my favorite cook book.

The weather is slowly changing (right?) and so I pulled this off the shelf, my favorite cookbook, The New Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas because I always like to cook newish things that sort of reflect the seasonal change. That sounds so noncommittal, but so is our weather. My mother-in-law gave this book to me 10 years ago, when it was a hard back with a completely different and much better cover. Anna also wrote the Vegetarian Epicure in the 1970s. Don't confuse that one with this one. The old one is wonderful and so 1970s vegetarian--very dairy heavy. It's dated now, but in a great way-the cover art is awesome.

Being a vegetarian, I am used feeling left out of most cook books (except for the desserts) or having to fend off the abundance of tofu and meat substitutes that are in a lot of vegetarian cook books, which is exactly why I usually steer clear of them. When I got this book, Pete and I had just graduated college and moved to Seattle and I was so anxious to set up a kitchen that didn't remind me of college food (mac and cheese from the box and ramen) and this book made a huge impact on me.

I still use this book so much and I have adapted so many recipes from it that I often forget they came from here originally. Like when you quote a movie so long you forget where that phrase even came from? This book doesn't have a ton of recipes--it's not  huge. And it's tastes are really specific; with some Italian, Lebanese, Polish, Asian, Indian, French, Jewish,  and Mexican all rolled into one.(Not all in the same dish.) No lightweight flavors here, it's got gusto. I think the only thing it doesn't cover is down-home-style American, which is fine because I have so many books that cover that type of food anyway-except this book does have THE apple crisp (which mailorder borrows heavily from, with some minor tweaks)

I love cooking. And I really love cookbooks. I'm the type that reads them in bed. I have a whole ton of them and try not to buy more, but I usually do buy about 2 a year. But this one, it's hardly even a cookbook to me. It's more like "my cooking book." I think this book is what taught me how to eat. Not with a bunch of text talking about slow food and all that (that's all good and well, but really, I just want the recipes). And what is so cool is I rediscovered the bit in the middle about feeding kids. So many years went by when I ignored that part completely, because I didn't have any- and now I read every word. Anna also has a newsletter and a new free recipe every month here.

here's the Easter Brunch Menu, which I want to make this year:

-spinach, green garlic and mushroom pie
-beet salad
-onion and thyme flan
-roasted asparagus
-Easter baba
-gypsy mazurek

I love hearing about people's favorite cookbooks, the whys and history-do you have any? If you blog about it let me know and I will add the link here. And check the comments! great suggestions!!

-lazy jane
-plum street
-wise craft
-creative kismet
-touch the spindle

And yes, angry chicken has a new look. And, no, I wasn't looking right at the new denyse schmidt fabrics when I drew this, but I do see the obvious similarity. . .and I need to re-organize more-my categories are out of control, and I will add a new, much shorter, but monthly rotating blog-roll, cause there's too much good stuff out there!

Comments

[melissa]

oooo. Flan. Nice.

I love 'The Joy of Cooking' so so much. We don't eat meat (and are shying away from dairy), and this has been the best book to learn and adapt from. 'Joy' taught me the finer points of cooking on the fly-- science? maybe. (I'm crappy at science).
Oh. and Madhur Jaffrey's 'World Vegetarian'. If you've got a spice drawer and half an onion, she's got your dinner.

[Laural]

I also have a lot of cookbooks, and I love to look at all of them, but the one that I actually find I have made most of the recipes in is called Rebar Modern Food Cookbook. Everything I've tried in it has been really good, and different from all the other books I have. It's written by some women who run a vegetarian restaurant in Victoria (BC).
I don't have the Vegetarian Epicure, I've looked at it before, but you've definitely convinced me to add it to my collection!

[abby]

OHHH...I need this one. I fell in love with cookbooks when I was teenager (and my first years as a vegetarian :))and my most loved then were "Moosewood" and "Enchanted Brocolli Forest". They are very "dairy heavy" but the notes and illustrations are great. I tend to cook from vegan cookbooks now and add bits or dairy or egg where I see fit. I am into "the candle cafe" and "the native foods cookbook". I adore reading cookbooks, too-my favorite one for that is "Vegan Planet". I was lucky enough to work a couple years in a veggie cafe and picked up soem great recipes from the owner-now she really needs to put out a cookbook.

[vegasandvenice]

Oh I like the new look.

