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CHAPTER TWO: THE VEGETARIAN GOURMET
With the cost of produce through the roof, it no longer makes sense to go on a vegetarian diet to save money. But sometimes we get on a veggie kick to promote better health or to make a statement. The classic fast, easy vegetarian meal is to make some white or brown rice in the cooker, then stir fry up whatever promising veggies you have around, and top it all with soy sauce. Always saute some onion and bell pepper as part of your stir fry; they'll add a little more zing. But the palate craves variety, and the doctor probably doesn't like the sodium in a daily dose of soy sauce, so I've been motivated to collect quite a few tasty alternatives over the years. The classic guide to a vegetarian diet, The Vegetarian Epicure by
Anna Thomas, couldn't be published today. With its casual mention of wine or
pot to enhance the appetite, and its blissful disregard for post-1972 hysteria
about fat, it is a cookbook that puts good taste and good times front and center.
Vegans, I'm afraid, need not apply. This book is for the honest-to-God gourmet. If you like
good food and want to know what quality vegetarian food is about, go directly to
Amazon.com or another book-seller's site, and put in an immediate purchase order.
Anna Thomas has her own web site, with
new recipes as well as recipes from this beloved classic. I strongly advise you to pay her a
visit. What is it about people who write cookbooks that causes them to have such fascinating lives?
In the tradition of the fascinating cookbook writer, she is a film producer and writer.
She co-wrote and produce My Family, Mi Familia, among other works.
If you like good soup and bread as much as Thomas does, these sample recipes
will get your taste buds dancing. Important note: I do not own
any rights to these recipes, nor do I receive any "kickback" for recommending them.
If you enjoy them and would like to use them for commercial purposes, please contact Anna
Thomas through the email address on her website.
The sample recipes
must be sampled:
OK, I'm a little weird on the subject of lentils. But Esau didn't sell his birthright for
lentil soup because it tasted bad, now did he?
I'd also like to recommend a couple of favorites from
her second book,
The Vegetarian Epicure: Book Two:
Fast, heart healthy, and in a hurry. Already you're thinking, yikes, that
sounds like a depressingly taste-free combination. But my
falling-apart-at-the-seams copy of Fast Vegetarian Feasts:
Delicious Healthful Meals in Under 45 Minutes by Martha Rose
Shulman suggests that flavorful food can actually be vegetarian,
fast, and tasty. Here is a recurring favorite recipe:
Secrets of the Golden Door by Deborah Szekely Mazzanti combines diet and exercise information. I return again and again to this vegan dessert made naughty by the tiniest hint of Grand Marnier:
Another useful cookbook is The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Cookbook, which includes many useful recipes, including the following:
Return to the archives for more recipes and cookbook reviews.
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