Review: The College Vegetarian Cookbook: 150 Easy, Budget-Friendly Recipes

Written and illustrated by Stephanie McKercher, MS, RDN

Available now from Rockridge Press

Review copy

Stephanie McKercher is a registered dietician as well as a food blogger. Her first cookbook, The College Vegetarian, focuses on dishes that are easy and quick and inexpensive to make, and that use few ingredients and tools. This focus means that the recipes are also handy for those of us who are well past our college years.

The first chapter of The College Vegetarian is a handy reference that covers  cooking techniques, how to store the ingredients and food, and other basics. It also introduces the main ingredients for a healthy, inexpensive vegetarian diet and discusses what nutrition each provides. (It also further convinced me I could never actually be vegetarian as I don't like beans, tomatoes, or mushrooms.)

The recipes contained within The College Vegetarian are quite simple. Most involve around five steps. Some in the drinks section only have two steps. There were a few recipes that struck me as perhaps too simple for even a basic cookbook. "Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Bowls," for instance, is instructions on how to add things to yogurt to jazz it up and add additional ingredients. But I can acknowledge that parfaits are a dish.

There were also times I felt McKercher went too simple. The "Vegan Gumbo" uses only vegetable broth. Gumbo is a roux-based soup. Now, you would need to adjust roux to make it vegan instead of just vegetarian, but with single search, I found three-ingredient vegan rouxs. I don't think it would've added that much complexity, and making a roux is an excellent foundational skill to learn for making all sorts of soups. 

I made a few test recipes. In general, I found that the times took about twice as long if you needed to chop your vegetables or do other prep that was taken for granted. Every recipe I tried was also distinctly underseasoned. I would add extra salt and pepper to taste. The strangest issue I ran into was making the "Broccoli Cheddar Strata," which called for an 8-by-11 inch glass baking dish. I have an 8-by-8 dish and a 9-by-13 dish, and another search reassured me that those were the two standard glass baking dish sizes (along with a 9-by-9 square). It's just an odd thing to mess up.

But I do think that these recipes are quite nice and a good intro to vegetarian cooking on a budget. I certainly have plenty of ideas to try out.

Review: Signs and Seasons: An Astrology Cookbook

By Amy Zerner and Monte Farber with Chef John Okas
Available now from HarperElixir (HarperCollins)
Review copy

SIGNS & SEASONS is a cookbook arranged around astrology signs and the astronomical seasons. There's a foreword explaining how these two things work together; a section on how each sign relates to eating, cooking, and entertaining; and each seasonal recipe section contains more astrological explanation. I ignored most of this, because I consider astrology ridiculous.

The first words in the cookbook are: Are you looking to find epicurean as well as spiritual satisfaction? Do you want to make meals not only a time of communion with family and friends but also an opportunity to deepen your understanding of your appetite and how it connects you to the cycle of the seasons and thus to nature and the very universe itself?

This is obviously tosh of the highest order. But there's plenty of sensible nuggets throughout, like this note on entertaining: Food allergies and sensitivities can affect anyone. Astrology aside, if you entertain, proper etiquette dictates that there be something on the table for everyone to enjoy. Asking your dinner guests beforehand about what they do and do not eat is the most reliable way to do this. This is excellent advice. As the authors did not ask me what I do and do not eat, three of the eight Pisces recipes are not to my taste.

The general Pisces description named several foods I love, especially flounder, spinach, and sweet potato. And I will admit to being sentimental. They also hit it dead on with Spaghetti alla Carbonara for my pasta. Cheese, cured meat, and black pepper are all far more to my taste than tomato. I was quite satisfied with this version of the classic.

I wanted to try SIGNS & SEASONS because I enjoy cookbooks divided based on the foods that are  in season. It's wonderful that we can grow many crops year round now, but out-of-season crops rarely taste the same. Each season is divided into starters, seafood, salads, meat, pasta, sides, vegetarian, and desserts with a recipe of each type for each of the three star signs found in that season.

This suited my purposes well, but astrology fans might find it disappointed. For example, there is no guide to cooking for a Taurus year round (except for the general advisory in front); the only focus is in the spring. Seasonal food fans can skip over the hookum, but astrology fans can't will additional content into existence.

SIGNS & SEASONS is a beautiful cookbook. There are borders and sign illustrations throughout, and each seasonal section begins with a four-color insert with a beautiful astrological and seasonal-inspired illustrations and pictures of each recipe. The recipes themselves focus on Greco-Roman food, to tie in to the astrological theme. It's a good choice for narrowing the focus but still providing a broad range of foods. (I am definitely making Sriracha Salmon Cakes and Coconut-Peach Crisp.)

I think the astrological aspect of SIGNS & SEASONS silly, but it has entertainment value and there are many it will appeal too. This cookbook would make a good gift for any astrology fan. What matters is that SIGNS & SEASONS delivers where it counts: solid recipes for the home cook. These recipes call for fresh ingredients, which can be intimidating, but the instructions are simple and delivered in clear language. Combined with the seasonal organization, this is a practical cookbook to have in one's kitchen.