I am going to sound absolutely crazy, but I have the hardest time with cookbooks. I have some great ones including the New Joy of Cooking, but I am not sure, does everyone read their cookbooks when they are not cooking? Reading them just makes me hungry!! I could definitely see that reading them through would be the very best idea.

[joy]

I love to do recipies by rote, but that leads you to not being very adventurous. When I do use a cookbook I use my gramma's first cookbook. I feel very connected to my history when I use it. Its a cool feeling. I also use the Joy of cooking for meat cooking times, etc.

[Nicole]

Thumbs up to new banner. Sorry no vegetarian here, but an avid bedroom cook book reader, even been known to read a cook book on an airplane or at lunchtime :)

[Nicole]

Sorry, I've been meaning to ask for ages...WHY is the chicken angry? :)

[Heather]

My husband cooked up a tasty spaghetti meal using these dehydrated shitake mushrooms they sell at Costco -- I think he used cooking wine and such to flavor them before adding them to the sauce. This was born of convenience, but my heavens - yum! I'm not a vegetarian, but the steaky flavor and texture made me think it not so impossible. Maybe grab a bag at Costco and give them a try? Beautiful flowers! I'll miss the chicken "scratch" - that always made me smile.

[amy k.]

oh-don't feel like your favorites need to be non-meaty! I am curious about all cookbooks, and heather, I am adding the scratch back in now-I miss it too!

[Tania Ho]

Thanks for posting about this, I'll definitely have to get it now :-) My favourite one now is called "The essential vegetarian cookbook", by Rachel Carter. We usually improvise on the recipes from the book, so it never comes out the same, but I love cookbooks just for browsing as well, and this one has such mouth watering photos ^_^

[kathi]

one of my favorite cookbooks is a collection of recipes put together by my son's mommy and me group when he was a toddler. my son is now 17 years old, but i still like to go through the recipes and also read about how other families dealt with tradition and meals and raising little ones. later when my daughter was born(she is 10yrs old now), i enrolled her in the same classes and i have a cookbook from her time there also! these are tried and true recipes that busy moms can put together with ease. i love it. what a fun idea...i think i'll do a cookbook post soon!

[Anna-Maria]

My friend has both the Cafe Paradiso cookbooks and I keep wanting to steal them from her. Check them out for more special occasion vege food.

For everyday cooking I swear by Alison Holst's "Meals without Meat" and "Very easy Vegetarian". I'm onto my fourth copy of Meals because friends kept wanting copies so I gave them mine!

[sarah]

I have the old 70's version of this book and it's one of my favorites, I happened upon this line last time I opened it and it cracked me up.. "The two hours later course is especially recommended if grass is smoked socially at your house. If you have passed a joint around before dinner to sharpen gustatory perceptions, you most likely will pass another one after dinner, and everyone knows what that will do - the blind munchies can strike at any time." LOL definately written in the 70's!

[sarah]

Oh I'm sorry for posting twice, but THE BEST cookbook in my opinion (especially if you are a vegetarian with small children) is Cynthia Lair's "Feeding the Whole Family"
AWESOME book!

[stephanie]

great banner! i am glad the chicken scratch is back..that is too cute!! cookbooks: Fix it and Forget it. it's for crock pots. i heart my crock pot!! and, now, they have the fix it and forget it Light....so thoughtful of them!
loves!!

[carol]

I absolutely love cookbooks too and will often sit down and read one like a novel! Since I bake part time I obviously have a few dozen baking books (you should see my sister's collection...10 X more, she's the one I work for)

Anyway, although I am not a vegetarian, I do find myself eating much more vegetables and cooking with the seasons. One of my favorite cookbooks is "Vegetarian Planet" by Didi Emmons and "Tate's bakeshop" (I have no problem eating a pie for dinner, but my belly wouldn't be happy!:) )

Great post!

[emmy lou]

I think my new recent favorite is a compilation from Marcella Hazan "The Essentials of Italian Cooking". It's like the Intro to Art History of cookbooks!
I've started baking recently and my new baking bible is Reagan Daley's "In the Sweet Kitchen". It has the most amazing flavour apring chart and the rhubard creme brulee recipe is divine.

[Jill]

Thanks for the recommendation! I just became a vegetarian, so I'm on the lookout for good recipes. This book looks great.

[Kim]

Oh, I am a COMPLETE cookbook junkie. I don't think I've cooked the same thing twice since I've been married--why would you when there are SO many interesting recipes out there to try?!

