I am a huge fan of casseroles. In the summer I make a zucchin gratin that would knock your socks off. In the fall and winter, I become the queen of various pasta bakes, blending elbows with sausage, spinach and tomato sauce, and gemelli with ricotta cheese and pesto. Happily, I discovered recently, that when it comes to casseroles, I have a soul sister in Emily Farris. She is the blogger behind the site Casserole Crazy, the founder of Brooklyn's Casserole Competition and the author of the forthcoming book, Casserole Crazy (just like her site).

The book isn't quite ready for general consumption yet (it will be released on October 7th) but I got my hands on a preview copy and all I can say is, hold on to your hats casserole lovers, because you've got some good stuff coming to you. The book opens with a really fun introduction written by Julie Powell (of Julie and Julia fame). After that, Emily's voice takes over. She writes with a really engaging tone offers a bunch of casserole wisdom before diving into the recipes.

The book is organized into the following sections: Breakfasts (meals for meat-eaters and vegans alike), Appetizers (oven-baked dips galore!), Side Dishes (including the Sweet Potato Not Pie she makes here), Main Dishes (with recipes from Paula Deen and Donatella Arpaia), Macaroni and Cheese (I feel warm all over that she's dedicated an entire section to pasta and cheese) and Stove Top (things you can make when your oven in broken). She doesn't include any desserts in the collection, as she feels like dessert casseroles have other names like cobblers, crisps and pies and don't quite fit here (although I'm not one to throw a good cobbler out of bed).

Recipes I've bookmarked for future meals include her Zucchini and Sweet Corn Bake, Chicken Noodle Souperole and Chorizo Mac.