Regina chef CJ Katz has released a new two-volume cookbook full of recipes “that brought us together while we remained apart during COVID-19”.

One Loaf At A Time/One Bowl At A Time has over 90 recipes both created by Chef Katz and collected from home chefs around the province.

Katz says she wanted the book to be more than just a compilation of recipes.

“I wanted the book to tell the story of what was happening within families during those early days of the pandemic,” said Katz. “Anybody who submitted a recipe to the book, they submitted a story as well. Some of the stories are just incredible and that’s what really pulled these books together into something really interesting.”

Katz says the recipes are true down-home basic cooking because it seemed as if that’s what everyone shifted to when the pandemic hit.

“It was almost like the minute the lockdown happened, people were baking bread, they were making cookies, cakes, really homey kinds of things,” said Katz. “Nothing here, there might be the odd recipe that’s kind of fancy, but for the most part, these are homestyle recipes that you were making for your family.

Katz is donating $2 from the sale of each cookbook to the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation. She says she wanted to give back to medical workers, especially during the pandemic.

“I really wanted something within that health and medical community,” said Katz. “So many of our healthcare workers were stretched, and they were working around the clock. I just wanted to really give back to them.”

The cookbooks are available in both hard-copy and ebook format at Katz’s website.