Weekend Cooking: The Forest Feast Road Trip by Erin Gleeson

A few years ago, I discovered Erin Gleeson and her Forest Feast cookbooks and website when I received her Mediterranean cookbook via the Abrams Dinner Party. This year, Gleeson has a new cookbook: The Forest Feast Road Trip, which was, as the subtitle says, inspired by her travels through her home state of California. Thank you to Abrams for the review copy.

Of course, The Forest Feast Road Trip is full of fantastic, easy-to-make recipes for vegetarians and vegans, but it also features gorgeous photos of California, such as poppy fields, vineyards, the beach, holiday houses, and farmer's markets. The book closes with resources for easy road trips and places to visit.

While I've marked some future vacation destinations, my current interest is on the recipes. As you know, we eat meat in the BFR household. But because close to half our dinners are vegetarian, I was excited to find fresh ideas in The Forest Feast Road Trip. One of things I really love about Gleeson's books is the way she marries art, photography, and recipes. See the following scan (click to enlarge, if needed) for a good example of how beautiful this cookbook is.

Most of the recipes in The Forest Feast Road Trip are based on fresh vegetables with clean, bright flavors. That said, it's important to note that Gleeson also incorporates pre-prepped ingredients when it makes sense, such as canned beans and jarred sauces. Another thing I appreciate about her recipes is that she often gives variations on a theme or makes recommendations for substitutions. For example, one recipe calls for a local goat cheese, but the recipe introduction tells us we can substitute blue cheese or feta in her lovely beet and greens salad.

I've made quite a few dishes from this book. One of the most surprising was the mushroom, black bean, and walnut enchiladas (see the photo to the right). The enchiladas were outstanding, and I think I'm going to have to add walnuts to my enchiladas--vegetarian or meat--in the future.

I also really liked her pita tostados, which uses pita bread as the base for a variation on the traditional Mexican dish. Her recipe calls for canned refried black beans as the first layer with a variety of familiar ingredients on top (avocado, Mexican crema, cilantro, etc.). This recipe also comes with a Mediterranean variation: pita toppings include babaganoush, hummus, feta, and chickpeas. Such a great idea and so easy to put together.

Other recipes we tried (and liked) were a chickpea curry stew, veggie calzones, and sweet potato and black bean salad. We had the stew and calzones for dinner and ate the salad for our lunches.

I also baked her quick blender muffins (see the photo to the left). The main batter consists of eggs, bananas, and oats. You can then put in fruits and/or vegetables to your liking or you can try one of Gleeson's three variations. I made the carrot raisin muffins  per her suggestion. The texture was perfect and, despite the maple syrup and golden raisin, they were not too sweet.

Finally, I made her shortbread, which also had three variations. I couldn't resist trying the brown butter version. We loved the flavor, though the texture (due to the melted butter) wasn't quite what we were used to.

Recommendation: If you can't tell, I love Erin Gleeson's The Forest Feast Road Trip. The recipes are easy, pretty, and tasty. This book is perfect for anyone who enjoys vegetarian and vegan dinners and is looking for new ideas.

For a sample recipe from The Forest Feast Road Trip, either click through to the Forest Feast website or enlarge the scan above for a vegan salad. If you want to make the corn salad, you'll need the recipe for the tahini dressing:

Whisk together 1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini, 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon), 2 teaspoons agave, 1 grated garlic clove, water to thin (add 1 teaspoon at a time for desired consistency).

Note: The scan and recipe are used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders. The photos are mine.

Shared with Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker)

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Weekend Cooking: 3 Books for Young Chefs

Are you lucky enough to have young companions in your kitchen? If so, here are three books you can share with them. Though all are geared to kids, adults and teens will enjoy reading these books too. Thanks to the publishers for the review copies.

What's Cooking in Flowerville? by Felicita Sala (Prestel Junior, April 5) is a gorgeous book that takes cooks and gardeners through the course of a year, with one painting and one recipe featuring a seasonal food item for each month. The book starts in the spring with asparagus and a yummy quiche recipe (see scan; click to enlarge). Other months feature pears, cucumbers (with tzatziki), cherries, squash, and herbs (with lemony bean dip).

Though youngsters may need help making the recipes, the dishes are all easy to put together and include steps even the youngest can accomplish, like stirring and adding in ingredients.

The paintings in What's Cooking in Flowerville? show a diverse group of people in terms of both skin color and age and depict the joys of being in nature and growing and harvesting one's own food. The gardens themselves are also diverse; we see balcony trellises, indoor potted herbs, rooftop gardens, backyard fruit trees, and a community pumpkin patch.

The book ends with tips for gardening, harvesting, recycling, and sharing as well as illustrations of seeds, garden tools, and beautiful fruits and vegetables.

What's Cooking in Flowerville? by Felicita Sala is a delight for people of all ages and a great companion to Sala's earlier book, What's Cooking at 10 Garden Street?, which I reviewed a couple of years ago.

Next is another beautifully illustrated book featuring food. Olaf Hajek's Fantastic Fruits, illustrated by Hajek with text by Annette Roeder (Prestel Junior, April 5) is a stunning book that reveals some of the secrets of our favorite foods.

Each two-page spread features a single fruit (see scan). On the left we learn all kinds of interesting facts about the fruit, such as its origins, its growing conditions, and/or how to eat it. Here are few things I learned:

• Some mangoes are called "smelly."
• There are more than 1,000 different kinds of strawberries.
• Melons are closely related to zucchini.
• Peaches have been cultivated since about 6000 BCE.

In addition to this kind of information, Roeder also tells us at least one myth, fable, or legend relating to the fruit. We learn a Hungarian fairy tale about a girl who loved currants, that St. Barbara's Day is celebrated with cherry sprigs, and a Vietnamese story about how a watermelon united a king with his children.

Each fruit profile is accompanied by one of Hajek's paintings. The illustrations are richly colored and enhance the text. If you look carefully, you'll find hints for how to eat or grow the fruit as well as a nod or two to the featured tale or story.

Olaf Hajek's and Annette Roeder's Fantastic Fruits begs to be shared with readers young and old.

The final book is from The Food Magazine: The Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook (Hearst Home Kids, April 5). This fun cookbook, for children aged 8 to 12, provides 365 dated recipes to inspire young chefs throughout the year. You can get an idea of some the dishes by looking at the pictures on the book cover.

A number of the recipes are linked to a specific holiday or special day--like ruler cookies for Teacher Appreciation Week and Coconut Rice and Peas for Puerto Rico Constitution Day. Others are simply seasonal--like Banana Caramel S'mores in July and Microwave Apple Crisp in September.

Most of the recipes in Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook are for snacks and desserts, though you'll find some fun drinks and salads and even a pizza recipe. The instructions run the gamut from as easy as flavoring popcorn or decorating store-bought doughnuts to a full-fledged soup recipe and from-scratch mini pineapple upside down cakes. The majority of the recipes will catch kids' attention, and the range of difficulty will help you match the right recipes for your young cooks.

The Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook isn't just for kids. A number of the recipes will appeal to the whole family. I plan on trying several, such as the breakfast sliders (egg sandwiches), the peach Melba milkshake, the puff pastry tart with berries, and the miniature pimiento cheese balls.

The only way to tell if The Food Magazine's Recipe-A-Day Kids Cookbook is right for your family is to look through it. Note that while a number of international celebrations are included (like Brazilian Independence Day), the book is founded on U.S. holidays and the major Jewish and Christian holidays. (See the scan for three days in April.)

Note: The scans used in the context of a review; all rights remain with the original copyright holders. Any quality issue is on me.

Shared with Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker)

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