New cookbooks

For Christmas, I got a bunch of new cookbooks, so I've been doing a fair amount of cooking. When I worked four days a week instead of five, I did a lot more cooking. Since I've been working at OSU, I haven't been cooking nearly as much as I used to. I'd like to get back to doing that, so I got some new cookbooks for inspiration and recipes.

I'm not really big on following recipes; I tend to view them as starting points and suggestions, but I still like having someone else come up with the basic ideas for me. Two of my three new cookbooks I had previously gotten from the library, so I knew I liked them. One, I bought on Amazon reviews alone.

125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes is one of my new ones. From it I've made Sante Fe Sweet Potato Soup and Caribbean Pepper Pot Soup. I know that when I got it from the library about a year ago, I made something then, too, but I don't know what. However, I liked it enough the book, so it must have been good. Both of the recipes that I remember trying were really good, and had the added bonus of being super-easy to make since they just get tossed in the slow cooker and cook while I'm at work.

The only big downside to the cookbook is that a lot of the cookbooks use mushrooms, which Jeff doesn't like and absolutely refuses to eat (except in small quantities when he doesn't know he's eating them :). Other than that, there's lots of stuff in here that I'm looking forward to making.

I got another slow cooker book, too: Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Again, I especially like that I can toss the stuff in the slow cooker and just ignore it until I get home. I know I made something from it when I got it from the library a couple years ago, but I can't remember what now. But like before, I liked whatever it was enough to add it to my "buy it when I get around to it" list.

Today, I put all the ingredients together for Farmhouse Fricassee, which is veggies with tempeh, basically. That's for dinner on Wednesday, when I have knitting and not a lot of time to make dinner.

That's one of the things I like about the book; it uses different proteins, not just beans and tofu. Not that I don't like beans and tofu, but they get a little dull after a while. There's even a recipe for making your own seitan in the slow cooker. I'm not sure I'll ever do that, but it's nice to have the recipe if I decide to.

The third book, One-Dish Vegetarian Meals, I got on Amazon word-of-mouth alone. It's written by Robin Robertson, who also wrote Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, so I was pretty sure I'd like it, and I was right. I made the Southwestern Pasta Gratin last week, and it was pretty good. It all hinged on the quality of a bottled salsa/picante; I think maybe next time I'd use a different one, since the one I used wasn't quite the flavor I wanted. But that's not the fault of the recipe, but my choice.

Today, for later in the week, I did all of the prep work for Ziti with Red Pepper-Walnut Pesto and Creamy Noodle Curry. The Red Pepper-Walnut Pesto is pretty good all by itself, even before there's been a chance for the flavors to blend.

I'm going to get another cookbook by Robin Robertson, too, the Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. I just got it from the library, and the stuff I've made from it so far have been really good. I've never really liked a cookbook author before, but I seem to like Robinson's stuff!