Fruits and Vegetables Books

Excellent book - since we are new Heirloom Tomato growers and are working on a TomatoFare in Washington State, this is a great reference, beautifully illustrated book for review.

Compiled and organized by Lawrence Davis-Hollander (Founder and Director of the Eastern Native Seed Conservancy), The Tomato Festival Cookbook showcases 150 recipes each of which focuses upon culinary creations featuring heirloom tomatoes as a principal ingredient. Along with the "kitchen friendly" recipes, The Tomato Festival Cookbook offers informed advice on selecting the very best heirloom tomatoes, reveals how to grow great-tasting tomatoes in your own garden, provides historical tomato lore, as well as profiles of notable tomato growers and thematically appropriate regional festivals. From Tomato and Corn Salsa; Stuffed Mussels with Tomatoes and Almonds; Spicy Tomato Cocktails; and Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad; to Robert Gurvich's Pizza with Fresh Tomato Sauce; Spanish-Style Fish with Tomatoes and Potatoes; Tomato Jam Tart; and Tomato-Rice Casserole with Poblanos, Beef, and Melted Cheese, The Tomato Festival Cookbook will prove to a welcome and much appreciated addition to any tomato lover's personal cookbook collection!

If you love tomatoes, this will give you some fresh ideas for preparing them.

This first-time author brings together reknowned chefs and tomato connoisseurs who share over 150 mouth-watering receipes ranging from common preparations like spaghetti sauce to fancy creations like West African Chicken. Sidebars of information are included giving growing tips and historical lore for selecting the best-tasting heirlooms for each recipe. Davis-Hollander uses carefully selected and saved tomato seeds to produce exquisite tomatoes for his exotic recipes. This is a good source for specific information on heirloom tomatoes and a variety of tasty dishes.

As a mom of two picky eaters, I'm in love with this book!! It cleverly introduces children to a wide range of healthy foods while providing great entertainment in the form of bright beautiful pictures and fun rhymes and jokes. I've tried a few of the recipes with great success and we've added a few vegetables to our weekly meals as a result. Highly recommended!

The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond: Delicious Alphabet Poems Plus Food, Facts and Fun for Everyone is much more than an alphabet book - in addition to brief, rhyming poems about fruits and vegetables connected to each letter of the alphabet, The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond is packed with tasty recipes, jokes, amazing facts, activities, recommendations for further reading, and more. Illustrated with full-color photographs of tasty fruits and veggies, as well as cartoon-style pictures giving life to the poems, The ABC's of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond is a welcome introduction not only to the alphabet, but also to eating healthy. Highly recommended.

excellent choice in every regard, educational yet fun, letters are easy to read, wonderful colors, every page has multitudes of things to learn. mom, dad, grandparents, kids will all love this ...and great recipes to boot!

I got alot of good advise from this book. With charts on frost dates and when to plant what there is no way to go wrong when gardening year round in the south. I have fresh veggies all year now because of the helpful points and advise.

This book is very informative, don't try and plant without it! Everything from working soil and crop rotation to container gardening and pest control. Plus great information on how to plant specific vegetables. Our neighbors dog got to mine and I had to get another right away!

I'm a new resident in the South and gardening is a lot different than where I came from. I needed tons of advice. This book was extremely substantive and a covered a multitude of topics. Had to buy one for my Mom, too. This book will become my major vegetable gardening reference.

This book is quite often found in the vegetable section of the Safeway grocery stores in California. It is an excellent reference on what the vegetable is and how to work with it in the kitchen.

This book is loaded with information, pictures, recipes, tips and more. It is so helpful to know how to buy ripe fruit, to know which fruits don't ripen after purchase, to know how to select and prepare various vegetables, and so on. It is a great book for getting educated about produce so you can stop wasting money on less than delicious fruits and veggies and so you can start adding great nutrition to your diet. Buy it today!

