Cookbook Review: Tassajara Cooking

     A couple months back I picked up a new cookbook at Powell’s in downtown Portland I randomly came across while browsing. The book is from the early 1970s, but doesn’t have the kitschy 1970s cookbook feel to it. More of a guide book, this is quite the un-recipe book, to be honest. There are no pictures, but it does offer a good variety of hand-drawn illustrations that show you how to chop a particular vegetable or just a simple image of a kitchen inspired still life.

     Tassajara Cooking is named for the world famous Zen training center founded in California in 1967. The book was a combined effort of the residents, family members, and friends of the Zen Center.



     The back of the book just might be my favorite cover of all time:

This is a book to help you actually cook – a cooking book. The recipes are not for you to follow, they are for you to create, invent, test.
It explains things you need to know, and things to watch out for. There are plenty of things left for you to discover, learn, stumble upon.
Blessings,
You’re on your own.
Together with everything.

     Created by the folks at the San Francisco Zen Center and published by Shambhala, the book is fully vegetarian and divided into five main sections: Beginning, Cooking Vegetables, Other Basic Ingredients, Pumpkin Isn’t Always Pie, and Good Friends.

     The first section offers tips on caring for your kitchen knives, how to tackle some basic cooking techniques, and also offers a brief rundown of common vegetables, grains, and herbs used around the typical vegetarian kitchen.

     Next up is a good section on vegetables – potatoes, leeks, garlic, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, corn, and on and on. This section is broken down into warmer and cooler weather with an oddball section for other stuff. Overall, there are tons of ideas and very basic outlines for a variety of recipes.

     The third section of the book, Other Basic Ingredients, covers fruits, nuts, beans, seeds, dairy, eggs, grains, and pasta. There are some unique ideas on fruit here, so it’s not to be overlooked. The bean and legume area is just as important as well, how to not split your beans while they’re cooking, and cooking times for pressure cookers as well as just an open boil on the stove.



     Pumpkin Isn’t Always Pie takes a slight detour from the rest of the book which focuses more on simple flavors and showcasing the ingredients in their own right. Here, we are given more complex and strong flavors for salads, dressings, soups, stocks, and sauces.

     Lastly, we are given a briefing of some of the true work-horses of the kitchen: our cutting boards, bowls, pans, and the like. Talk about care and storage is brief but loaded with good information like don’t use your kitchen sponge on the floors or your dish towel on your face and hands. Cleaning and care are mostly discussed here with a reminder that ‘cooking makes cleaning possible and cleaning makes cooking possible’.



     What I enjoy most about the book is the emphasis to create simple meals using just what you have on hand before acquiring any additional goods or produce. I’ve leant some cookbooks and recipes out to friends in the past and I heard back they weren’t able to make anything because they were missing one or two of the ingredients. I try to offer advice to substitute things out or just make the dish without, and this is a radical concept to some folks. I feel that the guide book style of cookbooks, like Tassajara Cooking and The Flavor Bible, are best suited for these individuals. Everyone’s comfort level is different in the kitchen and this is a great way to learn to cook rather than learning to follow a recipe.

- Patricia

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Cookbook Review: reFresh Contemporary Vegan Recipes From the Award Winning Fresh Restaurants

     I initially came across reFresh several years back at the local library where I brought it to the table along with an armload of other books to browse through. Along with this gem, I had also grabbed The Flavor Bible. You can read about my love affair with that book and how it changed my entire cooking world here. These two books really stood out to me and I ended up circling back around to them both in the following years for either purchase or at the local library once again.

     Published by John Wiley & Sons out of Canada, reFresh: Contemporary Vegan Recipes From the Award Winning Fresh Restaurants is written by Ruth Tal and Jennifer Houston, co-owners of Fresh. Jennifer is the main influence behind the recipes it seems, with Ruth providing more insight into the food and stories behind the recipes. At the heart of their book is an earnest wish for people to more often seek out healthy food choices and for this to be viewed as normal rather than fringe.

     To accomplish this, the authors present simple recipes that build on a few basic meal ideas. For example, they take a bowl of rice and dress it up in seven drastically different ways to show how such a basic item can be used to help stretch your budget without making you feel like you’re eating the same thing every night.

