dyer@vaxuum.DEC (People 'R' People) (10/03/85)
Cookbooks For Busy People_________________________________________
I just got a nice letter from Laura, about all kinds of
things, including a query about good vegetarian cookbooks for
people who want to start cooking more but don't have all that much
time. I accidentally deleted the letter, so I lost her address!
I figured that the cookbook topic is of general interest,
so I pulled this out of my letter to Laura (which I don't know
where to send) and I'm posting it here. (Laura, if you're reading
this, send me your address so I can send you the rest of your
letter!)
My favorite cookbook is the first vegetarian cookbook I
bought: "Wings of Life," by Julie Jordan. It came out before
vegetarianism got popular, so it's a little off the beaten path.
The (rather scant) nutrition information in it is way out of date,
but the recipes are great. Also, she has this emphasis on not
wasting things that really appeals to me.
"Laurel's Kitchen" is my second favorite. Great recipes
and a lot of nutrition information. There's also a bit of auto-
biography in it . . .
"Diet For A Small Planet" and "Recipes For A Small Planet"
both have a lot of great recipes in them which are very nutritious
without sacrificing flavor. There's a nother book in this series
called "Great Meatless Meals," but I'm not sure if it has some new
recipes or if it repeats the ones in the other two books.
All of the above books are pocket-sized paperbacks, except
for "Wings of Life" (which I managed to get *very* cheaply, since
I found it in a former alternative book store that had been bought
out by the conservative Unitarian Church, who sold all the altern-
ative books at very low prices to get rid of them). The following
are a bit more expensive:
Mollie Katzen's "Moosewood Cookbook" and "The Enchanted
Broccoli Forest" are both good. There's a pair called "The Vege-
tarian Epicure" and "The Vegetarian Epicure II," written by Anna
Thomas. I just got "The Ananda Cookbook," which I'm not yet
familiar with, but it specializes in meals that can be prepared in
less that 45 minutes!
Another is "The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook." The Farm is a
communal vegetarian community somewhere in Tennessee, I believe.
The book is full of things to do with soybeans: how to make tofu,
tempeh, TVP, soy milk (and thus soy yogurt, soy cheese, soy ice
cream, etc.). They don't use dairy products. I do, but I find it
worthwhile to sometimes substitute their non-dairy replacements
for all or part of the dairy ingredients in recipes.
Finally, there's the Natural Recipes Card Collection, a
bunch of recipe cards from a place called The Natural Messages Co.
(74 McBride Box 226C, Boston, MA 02130). They are fantastic!
If you're not keen on the idea of buying all these books
to start off with (-:), I'd say the best two books to get would be
"Laurel's Kitchen" and "Wings of Life" (though I've not seen
"Wings of Life" for sale anywhere else - it's printed by a pretty
small publisher). You might also want to get "The Ananda Cook-
book," since it emphasizes quickly-made meals. Also, the Natural
Messages recipe cards are inexpensive; but you do have to wait for
them to arrive in the mail.
<_Jym_>
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::::' :: `:::: Jym Dyer ::::' :: `::::
::' :: `:: Dracut, Massachusetts ::' :: `::
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::::. :: .:::: decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer ::::' :: `::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::bhaskar@fluke.UUCP (K.S. Bhaskar) (10/07/85)
For fast vegetarian cooking, I really like "The Quick and Easy Vegetarian Cookbook" by Manners & Manners. A few of the recipes are losers (but only a FEW, like "12 minute spaghetti"). Most are excellent, especially for vegetarians like me who are permanently short of time to cook...