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View Full Version : Moosehead cookbook help - your fav recipes from this cookbook



JulieL
04-28-2006, 10:36 AM
So... I've tried to cook from this cookbook on a couple recipes - as everyone raves that this is THE vegetarian cookbook to get. I really haven't had great sucess. I would call myself a capable cook but definately not an expert. Well I was wondering what recipes from this cookbook have worked for folks. It's so big that I must be hitting the least popular recipes, or can't pull it together ;), anyway thanks :)

juliasmom05
04-28-2006, 10:40 AM
No help with the recipes, but just wanted to let you know that the Moosewood Restaurant is usually hit or miss, usually miss, so maybe the cookbook is the same way.

Marci

Mom to Julia 4/05

The Review Mommy
04-28-2006, 11:48 AM
Hi Julie! :)

Sorry, I can't help you with the Moosehead cookbook because I don't have it. I was going to suggest you check out Deborah Madison's 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' on Amazon and reading the review by 'B. Marold'. I tend to agree with him a lot. Anyway, it's a great review and he mentions some other great books in the field but I really think this one is best.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0767900146/ref=cm_rev_next/104-2549630-5053524?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=283155&s=books&customer-reviews.start=21

TIP: I have bought so many darn books that I have later regretted. I now go to my local library and borrow them first to see if they are book shelf worthy. I never buy a book I feel the need to read only once...I can check them out for 3 weeks, and extend it over the internet and even look at the website to browse a list of cookbooks in other parts of my town. Some of them I do need to search for a bit but most of them are readily near by. I have a wonderful but small collection now...I would have made so many mistakes if I hadn't! I got this idea from someone here who likes to read them like novels and then photocopy the recipes they want to try. Just a thought. :)

HTH
Rebekah

oliviasmomma
04-28-2006, 12:34 PM
I've had this cookbook since college (10+ years--yikes!) and I've made quite a few of the recipes. I usually seem to need to tweak the recipes--so no, you're not crazy! The soups and salads always seem to come out great, but some of the other things--desserts and baked casseroles most notably--require some creativity to make them work! Sometimes it is the consistency--too thick or thin, other times it's just bland, or one flavor sticks out too much. Which ones have you tried--I might be able to tell you how I doctored it...

JulieL
04-28-2006, 12:53 PM
Ohhhh I remember when that came out and thinking it looked good. I might see if I can check that out! Thanks!

JulieL
04-28-2006, 01:00 PM
Glad it's not just me! I cooked a recipe last weekened called Zuchinni Encrusted Pizza. SO I looked at the items needed, and didn't look at the instructions. Made the crust up, then saw it said form it in a pie pan??? I thought that can't be right it's ccaaallleeed pizza. So I flattened it out on a pizza pan, it can out kinda like a thin cracker, something you could use for an appetizer but NOT a pizza. Sigh, I went out and got a Boboli pizza crust to make a real pizza for my men.

It's been kinda like that with other recipes, not exactly what is sounded like or tasted not quite what it seemed it would.

eta: I did an onion soup recipe and it ended up like onion water, and powerful! Of course that was the first time I made an onion soup so it could have been some me as well.

miki
04-28-2006, 02:15 PM
I second both of Rebekah's suggestions! I definitely like Deborah Madison's cookbook better. And taking a cookbook test drive with the library's books works great. You have to return them so it forces you to make a few recipes.

BTW, for vegetable recipes, I like a lot of recipes from the various Mark Bittman cookbooks. His cookbooks are not vegetarian but contain many veggie only recipes. There was a shredded beet pancake that I remember trying out and liking a lot as well a some sort of fritter made with chick pea flour.

jennifer_r
04-28-2006, 02:41 PM
D. Madison's cookbook is one of my FAVORITES - and I have alot of cookbooks. I also do a cookbook "test drive" with the library.

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04
Bronwyn 11/9/05

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_rosequartz_3m.gif[/img][/url]

jbowman
04-28-2006, 06:29 PM
I think the lasagna is great!

alleyoop
04-28-2006, 09:08 PM
This probably doesn't help... but I have the Moosewood Book of Desserts and the Texas Italian Cream Cake is perfect! Just like the one I crave from 'The Upper Crust' here in Austin.

caheinz
04-30-2006, 01:32 AM
I lived in Ithaca for many years.... the restaurant is a bit hit or miss (some things are wonderful, others just okay, so the hits are more positive than the misses negative), but they do save the "hits" for the cookbooks. That said, the original cookbook and the Enchanted Broccoli Forest are both by Mollie Katzen, a former collective member. (The restaurant is owned and managed by a collective (the "Moosewood Collective"), which changes somewhat over time.) All of the more recent cookbooks (they're up to 8 or 10 now) are by the collective.

I think we have everything but the Kitchen Garden one. We almost never use the "original" two -- the recipes are just too involved. That said, the lasagna and the moussaka are both wonderful.

Our favorites tend to be Cooks at Home (30 min recipes), Low Fat Favorites, and the new one, Simple Suppers (more quick recipes). Sundays is all ethnic recipes, and are often involved and time-consuming. Cooks for a Crowd is for 20 or more people (we gave our caterer a recipe from this one for our wedding). Desserts is good, but focused. Daily Special is all soups and salads -- some good stuff in there. New Recipes from is the first collective book, and has some goodies in there. Celebrates and New Classics are newer, I think we've gotten more out of New Classics, but I don't have strong memories of either. (That said, we used New Classics a lot when DS was diagnosed with an egg allergy, and our "standard" eggless pancakes are from that one. So, maybe I should give it a higher rating!)

Any of the collective ones that sound appealing will probably be a better fit than the original!

cilantromapuche
04-30-2006, 03:41 PM
New recipes has a great chocolate mousse recipe.
I like the pasta with a no cook tomato sauce in the summer when tomatoes and basil are plentiful.
muffin recipe is good, as is the rice and beans with mango salsa.
I have all the cookbooks and living close to Ithaca I like to stop in everyonce in a while (there are tons of other good restaurants around there).
Christine

mama to A (7/03)

JulieL
05-01-2006, 10:29 AM
Thanks for the tips! I think I'll look some of those up! :) And yes this cookbook is WAY involved. I have 2 other vegetarian cookbooks and neither are so process lengthy.

jgriffin
05-01-2006, 01:53 PM
I've made a few recipes from Moosewood Cooks at Home. The vegetarian chili (I think it's called Black, Gold, Green, Red Chili) is terrific, as are the buttermilk oatmeal muffins (I lived off these during the first few postpartum weeks). I made a pizza, I think it was spinach and feta, which was tasty, but too strongly flavored for dinner. This book also inspired me to make vegetarian broth ("stock"), which I like to use instead of water in other recipes (like crockpot stuff).

JacksMommy
05-05-2006, 12:45 PM
We like the Hungarian mushroom soup and the ratatouille. I made a tomtao curry dish one time that was good, too. There is also a great mushroom apps recipe the name of which is escaping me, but it's in with the section about making a big appetizer platter (whose name is also escaping me, can you tell we are not sleeping much these days!). But anyways, it's basically marinated mushroom and always a big hit at parties.


Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04