On his Instagram, food writer and editor Lukas Volger, who co-founded the James Beard Award-winning queer indie food mag Jarry, shares snaps of his sensible, healthy-ish, enviably effortless meals: steel-cut oats swirled with ricotta and tomato marmalade, six-minute eggs in soupy polenta. (A noted legume fanatic, he also started the hashtag #31DaysOfBeans and is a vocal proponent of the Rancho Gordo Bean Club, a quarterly heirloom bean subscription I can't stop gushing about.) Luckily, he's now divulging his secrets in his new book Start Simple, which demonstrates how readers can create everyday vegetarian meals when armed with an arsenal of 11 basic, versatile ingredients like sweet potatoes and tortillas. For its release, he'll be chatting with local author Sara Dickerman at Book Larder. If you're tired of complicated, expensive "meal plans" and "weeknight recipes" that seem to be designed for cooks with Gwyneth Paltrow's tax bracket and endless stores of free time, this is one to check out. by Julianne Bell