The Blooming Platter Cookbook [Paperback]

Betsy DiJulio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2011

Creative recipes for eating deliciously - season by season

Whether you enjoy your vegan meals simple or sophisticated, you'll find them in The Blooming Platter Cookbook. A celebration of the seasons, this book features a wide range of accessible, elegant recipes for the home cook, ranging from easy homestyle dishes to creative upscale meals you'll be proud to serve to your guests. Healthy and nutritious, Betsy DiJulio's dazzling recipes are at once luxurious, yet down to earth and simple to prepare.

Organized by season, these lush, innovative recipes showcase the taste, beauty, and nutrition of what's fresh all year 'round: the tender young asparagus of spring; the plump juicy berries of summer; the crisp tart apples of fall; and the comforting root vegetables of winter. Spanning regional American favorites and global cuisines, these tempting recipes feature all the essential goodness that fresh vegetables, fruits, and herbs bring to your table. The mouthwatering recipes include:

Golden Caponata
Southwestern Tempeh and Corn Pie
Blooming Vegetable Calzones
Spicy Baja Tacos
Blueberry and Lemon Verbena Pancakes
Cherry-Almond Clafouti Cake

The Blooming Platter Cookbook includes recipes for appetizers, soups, sandwiches, salads, main dishes, desserts, and brunch. The recipes are divided by season within each chapter, and the book's recipe variations and menu suggestions will help you apply your own creativity in the kitchen. In addition to seasonal icons and helpful tips, the book features 8 pages of full-color photos.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A vegan blogger, freelance writer, and food stylist, Betsy DiJulio wrote The Veggie Table column for Norfolk, VA's Virginian-Pilot newspaper. A lifetime cooking enthusiast, Betsy has worked as a caterer, taught private cooking classes, and has also won national recipe competitions. As a writer, DiJulio focuses on topics of vegan and organic food, art, home and garden design, and green initiatives. A practicing artist, Betsy DiJulio, M.A., Ed.S., is a full-time art teacher in the Virginia Beach (VA) City Public Schools, where she was chosen as the 2010 Citywide Teacher of the Year. This longtime vegetarian-turned-vegan is an animal rights supporter and Virginia Beach SPCA volunteer. DiJulio and her husband, Joe, share their home with a pack of beloved canines. See her website at TheBloomingPlatter.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vegan Heritage Press (April 20, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980013135
• ISBN-13: 978-0980013139
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #824,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Low Cholesterol

More About the Author

A vegan blogger, freelance writer, and food stylist, Betsy DiJulio wrote "The Veggie Table" column for Norfolk, VA's Virginian-Pilot newspaper. A lifetime cooking enthusiast, Betsy has worked as a caterer, taught private cooking classes, and has also won national recipe competitions. As a writer, DiJulio focuses on topics of vegan and organic food, art, home and garden design, and green initiatives. A practicing artist, Betsy DiJulio, M.A., Ed.S., is a full-time National Board Certified art teacher at Princess Anne High School in the Virginia Beach (VA) City Public Schools, where she was chosen as the 2010 Citywide Teacher of the Year. This longtime vegetarian-turned-vegan is an animal rights supporter and Virginia Beach SPCA volunteer. DiJulio and her husband, Joe, share their home with a pack of beloved canines.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Blooming Good! April 23, 2011

By wotherspoon

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love, love, love the Blooming Platter. I know we'll have lifelong favorites from it. My cooking skills depend on new and inspired recipes and this book gave me a whole new way of thinking. I thoroughly enjoy the description of each dish at the start of the recipe. It gives you an insight into the origin of the dish and also a great idea of what the end result will be. I started with Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quesadillas and was surprised at the overwhelming enjoyment of White Bean Cheese. It was a huge hit in a household that is not traditionally vegan. The Cabbage, Apple and Caraway salad was next and the story of how this recipe came about was wonderful. The food is delicious and the recipes are written so that either a new or old cook (never mind which I am) can understand, enjoy and follow. This is a wonderful collection of recipes, a great resource for vegan cooking and the use of ingredients you might not pair together. Try the Blueberry and Lemon Verbena Pancakes on a nice quiet morning and you'll see what I mean. Each section of this book is informative, readable, easy to follow and well written. You'll enjoy it even if you're not the cook.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Blooming Platter Cookbook Is A Class Act June 28, 2011

By Terri Merritts

Format:Paperback

As the administrator of a vegan nonprofit organization as well as a person who runs three Facebook pages for vegans, I am always on the lookout for new vegan cookbooks. I am seriously impressed with the recipes in Betsy DiJulio's new book THE BLOOMING PLATTER COOKBOOK.

