I received some very nice gifts this year, but I'm not going to list them all. However, I am going to briefly discuss two books I received from my aunt: Quick-Fix Vegetarian by Robin Robertson and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.

Robin Robertson has written a very concise cookbook with few illustrations of the food with easy recipes. The title Quick-Fix Vegetarian: Healthy Home-Cooked Meals in 30 Minutes or Less is a realistic claim. I've completed Chipotle-Kissed Black Bean Soup and Linguini with Edamame Pesto. Both were tasty (although Aaron decided that the linguini with edamame pesto needed more pepper) although since we've grown up with the staples of spaghetti, casserole dishes, steak and potatoes, tacos, etc, the colors were new! Chipotle-Kissed Black Bean Soup is black-grey with splashes of other color from the other ingedients in it and Linguini with Edamame Pesto is very lime green. Of course, they should be (black beans and edamame?) but it was still novel!

I'm only on page 125 out of approximately 730 pages in Deborah Madison's cookbook. I haven't tried any recipes yet, and I'm fairly excited to check them out - perhaps next week.

And, as I sit here reading these books, I realize that I'm only 1/4 of the way through my CIA text book: The Professional Chef, 8th Edition. Now that I have some time again, I need to finish it up!

Labels: cooking