     The beginning of the book presents an essay on the approach to food and cooking, followed by a few kitchen pointers and tips, before easing right into herb blends and a few light recipes.

     One of my favorite dishes out of the book was Spicy Tomato with Chipotle and Spinach. I usually end up fudging recipes from not having everything on hand and even with omitting the roasting of the red pepper, it was still delicious. I also subbed out chipotle in adobo sauce for ½ a dried chipotle pepper plus some house-blend Mexican seasoning.

     While the book is not actually divided into sections, the last half of the book is dedicated to smoothies and juice blends you can do at home. You could probably get away with using a very nice blender, but having a juicer will keep the blender you own from burning out and will also provide you with a much finer consistency in the liquid, reducing chunks and clumps. I’m not a big juicer, but these recipes are presented in a way that is very consumer-friendly with easy to follow directions and recipes that taste delicious.

     You can find the book on Amazon for $6.00 as of this writing, and I’m sure it will stay under $10 for quite some time. This would make a great reference book for new cooks, those starting on a healthier lifestyle, or anyone looking to get out of a cooking rut.

     Let me know if you’ve read this and what you enjoyed about it. Any recipes or ideas that were winners for you?

- Patricia

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Here's to 2012!

     2011 went by much too fast, don't you agree? I accomplished most of what I wanted to and enjoyed the time I was able to spend with family, but I was so busy most of the year that it was hard to enjoy the moments as they happened. 2010 was kind of a miserable year for me that was capped off with a shitty end, so I was determined to make 2011 much, much better. I think it was a success.

      Not only was I able to come back to work for my old employer in February (the one I quit so that I could move to Portland, Oregon at the end of 2010), but I landed a great job with them in a department that I have wanted to work in for a while now. I started that position in November and am enjoying the new challenges and increased customer interaction.

      During the summer I was able to travel around Texas a bit with Thomas and his family. We visited Colorado Bend State Park, Longhorn Caverns, Inks Lake, and went tubing with friends in Gruene.

      I started school up full time this past fall and pulled in all but one A for the semester. This past fall we even had a new kitty join our household! She adds spice to the mix and is always looking for mischief. She's a beautiful cat. 2011 was the year I was determined to make it happen, and I did. I'm even saving for retirement!

      With January 1st rolling around, I have been thinking of ways to make 2012 just as successful as last year. Two clear goals came to mind. The first is to break 1,000 miles on my bicycle this year. I was just shy of 900 miles for 2011, so I think with a bit of effort I could do the 1k! I'll keep you updated on my progress for that goal. The other goal is finding ways to trim our grocery budget this year without trimming out fresh produce, the most expensive part of our diet. This one will be more challenging for me because in the last year I have seen the price of a half gallon of soy milk rise from $2.10 to $2.89. We use just shy of one gallon per week. That's an extra $5.53 per month in milk from one year ago. Add that to the extra few cents per item here, a bad peanut crop there, and the next thing you know your grocery budget has risen by $50 per month. It's just two of us and we can feel it, I can't imagine what it's like for a family of four or five. I'm having to come up with different strategies for saving.

      One of the ways I've already been able to cut down on grocery costs is keeping a spreadsheet of prices. This may seem odd, but knowing where to get the best price on a pound of rice or a loaf of gluten free bread is a powerful piece of budgeting. Buying some things in bulk on Amazon, like my favorite cornbread mix, is nearly $1 cheaper per item than in the store. I would not know this had I not had a record of what I've paid for the item in the past. This accounting method also makes you aware of any price changes. The cookies Thomas likes are $2 cheaper at the grocery store down the street rather than the Walgreens across the street.

      Another way I've been able to cut down on prices is to reduce the amount of produce I purchase per week. I think this is another way of saying 'only buy what I am really going to use.' I hate to waste produce, but sometimes it just goes bad before I (or the rabbit) get to it. I combat this by planning my meals to incorporate the items sold in bunches (carrots, spinach, green onions, herbs, leeks, etc) several times throughout the week with the single-use items (broccoli / cauliflower head, bok choi, avocados, tomatoes, etc) to be used close to the start of the week. Because I was already used to meal planning, with just a little extra planning, this was no sweat. I still have my weeks where I am tempted to just eat soup or tots every night, especially with full time work and school, but I know that will just make my body feel tired and run down with low energy intake.

