream of.

Featuring everything from nostalgic baking classics to modern vegan desserts, plus tried-and-true tips for perfect results every time and ’springboard’ recipes that allow you to add your own creativity, this comprehensive compendium is the only book you’ll ever need to bring a little sweetness to your life. 

Building on the success of Annabel’s bestselling book of savoury recipes, ESSENTIAL Volume One: Best-Ever Meals for Busy Lives, this second volume in the duo showcases hundreds of her favourite and most popular recipes for all things sweet, as well as dozens of fresh new ideas.

“In this book I have sought to bring you the best of everything I know and love from the sweet kitchen,” says Annabel. “I don’t have time for fancy techniques, hard-to-find ingredients or long-winded procedures. On these pages you’ll find classic recipes made simpler, indulgent recipes tweaked to be lighter and healthier, and loads of exciting brand-new recipes, plus an encyclopaedia of tips and tricks that I’ve gathered over the years.”

ESSENTIAL Volume Two: Sweet Treats for Every Occasion contains something for everyone, with recipes to suit all lifestyles, appetites and dietary needs, and separate indexes to help you identify the many refined sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan recipes.

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ISBN 978-0-473-41766-6

Delivery around New Zealand is usually 2-3 working days, but can take up to 10 working days. For international delivery please see our terms and conditions. 

About ESSENTIAL Volume Two: Sweet Treats for Every Occasion

In this superb new book, bestselling New Zealand cookbook author Annabel Langbein shares her best-ever versions of just about every sweet recipe you could dream of.

Featuring everything from nostalgic baking classics to modern vegan desserts, plus tried-and-true tips for perfect results every time and ’springboard’ recipes that allow you to add your own creativity, this comprehensive compendium is the only book you’ll ever need to bring a little sweetness to your life. 

Building on the success of Annabel’s bestselling book of savoury recipes, ESSENTIAL Volume One: Best-Ever Meals for Busy Lives, this second volume in the duo showcases hundreds of her favourite and most popular recipes for all things sweet, as well as dozens of fresh new ideas.

“In this book I have sought to bring you the best of everything I know and love from the sweet kitchen,” says Annabel. “I don’t have time for fancy techniques, hard-to-find ingredients or long-winded procedures. On these pages you’ll find classic recipes made simpler, indulgent recipes tweaked to be lighter and healthier, and loads of exciting brand-new recipes, plus an encyclopaedia of tips and tricks that I’ve gathered over the years.”

ESSENTIAL Volume Two: Sweet Treats for Every Occasion contains something for everyone, with recipes to suit all lifestyles, appetites and dietary needs, and separate indexes to help you identify the many refined sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan recipes.

The ESSENTIAL duo marks 20 years since Annabel published her bestselling book The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives, which has been reprinted countless times, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and is known as ‘the bible’ in many New Zealand kitchens. “If The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives has been a mainstay on your kitchen bench for the past 20 years, these two new books will be your trusted companions for the next 20,” says Annabel.

Buy now and enter to win a trip for two to Provence with L’Occitane! (New Zealand residents only sorry)

Hard cover, 304 pages, full-colour photography throughout 

Preview PDF here

ISBN 978-0-9582668-9-5

About ESSENTIAL Volume One: Best-Ever Meals for Busy Lives

Annabel’s 25th book is an essential contemporary, authoritative and comprehensive kitchen companion for today’s home cook – a 320-page treasury of easy but delicious savoury recipes illustrated with full-colour photography and accompanied by an encyclopedia of tried-and-true cooking tips. 

Featuring more than 650 recipes, ESSENTIAL Volume One: Best-Ever Meals for Busy Lives offers something for all tastes, all seasons and all occasions. Some recipes are Annabel’s own personal favourites. Others are timeless classics, selected by popular demand then retested and tweaked to make them better than ever. Plus there are dozens of new recipes created by Annabel especially for this book, inspired by the food she’s cooking and eating right now. 

This new book celebrates 20 years since Annabel’s enduring bestseller The Best of Annabel Langbein: Great Food for Busy Lives was published. Over two decades The Best of Annabel Langbein has become a bible in countless New Zealand households, but the world has changed a lot in 20 years, and so have cooking and eating tastes, trends and even techniques. This new collection provides a road map for the next 20 years. 

Hard cover, 320 pages, full-colour photography throughout

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

"Essential Annabel Langbein is a great cookbook. It has a vast variety of dishes to choose from, some of which I have already tried. It's laid out beautifully and the instructions are easy to follow. I'm very pleased with my purchase and would recommend it to those who like or love to cook."

"This book is so well thought out I feel like even though I am not much of a cook I could learn a lot from Annabel's examples. She does a great deal of teaching on each page and the photographs are wonderful. Really looking forward to using her recipes to make a great meal without a great deal of fuss!"

"Her recipes always bring a new and fresh taste surprise. Of the ones I've tried, not one is overly complicated or time consuming. She allows for experimentation and fun in the kitchen."

"LOVE THIS! So organized, so thorough! The book is organized, so simple and helpful for finding recipes that are gluten-free or other preferences."

"WOW, first, I ordered the book in the morning and it was delivered to my home before sunset the same day. Now, onto the book...how do I begin? Gorgeous! I love it! Annabel is stunning on the cover. It's an oversized book, more like a book you would proudly display on your coffee table, approximately 12"x10" with a nice linen like cover. On the inside it is just as incredible. The photography in beautiful, big, bold, and many of the photos are full two page spreads. The recipes look wonderful. If you are looking for a beautiful book filled with Annabel's classics, "best ever meals", along with some new recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, this is it. But, don't expect any desserts in this encyclopedia of Essential Annabel Langbein, according to her, that's the next book. That being said, you won't be disappointed!"

