Customer Reviews

Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special: More Than 275 Recipes for Soups, Stews, Salads and Extras

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like to cook? I mean, like discovering new seasonings and playing with interesting ingredients? If so, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!

Don't be dismayed that the recipes are all soups and salads. Those are very broad categories! Many "salads" are more like casual meals (such as Bean Puree with Seven Savories, which is pretty much a really cool Middle Eastern-style nachos, using toasted pita wedges instead of tortilla chips, of course). And as for soups... there are SO MANY different recipes here, no matter what your idea of soup may be when you open this book, it'll have expanded ten-fold after you've perused these pages.

The best part is, soup and salad are such forgiving mediums, this book is perfect for the home chef who wants to explore. Helpful text explains unusual ingredients and describes why certain vegetables & seasonings were chosen to enhance flavor and texture in each recipe. At the bottom of every recipe, the Moosewood editors were kind to include a half dozen or so dishes that would compliment it nicely. Makes meal-planning a snap, and so far, they've been right on target, every time.

I got this book for Christmas and many of the recipes have already become "regulars." I have no qualms about trying new dishes, even when serving guests, because you can trust these recipes to need little, if any, tampering. Though I have several Moosewood cookbooks (and I like them all), I can't recommend THIS book enough. Really!

Oh yeah, and I wanted to also mention that Moosewood also includes time estimates & nutritional informaton for every recipe. gotta love that.

This is a great cookbook. I wasn't a big fan of soup before, but this book converted me. If you love soups and salads this book is for you.

Another great feature of this book is for each recipe there are tons of suggestions for what to serve with it. I love that ! Makes meal planning easy.

I always say that if a cookbook gives me just one fabulousrecipe that it was worth the money. So far, I have found THREEawesome recipes: Persian Rice (a recipe to feed six, my husband and I ate it all in one sitting!), Black Bean and Chipotle soup (the addition of OJ gives it a fullnes and vibrancy that is unusual), Roasted Cauliflower Salad (very unusual and tasty with a remarkable fennel seed dressing). My husband and I are making our way through the cookbook three recipes a week. The recipes are low fat, and the best part is that we can make a great meal after we come home from work. The recipes are that simple and easy.

This was a pleasurable book to cook from. Each recipe was rich and tasty and leftovers, when there were any, made great lunches the next day. I loved the way my kitchen smelled!

"Black Bean & Chipotle Soup" was spicy and delicious. "North African Couscous Salad" was more filling than I expected and had a very exotic flavor. Even served at room temperature, the flavors were strong and tasty. This would make a great picnic salad. If you're a vegetarian who likes to entertain, many of these dishes will satisfy meat eating guests, and they'll probably not even notice.

These are year round recipes that I look forward making whenever I want something a little different yet satisfying. Vegetarian or not, I think most people will enjoy this cookbook.

I live in chilly northern Vermont and after a long day of skiing there is nothing more delicious than a bowl of homemade soup. This cookbook has lots of recipes and all the ones I have made thus far have been outstanding. This is a good cookbook to have. You'll enjoy it!

The recipes are reliable and easy to follow.

Personal favorites: Butternut squash soup with sizzled sage, Jamaican tomato soup, Spicy carrot peanut soup, Black bean and chipotle soup, Tortilla soup, Corn chowder, Cream of mushroom, and Creamy herbed potato.

There's a large chapter on salads. Try the Asparagus and fennel pasta salad, Caesar salad, Chef salad a la Moosewood, Tomato flowers and the Tostada salad.

At the end of each page it will give menu ideas as to which salads go with which soups. Very helpful. Their salad dressings are very good but my all time favorite which I make once a week is the Moosewood house dressing. A delicious combination of canola oil, cider vinegar, honey, spinach leaves, basil leaves, dijon mustard, a little salt, fresh ground black pepper and buttermilk. All whirled together in a blender and tossed on fresh greens. It will keep in the fridge for about a week.

Very easy directions. Lovely.

This is a really great soup book (and salads). The recipes have are very well put together. I had been looking for a source of soup recipes and this book is now the place I come to first. If you're looking for just vegetarian recipes then you'll be a little disappointed like a previous reviewer was since there is a section on seafood soups (10 pages long) and a section on seafood salads (13 pages long) but out of almost 400 pages of recipes that's not much (and although I haven't tried them they sound pretty tasty). I'm psyched about this cookbook. The recipes are easy, the ingredients are accessible yet not boring, and the end result is delicesuse!!!

You know how most cookbooks start off with appetizers, beverages and end with dessert? Well, if you're like me and definitely don't need a recipe to fix a beverage and don't want another dessert idea, this is the book for you!

First, the recipes are fairly simple. Sure, there are a few exotic ingredients thrown in, but most are easy to find and these dishes don't require a lot of steps.

Second, the book focuses on what vegetarians (or semi-vegetarians) are most interested in making--soups and salads. Easy to cook for dinner or great for a week's worth of lunches...

Third, these are refreshing recipes! Who wants another recipe for mac and cheese or potato salad??? I loved the Welsh Rarebit soup. The Baked Bean Soup and French Pasta Salad (with crumbled cheese and toasted hazelnuts) were also hits at our house.

Fourth, there is a small section at the back that includes some interesting supplemental recipes...croutons, quick breads, etc. They're great, and the soup and salad recipes include references to these in case you have a few extra minutes and want to make your meal really special.

I use this book on a weekly basis and always find something tasty. Kudos the the Moosewood staff for giving us health-conscious folk some more ideas for dinner. I've purchased this book as a gift for others and would recommend it without hesitation.

Last spring I visited Ithaca, NY and had dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant. It was amazing! We went back for lunch the next day before heading home. Eating there was truly a life-changing experience for me. While there, I picked up this book - my first Moosewood book.

I have always been whole foods minded, but tended to make the same old things over and over. This cookbook really helped to open up my meal repertoire. In a year, I've made a few dozen recipes and so far they have all been winners - they have ranged from good to "holy cow!!!"

While I'm not a vegetarian, I'm a picky eater and generally don't eat much meat. I love this book because I can eat almost every recipe in it with no modification - this is a first for me! I am not into soy products, and unlike many vegetarian cookbooks, the recipes here aren't centered around soy or other meat-replacements. This is such a refreshing change!

Like another reviewer mentioned, most of the salads aren't what you would normally think of as salads, and can really stand on their own as entrees. There are dozens of different soups. Our favorite dishes are the Tibetan Lentil Soup, Balinese Rice Salad, and Orzo Pesto stuffed tomatoes.

This book is the best cookbook in my entire collection. NOT because the meals are easy to prepare or the ingredients easy to find -- because frequently these meals take some time and effort, and a little searching to make sure you have all of the ingredients.

But these recipes are absolutely fabulous, and all are well worth the time it takes to prepare them. They are all very unique, and the book is filled with combinations of ingredients I never would have thought to put together myself on a whim, like the Indian Fruit Salad or the Warm Potato Salad. When I was first beginning to learn how to cook, THIS is the cookbook that turned me into a good cook! AND these are all mostly vegetarian, very healthy meals.

Interspersed with the recipes are also little vignettes / ramblings on food, eating, cooking and meal preparation, as well as guides to putting together your own food without a recipe, like what salad greens go well together. If you're not in the mood to cook, you can still sit down and just READ this book, because the little sections are really delightful to chew on. Along the bottoms of pages are menu ideas, complete with page references to the other recipes, and at the end of the book is an extensive index.

If there was a 6 star rating, I would gladly give this book 6 stars! There is nothing like it.