If I had to pick 3 favorites, the ones that come to mind are the old standard Betty Crocker Red Cookbook (where I learned pretty much everything I know about cooking), Everyday Italian by Giada di Laurentiis, and Lion House Classics (This one is less well-known. It's from a restaurant in Salt Lake and has recipes for what we like to call "Grandma Food." Really great rolls, pies, meat and potatoes dinners, etc.).

I'd like to check out this vegetarian cookbook. I'm not a vegetarian (though I'm always tempted to try it out!), but I love finding new ways to use fresh fruits and veggies in my cooking.

[erica]

One of my favorite cookbooks is Baking with Julia. It's based on the PBS series, and includes recipes from a lot of the best bakers and pastry chefs. I've made so many of the recipes.

[sarahjane]

All right, I'm in! As soon as I read this post I rushed to my blog to write about my own favorite cookbooks. Now I'm hungry.

[scribblesnbits]

I love the new look! Such a lovely drawing! I don't really have any favorite cookbooks. I get most of my recipes from a combo of family and memorization (as in, I think they put something in so I put it in or I think something would taste good and if it does, then yay!) I've actually started trying to write them down because I'm starting to forget them (one can of peas or 2?). Then there are random recipes that I modify to within an inch of their lives. However, Mr. gave me all of his mother's and grandmother's cookbooks, so I've been flipping through them (and getting hungry!). And I'm rambling so I'm going to stop now.

[chelle]

I love the Silver Palate cookbooks - the original and the New Basics. Every recipe is just wonderful. And the Barefoot Contessa books have been lots of fun to read and to cook from.

[Grammie]

Nice to see the chicken under its new spring branch. Change is good. Lovely.

[Kelli]

I love the new look! Very pretty. Bravo!

[Robyn]

I am a vegan and my favorite cookbook for actually cooking from is Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet. Robin is a vegetarian chef who studied the French culinary style (think Julia Child)and her recipes are rich and fabulous. On the other hand, my favorite cookbooks to read are those from the 1940's and 50's. There is so much culture tied up in food and I really like the idea of spending an entire day preparing a dinner (though I don't want to do it.)

[Melissa]

Beautiful new look very fresh and springy:)

[susan]

I'm also a big fan of Anna Thomas. I even get some use out of the original Vegetarian Epicure book, for the occasional indulgent thing. Another really good all-purpose book is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. It's huge and a little pricey but covers everything under the sun. I like all the other books that I have of hers, too. Also, I just got Vegan With a Vengeance by Isa Moskowitz, and though I haven't tried any of the recipes quite yet, so far it looks amazing. Oh, and A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop is great--I've heard he has a book on cooking vegetarian Italian food that is really great too. I could go on (and on) but most of my other biggest favorites have been mentioned here, so I'll stop there.

[liza]

I'm vegetarian too! I like another Robin Robertson cookbook, "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker", in the winter. I've had a lot of success with recipes in there that my meat-eating husband has been happy with. I also have always had good success with any of the Moosewood cookbooks.

[Alicia P.]

Love the new, fresh look Amy. My favorite cookbook is Nigella's "Feast," as much for the writing as for the recipes. I like the way it is organized through the seasons. And I know that a lot of people think Martha's recipes don't come out well, but I've always had good luck with them, so I like her books too. I like watching the Barefoot Contessa on TV -- always looks like something I'd like to eat, but still have to get the book.

[brenda]

My most favorite cookbook -by far....MORE-WITH-LESS COOKBOOK by Doris Janzen Longacre....simple yummy, budget minded, it's classic, my edition is 18 years old -cover off greasy and rumpled. I hesitate buying a new one, I have notes and substitutions and even favorite recipes written and glued in from other sources....plus the text is heart-felt - the author coming from a mennonite perspective....I love it.

[Amber]

The Italian Vegetarian Cookbook is EXCELLENT. People think it's funny because "there aren't any vegetarians in Italy!" But that's because they do such lovely things with fresh vegetables, you can just get food without meat.

