Wings of Life: Vegetarian Cookery

This book remains wonderful! Recipes are clearly written, preceded by brief descriptions of what makes them special, varied (e.g., including unyeasted breads), healthful, and delicious. I hated the new Moosewood Cookbook so much that I threw it out (the original contains delicious but overly rich recipes) - but this one is both healthful and delicious. I can't imagine why it went out of print, but it is worth buying secondhand. HIGHLY recommended!

Many years ago, when my husband and I visited my brother in Ithaca, New York, we wanted to eat at Moosewood. My brother wisely steered us to Cabbagetown instead, and that's where I was introduced to Julie Jordan's cookbook. For many years a vegetarian, I acquired a lot of cookbooks on this particular way of cooking. Though not the thickest book on my rack, I still consider it to be one of the best. Why? Two reasons. First, when you look through her recipes, they don't include all kinds of exotic ingredients that are difficult to find living in a small midwestern farm community. Especially for folks new to vegetarian cooking, being able to use familiar ingredients helps smooth the transition. Second, she loves bread! Quite a bit of her book is devoted to soups and breads that, along with a good salad, make a meal. She gives detailed directions and covers well the art of breadmaking, being very specific in how to knead the dough, which I think is sometimes assumed knowledge in other cookbooks. The emphasis is on wholesome, nutritious meals that even your meat-eating friends can enjoy and appreciate, not feeling like they have just been fed "rabbit food." Many of her recipes are guidelines only, and allow for preparing a meal shared to become an art in itself. This book is well worth the search if you crave foods that don't depend on meat, but are still satisfying to those of us who have come to equate meat and potatoes cooking with "comfort food."