     These strategies and some others that will really save you money on a grocery store trip are found in a book by Jennifer Maughan called “100 Meals for $5 or Less.” You can find the book here. This is a great book that has tips for everyone including the first time 'serious' grocery shopper and the avid couponer. There really is something for everyone in this book. It's a weekend read that you'll want to keep around for reference and future ideas. The first half of the book is tips and advice (bring a list and stick to it!) and finishes with tons of recipes. While the book is not geared for vegetarians or the gluten free, it does have the basic tips that we can all incorporate to make a cheaper trip to the grocery store. With just a few simple substitutions in the recipes, many of them become workable. If you've been vegetarian or gluten free for any period of time, you're used to substitution in cooking.

      I already have several food and recipe books lined up to share with you in 2012! I got Thomas a Kindle for his birthday last summer and we've been reading constantly since then. This year Thomas is challenging himself to read 52 books. He read 22 since getting the Kindle in July, so I think that is a do-able goal for him. This year I am also going to try and stick to being as dairy-free as possible. I have always talked about how unhealthy it is for Celiac patients to be off their diet. I know that milk can be tolerated again after a period of time, but my body just doesn't do well when I intake large amounts of it. Say, a pint of ice cream or a pound of giant holiday-themed candies. I've got a weakness, what can I say?

I'll keep you updated on the progress of my goals throughout the year. I'm hoping to tackle this semester with grades just as good as last semester, cut down on the dairy, increase the miles on my bike, spend less on groceries this year than we did last year, and spend more time enjoying the time in between all that. This is going to be a busy year!

What are your goals for the year?
- Patricia

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Cookbook Review: Babycakes Covers the Classics

        The boyfriend's birthday is next month and that means that birthday planning starts now. There are a couple of surprises up my sleeve this year and this year I am determined to keep this a surprise until his birthday. I'm sure if he guessed anymore than twice he'd know what I was getting for him, but I like to let myself think that I'm clever and awesome about gifting, however far from reality that may be. 

        Beyond gifts and surprises, birthdays also mean cake! There isn't much that gets me more excited for an event than the prospect of fresh-out-of-the oven cake. However, summertime in Texas makes me dread using the oven for an extended amount of time, especially since our AC duct into the kitchen is blocked somehow. The plan for an ice cream cake hatched at work while I was talking with a woman I sit near about cake in general. The conversation turned to ice cream cake and when I mentioned that I'd never had one she nearly fainted and insisted that I eat an entire one as soon as I am able. With a birthday coming up, I figured why not make one? The hunt was on for a recipe of some kind to guide my way through a vegan and gluten free ice cream cake.

        I hunted around and found Babycakes Covers the Classics by Erin McKenna, a gluten free and vegan cookbook devoted to desserts, and wouldn't ya know, there's a recipe for ice cream cake in it! It's as simple as I thought it would be, consisting of a basic chocolate cake, two flavors of ice cream layered, topped with another chocolate cake, and drizzled with chocolate sauce before being frozen. While I won't follow the directions exactly, the basic principle will be the same. I'll post about it, complete with pictures, when that goes down, because it will be spectacular!

        Besides the ice cream cake recipe, Babycakes is filled with amazing recipes to tempt you into giving your sweet tooth more pleasure than you'll know what to do with. There are so many amazing recipes in this book from one of my childhood favorites, pineapple upside down cake, to cake donuts, bread pudding, German chocolate cake, and even crispy rice squares! There are a couple of appetizers thrown in, as well, to balance things out. Everything is vegan and gluten free, and the recipes are simple to follow with well written directions, easy to find products, and a few pictures of the finished products spattered throughout. 

        Something I hardly ever mention about a book is the index, and who the heck really cares, anyway. This book, however has a very well laid out index and it's rather in-depth. In addition to the index is a store listing of where to buy the ingredients online. This is amazing and exciting for those of us who live in smaller than average towns and who sometimes have to drive and drive and drive to reach any kind of decent grocer. 

