Addicted to Cookbooks

Yes, I am a pack rat. But I try to be selective about it and only collect useful things, like cookbooks. And it helps that I find them thrifting, or review them at the library first. Currently I am on the lookout for vegan and vegetarian cookbooks to help inspire the cooking and eating of more vegetables. We are not completely meatless, but we are a reduced meat family for two reasons, the impact of meat on the environment, our health and our budget.

Some recent finds are the Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer McCann (she blogs at www.veganlunchbox.blogspot.com) with not just great ideas and inspiration for lunch for the entire family; but well laid out menus, recipes and tips. I only have this one from the library but I've tried the Quick Peanut Sauce on pg. 108 and the Banana Oatmeal Cookies on pg. 233 (my grandmother gives me bananas every week for some reason). The Peanut sauce I put on whole wheat spaghetti and my husband and I thought it was excellent! The cookies use 4 bananas and are delicious. We had company and everyone enjoyed them, from 1 year up to adult. For fun I threw in chocolate chips instead of completely following the recipe to make them more child friendly for us.

I also have tried a recipe from Lunchbox Love by Sally King (www.sallyjking.com). This book is small, but packed with excellent recipes, almost all of which I would use. The Chocolate Zucchini Cake was perfect to use up zucchini from the freezer. When I was young my mom made a version to fill my lunchbox so this brought back good chocolate-y memories. This is not a vegetarian or vegan cookbook, but what I would call a from scratch, natural food book with an organic slant. There are only 60 recipes in this small book but they all call for healthy, wholesome ingredients and is enough to supply excellent lunch fodder for the entire family.