No Better Way To Get To Know A Recipe Book…

Than to cook from it. Or rather, you and several (about 30?) other friends. I joined my friend, Linsey’s, book club called From Left 2 Write. It’s my kind of book club. I join in whenever I can, eliminating the stress to constantly acquire a new book and come up with new and different ways to describe and evaluate it. Well, this was certainly the best way to get to know this particular book, The Earthbound Cookbook by Myra Goodman.

Thirty of us from the book club each chose a recipe to try and brought it over to Linsey’s to share. Now, rather than only having a single dish to test out the genius behind the recipes, I had 30 delicious dishes to sample. And you know what? I’m really looking forward to trying out even more recipes.

There were several dishes I hadn’t yet run across and several more that I wouldn’t have thought to test. Wow. Each and every dish was scrumptious. I made the pumpkin and winter squash (butternut – my fave!) pie. Though the recipe said it would make one 9″ pie, I eked out two. There was quite a bit more filling than would fit into one 9″ pie crust, so I split the two. I left the second one for my family to enjoy…well, and me…tomorrow. How was it? Fabulous! It wasn’t all that sweet but the flavor really packed a punch. YUM! And it was the same for the other dishes I tried. From soups to breads to appetizers to main dishes and desserts, the mix of textures and flavors in each dish was intense.

Talk about selling a book. It would have taken me far longer to get to know the recipes in this book if left to my own devices. Though I feel inspired to cook something new every now and then, my interest in trying new dishes usually wanes rather quickly. But now, I want to forge ahead in exploring this cookbook because I know that there are about 29 other recipes well worth the time and effort.

But probably most importantly, I learned a few things about environmentally-friendly cooking, like fowl having less of an environmental impact than beef and why. The point of this cookbook is not only to encourage us to eat healthy and cook with fresh ingredients but to demonstrate that it’s not difficult to cook delicious meals while being conscious about what and how we could cook to sustain our planet. A good read and great food - now that’s a combo I can enjoy.