Eating from the Ground Up, Recipes for Simple, Perfect Vegetables by Alana Chernila, Reviewed

Vegetable lovers take heart; there is finally a cookbook for you! Eating from the Ground Up, Recipes for Simple, Perfect Vegetables by Alana Chernila is a dream of a cookbook for those of us who dearly love our veggies. The entire time I was paging through this book, I couldn’t help but think of my late husband, who often lamented the fact that there were no good vegetable cookbooks around; he would have enjoyed this one.

From the mouthwatering photos to the delicious, unique, and varied recipes, this is the cookbook for which we vegetable lovers have long been waiting. This is not to say it is a vegetarian cookbook, it isn’t. There are numerous recipes that include bacon.  Neither is it lo-cal, as these sumptuous recipes often contain heavy cream and their share of butter. No, it is a cookbook that guides you through what to do with all of your favorite vegetables in order to create memorable and delicious side or main courses that will soothe your soul.

A valuable resource, it has a wonderful section at the beginning on how to wash, store, and make your vegetables last. This alone is worth the price of the book. If you have ever questioned how to store vegetables, within the pages of this book, you’ll find your answer. Chernila offers concise instructions on proper storage, dividing up instructions by vegetable type. Suggestions on where to shop for vegetables, information on food labeling, and tools that vegetable lovers are going to need are also included.

The book is divided into sections, as follows: Barely Recipes, A Pot of Soup, Too Hot to Cook, Warmth and Comfort, and Celebrations and Other Excuses to Eat with Your Hands. With spring in the offing, and summer to follow, I suspect that I’m going to spend a lot of time paging through the Too Hot to Cook section. The Zucchini Slab Fritatta is already calling my name, as well as Creamy Broccoli Salad, and the bound to please Tomato Cheddar Pie. Other sections offer things like Butter-Braised Cabbage (sounds perfect for St. Patrick’s Day), Ginger Pickled Carrots (that looks to be a wonderful picnic side), and there’s even a section on how to make compound butters to make your delicious fresh vegetables taste even better.

Dessert lovers there is something for you too, in the form of Cucumber Yogurt Pops (that look amazingly refreshing), Zucchini Chocolate Bread (need I say more?), and Butternut Squash Custard with Bourbon Pecans.  There are more desserts than these, but you’re going to have to get the book and see for yourself. This one is a winner!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.