A disappointing cookbook

The American Diabetes Association Vegetarian Cookbook: Satisfying, Bold, and Flavorful Recipes from the Garden by Steven Petusevsky
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am on a quest to find recipes to suit my newly retired lifestyle. Most days I am home for all three meals, so I need healthy options for all of them. My thought was that I would review each cookbook and accompany each review with photos of recipes which I'd tried. This very first book has scuttled that plan!

 I can really tell this book was written by a professional chef. The lists of ingredients tend to be long and sometimes call for things which I would never have on hand. He uses sugar substitutes, which I'm reluctant to do. It is blatantly obvious that someone else does his dish washing. One recipe that sounded good (Feelin' Your Oats burgers) required cooking to a certain point in a pot on the stove, then turning the mixture into a baking pan, then cutting it in squares to go back in the oven on a sheet pan to get crispy. I don't have the patience for all these steps and I don't think the dishwasher could cope with those oatmeal sticky pans. I don't have sous-chefs or human dishwashers to support me.

Now some of this is on me. I am fussy and I know it. I loathe onions. I still cook with them, but I reduce the quantities and I chop them fine to hide them from myself. I'm also picky about greens. I love spinach salad or spinach cooked into things, but I don't want a glop of cooked spinach on my plate, I think kale smells like farts and I won't touch it. I eat tomatoes, but according to my own arcane rules. Then there's my need to be gluten free for personal comfort issues.

So, the only recipe I would have made from this book is the rice pilaf. What a boring photo that would be!

But my quest will continue. I hope to have better luck with the next cookbook.



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