Review: The Dude Diet

Clean(ish) Food for People Who Like to Eat Dirty
By Serena Wolf
Available now from Harper Wave (HarperCollins)
Review copy

I knew I was going to love THE DUDE DIET from the moment I saw that lovely plate of nachos on the cover. Serena Wolf is the blogger behind Domesticate Me, which started by journaling her efforts to get her boyfriend Logan to eat better. Now, there are a lot of blog-to-cookbooks out there, and not all of them are worth it. (Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook is my gold standard, in case you want to question my taste.) Wolf has experience going for her; she's not just a blogger, she's also a Le Cordon Bleu Paris graduate and recipe developer.

Because THE DUDE DIET started as a blog, it is written in a very conversational tone. This makes it approachable, although I'll admit to liking my recipes in plain jane English. (I think I shuddered when quesadilla was shortened to 'dilla.) For the other downside, I do dislike the intense slant towards dudes. It makes sense in the context of Wolf's blog, where she was developing a diet for a specific dude. But the back copy of this cookbook rubs me the wrong way. There are plenty of women out there who could use a course in how to make easy, filling, and balanced meals. Fortunately, most of the dude focus is just the marketing.

THE DUDE DIET starts off strong with an intro about Wolf's inspiration and her boyfriend's decision to change his life for the better. As I grow farther away from my college metabolism, I've certainly been compelled to cut out more of my cheat foods and up the vegetable content of my go-to meals. I could related. Wolf also gives a quick set of "Dude Diet Commandments" to give you general guidelines to follow even if the recipes aren't floating your boat. Then there's an extremely helpful chapter on which staples to stock your pantry with and which kitchen tools to buy. (Not all at once, of course.) I've lived on my own long enough to own most of Wolf's recommendations, but THE DUDE DIET is very much written to be accessible and useful to cooking novices.

Speaking of life changes, almost immediately after my review copy of THE DUDE DIET arrived I got adult braces.

You know you wish your smile was this metal.

That meant a fun week of eating mushy food and longing for absolutely any texture. You discover a new rock bottom of food when you're contemplating how much the snack you're eating tastes like baby food and you look down and see that it was made by a baby food manufacturer. I'm past that hump, thankfully, but I am still working on expanding my chewing repertoire and have to follow the typical braces restrictions after that. None of those nachos on the cover for me; I can't eat corn (or other hard) chips.

Fortunately, THE DUDE DIET contained foods I can still eat. Scrambled eggs are very friendly to those who don't have much chomping force, and the Big Green Scramble adds some nice soft greens like sauteed zucchini and spinach to the eggs. It's a simple recipe that adds some extra nutrient punch without making the process of scrambling eggs that much more time consuming. And I definitely have the Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes saved for a slow weekend.

The recipes range from breakfast and dinner to dessert and cocktails. Sometimes, as with the Chronic Chili Cheese Dogs, they might not be that far off what you do already, just with suggestions such as whole-wheat buns and 100% bison dogs.

Others go farther afield, like the Cauliflower Mac and Cheese with Chicken Sausage. (Which does remain easy to cook.) I made this without the sausage for a softer texture. I also left out the Dijon (because I don't like mustard) and the panko breadcrumbs (because I do not understand putting a crunchy layer of breadcrumbs on top of creamy mac and cheese and ruining the mouthfeel). Adjusted to my preferences and needs, it was pretty similar to my family's mac and cheese recipe, and I didn't really notice the addition of the cauliflower. (I did notice the lack of egg providing a nice binding element, so I might toss that in the next time I try this with the sausage.)

THE DUDE DIET is a beautiful cookbook full of recipes that got my imagination going. The fact that they're healthy is a major bonus. I look forward to making many more of the meals within. This cookbook is definitely going on my keeper shelf.

Weekend Cooking: Sweet: Our Best Cupcakes, Cookies, Candy, and More

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish.

SWEET: OUR BEST CUPCAKES, COOKIES, CANDY, AND MORE is a new dessert cookbook from The Food Network. It is aimed at the beginner baker, although some recipes require more skill.  (See the Fake Out Cakes, which you make to look like other things.)  Some specialized tools like candy thermometers are needed for many recipes.  For the most part, however, the tools and ingredients needed are simpleeci and common.

It is also a super pretty cookbook.  Almost all of the recipes have a full-page photo of what it should look like.  This means that there aren't a ton of recipes actually in the book, but they are done in large print, which is handy when you're trying to read and bake and the same time.

I particularly liked the little sections giving ideas on how to modify and jazz up recipes (such as brownies and whoopie pies).  It's nice to have a little guidance on how to make the recipes your own.

The first recipe I tried was the Salted Caramel Thumbprints.  These are basically a sugar cookie with some pretzels and dulce de leche for flair.

Yeah, I ate a few.

The resulting cookies were quite delicious.  I found the base cookie a bit floury, but that is easy to adjust.  I did cut the amount of pretzels the recipe called for, and I'm glad I made that decision - 1 c total was more than enough.  I also added a touch less salt to the dough than called for out of respect to my family members with high blood pressure.  The salt in the pretzels was plenty.  I also didn't use a mixer, as the recipe calls for, because I don't own one.  My arm strength did just fine.

I'm also impressed that the recipe made 24 cookies, just as it said it would.  I find that recipes often overestimate how many cookies will be produced.

I'm excited to try some other recipes from this very pretty cookbook!