Mollie Katzen

In my quest to reduce the amount of meat we eat through out the week I have been using the Moosewood Cookbook for the last couple of weeks. I bought this cookbook many years ago when I was more scared of the kitchen than any reasonable person ought to be. I brought it home from a grocery trip at Superstore and opened it later that evening. I closed it in horror believing the recipes to be far too advanced for me and the ingredients non existent in my pantry. Who has bulgur? Seriously.

Well, years down the road I have found myself with a bit more kitchen confidence although still a complete slave to a recipe. I had cooked a couple of meals from another veggie cookbook which made me believe that vegetarian meals were tasteless watery concoctions meant for people with no taste-buds. I remembered this fancy pants Moosewood Cookbook I had and started to thumb through the pages. I had to laugh at myself, or rather feel a bit amazed at how truly ignorant I was those many years back. The recipes in this book are incredibly easy to follow, the instructions are clear and thorough, the ingredients are actually rather common for people who aren’t scared of the kitchen ( I actually had bulgur in my pantry at the time of Moosewood re-introduction!)

I have fallen in love with this cookbook, and my initial goal of having one meatless meal a week quickly took on a life of it’s own and I now I have a hard time wanting to cook a meal with meat. My biggest concern was that my kids would reject the food, but we end up fighting with them regardless of what is served so I surged ahead and have been pleasantly surprised at the reception of most meals. The other incredible benefit of this cookbook is the absolute passion I feel for cooking. I love following these recipes. I love the smells that come from the foods, I love the new ingredients I am using, I love that it feels like I am actually creating something. I have never felt this way in the kitchen before. I have begun to think about spices and tastes that combine well. I turn the radio on in my kitchen and listen to french CBC and feel so calm making supper. What a discovery!

Isn’t it amazing how we seem to collect things as we go along in life, never really sure when they will come into effect?