All the recipes are really really tasty and require only a few ingredients each. There's also a surprising range of kinds of dishes - it's not all pasta and salad - there are casseroles and polenta and desserts and appetizers and and and... And NONE of it calls for anything but "regular" ingredients - no nutritional yeast flakes or tofu or soy sausage or...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576300447/sr=8-1/qid=1143218989/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7396882-0776904?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Also, Moosewood is always a natural source for vegetarian cooking, and I will say that the only one you need is "Moosewood Cooks At Home." We have a few of their books, and aside from the fact that there are some really similar recipes across the books, it's always the ones in Moosewood Cooks at Home that taste the best, that always always come out right, and that we reach for time and again.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671679929/qid=1143219698/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-7396882-0776904?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

[amy k.]

chelle-
word. i have all these too. the barefoot contessa ones are GREAT for parties and are so well tested-never had a single problem.

[beccamonster]

I'm not generally one to jump on the food trends bandwagon, but I must admit I really like Rachael Ray. I got her 365: No Repeats cookbook a few months ago and all the recipes I've made from it are delicious. Also, even though she uses a lot of meat, many of the recipes are easily adapted to be vegetarian. I think my absolute favorite cookbook is John Robbin's May All Be Fed: Diet for a New World.

[hillary]

I'm particularly fond of the oak park thai take out menu.

cute header!

[deb]

I adore cookbooks! Anything by Susan Branch are my favorites... Susan Branch just has a way about her that makes you feel like you know her. Fun little stories and decorating tidbits too. www.susanbranch.com very sweet. :)

[Sara]

I'm a big cookbook fan too and have many that have been named here. My favorite "cookbook" to read and cook from, though, is a magazine, Cook's Illustrated. I LOVE to read the articles - how they tweaked the recipies, food science, why adding an egg yolk or removing butter makes a difference, etc. It's fascinating. And, most everything I've made has been very good.

[kelly]

love the new look Amy!

[Alison]

I have very few cookbooks, but I live for new editions of Vogue Entertaining and Gourmet Traveller which become my cookbooks - each issue is seasonal and delicious and the inspiration is fresh each time.

I love your new look :)

[Lavanotes]

Like everyone else, I like your new look. I am so excited for spring this year so it's fun to see others gearing up for it too!

Cookbooks, sorry I'm not a cooker. I use the internet for recipes but I like LOOKING at them. You've intrigued me though because I'm really interested in cooking vegetarian meals. We're not vegetarian here but we've talked about cutting back on meat plenty of times so maybe I'll take a peek!

[Cristina]

The Savory Way by Deborah Madison is my all-time vegetarian favorite. The lemon-pudding cake!

[laura]

I love your new banner, Amy. I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat red meat, so our choices are somewhat limited. I'm always trying to find good recipes with lots of veggies. These comments are all wonderful! Oh, and...after reading this, I blogged about cookbooks/cooking too! Thanks for the idea.

[Maritza]

I have to say, I love the new look. That's a great banner - very nice design.

[laura]

Sorry for a second comment but...Oh no! I said I blogged about cookbooks, but I'm having blogging troubles and it isn't showing yet. I'm working on it. So sorry!

[laura]

Amy, it's laura again. I'm so embarrassed. This is the 3rd (and final) comment to THIS post. *blush* ok, fixed the problem on my blog. So sorry.

[Blair]

Excellent subject for a post Amy. I blogged today about this, thanks for the inspiration. And thanks for making me realize I probably need to get rid of the many cookbooks I have and don't use anymore. Your new header made me smile. And I ditto Nicole, why is the chicken angry?

[amy k.]

oh-so happy you wrote about this! adding your link now!
and i tried to reply back to nicole, but it bounced. . the chicken is angry just cause. But I am not the chicken. the name is from one of my small quilts-which often have disgruntled animals in them. I realize now that people assume I am the angry chicken-but it's not me! Perhaps the chiken is just having a bad day.

[tyn]

I love to read cookbooks in bed - funny I don't love to cook more. I love the new header!!

[stephanie]

man alive, all of a sudden i have this desire to be a vegetarian - however, what i think i really have is a desire to add to the collection... i like cookbooks as much to read for pleasure as to cook from... and when the authors pure passion for food radiates through, those are the most inspiring. if you ever have a chance to pick up fergus henderson's 'nose to tail eating: a kind of british cooking' it is spectacular. he isn't afraid of anything - at all... and the one published in britain is the best (isbn 0747572577), it is small and wonderful in your hand.

[Dacia]

I, too, am a vegetarian and have trouble with the regular veggie cookbooks. There are only so many pasta dishes one person can eat! Thanks for sharing this; I'll have to try it out.