Laurel Finds Her Cookbooks

This thread is going to be a bit of an experiment. I've been inspired by some other threads and posts about cooking on here. I have a lot of cookbooks - somewhere between 150 and maybe 175. And I got rid of at least another 25 before I moved. Anyway, I have just unboxed all my cookbooks, and I want to get back into the habit of actually using them. In the past (many years ago) I used to go through the alphabet of a cookbook index and make a list of 20-26 recipes (depending on whether each letter has any entries!) and then I would pick what to make from those lists. I also compiled card indexes of favorite ingredients (every cookbook that had a banana bread recipe, for example...), and then I discovered the Eatyourbooks website, which is kind of like Ravelry, but for cookbooks and recipes instead of knitting books and patterns. That gives me a searchable index of the 52 cookbooks in my collection that have been indexed on Eatyourbooks, but that still leaves 100+ cookbooks that aren't indexed (yet...)

So I've decided to pick a few of my cookbooks, make a list of recipes, and then commit (well, that's too strong a word), maybe aspire would be better - aspire to make at least 1 recipe a week - and keep track of that endeavor here. That's the idea anyway. We'll see how long that lasts!

I've picked 8 cookbooks (well, one is a blog that has been indexed on Eatyourbooks) and I've ended up with this list for now. Not sure how long I will stick with each one - maybe 6 months? and then pick another 8 cookbooks? I should maybe point out that I am a vegetarian, but not all of my cookbooks are vegetarian. With all the meat substitute options out there nowadays, I'll make every effort to adapt a recipe as needed. So, I've picked an all-purpose vegetarian cookbook, a British cookbook (or author), an international cookbook, a "restaurant" cookbook, a "gardener's" or specific produce cookbook, an ebook, a blog, and a pie/dessert cookbook. The gardener's cookbook may become a holiday cookbook around Thanksgiving/Christmas-time.

1,000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles
The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine by Rose Elliot
International Vegetarian Cookery by Sonya Richmond
Moosewood Restaurant New Classics
Smith & Hawken: The Gardeners' Community Cookbook
The Book Lover's Cookbook (ebook)
https://tinandthyme.uk/ (blog) by Choclette.
The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Maybe I will even get my cookbooks entered on LibraryThing! Wish me luck!

>1 WelshBookworm: Like this idea, and maybe those with some of the books in each of your lists could cook from them too in the same time frame.

Those Moosewood Cookbooks never lose their appeal. I have card indexes of recipes by ingredients too. Some are cross referenced, for example a card for "soups", but then borscht is also on the "beets" card.

>2 SassyLassy: "Like this idea, and maybe those with some of the books in each of your lists could cook from them too in the same time frame." - That could be fun, if I'm organized enough to announce what I plan to make in a given week. Or people could do different recipes...

Having made three lists now, I'm already regretting picking 8 cookbooks! That's about 200 recipes to choose from. I think I may skip the blog for now, and the Smith and Hawken book. I do want to do the Pie and Pastry Bible, and the Moosewood New Classics. Those are my newest cookbooks - got them both for $1.50 at the library book sale last month. I have just about every Moosewood cookbook, but I didn't have that one. And I sort of collect pie books.... my family calls me the "Pie Queen."

So 6 cookbooks. Next I will give my impressions of each one, and a summary of my list. Then I'll pick one recipe from each list to make each month. I can always add more. Will try to pick a mix that isn't all entrees, or all desserts - ha ha!

1,000 Vegetarian Recipes (abbreviated as VR when I list recipes later...)
c. 1996

Each recipe is coded according to types of vegetarians. LO - contains dairy and eggs. L - contains dairy ingredients. O - contains eggs. V - Vegan. I like that the author takes a "moderate" view on fat, salt, and sugar. This looks to be a very good basic, vegetarian cookbook, with (of course) 1,000 recipes. Some of those recipes are not even really recipes - like making hard-boiled eggs. Or making Easter eggs (add dye and vinegar) to the water before you boil them. On the other hand, she doesn't tell you how much dye or vinegar to add, so I might have to actually look online for a little more info! Or Nachos - tortilla chips, grated cheese, and jarred jalapeno slices. I don't really need to be told how to make simple nachos. But then she does suggest you could make homemade tortilla chips - by cutting up corn tortillas and frying them in oil. Another one is After-Dinner Coffee - just add liqueur of choice and top with whipped cream.

