Customer Reviews

The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get The Royal Treatment showcases more than a hundred seasonal recipes for healthy, appetite satisfying, palate pleasing, vegetarian dining for all occasions. A culinary educator, a Registered Dietitian, and a dedicated expert in vegetarian cuisine, Jill Nussinow divides her recipes into chapters for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Then continues with two more recipe chapters for "Anytime at All", "Pressure's On - In a Good Way". Featuring terrific dishes that range from Potato and Watercress Soup with Sorrel Cream; Italian Bread Salad; and Red Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa, Squash and Sunflower Seeds; to Spicy Greens Salad with Baked Tofu and Roasted Shiitake Mushrooms; Orange Scented Beet Salad; Garlic Parsley Mashed Potatoes; and Chickpeas Italiano, The Veggie Queen is also enhanced for the kitchen cook with a Glossary of Food Times, a list of Sources, and a "user friendly" Index. No vegetarian cookbook collection would be complete without the inclusion of The Veggie Queen!

It's all about vegetables in this new cookbook written by a true vegetable-lover and the author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. If you are one of those vegetarians who truly doesn't like veggies - in fact, any vegetarian - you need this book. The truth is you can make any veggie taste good, and it doesn't require loads of butter or cheese, I promise. There is something for everyone here, from salads to sautes and sauces to soups.

The book is divided into six sections: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Anytime at All, and Pressure's On - In a Good Way (all about pressure cooking). Perhaps my favorite part of this book is The Veggie Queen's Morsels and Tidbits sprinkled throughout. After reading this cookbook (which I did from cover to cover), I not only had some terrific ideas for vegetables, including ones I rarely eat or have never tried, I also felt that I knew the author. These short essays based on childhood memories, conversations with friends and fun experiences like growing mushrooms in the bathtub are witty, informative, and above all, fun to read.

Here are some of the recipes that will be gracing my holiday table this year: Spinach Salad with Warm Sesame Dressing; Lentil, Mushroom and Walnut Pate, and Shepherd's Pie (a new family favorite around here).

Did you know that only a quarter of Americans manage to eat the five recommended daily minimum servings of fruits and veggies each day. If you can't imagine eating this many, much less the 5-9 servings that are now suggested, this is the book for you. Give your vegetables the royal treatment, and you'll learn to worship them like the kings and queens of nutrition that they are! -- Melanie Wilson

Great cookbook. Jill Nussinow is dedicated to both the health of incorporating veggies into your diet, and the passion for making truely delicious food. I love food and love to cook, and I found some new ideas here - The Veggie Queen had some new ways of working with healthy but sometimes puzzling ingredients like nutritional yeast, and after reading this book, I'm going to pull out my pressure cooker (a gift I've never used), and armed with her book, I'm looking forward to trying some 20-minute (or less) healthy soups and stews.

Everything about this book rates 5 stars. The cover and the graphics are lovely but the academy award goes to the recipes. I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting to eat more than 5 (veggies) a day. Jill, a registered dietician; an expert, has managed to make a great deal of in-depth information clear and interesting. I will be making many of the recipes in this book, for Thanksgiving and all through the year and plan to give this book as a gift to many of my veg challenged friends. Yum, thanks Jill.

Culinary educator and registered dietitian Jill Nussinow presents The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment, and compilation of more than 100 seasonal recipes that will teach the reader to prepare vegetables in a wide variety of scrumptious ways, from Smoky Gazpacho to Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup to Winter Squash Enchiladas and much more. All recipes are delineated with extensive, crystal-clear step-by-step instructions. A mouth-watering way to enrich one's diet with of healthy vegetable dishes, The Veggie Queen is an enthusiastically welcome addition to cookbook shelves, especially in the modern era full of fried, fatty and junk foods. Highly recommended.

I recently tried another "seasonal produce" cookbook called Local Bounty. Both cookbooks have chapters of recipes broken down by season and both are vegan, but really the similarities end there. Perhaps it is the more generous use of seasonings, it could be the intriguing recipe titles, or it could be as simple as the fonts! ... but this cookbook had a more of a gourmet feel about it. It is also a better choice if you are seeking a full cookbook of vegan recipes that includes everything from desserts to sides to full main dishes.

The book's introduction section is brief, jumping right into Spring and the first chapter of recipes. Though you don't read a lot upfront, the author does include sizable stories, anecdotes, cooking tips, and suggestions in relevant spots throughout the entire cookbook. At the end of the cookbook there is a brief Glossary of Food Items and a neat and tidy index, both of which I found quite useful. Yet, I was surprised that there wasn't a quick guide as to what produce is in-season during what time of year. I think it would help in varying recipes (and in coming up with some of my own ideas) when I crave something slightly different. If I could make any suggestions for the author's second edition, this would be it. For now, I will reference another book or online for this information.