These are some of the most elegant and impressive recipes I have ever seen collected between two covers yet each one is easy doable by any cook. Thai Seitan Lettuce Wraps, Baked Asian Pears Stuffed With Streusel-Topped Rice Pudding, Baked Apples Baklava, Spicy Orange-Scented Sweet Potato Dip, Southern Salad with Sweet Tea Dressing, Blackberry and Corn Salad, Thai Rice Noodle and Plum Salad, Greek Burgers, Fresh Strawberry Pancakes, Blooming Vegetable Calzones, and a Chocolate Carrot Cake are just a few of the wonderful treasures in this book.

I love how the book is divided into easy-to-use sections for appetizers, soups, sandwiches, salads, main dishes, side dishes, desserts and brunches with a listing of all recipes in each section listed so you can simply go to the beginning of each section (let's say Salads, for example) and see a list of every recipe in that group. Betsy DiJulio has done an incredible job of sharing recipes you cannot find in any other cookbook. This is a truly unique, must-have cookbook.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The art of eating April 26, 2011

By aap

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful book full of recipes for good things to eat for everyone. I have cooked from Ms. DiJulio's blog with great enjoyment and success, and it is a delight to have this collection of recipes and photographs in hand in print. Although not vegan, my personal food rules include predominance of vegetables and fruit, which must be appropriate to the season, a beautiful range of colors on the plate at every meal, and, not being a particularly skilled cook, ease of preparation. All of these elements can be found in The Blooming Platter Cookbook. The icons for the seasons make it a breeze to plan a meal or find the perfect dish for the moment. As my entertaining tends to the drink-with-appetizer model, my first foray has been into the spring starters, and I can highly recommend both the Red Lentil-Pistachio Spread (I opted for the toasted pumpkin seed variation) and Fresh Pea and Tarragon Hummus, the greenness of which is as divine as its texture and flavor. The selections for winter have me longing more than ever for my favorite season to return, and I expect that the Black-Eyed Peas and Spinach Cakes will rival Mollie Katzen's savory corn cakes as my cocktail supper go-to recipe when the weather turns cold. This is also a beautifully written book, as gorgeous in style as it is in content, with well-chosen epigraphs and luscious photographs -- truly a bounty from a talented and generous artist and cook.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Take this step in your life, it matters! Read and eat your heart out. April 24, 2011

By JoB

Format:Paperback

The most amazing cookbook with fresh, creative and HEALTHY recipes! Take this step in your life...buy this book.. read it, make it and then eat your heart out. You'll be sooo glad you did.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fetching Food April 24, 2011

By awright

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I can't wait to try the Blackberry and Corn Salad - it sounds so beautiful. This book has set me dreaming of July and local sweet corn. Every recipe in the book is appealing, but the summer dishes really sing to me..

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Next step for the Blooming Platter... April 24, 2011

By E. Weed

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I know the writer well enough to have eaten from her kitchen a dozen or more times since she became a vegan, and was always particularly impressed by the way she came to find culinary synergies in simple but somewhat-off-the--beaten--path combinations of ingredients. In watching her whip together something tasty to eat, I've also been quite taken with the speed and simplicity of her methods. So when I heard that she had gone from blogging to her own paper and ink cookbook, I jumped onto Amazon and pre-ordered it right away.

I was not disappointed. First of all, she spends some introductory time on the subject of becoming a vegan, and what it means, and also gives us some useful thoughts on equipment and ingredients from a vegan standpoint. As a cook myself -- who is not a vegan -- I welcomed the opportunity to compare methods, as well as think about the vegan issue.

Then she gets to the recipes.

I went to the main course area first, and could stop there for quite a while -- I'm mostly a one-dish kind of guy. The carmelized onion and spinach quesadillas are first rate, as are the blooming vegetable calzones, and the curried couscous. I've had Ms. DiJulio's desserts, and they are superb -- a speciality...and I usually stay away from desserts.

As for the recipes, they are simple and clear. The vegan aspects make certain issues slightly more complex, yet I think Ms. DiJulio has found some good ways to work around those complexities. For those of use who are willing to include dairy in our diets, several of these recipes will become simpler -- though I'm not sure tastier.

This is a great effort, and I will look forward to the next.