At the other extreme, my list includes Ragout of Wild Mushrooms which probably isn't difficult, it just requires a lot of ingredients, including three different kinds of mushrooms.

This is indexed on Eatyourbooks, but it also has it's own pretty thorough index. Not perfect - I had trouble finding the July 4th Salad because it isn't in the index, and whoever indexed it on Eatyourbooks did not include page numbers. So I finally found it by looking up recipes under Blueberries. I do want to make this one (July 4th is coming right up!) but it won't be cheap! It calls for pear liqueur. And looking it up on Total Wine - they do carry Belle de Brillet for about $42. Well, I could also try it in my After-Dinner Coffee! And use it in a trifle sometime...

Recipes made:
Baba Ganoujh, p. 54
Guacamole, p. 56
Nachos, p. 67
Nachos Grande, p. 68
Fajitas, p. 163
Tabouli, p. 373
July 4th Salad, p. 389
Dried Fig-Cardamom Bread, p. 399
Quesadilla, p.464
Easy Salsa, p. 479

Complete Vegetarian Cuisine (CVC)
c. 1988 - This is the American edition. Originally published in Great Britain as Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Cookery.

I'm a big fan of Rose Elliot and have a number of her cookbooks. Vegan recipes are marked with a V. There is a lengthy section (to p. 125!) just on ingredients with beautiful color pictures. There are also menu suggestions throughout the recipes section, which I like. These recipes are decidedly more elaborate than the previous cookbook, but nothing too extreme. Some of the absolute BEST vegetarian food I have had was in Wales and England. Restaurants there catered to vegetarians long before it became more mainstream in the U.S.

Some of the basics on my list: Baked Eggs, Easy Shortbread, Hashed Brown Potatoes, and Icebox Cookies.

The more complicated include: Macadamia Nut Burgers (with Bearnaise Sauce), homemade pizzas including the dough, Nut Balls in Tomato Sauce (serve with spaghetti), and Radish, Cucumber, and Arame Salad. Arame is a dried seaweed. I'll make it if I can find it...

International Vegetarian Cookery (IVC)
c. 1978

I probably picked this up at a used book store, way back when (I've been a vegetarian since 1973.) I always loved it for being somewhat unique (only 29 members on LT have it). It's very British, calling for teacups and dessertspoons, and calling eggplants aubergines. But then it includes a helpful chart of British vs. American measurements. There are 24 countries or regions represented, so I debated making my list one recipe from each region, instead of going down the index alphabetically, but I was afraid I would end up with all appetizers, or something. So I've ended up with 14 countries and 5 recipes from Italy. Oh well. Each country starts out with a list of the best cheeses from those regions.

Not indexed on Eatyourbooks.

There seems to be a heavy preponderance of egg recipes here: Cadiz Eggs, Florida Eggs, Indian Croquettes, Parmesan Custard Pudding, Uovo Col Riso, and Zabaglione. The only recipe that gave me pause is the Jellied Egg Salad (Canada) which calls for powdered gelatine. Yes, I could use agar, but I've found that rather rubbery. Plus eggs and vegetables in aspic hasn't been a thing since the 60s....

Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (MNC)
c. 2001

I used to live in New York state once upon a time, and I would go to the Moosewood Restaurant every time I was in Ithaca, which was about every other month. I was already a fan through their cookbooks before I lived there. There was never a set menu, so you didn't know from day to day what was going to be on offer. There are a small number of recipes with fish in this cookbook. Until recently, I have hardly ever seen vegetarian substitutes for fish. Now I am beginning to see some.

Indexed on Eatyourbooks, but no page numbers. Book index is by ingredient or main descriptor (for example, Winter Fruit Compote is under "cherries" and "compote" but not "winter."

The list: many things have tofu in it, including the Macaroni & Cheese. Not sure that's going to become a new classic, since my tried and true is macaroni, milk, and Cheddar cheese - that's it. There are a couple recipes with fish. Well, one is for a Herbed Mayo to accompany salmon cakes, and I have gotten veggie "salmon" cakes here. The other one is a Tabouli with Shrimp and Oranges, and it seems to me I could just omit the shrimp in that one.

