Still Life with Menu Cookbook

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. I'm a bit of a cookbook addict and tend to buy lots of them, then when I realize I never actually COOK anything out of a book, I get rid of it. This one, on the other hand, is off the shelf nearly every week, it's ripped, it's dirty, it has lots of food stains on it because I use it so often.Some of the recipes are true breathtakers. The Thai appetizer is amazing. And the seeded tomato soup. Lots and lots of yummy things here. She has a whole section on "quick and easy." And I can always find something that I have the ingredients on hand for.Mollie writes great introductions to the recipes, so you always know what you're getting into with each one.

Just shy of 400 pages this is a gem of a cook book.What I appreciate about the book is it is laid out as meals. Of course you can make one item or all or mix and match and combine with family favorites you already have.On page 17 the author has a "How To Use This Book" section where she reminds the reader that sometimes it is when we do not follow a recipe so closely that we learn to love cooking.Now I will probably sound a tad snobbish so forgive me , but I think this is a cookbook that will appeal to people who are well traveled, very curious about food, willing to try new things and probably educated and upscale. I say this because the person who likes what is called "All American" meat and potato and high fat and unhealthy food will probably be lost here.We live in California where we have a year round bounty of the best fruits and vegetables so this is an easy to use book as far as ingredients go. And we loved the Roasted Red Peppers with Garlic and Lime on page 56, the Strawberry Meringue Pie on page 85 the Chinese Vegetable Soup on page 89 the Greek Stuffed Eggplant with Bechamel Sauce on page 151 the Southwest Salad with Black Beans and Corn on page 178 the Yellow Split Pea Dal on page 191 oh and the Spinach Roll Ups with Lime Chutney. We love Indian food!!My husband would live in Tuscany if he had his way I would choose the south east area of rural France, so he loved the Linguine with Quick Tuscan Tomato Sauce on page 239 and the Pasta with Marinated Vegetables like roasted peppers, artichoke hearts tomato mushroom and olives. Not canned olives but the luscious oil cured type you find in Italy and Greece.On page 331 she has Week-Long Menu Planning Guide where she lays out everything you will need to aquaria as well as some encouraging words about how to combine and end up with great leftovers. And like all her wonderful books she did all the paintings. The recipes are easy to follow as well.

With the meat-scare in Europe, this book is really handy for entertaining (you just don't know anymore what your guests will or will not eat!) The menus are interesting, seasonally appropriate and well-balanced. The bonus is the pastel artwork of the author. It's hard to pick my favorite recipe from the book (pear soup? rich baguette? Lentil chili? Chocolate eclipse?) A lovely book and a real favorite of mine.

From the gorgeous drawings to the variety of recipes/menus, Still Life remains one of my favorites out of my many cookbooks! The two recipes that I get asked to make over and over again are the Sczechwan Green Beans and Mrs. Buershaper's Molasses Cookies. Mollie Katzen continues to put her emphasis on freshness, color and variety. I highly recommend it to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike!

Mollie Katzen's newest (to me) "Still Life With Menu Cookbook" is such a read. I have used over ten of the recipes since I received it for Father's Day. Her Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest are chock full of recipes but this one gives us menus. This guy has never been all together on recipes and less so on table setting. This will give me a leg up.