From a Monastery Kitchen

Easy, simple and delicious and more often than not, the recipes do not require you to run to the store for a spice you've never heard of before. Plus the quotes and prayers are nice (and I'm not religious).

Like all of Brother Victor's books this one is full of really tasty, but fairly simple recipes. He has his recipes sorted first by season and then in categories such as soups, main dishes, salads, etc. His chick pea soup, vegetable cheese casserole, and spinach casserole with tomato topping were requested again by my son. We will by trying his asparagus-stuffed eggs coming up soon. If you like tasty vegetarian food, or nearly vegetarian food (he has a few recipes for fish) I am sure you will find something to enjoy in this book. Also we all need to eat more vegetables, and Brother Victor has plenty of them in just about everything. Getting your "five a day" will not be problem with "From a Monastery Kitchen."

I really appreciate this book! It offers easy, no-nonsense recipes, simple, on the healthy side (no meat) and tasty. I particularly enjoy the "Indian Curried Lentils" and the "Candied Sweet Potatoes with Raisins".

From a Monastery Kitchen is a cookbook of natural foods, "natural foods" in the sense of simple, vegetarian foods. The cookbook is divided into the four seasons with recipes assigned to the season their ingrediants are most available. Within each season, there are four sections: (1) Soups and appetizers (2) Main dishes (3) Salads and (4) Desserts. The volume is peppered with quotations, line drawings and other delightful tidbits.To give you a flavor of the variety of recipes presented: for Autumn we have Escarole Soup, Vegetable Fritters, Saint Hubert Fish Stew, Risotto, Eggplant Omelette, Kasha Salad, Bessarian Avocado Salad, Saint Bruno's Coffee Cream, Cold Spring Rice Pudding, Quick Apple Cake. The recipes are simple to follow, simple to make, and simply wonderful to eat.

I am inspired by the monks' dedication to preserving the simple way of life, and challenged to find my own solitude within these recipies. My family is excited to sample new fare, and will be blessed by the healthy benefits from vegetarian monastic cooking.