[.ca] Main-Course Vegetarian Pleasures (ISBN 0060950226)

wonderful cookbook:
This cookbook is worth it just for the very delicious spinach enchiladas with almond red sauce. Then there is goat chees ravioli with ginger cream sauce, many wonderful recipes with polenta (including polenta and gorgonzola "pizza"), and several sophisticated brunch recipes. The whole cookbook, in fact, is full of sophisticated recipes, recipes that are so good that I can accept the fact that slow cooks like me sometimes need more than 30 minutes for some of the recipes.

and this is how we fed ourselves:
I didn't buy this book...rather, I "inherited" it when a flatmate moved out and left it behind. Being someone who doesn't eat much meat and loves to cook, I kept it, reading it at times to see if any of the recipes intrigued me. Well, I finally decided to go shopping and try this book out. I was floored and am delighted with it! Jeanne Lemlin's recipes are easy to follow, taste wonderful, and call for ingredients that require only minimal searching. Between the regular supermarket, natural foods store and Asian market I was able to get everything I needed. So far, I've tried the Soba Soup with Tofu (delicious!), the Curried Red Lentil Soup with Vegetables (I happily ate this for about three days), the Sourdough Pancakes (heavenly with or without syrup), and just tonight I made Baked Tofu, Schezuan Style, which came out beautifully even though I had to substitute regular peanut butter instead of natural style or tahini. I must also add that the pizza dough recipe on page 132 has changed my life in the kitchen forever. Wonderful recipe that works perfectly for thin crust *and* deep-dish style pizzas. *yum* This cookbook has gotten me to spend a little more time and thought on my meals, and has expanded my tastes a bit more in the process. Nothing too earth-shattering in the way of ingredients, but for someone who loves to cook and doesn't really know how...it is indispensable. I can't wait to buy the rest of her books!

and this is how we fed ourselves:
I didn't buy this book...rather, I "inherited" it when a flatmate moved out and left it behind. Being someone who doesn't eat much meat and loves to cook, I kept it, reading it at times to see if any of the recipes intrigued me. Well, I finally decided to go shopping and try this book out. I was floored and am delighted with it! Jeanne Lemlin's recipes are easy to follow, taste wonderful, and call for ingredients that require only minimal searching. Between the regular supermarket, natural foods store and Asian market I was able to get everything I needed. So far, I've tried the Soba Soup with Tofu (delicious!), the Curried Red Lentil Soup with Vegetables (I happily ate this for about three days), the Sourdough Pancakes (heavenly with or without syrup), and just tonight I made Baked Tofu, Schezuan Style, which came out beautifully even though I had to substitute regular peanut butter instead of natural style or tahini. I must also add that the pizza dough recipe on page 132 has changed my life in the kitchen forever. Wonderful recipe that works perfectly for thin crust *and* deep-dish style pizzas. *yum* This cookbook has gotten me to spend a little more time and thought on my meals, and has expanded my tastes a bit more in the process. Nothing too earth-shattering in the way of ingredients, but for someone who loves to cook and doesn't really know how...it is indispensable. I can't wait to buy the rest of her books!

A good resource for both vegetarians and others.:
I've had this book for some years, and it is one of my favorite cookbooks. The recipes are widely varied (both in ingredients and complexity) and are generally very tasty. My only complaint (and it's a small one) is that the "Quick" recipes sometimes aren't. My husband and I made the "Corn and Scallion Spoonbread" not too long ago and it took right at 1 1/2 hours between preparation and cooking. Not really in the "quick meal" category. Overall, though, it's an excellent resource for a wide range of vegetarian recipies.

A Great Find:
After deciding vegetarian was a good option for our family, the next step was finding a cookbook to help us with the transition. Main Course: Vegetarian Pleasures was a great find. It's a mixture of easy and more involved recipies, and so far every one we have tried has been amazing. The ingredients are easily found at the supermarket (no hunting for that obscure spice or vegetable at a specialty market), and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. This cookbook is a gem!