Complete Vegetarian Kitchen by Lorna Sass

I've had this cookbook forever, but didn't really start using it until recently. I think I was a little turned off by it because most of the recipes include instructions for making everything in a pressure cooker, and honestly, has anyone bought a pressure cooker since the 70s? That being said, all the recipes do also have conventional instructions and are relatively simple to make.

This book is a fabulous resource for how to cook, and make tasty, all those things we're supposed to be eating like whole grains and lentils. The recipes are all vegan. Ingredients run from the readily available like quinoa and couscous, to the harder to find like amaranth. It included recipes for grain salads, tofu, quick breads and even an entire chapter on rice and risotto. There is also a nice section on how to cook with a pressure cooker, as well as how to stock a vegetarian pantry.

Recipes I cooked from the Complete Vegetarian Kitchen were:

Casserole Millet with Herbs (delicious, but I adore millet)

Quinoa and Potatoes with Caraway (good basic grain recipe)

Wheat Berry-Bean Stew (honestly, this one needed some cream and cheese to really elevate it)

Lentil-Quinoa Salad with (probably the most delicious lentily/quinoa salad thing I've ever eaten)

Lime-Curry Vinaigrette

It's looking like this is yet another book I'll have to keep on my shelves. It's just too valuable a resource to get rid of between the grain cooking instructions and the flavorful recipes.

Real Fast Vegetarian Food - Ursula Ferrigno

The title of this book is certainly a misnomer. There is nothing "fast" about a lot of these recipes, as many of them involve numerous steps. The Southern Italian Layered Potato Pie sounded great on paper. It's chock full of mozzarella, potatoes, onions and mushrooms. But you have to chop about a billion onions, and then cook everything separately, before smashing the potatoes into oblivion and then layering everything into a baking pan. In the end, you basically get glorified mashed potatoes and I really didn't see the need to bake the whole thing when you could just as easily just stir it all together. The Beetroot Salad however, was fast, very simple, and incredibly delicious. The longest step for this recipe was boiling the beets, which let's face it, doesn't exactly take a whole lot of attention or effort. After that you add some chopped onions, basil, parsley and a little oil and vinegar and salt and pepper. I also made Parmesan Potato Pancakes (glorified hashbrowns) and a Wild Mushroom and Basil Tart, which, while not fast, was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten. So I don't know, I'll probably hold onto this one for the time being and do a little more exploration in it once I'm through the first round of all my books. It may end up being one of those that I only pull a couple of recipes out of and then dump the rest. We shall see.

The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

Can I just say, I love this book? I love everything from it's earthy hand-drawn illustrations to it's crazy hippy recipes for potato peel soups. The Vegetarian Epicure was originally published sometime way back in the early 70s and came to me sometime in my early college days and it is one of the iconic vegetarian cookbooks of the time. It's like an artifact or something now. 

But despite how adorable it is, I actually like cooking from this book. Most of the recipes have stood the test of time and are thankfully older than some vegetarian frankenfoods, so the ingredients are all still familiar, normal things like regular fruits and vegetables. The book is organized by type of recipe, and includes the familar soups and sauces chapters, but also includes ones for souffles, crepes, and curries. From this book, I've made whole wheat orange pancakes, a lasagne with wine sauce, a potato cheese casserole and a fruit tart.  While some of the measurements were off, like the fruit tart that called for 6-7 plums, two peaches, and a whole pint of strawberries, but that only fit 3 plums, everything turned out delicious, and normal enough to serve to company. 

I don't think I'll ever get rid of this book. It brings back warm fuzzy memories of college, and  cooking for other people, because of course, everyone is vegetarian in college. And it's just plain adorable to read and think about baking bread and making a steaming pot of soup from on a rainy winter day. So nostalgia. I guess that's why I'm keeping it. 

The Vegetarian Bistro - Marlena Spieler

This is seriously one of the most fantastic books I own. Upon paper, each recipe is wonderfully mouthwatering, and unlike a lot of other cookbooks, the final product not only does not disappoint, it's even better than the recipe sounds. I've actually had ten recipes from this book. Mainly because after I made the first five, my mother loved them so much that she went out and bought herself a copy of this and started cooking from it. Every recipe in here is divine. It's also a great cross-over book for folks that aren't vegetarian, because the food is so good you'll never miss the meat. Some of the recipes are a bit elaborate, and either involve several steps or making multiple recipes for sauces and such, but it's all very accessible, and nothing is really all that difficult to tackle, per se. I could happily eat out of this book every day for the rest of my life. Seriously. If you like cooking, and you like French food, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. You won't regret it. 

Here is a brief list of some of the things I've made from this book:

Wild Mushroom Pasta Gratin

Gratin of Macaroni, Red Wine Sauce, and Cheese 

Pistachio Tart with Almond Citrus Crust

Pureed Artichoke Soup with Garlic

Onion Tart with Arugula Salad

Now,  can you honestly tell me your mouth is not watering?

The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook

I adore this book. Everything I've made out of it is delicious, and it's one of those books you just know you can rely on the recipes...they always turn out perfect even if you mess them up! Jack Bishop must be a genius if he can write a recipe that still works even if ingredients are missing, due to cook error. I must make a note to grab whatever else he's written. 

I'm debating making this blog public. I really can't decide, but am starting to figure there's not really much of a reason to keep it private if I'm not including a ton of personal information in it. I guess the only thing really stopping me at this point is if I wanted to somehow make a book out of it at the end, then I'd probably want to make sure all of this information was kept a little more proprietary, you know? 

This all brings me to another point. If I do decide to take it public, I really need to work on the organization factor. Rather than keeping a done list going on here, I've decided to just make an alphabetical one in an Excel file. That way I can reserve this for reviews and such, and don't have to worry about making a master list also somehow fit in. 

I do have a small fear about the project, though, that I don't think I've yet mentioned. I'm starting to have a bit of trepidation that if I start cooking and eating and exploring all this fabulous food, that I'm going to become a very picky eater and not settle for just ok food anymore. That's fine and all, and I suppose part of the whole point of things...to develop my palate...but you know, things can start to get pretty expensive when you won't put up with eating crap. Or even eating mediocrity. So we'll see. 

But back to The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. This book has the single best recipe for butternut squash soup that I've ever eaten. It's freaking fantastic, and very easy, and the purchase price of the book is worth it for this recipe alone. Seriously, even if you're not a Vegetarian, if you even remotely like Italian food or cooking, you should probably buy this book!