If there's ever a vegetable, you see in the market but don't have a clue about how to prepare, this is the book to have with you or at home. It tells the history, several ways to cook, how to serve, and how to best appreciate usual and unusual varieties of well known and not so well known vegetables. I've been able to happily sample many new delicacies because of this book alone. I wish it was not out of print. I've given it to many, many friends and relatives as gifts.

This book was great and a lifesaver for me! I taught a camp this summer "How things grow" and this book gave me tons of ideas. Gardening Wizardry for Kids has indoor activities, outdoor activities, and most are really simple and easy to do!

We love this book! Easy reading, fun project ideas!

I bought this book as a gift and I am delighted with it. Many books I see for kids are lacking in one or more respects, this book is a clean sweep on every front i.e. well-organized, accurate content, meaningful activities, good cartoons and lots of interesting facts about plants.

The book covers the history and folklore of common vegetables and fruits, various activities that teach principles and appreciate for how plants do what they do and many indoor growing experiments that educate. It even includes sections on raising earthworms, pill bugs, snails and information about growing herbs.

One nice feature of the book is the presentation of provocative questions about plants that are then answered in the text or must be answered through an experiment of some sort. This is top-notch material, even the illustrations are excellent.

Although I believe this book is recommended for children 4-8, I think it is probably more appropriate for 6-12. It is certainly fine for even a very intelligent and motivated 10 year old.

This book was very helpful in giving me ideas to share with others, and use with my own children. As a creator of garden based stories, I particularly enjoyed the background information for some of the common herbs and flowers. For instance I had no idea that Dill seeds were called 'meeting seeds' as on long church services (meetings) the early colonists would chew on dill seeds to stay awake.

MUCH fun was found in this book and it was very helpful to me!

This is a wonderful cook book for Heirloom Tomatoes. My husband and I are Heirloom Tomato growers, new this year, and with the large quantities of tomatoes available, these recipes fit the bill. The colorful photos are great.

Joyful and lovely color photos, especially the cover! Enticing to say the least and sure makes you want to cook with tomatos, especially heirlooms. Well-written and full of good information. The other bonus is that it pairs wines with tomatos which is not always an easy job -enjoy!

I read cookbooks like many people read magazines: cover to cover. The Heirloom Tomato Cookbook offers not only delicious, yet simple, recipes with a suggestion for a wine paring, but also a variety of other tomato topics that range from how to's of saving seeds, drying, and cultivating of favorite heirlooms. Your gardener, chef, and tomato lover will appreciate the beautiful illustrations as well.

The book starts out with juice and shake recipes and then it continues with other recipes using your juicer. There is a section for breakfast foods, soups, salads, dressings, sauces, dips and spreads, main dishes and desserts. Most of the recipes I have tried so far have been incredibly delicious. I said most because I did not like the Carob Fruit Bars, they were too sweet for my taste and too moist, as for the Almond Butter Cookies, the batter was too dry and grainy and did not form into dough but the taste was good, it just needed more liquid. As for the great tasting recipes, let me start with my mom's favorite, the Fruit and Nut Cookies ... she can't believe they are made without sugar, dairy or eggs! The dates were difficult to use at first, but now I chop them in tiny little pieces and they're a lot easier to use. The Date Fudge Brownies taste great with the Cocoa Coconut Frosting and Heavenly Roasted Nuts and because I'm Vegan, I used maple syrup in the recipes instead of honey with excellent results. The Carrot Walnut Cake is out of this world. The Classic Vegetable Stock is the best I've ever made as well as the Spicy Texas Chilly and Lentil Burgers, and I could go on and on and on! Oh, did I mention the Creamsicle and Mango Fruit Pops? Yum!! As for my non-vegetarian friends and family, I have cooked the Salmon with Teriyaki Sauce and the Swordfish with Basil Oil and have been subject to rave reviews!! I have to admit that I've used this little recipe book more than any other recipe book in my collection. The ingredients can be easily found in any regular supermarket and for vegans, certain ingredients can be easily converted with wonderful results, except for the fish of course, but then again, most of us have to cook for other people in our lives who are not vegetarian so that works out perfectly.
There is one recipe in there that has made me the most popular baker in my family and among my friends and coworkers, but that is going to be my little secret!
Enjoy this book, it's the best!