        Enjoy the book and let me know what you think about it!
- Patricia

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Cookbook Review: Potato Salad by Debbie Moose

     I got this book for two reasons; for one, potatoes and vegetarians go together very well, and two, potato salad is a great make ahead dish that can be kept in the icebox for several days and it still tastes good to just about everyone on the planet. I know some people are weird about leftovers (I live with one of those people) and being able to use the make-ahead method is great to help save time during the week.

It seems that in the potato salad world there are two camps, mustard and mayonnaise. Potato Salad, however, takes you beyond that school of thought and suggests pesto, yogurt, olives, tomato soup concentrate, olive oil, and even tahini as main ingredients for new versions of an old favorite. They all sound delicious, too.

The majority of the recipes in the book are naturally gluten free, but there are a few ingredients she mentions that may be up in the air such as vinegars, mustards, and dressings. Just double check before you buy something new and all should be well. As far as being dairy free or vegan friendly, the book offers a vegan mayonnaise recipe and any eggs called for can simply be omitted without much change to the quality of the recipe. Worcestershire sauce is called for a few times, and this contains fish if I remember correctly, but can be omitted for Bragg's or tamari.

Potato Salad does not stop at just salads, Moose has included more hearty dishes pairing the potatoes with crab, shrimp, tuna, and chicken. For the vegetarians, there are recipes for Tex-Mex style dishes with sweet corn and spicy jalapeños, other recipes are more simple calling for a simple olive oil and herb dressing.

Great book to keep on the shelf for reference. I was a bit put off at first by an entire book about potato salad. Really, how many ways are there? Apparently more than I ever thought possible, and now I'm craving a good curry potato salad!

Want to check the book out before you buy it? Click here.

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Cookbook Review: Kids Fun and Healthy Cookbook by Nicola Graimes

     While this cookbook is definitely not aimed at the gluten free community or at vegetarians, it is a fun book as the title promises! There are techniques and recipes in the book that are appropriate for children of all ages, so worrying about it not being for the right age group is not an issue if you're buying it as a gift. I would say it would be fine for kids up to 12 or so, depending on their personal skills.

I enjoy the fact that Graimes' book is readable (and enjoyable) by both children and adults. It gives plenty of safety advice, explaining things in a simple and calm manner while avoiding chastising reminders about hot stoves or making messes. I also enjoy the fact that Graimes discusses the different food groups and explains how each food plays a role in contributing to a balanced diet. I will say that the one thing I disagree with is that the book states that potatoes should not be considered as a serving of vegetables, while I think they should. Potato flakes, fries, potato chips, and the like are not considered servings, but real potatoes should be. Yams and sweet potatoes are great for you – there is no reason to not consider them vegetable servings.

All the basic cooking techniques are covered in the book, from egg cracking to whisking, stirring, basic sautéing, chopping, and peeling. The book itself is divided into sections for breakfast, light meals, main meals, desserts, and baking.

It is great to see a cookbook that is geared towards kids that both explains and utilizes fresh, whole foods in all the recipes. This book really pushes the fact that kids can accomplish many things on their own and should not be afraid to try to do new projects or ideas. The book is mostly plant based with a few dishes calling for meat thrown in. The use of eggs is pretty liberal throughout, simply because they are an easy to cook item.

For those of us on a gluten free diet, the majority of the recipes can be easily converted to suit our diet and the vegetarians and vegans can just substitute proteins and omit other ingredients to satisfy other needs. Some dishes, such as hard boiled eggs, would just be useless to the vegans, but there are relatively few of these instances.

Check the book out here before you buy it!

Happy cooking!

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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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Cookbook Review: Vegan on the Cheap

     Vegan on the Cheap is a great book to add to your collection. While this book is a bit skimp on the amount of recipes, the quality and variety of the recipes more than makes up for it.

     Eating on a budget can be challenging enough, but add some kind of food aversion and it can get even more difficult to stay on budget and keep everyone satisfied. Beans and rice get old soon enough and one soup begins to run into another after a while. Keeping the weekly menus mixed up with varying textures and flavors help keep you interested in your food and finding new ways to eat your basic stand-by's.

Enjoy!

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