While I can hardly wait for Spring to trial the Asparagus with Black Bean Sauce (made from scratch rather than a jar!), there are certainly plenty of enticing Fall and Winter recipes to keep me busy in the mean time ... Curried White and Sweet Potato Pancakes, Herb Roasted Root Vegetables, Stuffed Swiss Chard, Maple Vinegar Sauteed Parsnips, Rice Paper Rolls with Spicy Citrus Sauce .... Okay, I will stop now as this is making me hungry!

However, I must make one additional recipe reference; I was elated to find three recipes for homemade veggie burgers. I love them, but have yet to find a go-to recipe, so I will certainly be trialing all three. The veggie burgers are actually in a chapter that follows the four seasonal chapters, and is called "Anytime at All." I thought this was a nice addition. And though I do not own a pressure cooker myself, some may really like that there is an additional chapter filled exclusively with pressure cooker recipes.

It should be noted that the recipes do occasionally call for a meat alternative or some soy parmesan, but not with an alarming frequency. Tempeh, tofu, legumes, and grains are scattered throughout, but there are also plenty of recipes for the produce purist. As a side note, this looks to be a good cookbook for the gluten-free vegan or vegetarian, as pasta is barely present, most of the grains used are gluten-free, and any of the very few stumbling blocks (such as soy sauce/tamari) can easily be overcome with a common substitute (such as wheat-free tamari).

I received the book in the mail about noon, and I started looking through it and decided to make 'Three Sisters Stew' for dinner. It was wonderful! I look forward to making many more delicious recipes from this book.

I've made many of the recipes in this book successfully and give it a three thumbs up (one from me, one from my husband and one from my daughter). What I love about this book is I can look up where I am in the season, and get ideas for what to pick up at my local market or farmer's market. There's interesting stories, easy to follow directions, and multiple ideas for each recipe. There's nothing bizarre or out of the ordinary that I can't get from my local Whole Foods, and each recipe always turns out great. I'd also recommend checking out her website and getting her DVD about pressure cooking. It makes tastier veggies that are done faster.

This is truly a must have book for any family.

If you are like most people you do not get enough fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Jill Nussinow's recipes in this book are mouth watering and very delicious. These recipes will make the vegetables the "feature" at dinner time.

I love all the interesting tid bits and cooking tips that Jill spreads out throughout the book.

You will never think vegetables are boring once you have tried some of the recipes in this great book.

Jill also has a great DVD available on her site,[...] called Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look at Delicious Dishes in Minutes. This is another MUST HAVE! She teaches you a lot about pressure cookers and teaches you some amazing recipes.

You can read my blog review by clicking here: http://shescribes.blogspot.com/2009/01/love-your-veggies-with-veggie-queen.html.

Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (9/06)

Jill Nussinow is a registered dietician and culinary educator. Her peers know her as the Veggie Queen. She is dedicated to the pursuit of increasing the amount of vegetables consumed by Americans today. Vegetarian or not, we all need more vegetables, and this cookbook provides the average cook the tools to do just that.

Jill makes a strong case for buying local and organic produce from your area's farmer's market. She arranges "The Veggie Queen" by seasons (spring, summer fall, winter, anytime at all) to make the task of shopping and cooking in season an easy one. Along with the over 100 recipes, there are also short essays about various topics. These relevant and often humorous essays add bits of information that enhance the book and make it an enjoyable read. Jill's passion for the art of cooking comes through and raises the book to more than just a cookbook.

This may sound strange, but my favorite part about this cookbook is the index. So many times I find myself with leftover or abundant ingredients in the pantry, such as tomato paste or a bunch of fresh sage from a friend. Most cookbooks only index the ingredients found in the title. But to my delight, "The Veggie Queen" indexes even the small ingredients within the recipe. I can quickly reference tomato paste or sage and find that I can make "Fasoulia" or "Three Sisters Stew". If only all cookbooks were this thorough!

Even stranger, another one of my favorite parts of the book is the cover. I find myself staring at its subtle beauty. The royal title and sketch of a queen adorned in eggplant, radishes, and asparagus are laid out on a palette of gold and purple.

But between the cover and the index is where the real glory is held, in the recipes. The book is not too thick and not too thin, a welcome change from the sea of fat cookbooks that are squeezed onto my cookbook shelf with only a few useful recipes inside. With the Veggie Queen's support, I am eager to visit the farmer's market and fill my plate with five to nine servings of vegetables a day!

Book received free of charge.