Fruit and Vegetable Books

I recently picked up this cookbook when I had a bumper crop of green beans and tomatoes. The recipes are easy to prepare, deceptively simple, and very tasty. My favorite recipe is the Snap Bean, Basil and Pastina soup ala Milanese. It is a very flavorful, easy, simple soup that lets the green beans take center stage. It also freezes wonderfully! We plan to have this soup as an appetizer for Christmas dinner! This is a great book to have on hand as your favorite vegetables come "into season" in your garden or at the farmer's market.

I heard the author speak at a luncheon, which made me really want to buy this book. I love that it uses Jersey grown products, and I've made many the recipes which range from a delicious peach ice cream to a spicy shrimp chowder with corn and potatoes. The author also includes information about each type of produce as well as ways to prepare it. I highly recommend this book.

A farmer's market is located not far from my house. It is packed every afternoon from 4:30 until closing. People stop by on their way home to purchase fresh produce: tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans, onions, okra, squash, watermelon--in many cases produce picked that very day.

"Fresh: A Greenmarket Cookbook" provides unusual ways to prepare that produce. Set in an oversize, spiral flip-top binding, the recipes are tasty and tempting.

What do you do with that leftover salad? Like most, you throw it away. Salad doesn't keep, right? Wrong. Try Leftover Salad Soup.
Saute two cups of leftover salad with dressing in 2 T oil. Add 2 cups chicken broth and cook for five minutes only. Remove from heat and cool for ten minutes. Place broth mixture in food processor and puree until smooth. Pour into a bowl, add 2 cups buttermilk and salt and pepper to taste and blend well. Chill for one hour. Serve garnished with chives.

The recipes are arranged by vegetable, beginning with a fabulous, art-quality photo, then several recipes set in a pleasing yellow-orange, lime green and white page setting. To see some of the photos, go to the product page, click on the note under the book picture and then the display.

Yellow Tomato, Cheese, and Onion Pie is a fabulous main dish or side with grilled chicken. One thing I noticed throughout is the ease of working with ingredients. In the Onion pie, you can substitute Red Tomatoes for the yellow. In Marinated Eggplant Cubes with Fresh Herbs, you can substitute what herbs you have on hand if you don't have marjoram, thyme, or parsley.

In the fall wouldn't you love to try Pumpkin Ravioli? To make the ravioli the only special tool you need is a crimper. I look forward to trying this one. How about Spaghetti Squash with Charlotte's Sauce made of butter, sour cream, and Parmesan cheese, sprinkled with scallions?

If you have never had Zucchini Bread, now is the time. The recipe makes two loaf pans of this tea-time bread or breakfast with bacon.

Anglo-Saxons considered beets as a cure-all and used them to make a bone salve. They made juice as a remedy for festering wounds and infected bites. Well, that's a yummy thought. How about Scandinavian Beet and Herring Salad served with black bread and soup. I'm ready! Carrot Pie is brighter in color and lighter in texture than pumpkin and tastes similar.

There are many unfamiliar dishes (to me). One is Cabbage with Sour Cream and Dill. You saute the cabbage then make a mixture of the other ingredients and pour over the cabbage. What do you do with leftover mashed potatoes? Make a Leek and Potato Pie, of course.

Back to fresh produce. These two are totally tempting: Penne with Asparagus, Garden Tomatoes and Brie. Doesn't that combination set your imagination working? Or Sadie's Alabama-Style Gumbo made with bacon, onion, corn off the cob, tomato, and okra (frozen is fine).

In the "Unusual" section, you can make Gingersnaps-from-Scratch with fresh ginger. Or Hungarian Cherry Soup. Or Creme Brulee with Raspberries. Cantaloupe Ice Cream. Watermelon Sorbet.

There are so many cookbooks out there and only so much money in the budget. This is not an essential cookbook. For me it is a collector's item because of the fabulous photographs and really unusual but easily prepared recipes.

My husband and I planted our first veggie garden in the summer of 2005. We had such a great time and felt ready to step up to the next level! I read about this book in our local paper and purchased it based upon that article. We are soooo glad we did!

This book explains gardening in simple, step by step instructions! Since purchasing it we have started our first plants from seeds and are ready to begin planting our first fall garden. With this book we feel confident that we can have veggies all year round.

If you live in the same climate zone as NY, this book will be especially helpful. Other climate zones just have to adjust the planting schedule that the author writes up in the book.

I recommend this book to anyone ready to go from beginning to intermediate gardening with success!

One of those rare books that has a lesson that will endure forever for children and adults. It is beautifully written and illustrated, and a regular in our evening reading. One of the best! Ruby, Trudy, and Sun Ho should be in everyone's library.

Now in an expanded and updated second edition, Fruit And Vegetables: Harvesting, Handling And Storage by academician and agriculture expert A. K. Thompson is an extensively detailed, professional quality reference concerning the harvest, care, and storage needs of a vast variety of fruits and vegetables. Each different edible item has its own entry with meticulously presented information, including tables concerning how storage atmosphere or time affects acidity, taste, or firmness/texture qualities for vegetables such as peas, precise recommendations in degrees celsius for the optimum refrigeration temperature of many fruits and vegetables, safety concerns, and more. A superbly organized, fact-filled resource, Fruit And Vegetables is an impressive text for graduate studies Agricultural Science reading lists and as a thoroughly "user friendly", single volume, professional quality, occupational resource.

Actually, I bought this for my pals, and haven't seen it. Sounds kind of interesting, and for a buck, how can you lose?

This is a beautiful and unique calendar, with colorful images and ample
room in which to jot down appointments, etc. I will be ordering the next
edition!

Peter J. Hatch, head of gardening at Thomas Jefferson's beloved plantation, Monticello, offers an authorative and edifying look at the orchards and fruits grown historically and today at this beautiful Virginia estate.With much information -- both historical and practical -- the reader is taught much. And has a unique opportunity to know better not just Thomas Jefferson, the man and statesman, but Thomas Jefferson the consummate gardener.Beautifully photographed and illustrated, it's an elegant addition to any gardener's coffee table or library. And for the serious fruit grower or Monticello afficionado, a must.

Fantastic book for any child.Great for early reader and advanced. Easy learning for children.