Recipes made:
Fajitas, p. 162
Macaroni and Cheese with Tofu, p. 277
Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cake, p. 437

The Book Lover's Cookbook (BLC)
c. 2009

This is an ebook that I purchased for Nook. These recipes were inspired by food in literature, and includes excerpts from the books, so could be as much fun to browse and read, as to cook from it. Definitely not vegetarian though. I'll have to give a hard pass on some of the recipes. But my list includes a few non-vegetarian recipes that I thought I could reasonably find substitutions for, like the Impressive Beef Stroganoff, or the Rainy Season Chicken Soup. I'll probably just leave the bacon out of the Nearly A Meal Potato Soup or I'll substitute some kind of vegan ham... The Almond-Bacon Wraps don't sound promising - prunes (I'm guessing dried?) stuffed with an almond, wrapped with basil leaves and Canadian bacon. Not sure I can find a Canadian bacon substitute, but we'll see.

The book has no index. Thankfully, it is indexed on Eatyourbooks with page numbers.

Some easy recipes include Baked Apples, Waffles, and at least four of the recipes on my list are variations on dinner rolls. I could probably do all four variations with one batch of dough.

One I probably will NOT make is Queen Nacha's Tamales. A) I don't really like tamales. B) the recipe makes 40 tamales, and even cutting that in half is a lot of tamales. And C) it would require a lard substitution.

The Pie and Pastry Bible (PPB)
c. 1998

Hoo boy - what have I gotten myself into? This goes well beyond making pies, but includes pastry of all kinds. The recipes are a bit maddening confusing, because it sends you all over the cook book to make one bit, and then another bit, and sometimes 3 and 4 bits... A lot of curds tarts called for gelatin "to make it easier to slice cleanly." I'll settle for messy slicing! Also, everything calls for heavy cream and multiple egg yolk, or egg whites. There are meat recipes. I may try the Baked Empanadas - I can use "hamburger" crumbles or Beyond Meat. I think I could live without bacon in the Cabbage and Bacon Strudel. The gelatin is the main problem for me.

I think my list only has three actual pie recipes, not counting the Quiche Lorraine, though there are several tarts and a galette. I could be making quite a lot of lemon curd (a use for all those egg yolks I'll have left over from the recipes that only use egg whites).

Plans for the rest of June and July:

VR:
✓ Baba Ganoujh AND
✓ Tabouli because they go together so well...
✓ Extra: July 4th Salad - I put this extra "J" item on my list, because July 4th is coming right up!

CVC:
Perhaps the Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Bread - I need some anyway...

IVC:
Maybe the Florida Eggs. Nothing is leaping out at me.
Maybe the Turkish Yoghourt (don't you love the spellings?) which is really a raita and would go with the baba ganoujh and tabouli...

MNC:
✓ Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cake, while raspberries are in season though I could use frozen

BLC:
Either the "More Please!" Chocolate Zucchini Bread, or
Zucchini Lasagna
(The author has a tendency to only use egg whites for baking, which drives me crazy. I'm not wasting egg yolks. Can I make zucchini bread with 3 whole eggs instead of 6 egg whites?? Or can I buy just egg whites in a carton?)

PPB:
Open-Faced Apricot Pie, a simple and straight-forward single crust pie. and apricots are in season now.

Make anytime easy recipes:
VR:
After-Dinner Coffee
Easter Eggs - well, I'll probably have to make hard-boiled eggs for something anyway...
Iced Mint Tea - seems like a no-brainer for July...
✓ Nachos

CVC:
Aioli
Baked Eggs
Garlic Vinaigrette
Pancakes
Waffles

IVC:
Not much here that wouldn't require too much planning.
Maybe the Zabaglione. I think I still have some Marsala....though it is admittedly ancient.

MNC:
Not much here either.
Maybe the Garlic Butter and Cheese Flavored Popcorn, or
Oatmeal Banana Pancakes

BLC:
Baked apples - but it isn't apple season yet...
Any of the bread/rolls recipes.
Waffles

PPB:
Nothing!

You can buy egg whites in a carton or you could make lemon curd or a custard.

>11 ELiz_M: I may be making quite a lot of lemon curd, judging from my list from The Pie and Pastry Bible!

