Cookbook Review: The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley & Melissa Clark

     I recently came across The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley & Melissa Clark while I was browsing Amazon and instantly added it to the wish list to buy it when my financial days are a bit sunnier. I knew I would love it from the reviews and the awards it has won. Thomas, the boyfriend, saw it on the wish list a couple of days later and got it for me as a late holiday gift from Half.com for much cheaper.

     Out of the roughly 400 pages worth of recipes, only about 55 to 60 of them are not useable by those with Celiac. And I love that! In fact, most of the recipes are vegan or can be quite easily made vegan. Again, I love that!

     The book comes with high reviews from Amazon users and the author's other books have also garnered high marks from readers. I can see why with such a useful, non-intimidating, and delicious array of recipes that are broken down by type and season. There are no pictures of the meals, a feature that I like as it does not give false expectations (or hope!) to struggling / aspiring chefs. The book does, however, feature zine-like illustrations that show particular preparation methods, mostly of dough preparation and vegetable chopping.

     The book is divided into sections – Soups & Stews; Seasonal Salads; Vegetables; Pasta, Whole Grains, Polenta, Risotto, & Porridge; Beans & Pulses; Tofu, Tempeh, & Seitan; Breads; Condiments & Sauces; Desserts; Seasonal Menus. Each of these sections is further divided into subcategories like seasons, hot or cold, side or main entree, and dips or spreads.

     I heartily recommend this cookbook to vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores alike. I have not had many chances to cook out of this book yet, but I've already tagged a couple recipes to try out and I'll be sure to let you know when I do. The ingredients are made up of basic items that someone who is living outside of a metropolitan hub can have a fairly easy time finding. A few of the ethnic ingredients might be more challenging to find, but 99% of the ingredients called for can be gotten on a basic trip to the grocery store making it quite practical.

     Another point I want to mention, although it has nothing to do with the quality or variety of recipes, is the layout of the book. It's quite a visual book despite the lack of photos. the typesetting is enjoyable and the layout makes it easy to keep your place when only half paying attention.

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Cookbook Review: The Allergy-Free Cookbook by Eileen Yoder

     Eileen Yoder has serious experience dealing with food allergies. She states in the preface to her second edition of *The Allergy-Free Cookbook*, her family has five generations of known food allergies. Some allergies are the same for one or two people and other allergens vary. As you can imagine, this cookbook came about out of sheer necessity.

     Yoder's cookbook is laid out so that information you might be searching for is easy to locate. There are two parts to the book. Part one is planning. Here, a section on replacements for the common allergens such as eggs, milk, and soy can all be found in one place, a section for dealing with children and food allergies has its own chapter, and easy ways to start and maintain an allergy-free diet can be found in another place. Part two is the recipes and begins with menus and lots of tips with shortcuts and time savers. Part two ends with listings of foods and their families, a very handy chart for those who are allergic to whole families of foods such as nightshades or

     The only unexpected thing I noticed in *The Allergy-Free Cookbook* is that while the front cover states “How to avoid the 8 major food allergens and eat happily ever after”, some of the recipes include these very ingredients. I had assumed when I got the cookbook (which I got here, by the way) that all of the recipes would be free of these allergens.

     Its not a big deal at all, and the cookbook is still an invaluable resource that can save your sanity if you are trying to meal plan and avoid more than one or two food allergens.

     While not all of the recipes are gluten free, many are gluten free naturally or can be easily adapted. There does seem to be quite a few recipes that call for wheat, rye, oats or oat flour, and barley. While these grains are usually easy to substitute out with other grains or a gluten free oat in most of the recipes, there are a few recipes that might prove more challenging to convert than others.

Happy cooking!

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A Book Review and Other Updates

Sorry to have been overloading you with all the meal plans, but I wanted to catch up on the back stock I've gathered. On to more important things.....

…..like The Flavor Bible!Holy crap, I finally ordered my very own, shiny and new copy of The Flavor Bible. I'd been searching for it's illegitimate child in the bowels of the internet and kept turning up with empty hands. I'd check every few months for it, but each time there was still nothing to be found. This, I'm telling you, is a little odd for the internet now-a-days.

Not to worry, however, as I have procured a fully legal copy through Amazon, a hardcover, at that, and am learning about new concepts and off and running with ideas on how to mix up the everyday foods that we eat around here. I'm really excited about this book and hope it'll make meal planning and dinner time a bit easier.

…..and moving to Portland!

Less than three weeks and I will be in a state I've never visited, a city I've only seen maps of, and sharing an apartment with a roommate I've never met in person. It's fair to say that most of the reasons that I'm excited to go for are also the reasons why I'm a bit anxious about going: meeting new people, getting around in a new city, going to a large campus, finding a job, etc.

I'm giving it about two weeks before I'm semi-comfortable with getting around there, but I'm hoping that I don't get lost too much in the beginning. I have a horrible sense of direction. The boyfriend and I have a running joke about the place we're going to being 8 blocks the other way that springs from early in our relationship, maybe one of our dates, when I insisted that where we were going was, you guessed, 8 blocks the other way.

…..enjoying my last few weeks in Texas!

While I'm very excited about going to Oregon, I will miss Texas – I grew up here and it will always be my home. I'm enjoying the hot weather and cool rivers while I can. Getting out in the sun and enjoying the days with the boyfriend. Visiting family soon in another part of the state, taking lots of pictures, and enjoying all the time with the boyfriend and cats as I can. I don't know how long it will be before I see them again. Hopefully not too long, but it's all up in the air and will be for a while. That's okay though, we'll see how things land and take it from there.

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