Sunday, January 31, 2010

Vegetarian inspiration - some would call it an addiction.

I don't just like cookbooks, I love them. Love, love, love them!
My vegetarian project gave me an excellent excuse to buy some more.
In all fairness, I did have a few already, but to be inspired for an entire year, I figured I could add some more.
And so I did.

I have heard some fantastic stories about Jack Bishops Italian Vegetarian. Some even says it's the best vegetarian cookbook out there today. I can't wait to dig into this one. I have been reading it for a couple of days and I have to admit, it looks very promising.


Arto Der Haroutunians cookbook Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East has gotten rave reviews. I have read a little in it and it looks promising. I also love Middle Eastern food, so I can't see how this can go wrong.


More Easy Beans by Irish Ross and Jacquie Trafford also got rave reviews from the readers on Amazon.com. I have been looking for some good and tasty bean recipes because I don't think I'll be comfortable spending this year eating mock meat. I don't hold anything against mock meat, but I have asked myself why someone would go vegetarian and then continue eating fake meat when there are so many wonderful legumes and vegetables out there.
I have a strong faith in this book. It has a ton of information about beans and legumes in the beinning of the book, and a great explanation on reasons for gas after eating beans. *LOL*


This cookbook, New Vegetarian by Robin Asbell, is my wild card.
To be honest, I bought this book because of the lovely picture on the cover. How could anyone who is seriously interested in cookig, walk past a picture like this?
For the record, the picture displays a Grilled Vegetable Sformato.


The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman is another cookbook in the rave review-category. I don't think I have read one negative thing about this book. I also like roasted vegetables in general. I really hope this book will turn out to be a good investment, because I need more recipes on roasted vegetables.


The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia is a beautiful cookbook. Just beautiful!
The recipes are more gourmet than the recipes from the other cookbooks, and it's definitely a cookbook for when you are going to entertain for friends or family. But boy will they be entertained! I can't wait to start cooking from this book!


Larousse Gastronomiques book on Vegetables and salads is a part of the Larousse Gastronomique, the world's most famous culinary reference book.
This book holds 600 salad and vegetable recipes, together with 80 recipes for sauces, dressings, pasrty, butter and stock. It's a great cookbook for when you need the basics - which I often do.


I have no idea why I bought this book. Delicious Jamaica by Yvonne McCalla Sobers is a small book (150 pages), but holds a lot of recipes. I have never been to Jamaica, and I have never eaten a jamaican dish. Add to that the fact that this book has no illustrations whatsoever, I think I'm in for an interesting ride with this one.


The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen looked so promising in the store, but after reading it a little closer, I'm disappointed already. Even before I have cooked as much as a single meal from it.
Why, you might ask?
Because I like cookbooks that uses ingredients that most of us can buy in the store. Many of the recipes uses cashew cream, which can be made from raw cashews. Well, I can't get raw cashews where I live.
Then there is a recipe that asks for Earth Balance. What the heck is Earth Balance??
Then there's the coffee extract, the hazelnut milk, juniper berries, agave nectar - and not to forget the mock meat.
In all fairness, this is a vegat cookbook as opposed to the others who are vegetarian cookbooks, but I don't see why I should need all these exotic ingredients and a wild kitchen science project (=mock meat) to satisfy my palate.
I have to admit, I will surprise myself if I ever cook anything out of this cookbook.

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