Vegetables and Grains

There are people out there who don't want you to enjoy eating. You know who they are – the carb-averse, all fat-fearing folks consumed with diets and detox. Maria Speck, author of the beautiful new cookbook, Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, is not of them.

In her introduction, Speck, in her refreshingly direct tone says, "Almost every conversation about my passion for whole grains evoked this well-meaning remark: 'Your diet must be very healthy.' This comment always leaves me speechless, because health is the last thing on my mind when I eat."

What is on her mind is cooking with unprocessed, real foods – fruits, vegetables, meats, and whole grains -- that are full of flavor and which happen to be healthy. Speck began eating whole grains while growing up in Greece and Germany. As a kid, she noshed on oats, wheat berries, and bulgur and as an adult has committed herself to exploring their delicious potential.

In the first section of Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, Speck describes a wide variety of whole grains from prosaic grits and rice to more exotic kamut and farro. She tells you how to buy, store, and cook with whole grains, and even provides a helpful table with measurements and cooking times.

Making Thanksgiving dinner is hard enough for most people. For those who have guests with food allergies, it can be grueling. Mom can't eat the creamy mashed potatoes because she's lactose-intolerant. Aunt Amy skips the bread stuffing because she's gluten-intolerant. Uncle Henry is allergic to nuts, so he can't eat half the dishes on the table. Just order him a pizza.

As for dessert, well, it's practically a death trap. Classic Thanksgiving pies typically contain gluten, butter, milk, sugar, and nuts. Plus 1 in 2 Americans is pie-challenged. I know, I'm one of them.

Here's the answer to your Thanksgiving dessert dilemma: Make Nava Atlas's Apple-Pumpkin Delight from her latest cookbook, Vegan Holiday Kitchen (Sterling, November 2011). It's gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free, so everyone will be able to enjoy it. And you won't have to make a pie crust.

A veteran vegetarian and cookbook author, Atlas has created more than 200 festive, tasty, vegan holiday recipes organized into six chapters: Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Holiday Season, Jewish Holidays, Easter, Independence Day and Summer Entertaining, and Brunches, Appetizers, and Potluck Dishes.

So many wonderful vegetable and vegetarian cookbooks have come out recently, it’s hard to keep track of all of them. Here are some more perfect for starting the new year. Note: a couple of these are not strictly vegetarian, but have so many great vegetable recipes I included them anyway.

For a food writer and editor to go vegetarian, means some really serious work had to happen, adapting and creating new bold recipes. That’s exactly what Joe Yonan has done in his latest book, Eat Your Vegetables. It’s the second in a series for the single cook/diner. But if you are not single, don’t let that deter you. First of all there are times when all of us are dining alone, and most of the recipes are easy to multiply or adapt for larger groups. This is vegetarian food for someone who knows how meat tastes, if that makes any sense. Curried Mushroom Bean Burgers, Pomegranate-Glazed Eggplant, Spaghetti with Root-to-Leaf Radish. Good stuff!

River Cottage Veg: 200 Inspired Vegetable Recipes is the latest in a series of River Cottage cookbooks on single subjects, everything from fish to preserves to bread. The book has some classics like Eggplant Parmigiana and Poached Egg on Toast, but also very fresh vegetarian recipes, like Warm Salad of Mushrooms and Roasted Squash, Beet and Walnut Hummus, Tahini-dressed Zucchini and Green Bean Salad, Green Onion Galette and Kohlrahbi “carpaccio.” It’s simple but very appealing and approachable vegetarian food for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.

Le Pain Quotidien is a cookbook that seems to have remained under the radar. I didn’t see it on one “best of” list this year. But with 200 bakery/cafe locations around the world, you know they are doing something right. And they are. Le Pain Quotidien makes delicious, mostly organic, and often healthy food including lots of open face “tartine” sandwiches, soups and salads, breads and more. The cookbook is an extension of the brand, in the best possible way. There are some very unexpected but enticing recipes like Mocha & Caper Butter with Crostini, Pea, Pancetta & Radish Tartine, Soba, Cauliflower & Blood Orange Salad and Pearl Barley Paella. The photography is beautiful and the recipes are all really straight forward and easy to do. You can create lovely little picture perfect snacks with this book.

It was 1995, and I was in graduate school at Brown University. I was taking a gender studies course that claimed gender (male and female) is a social construct not a biological difference. I was a nice Italian girl who grew up in North Providence in an assertively pink bedroom. My head would throb every time I left this class.

One afternoon several of us gathered for a study session where a few of the students brought vegan snacks and refreshments. I was already a vegetarian, so I was excited about exploring vegan food. They served a disturbingly gray mock chicken salad, carrot and celery sticks, some sugar-free fruit juice cookies, and a funky smelling "revitalizing" tea. Never had I more intensely craved a Dunkin' Donuts hazelnut coffee and sesame seed bagel.

I chose the cookie. It looked good, all chunky and nicely browned. I took a bite. It was chalky and dry. I chewed and chewed. I tried to swallow, but I couldn't. It was glued to the roof of my mouth. I grabbed a cup of the revitalizing tea to try to wash it down. Nothing happened. I thought, I'm gonna choke to death at a study group eating a vegan cookie. Damned vegans.

Eventually I managed to swallow it. 16 years later, I've learned that vegan food can be delicious, and while I'm no longer a vegetarian, I still love eating vegetarian and vegan dishes. So I'm happy to add Robin Asbell's colorful new cookbook, Big Vegan to my shelf.