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Permalink Reply by Sydni Moser on September 14, 2010 at 9:38am

The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking [Paperback]

Mollie Katzen (Author)

I bought the first edition of this cookbook when it came out in the early 70's and it was a staple of mine for many years. It's kind of quirky and cute. Recipes are handwritten and there were many sweet illustrations. At the time the recipes were very unusual, but from what I've read of the new users of this old classic it still holds up well. It has mysteriously vanished from my collection, but I just ordered this new updated version. Nostalgia will do it to me every time!

Amazon Reader Review:
"This is a beautiful book. Written in an engaging style and filled with excellent recipes, "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest" by Mollie Katzen has become my favorite cookbook. The recipes range (just to use the soups as an example) from basic fare-Tomato soup, to exotic-Sesame Eggdrop soup. Imagine these foods: Fresh potato bread, tangy marinated pasta salad, oven-baked carob swirl bread, sweet glazed muffins, calzones filled with onions, zucchini, and mozzarella cheese, AND spicy enchiladas with sauce - all delicious and healthy! There is even a recipe for mayonnaise without eggs! This book makes it easy to be a vegetarian I dove right in.

My first attempt was the Curried Peanut soup. It got scary towards the middle of the cooking time (The smell of the onions and spices being sauteed was wretched). But in the end, the soup was excellent! In fact, every recipe I have made from this book has not only tasted great, but has been fun to cook. I heartily recommend this cookbook."

Permalink Reply by Cheryl Pantano on September 14, 2010 at 9:44am

It is hard for me to narrow this down. I have such a collection of cookbooks. Some of my favorites on my shelf are:

Veganomicon
Vegan with a Vengeance
Vegetarian Planet
Fresh Fom the Vegetarian Slow Cooker
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World
The Vegetarian Chili Cookbook
Meatless Burgers
New Vegetarian Cuisine
Easy Beans

Permalink Reply by Kim on October 24, 2010 at 11:19am

I have only been vegetarian for 15 months or so; therefore, my knowledge of products and recipes is very limited still. I did have a vegetarian cookbook that I was becoming very interested in, then I had a house fire---it was destroyed. I recently bought a vegetarian cookbook titled Inspired Vegetarian by Christine Ingram. (It was among other books in the discount books at Winn-Dixie :P .) Although the food in the book looks wonderful, many of the ingredients in the recipes are a bit....exotic for this part of the U.S. Barlotti beans, Greek Halloumi cheese, tahini paste, Indian masoor, gnocchi, fenugreek, and St. Agur cheese are just a few of such "exotic" ingredients....or perhaps I'm simply ignorant and these ingredients are far less exotic than I think.

At any rate, I'm not much of a cook. I like to cook, but I don't like "complicated". I have a three-year-old son who enjoys doubling the time I take to cook----parents, you know what I'm talking about. "Vin, get out of the fridge. No Vin, you can't have that. Here, you can try this cucumber. Mmmmm, isn't it tasty? Yes, I'll put Spongebob on for you. You want to help? Open this for mommy. Start right here and peel the plastic back." You get the picture.

Any simple----extremely simple---cookbook referrals would be a (lulz) godsend.