Appetite for Reduction Cookbook Club Book Review

As you have seen from my posts for Buffalo Tempeh and Black Bean, Zucchini and Olive Tacos or the Lentil Chipotle Burgers and Scallion Sweet Potato Pancakes I have been involved in a cookbook club.  This month we were asked to review Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz.

Layout:

The layout of the book was excellent.  The table of contents was broken down into various types of meals that it was very easy to look for what you wanted to re-create and I enjoyed that.  It was how I was able to pair the four of the recipes into the two meals above.  In addition to having a clear format the instructions were very easy to follow.  For a person like me who starts to cook before actually reading the directions I never felt lost or behind as there were no surprises (like preheat the oven or add in 1c boiling water.

Aesthetics:

One area that could have been improved upon were the photos.  There are plenty of photos in the book but not for all the recipes.  This is good and bad as when I use a cookbook and the dish I create doesn’t look exactly like the picture I start to over analyze my ingredients and how I used them.  On the flip side when the dish is complete and it doesn’t look that good I like to have a visual example to compare to.  In this instance the pictures that did exist for the recipes I created were in the book and they were spot on.  The dishes looked exactly as I had created and the other dishes look phenomenal and have spurred creativity to create more dishes.

Recipes:

This table of contents has 6 pages of recipes with each looking better than the next in my opinion.  The beauty of this cookbook is that so many of the recipes can be paired to create a great meal.  For example, how does Veggie Pot Pie Stew served with Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits sound?  Or how about Tamarind BBQ Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes served with Polenta Stuffing?

One other item of note is that the recipes can be a little ‘fancy’ but there are also down home comfort foods in this book.  I think that is what appealed to me the most.  Some days I want to be in the kitchen whipping up a meal that would be great in a 4 star restaurant and other days I want to be the guy in the food truck.  This cookbook allows you to play both roles and be able to do so with ease as the recipes are not overly complicated.

Ingredients and supplies:

There were two items that stood out for me in the use of this cookbook.  As an endurance athlete I want to know what I am putting into my body in terms of nutritional information.  How many carbs?  What are the protein and fat amounts?  As I thumbed through the recipes I noticed that each one showed me exactly that information and it wasn’t just the amount of macronutrients but also information on some of the micronutrients like iron and Vitamin A.

The second item was the idea of looking for and finding the ingredients without having to travel to multiple stores and the recipes I created allowed me to do one stop shopping.  I conducted my own experiment and went to Whole Foods for one of the meals and our local Kroger for the other.  I was able to find all the ingredients that I needed at both stores and that was a plus.  I always hear how hard it is to eat vegetarian or vegan meals because of all the special shopping that needed to be done.  I can say with honesty that you can find the ingredients to the recipes in this book at the local grocery store.

Conclusion:

For me first trip into a Cookbook Club I was very pleased with this book.  The recipes, ingredients, pictures and additional information helped me get through the book with ease.  As I was writing this review, with the book next to me, I noticed a recipe that I must have been blind too but plan on making it tonight.  That for me is what is important.  I can keep going back to this book for not only recipes but for inspiration.  Other cookbooks I have used are just that…..books.  You read them and put them on the shelf never to be touched again.  I keep Appetite for Reduction on my kitchen counter because I am always using it as a resource of information.

If you are interested in trying out a vegetarian or vegan diet I suggest that you join this Cookbook Club even if for just one month. This book club gives you the opportunity to read what others thought of dishes before you attempt them.  You also get to see pictures of how different recipes came out and try to recreate on your own.

Click here to join the next month’s cookbook review.  We will be reviewing Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook by Kim Barnouin