I bought this book for less than $10.00, and it has delicious recipes that are relatively simple to make, uses fresh food, and utilizes my juicer. I really enjoy the Cilantro Pesto Sauce. Only a few of the recipes are more work than I want to put in. The Mushroom Lasagna is one example in which you have to make the Zesty Pasta Sauce first and that is a recipe in itself. Overall, the recipes produce really tasty food that I can prepare in 20-30 minutes. Also it keeps the dust from settling on my juicer. At the end of the book, the author has included a sample menu using all his recipes in a day, and following this is a chart showing the nutrient composition of many of the ingredients used.

...(This book) has delicious recipes that are relatively simple to make, uses fresh food, and utilizes my juicer. I really enjoy the Cilantro Pesto Sauce. Only a few of the recipes are more work than I want to put in. The Mushroom Lasagna is one example in which you have to make the Zesty Pasta Sauce first and that is a recipe in itself. Overall, the recipes produce really tasty food that I can prepare in 20-30 minutes. Also it keeps the dust from settling on my juicer. At the end of the book, the author has included a sample menu using all his recipes in a day, and following this is a chart for the curious person showing the nutrient composition of many of the ingredients used.

If you love tomatoes, I mean not just eating, but raising collecting, and learning about them, this is THE book to own. A.W. Livingston was an instrumental force in the breeding and popularizing of tomatoes in the late-19th and early 20th Century. His varieties were perfect, copied and some are still available today.

If you love tomatoes, I mean not just eating, but raising collecting, and learning about them, this is THE book to own. A.W. Livingston was an instrumental force in the breeding and popularizing of tomatoes in the late-19th and early 20th Century. His varieties were perfect, copied and some are still available today. We hope to have at least two of his varieties listed in our catalog next year.

Andrew Smith deserves great credit for making Alexander Livingston's book on tomatoes available for all to read. The varieties described in this book - Paragon, Acme, Beauty, Stone, Golden Queen, Buckeye State and a few others - are very likely to be varieties that your grandparents and great grandparents grew in their garden. Some diligent searching led to the location of quite a few, thus even today's gardeners can grow and enjoy these varieties. Alexander Livingston made the critical observation in creating improved tomato varieties - plant a field of a particular variety and look for PLANTS that produce superior fruit, rather than saving seed from a particular tomato on a plant as a basis for improvement. This technique - single plant selection - led to all of the improvements in tomatoes right up until the advent of hybrid varieties in the 1940's. This is a great read, and is a centerpiece item for the current popularity in growing heirloom vegetables.

My aunt gave me this as a present. I have loved every recipe made from this book. Last night I made the Savory Sweet Potato Puff (as I am trying to cut down our sugar, I didn't want the traditional brown sugar/marshmallow sweet yams). It was delicious! I wanted to just put the whole casserole on my plate and eat only that! Last week we made Herbed Spinach Rice Bake and both my 2 year old and 5 year old ate it all up and didn't complain about leftovers the next day. Wonderful book. If you live (or have your heart) in the midwest and want some diffent yet not high brown complicated dishes, this is the book for you.

This afternoon I checked A Midwest Gardener's Cookbook by Marian K. Towne out from the local library. I will most definetly be adding it to my personal library. In the interest of full disclosure I should say that I have not yet used any of the recipes but I am completely charmed by the book after spending a over 90 minutes exploring the book.

The 294 page book is divided into four sections with one for each season. Each section focuses on commonly grown as well as less common and wild ingredients which reach their peak during that specific season. The inclusion of the less common and wild foods is one of the many ways that the book appeals to me.