Reviews from amazon.com

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About Cheap Thrills

Your complete guide to cooking and eating resourcefully and deliciously. It'll pay for itself in a couple of weeks!

Annabel believes you don’t have to spend big money on expensive ingredients to eat well – and she’s written a cookbook to prove it.

Her new guide to affordable eating, Cheap Thrills, contains dozens of recipes and tips created specifically to help you shop and cook resourcefully and deliciously.

“It’s full of so many good ideas for saving money at the supermarket, substituting ingredients, preventing food waste and entertaining on a budget, that it’ll pay for itself in a couple of weeks,” she says. “And because the recipes are packed with flavour and goodness you won’t feel like you’re missing out on a thing.”

There’s a whole chapter dedicated to clever new ways with mince, a DIY guide to making a little go a long way in dumplings, a bunch of baking using apples, and lots of plant-based but protein-rich meals that will help you tighten your belt both literally and figuratively.

“It’s how our parents and grandparents naturally ate in a pre-processed world,” says Annabel. “It’s about choosing fresh vegetables while they’re in season and at their best value, adding moderate quantities of protein, and spicing it all up with a global pantry of sauces, spices and aromatics – plus the occasional treat, of course!”    

Whether you’re feeding a family on a shoestring, shopping on a student budget, or just trying to live more simply and trim your grocery bill, Cheap Thrills will help you streamline your life, save money at the checkout and time in the kitchen. 

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"Dear Annabel, you must get heaps of positive feedback but I just wanted to share with you what's happening in our house. We have four kids aged 3-10 years. My six-year-old has just made the Moroccan Meatballs from Cheap Thrills for our dinner tonight. In the weekend, my 10-year-old said, "Just give me an ingredient Dad and I'll whip something up". The kids are cooking delicious meals and have such a strong sense of accomplishment and it's largely due to your fantastic recipes. The pictures are inspiring and the ingredients are always in stock in our pantry! Thank you so, so much for invigorating our meal times. We are a whole family of cooks now aged 3-40! It must be hectic to achieve all you do in a year but we appreciate the way you're bringing a global palate to our house. We have a well-stocked vege garden with a lot of your companion planting tips. So I know it's a pretty humble two words but, thank you!" – Sarah

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In this new recipe collection Annabel lifts the lid on what’s hot in food right now, with 120+ fresh recipes to suit every appetite – from portable jar salads to super-power snacks, one-pot bach meals and a cake that transforms into 10 delicious variations.

A six-week meal planner offers simple solutions for weeknight meals, while Annabel gives menu suggestions for every occasion, including mix-and-match barbecue ideas and a modern turkey menu that'll wow your friends and family this Christmas.

This inspiring new recipe collection is backed up by shopping lists, gardening charts and bonus cooking tips and tricks on Annabel’s website at annabel-langbein.com. For a sneak peek inside watch the video below...

Soft cover with flaps, 164 pages, full-colour photography throughout.  

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All the recipes, weekly meal plans, tips and inspiration you need for a delicious and nutritious winter. Packed with more than 150 easy and inspiring new recipes, Annabel Langbein A Free Range Life: Winter Goodness is your essential guide to a great winter. Perfect roasts and gravy, slow-cooker meals and winter cakes and puddings are all given the Annabel treatment – a fresh, light, seasonal approach that is often naturally low in sugar, gluten-free and good for you.

Soft cover with flaps, 164 pages, full-colour photography throughout. 

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Whether you’re spending summer at the beach or at home, Annabel Langbein: A Free Range Life is your essential holiday companion.   

With more than 150 no-fail recipes, plus menu ideas for every occasion and endless inspiration for everything from breakfasts to barbecues and from fancy finger foods to fuss-free family meals, it contains all you need for a terrific summer.

There’s a shopping list to take the stress out of stocking your holiday pantry, as well as recipes for home-made gifts, and suggestions for making the most of summer harvests. A mix-and-match Christmas celebration menu designed to be as affordable or extravagant as your budget allows is followed by recipes for using up all that leftover turkey and ham in those lazy days between Christmas and New Year.

And of course it’s liberally peppered throughout with Annabel’s trademark tips and tricks for getting it right first time, every time. Don't leave home without it!

View a stop-motion video glimpse inside Annabel Langbein: A Free Range Life 

Soft cover with flaps, 164 pages, full-colour photography throughout. 

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In the US edition of this beautiful book, Kiwi celebrity cook Annabel Langbein serves up all the recipes from her TV series now screening on PBS channels across America. Inside you'll find her speedy mixer mayo, the ultimate pulled pork, super-simple sorbets, her famous gluten-free chocolate cake – and much more. Tailored especially for American homecooks, the more than 200 recipes feature Imperial measurements and ingredients accessible in the US. Every recipe is accompanied by a mouthwatering photo, interspersed with inspiring images of Annabel's hunting and gathering adventures and New Zealand's breathtaking natural landscapes. The award-winning book also features menus from the TV series, plus Annabel's musings on living well in today's fast-paced world. It's interactive with her website, with scannable codes linking to videos of her demonstrating recipes or sharing tips for simplifying techniques.

A publishing phenomenon in her native New Zealand, Annabel has written 26 cookbooks, which have won many international awards and sold over two million copies worldwide. She has earned a passionate following for her no-fail recipes, which transform seasonal produce into meals with the wow factor. Take time out from your busy schedule to savor life's simple pleasures. For more visit annabel-langbein.com

"I love everything about this new book from NZ's biggest selling cookery writer by a country mile (The Best of Annabel Langbein – aka to me and many others as 'The Bible' - has also sold more than 150,000 copies in NZ alone). The design, the photography, the recipes, the friendly text... no doubt it is another winner, especially with the TV series of the same name about to kick off." – Graham Beattie, Beattie's Book Blog

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