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Most cookbooks are organized by category of food. Sides and salads; rice and noodles; snacks; main courses; and dessert.
In her debut cookbook, “Maxi’s Kitchen: Easy Go-To Recipes to Make Again and Again,” writer and food content creator Maxine Sharf takes a different approach to meal planning. The chapters are organized by day of the week, with an additional section at the end for simple sides to pair with whatever you’re making.
“I feel like the natural rhythm of the week determines or impacts what I’m in the mood to cook and eat,” says Sharf. “On Monday, having worked in the corporate world for nearly a decade, I know dinner needs to be something super quick, healthy and easy.”
Though Sharf always loved being in the kitchen, it wasn’t until she was laid off from her job in tech sales that she began making cooking content full-time. The morning after losing her job, she made three cooking videos and never looked back.
Now Sharf has millions of followers on Instagram, Youtube and TikTok, where she shares recipes for everything from her spaghetti aglio e olio to grilled cheese sandwiches and pork wontons. Sharf brings an easygoing warmth to whatever she’s cooking, with a laid-back confidence that invites viewers of all skill levels into the kitchen. Whatever she’s making, you can do it too.
As readers make their way through the book and the days of the week, the recipes shift from less ingredients and prep to more elaborate projects. In Tuesday, you’ll find her mother’s skillet chicken pot pie or her grandfather’s jjigae.
Thursday calls for more indulgent recipes in the form of four-cheese mac and cheese or her mom’s Benihana chicken fried rice. Chinese hand-pulled noodles with chile oil and scallions, or creamy lemon ricotta stuffed shells are reserved for Saturday.
“It’s meant to help people match their mood,” she says. “If you had a crazy Thursday, make a Monday recipe.”
Many of the recipes draw from Sharf’s diverse heritage, with a Korean-Chinese mother, and a Jewish-Eastern European father. Her grandmother’s broccoli and Swiss cheese-stuffed chicken makes an appearance in the book, along with her other grandmother’s wontons.
In advance of the release of Sharf’s cookbook on March 3, she shared her recipe for a creamy white chicken chili. Part of the Tuesday chapter, it’s an easy, comforting dish that comes together in a single pot.
You can add a zap of fresh citrus with a squeeze of lime, and dress the chili with shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, avocado and fresh cilantro.
“It’s a great example of my cooking in the sense that it’s light, but also has some more indulgent notes and a good amount of contrast of textures, temperature and flavors,” she says.
The book includes 75 new recipes alongside a crop of her most viral signature dishes. Known for a wide variety of cultural influences in her videos, you can expect to find dishes from around the globe, with samosas, vermicelli noodle bowls and paella. Sharf notes that the Italian recipes in the book were inspired by all the time she and her mother spend in Italy, and the dishes she learned to make from friends there.
“I love cooking from all different cultures,” she says. “My goal is that somebody could cook out of this book for the rest of their life and never get bored because there is so much variety.”
Below you’ll find Sharf’s recipe for her creamy, white chicken chili, along with four more chili recipes to make on repeat all winter long.
“Maxi’s Kitchen: Easy Go-To Recipes to Make Again and Again,” published by Clarkson Potter, will be available online and in bookstores on March 3.
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Maxine Sharf’s Creamy White Chicken Chili 
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times )
Like most chili recipes, Sharf’s creamy white chicken chili only gets better with time. It takes on a luxurious texture with the addition of light sour cream. Brighten it up with a squeeze of lime. Add some crunch with crushed tortilla chips. Sharf gives readers everything they need to make their new favorite chili recipe.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 1 hour 10 minutes. Serves 4.
Easy Beef And Bean Chili 
(Ben Mims / Los Angeles Times)
Former cooking columnist Ben Mims has a recipe for beef and bean chili that you can customize any way you like. Maybe use ground chiles in place of chili powder, or ground coriander instead of cumin. If you love lamb, swap out the beef. It’s a recipe designed to be tweaked. And don’t forget your favorite toppings.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 30 minutes. Serves 4.
Martin Draluck’s Sweet Potato Chili 
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Martin Draluck is behind the Black Pot Supper Club series that celebrates Black food history with multi-course feasts at the city’s Black-owned restaurants. He shared a recipe for this vegetarian chili. His secret ingredient? It’s a tab of Abuelita chocolate.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 45 minutes. Serves 4 to 6.
Better-Than-Chasen’s Chili 
(Rebecca Peloquin / For The Times)
Carolynn Carreño was inspired by the famous chili at Chasen’s, a long-closed restaurant known for its famous Old Hollywood clientele, and its chili. Her version is a riff on the original, but Carreño likes to experiment with different varieties of dried ground chiles. You can make it as easy or as labor intensive as you like. If you want to simmer a pot of dried beans instead of canned? Go for it. Feel like making your own chicken stock instead of using the stuff out of a box? Great. Either way, you’ll end up with a comforting bowl of something delicious, and maybe a little nostalgic.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 2 hours. Serves 8 to 10.
Turkey Chili 
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Panera Bread chef Dan Kish shared a recipe for chili adapted from the one made for the restaurants. It involves slowly simmering ground turkey with black, pinto and navy beans in a rich tomato sauce seasoned with garlic, cumin, chili powder, peppers and amber ale.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Serves 6.