Spring focuses on asparagus, chard, chives, dandelions, lettuce, mint, mulberries, parsley, peapods, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, strawberries and violets.

Summer focuses on basil, beans, beet greens, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherries, chokecherries, collards, corn, cucumbers, currants, daikon radish, daylilies, dill, eggplant, elderberries, gooseberries, grape leaves, ground cherries, kohlrabi, mesclun, mustard greens, nasturtiums, okra, peaches, raspberries, summer savory, summer squash, tomatoes, watermelon, zucchini

Autumn focuses on apples, beets, broccoflower, broccoli, broccoli rabe, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, garlic, grapes, horseradish, kiwi fruit, lima beans, onions, pawpaws, pears, peppers, persimmons, plums, popcorn, potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes (green), turnips, winter squash, yams (sweet potatoes).

Winter focuses on herbs that can be grown in pots (marjoram, oregano, rose geranium, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme), kale, leeks, maple syrup, parsnips, rutabagas, soybeans, sprouts, and watercress.

The entry for individual items generally begins with a few paragraphs of general information (e.g., nutritional value, uses, and preparation) and some also include personal anecdotes and memories related to the item. The recipes include both the basics (e.g., steaming asparagus in the microwave) to the innovative (e.g., asparagus shortcake). The entries for a given item often wrap up with a list of additional ideas for use. Some items such as parsley offer suggestions for preserving a surplus. The book's charm is further spiced by the illustrations provided by Ellen Walsh. As a final selling point, the book includes an exhaustive index and a modest list of resources ranging from books to seeds to kitchen equipment.

This is possibly one of the best kept secrets on cooking out of your garden. The recipes are delicious and most of the ingredients are already in your kitchen. The seasonal format simplfies finding a recipe (and there is an alphabetical listing included also). The author has included throughout the book priceless pieces of history and wonderful bits of humor. "Mrs. Maendl's Dill Pickles" is a recipe that is "as much fun to read" as the pickles "good to eat"! When people ask me about them, I HAVE to tell them I made them exactly as the recipe states. Read it and you'll understand! Marian Towne has come up with the perfect solutions for all those fresh fruits and veggies we painstakingly grow. I even managed to use up a considerable amount of zucchini without my children noticing! Even if you are not a gardener, you'll want to run to the next Farmer's Market after seeing this book.

This book was excellent! It was written in a way that most anyone could read and understand what to do. The author was very exact in his directions and suggestions. It has inspired me to be a better gardener and to help others as well. I just hope all my vegtables and fruit do as well as some of the pictures he has int he book. This book is not outdated from the 90's to now as everything is pretty much the same is regards to soil, climate and plants. Excellent!!!

This book tells the reader how to grow a great and wonderful garden without taking up a lot of space. It tells modern ways to garden. It tells how to grow a lot of different kinds of vegetables. For me the raised beds worded wonderfully. This is why I give this book 5 stars!

This is one of the two books that actually got me to start my garden (the other being _Square Foot Gardening_ by Mel Bartholomew). In his book, Mr. Bird teaches a method that combines raised bed gardening with square foot gardening. This may sound complicated, but I as an absolute beginner was able to use it to make a garden containing green & wax beans, peppers, tomatoes, zuccinni, watermelon, canteloupe, corn, cucumbers, pumpkins, sunflowers, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes and carrots. One of the things that I particularly appreciated was his emphasis on finding cheap alternatives to traditional gardening necessities. As an example, he recommends using styrofoam cups with holes punched in the bottom for starting transplants. They are extremely cheap and can be reused year after year. The book is great for beginners. Besides giving all kinds of basic information on how to get started, it gives specific information on growing several different kinds of popular vegetables. Whether you are someone just starting out, or an experienced gardener wanting to try a new method of growing lots of plants in a small area, this is definitely a book to be considered. I'm sure I'll be using it as a reference tool years from now.