Nachos (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p. 67)

I needed something super simple tonight and didn't want to make the baba ganoujh or the tabouli. I did not make my own homemade chips. The "recipe" (I hesitate to call it that...) calls for 24 tortilla chips for 4-6 servings. I started with 12 and then added 6 more, fully intending to eat the whole thing. I didn't actually measure the cheese, but I doubt it was as much as called for. The jarred jalapeno slices I bought were wonderful! Mezzetta "medium" heat. I would call them mild.

I added salsa and sour cream, and yes I ate the whole thing. I would have added sliced black olives, but it seems I don't have any at the moment.

The Nachos Grande on the next page calls for salsa and guacamole (recipes in the cookbook) and sour cream.

Tabouli (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p. 373)

I'm on a roll! My bulgur wheat is ancient. Honestly I don't know how old it is, but it smelled okay, and I tasted it after I cooked it. No rancidity or anything. Maybe bulgur doesn't get rancid.

I'll eat this tonight with veggie "chikn" nuggets, hummus, and pita bread. One of my favorite, quick, meal-in-a-bowl recipes.

Now I have an extra tomato peeled. I think I will make that salsa and guacamole. Just need to get an avocado and some cilantro.

Baba Ganoujh (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p. 54)

This had two variations - 1) puree everything in a food processor; 2) just finely chop everything, which is what I did, because a food processor is more stuff to get out and put together, and wash.... Also I just minced the garlic. I couldn't find my garlic press, and it is probably in that box and a half still to be unpacked. I "broiled" the eggplant in my Breville toaster oven, which worked splendidly. Turned it every 5 minutes for about 25 minutes total.

I added a little salt to the recipe, since it didn't call for any.

Update two days later. This recipe is still missing something. I'm going to try adding more salt, and a couple tablespoons of olive oil. The recipe only called for eggplant, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and parsley.

Update on the update. Yep, that worked. Olive oil added a bit of needed flavor.

I had my sister and her partner over for a delayed Fourth of July on the deck. A bit cool today, but it was much too hot and muggy on Tuesday and had bucketed down rain all morning. Made the following, all from 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes:
Nachos Grande, p. 68
Easy Salsa, p. 479
Guacamole, p. 56
These were not on my list, but I had the ingredients....
I made a Quesadilla (p.464) from the list, too.

All basic, but good recipes. I am liking this cookbook a lot.

AND, I totally forgot the 4th of July fruit salad, but we were pretty stuffed as it was....

Quesadilla (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p.464)

Another great basic recipe, and these are all so easy to create variations with additions. I know I should do some recipes from the other cookbooks I picked, but these are so easy and don't require a lot of ingredients. I ate this with leftover salsa and guacamole.

July 4th Salad (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p. 389)

I finally made the July 4th Salad. Super simple. 1 1/2 cups each blueberries, strawberries, and pears + 2 tablespoons of pear liqueur. And a little sugar to taste. Very pretty - red, white, and blue. I used canned pear halves cut up, which made it even simpler. I've never had pear liqueur before, but I think it sounds lovely to add to a gingerbread/pear trifle... I bought a brand called Mathilde from Total Wine.

This was a variation of another fruit salad. It came up in the index on Eatyourbooks, but was nowhere in the index in the cookbook. I had to hunt for it by looking up recipes under one of the ingredients. Looking through this section of fruit salads it seems all of them use a liqueur. Either she REALLY likes using various liqueurs, or perhaps it serves to keep it from spoiling longer? Of course, you could always use orange juice or something for a non-alcoholic version. I could have used the juice from the jar of pears.

Macaroni and Cheese with Tofu (Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, p. 277)

This won't be replacing my tried and true macaroni and cheese recipe, which is from the 1950s Betty Crocker cookbook - the same way my mom made it when I was a child. I know a lot of recipes use a cream sauce, but that's more work. Betty Crocker is just layering cooked macaroni with grated cheese, pour milk on it and bake.

This recipe takes the cream sauce idea and tries to make it higher in protein with tofu, and lower in fat and calories with non-fat yogurt. And half the cheese it needs. Sorry! I'm a cheese girl!! And anything that requires a blender (adding more things to wash afterward) doesn't make this something I'm likely to make again. HOWEVER, if I did, I would substitute sour cream for the yogurt, and add more cheese. The leftovers aren't really "creamy". I did add some nutritional yeast one night, which I really liked. It just needed something. But reheating it with more grated cheese (and added salt and pepper) worked too.

