I’ve got a couple Moosewood cookbooks, and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and I’m aware of, you know, the Madjur Jaffrey Indian cookbooks and all. I also like cookforgood.com and have their e-books. I’m not really looking for ethnic stuff, though - feel like I’m covered there, and I don’t really want to have to hunt down too many exotic ingredients. Cookbooks that include more ethnic stuff as well as other stuff are fine, though.
So, what are your favorite everyday veggie cookbooks? (I am not myself a vegetarian, by the way, but we tend to eat meatless meals maybe three or four days a week.) So what do you like?
I’ve been using Anna Thomas’ recipes since forever. All her books are great, but I like the first one, The Vegetarian Epicure best (despite all the evil cheese, butter and sour cream she throws around).
Ha! See, I’ve been thinking about buying Veganomicon because the reviews say that the author avoids my least favourite vegetarian/vegan recipe staple: fake meat products (refuse to eat them, have tried 'em all).
The faux meat stuff is the biggest reason I never bought her other book Vegan with a Vengeance and just used the recipes off her website (PPK).
Veganomicon was one I was thinking of. They do use some seitan (with recipes to make the stuff) and tofu, but not so much the pre-packaged fake meats, no. There’s also some vaguely oddball ingredients that you might only find in older, more “hippie” vegetarian cookbooks, like the occasional appearance of nutritional yeast, for instance.
Plus I love the name! “I have to consult… the Veganomicon.”
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World is pretty awesome. I’m planning my first foray into it with their chocolate cupcake and the coconut pecan frosting which apparently makes a yummy German chocolate cake combo together.
reFresh is based on the recipes from the chain of vegan restaurants called Fresh in/around Toronto. Half the book is smoothie/juicer recipes, but the half that’s actual solid food is pretty nice. I like the recipes for rice bowls and noodle dishes, especially the sauces.
Hmm. I don’t actually have that many vegetarian cookbooks. I have a few more but they’re mostly ethnic-based. There’s always the Vegetarian Times compendium.
I bought my GF the Vegan Soul Kitchen cookbook. We’ve made a lot of stuff out of it and everything has been pretty damn good (I’m not a veggie at all).
mexico:the vegetarian table by victoria wise was one of the first cookbooks my wife and i ever bought. there are many dishes that we prepare time and time again.
I was going to suggest the Moosewood books, but you have those, and you say you aren’t interested in ethnic stuff.
If you’re open to getting recipes online, epicurious.com has a really good advanced search function and includes options for restricting to vegetarian and vegan recipes.
My Food network app on my blackberry has the same filter option. Which is great when I have my veggie friends over. They don’t much care for my Bedouin stuffed camel.
Leiths Vegetable Bible is an essential for anyone who likes vegetables (vegetarian or not). Recipes are organised by type of vegetables so it’s really good for finding recipes for seasonal fruit and veg or whatever you happen to have and every recipe I’ve made has been delicious.
My favorite cookbooks are by EatingWell. The best are EatingWell In Season, EatingWell serves two, and EatingWell Healthy in a Hurry. My favorite is the Serves 2. While EatingWell is largely not vegetarian, they are the best vegetarian recipes I’ve ever run across, and I and my SO are vegetarian 4-5 days/week. I think they’re so great because they’re very “hearty” and they don’t tend to use tofu or seitan much (I’m not a huge fan of either) but rather to make actual dishes centered on whole grains and vegetables. They’re also very healthy, without being diet-y. Something I’ve noticed in a lot of vegetarian cooking is plenty of cream and butter to make up for flavor, which is notably absent in EatingWell.
I suggest this a lot here, but once again: The Occasional Vegetarian is great. I made the roasted vegetable cassoulet for a veggie friend when she had her baby and she was blown away. The orzo primavera is a favorite of my husband, even though he generally likes meat.
The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper has lots of yummy meat-free ideas, though it also includes meat recipes. Right now I’m making Summer Zucchini Pasta, which looks gorgeous!
I’m not vegetarian but I use Veganomicon fairly frequently because, as mentioned above, most of the recipes are based on legumes as protein rather than scary fake meat, and beans and lentils are super cheap. I don’t make the desserts, though.
I live in Victoria, BC so everyone I know has the Rebar cookbook. The recipes are a bit fancy but when you master one, they’re incredibly delicious. The yam and pepita quesadillas are one of my favourite things on earth.
Agree with the Bittman recommendation. With Vegetarian for Everyone and Jaffrey, you’ve most of my vegetarian cookbooks.
Just want to add the cookbooks for Greens restaurant and Millenium restaurant are quite good vegetarian cookbooks as well, if you already have the books in the first paragraph.
I cook a lot out of Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. Over 650 recipes, and plenty of good ones. A lot of them are really quite simple and reasonably quick to prepare, and still taste great.
To revive - I checked on “The Vegetarian Epicure” and found that a LOT of people hate the new edition because it’s all low fat and stuff. Well, fuck that - I got the old ones on half.com, where they cost me less than a buck a volume plus shipping, and they are awesome. If nothing else, for the excellent technique explanations. We did try one that was a bust (a potato curry) but otherwise, all winners thus far.