| Even if you're not a gardener, The Victory Garden Cookbook is a great book to have; if you are a gardener, it's a treasure. The book grew out of a public television series called The Victory Garden, which was essentially a how-to program aimed at home gardeners, with a recipe segment thrown in. As the show's popularity grew, so did viewer demand for more recipes; eventually, Victory Garden cook Marian Morash decided that a cookbook was in order, resulting in The Victory Garden Cookbook. The book is a wonderful hybrid encyclopedia of information for both gardeners who cook and cooks who like to garden; Morash's first goal was to so entice readers with the pleasures of eating home-grown vegetables that they, too, would take up gardening--or at least shop for the freshest ingredients instead of settling for canned or frozen goods. The book, first published in 1982, has been a huge success ever since. Organized alphabetically, The Victory Garden Cookbook includes all the vegetables Morash grows in her own garden; in addition to information about planting, growing, and harvesting the fruits of your labor, Morash gives advice about storing vegetables, converts yields into measurements (i.e., a half-pound of small Brussels sprouts equals 28-30 sprouts, while a half-pound of medium sprouts equals 12-14) and offers tips to gardenless cooks for finding the best produce. Whether you're an avid gardener, a gardener wannabe, or simply a person who loves a good vegetable dish, The Victory Garden Cookbook is guaranteed to become one of your best-loved and most-used cookbooks. |
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 I still thank my mother for this one |
| Review Date: September 2, 2000 |
| Reviewer: M. J. Smith, Seattle, WA USA |
| I do not garden but this cookbook, a gift from my mother, is my standard resource for cooking vegetables. I always find a recipe for the vegetable in hand that is appropriate to the occasion for which I am cooking - myself, family, guests or a festive dinner. The book includes a first person introduction to the use of the vegetable, its growing conditions, etc. The intent is to get the feel of a private conversation with the author regarding the vegetable. There are general instructions for preparation for those who prefer to wing it rather than follow recipes. There are a variety of recipes for the vegetable which generally include at least one for each of the basic preparations. Then there are nice tables of yields, storage, use for leftovers, hints for use, even microwave instructions. The book has color photos of the various vegetables, including photos of preparation of the vegetable. The vegetables included, some of which are families of vegetables not a single vegetable are: asparagus, beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, endive, fennel, greens, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, okra, onion, parsnips, peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, salad greens, salsify, spinach, summer squash, winter squash, sweet potatoes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, turnips & rutabagas. This is the only vegetable cookbook you'll ever need. |
The recipes have never let me down!
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| Review Date: May 22, 1998 |
| Reviewer: , |
| This book has been in my cookbook library for fifteen years. In all that time I have never been disapointed in any recipe. It's the first place I look when I need information on cooking methods (both conventional and microwave) or for quick and simple ways to prepare a vegetable. We have lots of favorites and are still finding new ones to try. The tomato recipes are excellent and can help use up the bounty from the garden. The Marinara Sauce is especially good and there is always some in my freezer.Because we know we can rely on good results and a tasty dish, we have tried some recipes which we would have avoided if in another book; in every case, we've enjoyed the delicious results. Who would have thought that shredded raw butternut squash could be the start of a great salad or a "creamy" broccoli soup had no cream in it? You can't go wrong with this one! |
EXCELLENT,ORGANIZED HOW TO CHOOSE,STORE &COOK PLUS MORE!