I've decided the Pie and Pastry Bible is not for me. It is going back to the library book sale. I'm substituting another pie cookbook (see next post). I haven't been very good about the one recipe per week part. But here are some I plan to make sooner rather than later...

✓ Fajitas from Moosewood New Classics / ✓ Fajitas from 1,000 recipes
Cabbage and Noodles from Moosewood New Classics
✓ Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cake from Moosewood New Classics
Macaroni and Bean Salad from 1,000 recipes
Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Bread from CVC
Chocolate Zucchini Bread from the Book Lover's Cookbook. - Someone brought in a lot of zucchini at the library...will look tomorrow and see if there are some left...

The Book On Pie (BOP)
c. 2020

As the subtitle says: "Everything You Need to Know to Bake Perfect Pies". Plenty of "how-tos" here, with endless variations on crusts (76 pages) and toppings (55 pages), then sections on Fruit Pies, Custard Pies, Cream/Chiffon/Cold-Set Pies, and Savory Pies. Most of the recipes include a note on recommended crusts and toppings.

My list includes 7 pie crust recipes, 1 streusel topping, and 7 savory pies. Those with meat can probably be made with vegetarian substitutes. The only one that gave me pause is the Sesame Lamb Pie. There's always seitan, but I'm wondering about maybe substituting eggplant. It also calls for Sambal Oelek. Some of the pie crusts are a bit exotic, and there are no suggestions what to put in them. Za'atar Pie Dough, for example. Hmmm, perhaps that would be a good crust for the Sesame "Lamb" (Eggplant) Pie.

Recipes I might have to try soon are the Nectarine Semifreddo Pie (nectarines are in season NOW) and the Fresh Watermelon Pie. I did find a vegetarian gelatin substitute at the store. Also the Breakfast Pie with cream cheese, Greek yogurt, and berries or fruit of choice.

Fajitas (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p. 163)
Fajitas (Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, p. 162)

I made both of these together, since they used more or less the same ingredients, and both roasted the veggies in the oven. The recipe from 1,000 VR used a marinade which included oil, lime juice, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and chopped garlic. I used zucchini, yellow summer squash, and red pepper for the veggies. I was going to use an eggplant, too, but it had to be thrown out.

The Moosewood recipe called for tofu cut into strips, onion (I had a 1/2 leftover onion which was only enough for the one recipe or I would have used some onion in the other one, too...), red pepper, and zucchini. They were simply tossed with oil, salt, and garlic. I liked the addition of tofu and, to be honest, I didn't miss the spices added to the other. I would have liked to compare the tofu vs. eggplant, but oh well. I'm sure I'll be making fajitas again, and the variations are probably endless.

Both recipes were good, and quite easy to make. I have mixed the leftover veggies together.

Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cake (Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, p. 437)

I'm getting lazier as I get older. This was a little fussier than I like, since it required grating lemon rind, and separating eggs and beating the egg whites separately. It also required individual 8 oz. ramekins. I used some corelle dishes that I had, which worked fine. The individual servings looked pretty turned out of the cups, but if I make this again, I think I would use blueberries instead of raspberries (no seeds...) and bake it in a single dish.

Dried Fig-Cardamom Bread (1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, p. 399)

This wasn't on my list to make, but I got called at the library yesterday that the woman bringing treats to book club wasn't able to come, so I switched with her. Now I had to work until 8 pm mind you...

Our book for discussion this morning was The Island of Missing Trees. I just love tying treats to the book, and I suppose I could have just bought some Fig Newtons on the way home, but I went on Eatyourbooks.com to see what fig recipes I had. Lo and behold, this one popped up from one of the cookbooks I am currently working with, and all I needed to pick up at the store would be dried figs. So there I was making a quick bread at 10 pm. Not a big deal for a night owl, and quick breads are, well, quick. The hardest part was chopping the dried figs, and keeping 6 cats out of the way.

My loaf pan is 4.5 x 8.5 instead of the 9 x 5 called for. I think it would have done better in the larger pan, although it was alright. It didn't spill over. I probably baked it a little too long, because I was afraid it wouldn't be done in the center. But it was okay. I would have liked it a little moister, but served with butter it was fine.