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| Review Date: October 10, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Ms Book, Roseburg, Oregon United States |
IN RESPONSE TO:Beware the Calories, January 8, 1999 REVIEW
For me the best part of the book is that it is: (in order) alphabetical, reviews how to grow( I am not a gardener,so do not need this section),how to pick or choose when buying , how to store once at home, how to prepare for cooking, how to cook various methods, then various finishing touches for side dishes such as what spices go well, ( this is one part that does usually have butter or a sauce for serving ideas with herbs etc) this can be used for ideas and it does not take a lot of butter etc per serving to have a vegetable taste good, then there are recipes which I have not even tried!! But I love the how to buy,store, prepare and cook instructions even for those vegetable I have cooked frequently and for those I still have not cooked. I just recently picked it up out of my cupboard
again thinking I really need to cook more vegetables, even if I am the only one in my family that will eat it! My husband does not like very many vegetables, and my kids vary in what they will eat. Pleease do not let that review make you hesitate, I love this book!!! After reading another review I now have to try the marinara sauce mentioned! here is the review I am responding to. My thought is when you are trying to cook low fat you should read a basic low fat cookbook and then know you can substitute milk, lowfat milk,or evaporated skim milk for crream/half& half and use a broth base for a sauce instead of butter or oil. These are easy ways to alter recipes. I think this book gives great ideas on how to serve a vegetable for example it mentions adding pinenuts with broccoli, it is these additions that make my family rave about the vegetable instead of just serving with salt and pepper. It also gets me thinking what can I add to make it taste good. and helps me be creative. PS> My book is falling apart and it has a nice large margin and good thick paper. I am punching holes and adding metal rings so now it is easy to turn pages etc.
"Reviewer: A reader from Potsdam, New York
Based upon the 5 star rating, I ordered this book because I was looking for healthy recipes using vegetables. (I'm a serious veggie gardener and always have an abundance that needs to be used up.) However, after a quick perusal I realized that a goodly portion of the recipes use significant amounts of butter, cream, 1/2 and 1/2, etc. With my efforts to cook more lower-cholestrol and lower-fat recipes, I realized that many of these recipes would be "off-limits" and that I would be forever frustrated by reading great recipes that were not a good idea to feed my family on a regular basis. And in the introduction, Morash herself even admits that a lot of her recipes are once a week indulgences. So, sadly, I ended up sending the book back. "
AGAIN THE BESST PART OF THE BOOK FOR ME IS HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST, STORE, PREPARE AND COOK. THEN I USE THE REST FOR IDEAS ON HOW TO SERVE, WHAT GOES WELL TOGETHER ETC. ALOT OF PEOPLE LOVE THE RECIPES WHICH I REALLY HAVE NOT YET TRIED. |
Still Around After 20 Years For A Very Good Reason
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| Review Date: December 18, 2002 |
| Reviewer: Elizabeth Knight, Atlanta, Georgia USA |
| This is my all-time favorite cookbook. It isn't just veggies; there are plenty of main courses and appetizers, too. It isn't just gardening; I don't have a vegetable garden, but reading the gardening parts of the book makes me wish I did. You can see Ms. Morash's background in French cuisine, but she wears it lightly. She is so down to earth that her knowledge never becomes overbearing, and she includes plenty of basics about how to prepare fresh food and how to cook it simply. The book doesn't have recipes with essential but arcane ingredients that you couldn't possibly find outside Manhattan or LA, and it doesn't have recipes with junky ingredients or weird combinations. Best of all, everything is explained well and thoroughly tested, so you can cook it right the first time, even if (like me) you're not a terrific cook. It's an outstanding book for just about anybody. |
Vegetarians don't shy away from this cookbook.
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| Review Date: November 29, 2005 |
| Reviewer: A. Feinman, Weston, CT |
| Yes this book may be dated and has non-vegetarian recipes included but that does not exclude it from a good vegetarian cookbook library. I have some of the biggies of the cookbook genre and with internet access so easy I rarely use any cookbooks at all. However this cookbook is the mainstay of my library for a few reasons. One it lists vegetable chapters alphabetically and if one is not listed it is easy to locate in the index. Two before the formal recipes are given for say carrots it tells you all about carrots and gives a number of quick ideas and methods for using carrots that involves 1 or two steps only. Three and I could go on, the recipes go from basic, to country, to sophisticated and everywhere inbetween with substitutions often suggested. If I had to keep one cookbook, besides the one I bake with, I would keep this one. |
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