Fruit and Vegetable Books

Cute little books. Nothing new though unless one is new to juicing. Pretty pictures, commonly known recipes nicely presented. In their favor, the books are small enough to put in the cupboard near the blender for easy reference.

This book is filled with color pictures, but as soon as you examine them closely you realize that they are pictures from different angles of the same three gardens -- most of them incomplete (as stated in their own captions) or violating the author's own rules of not planting your potager with poor-preforming, slow-growing plants. The introduction goes into detail about the first potager, and how she went to visit it in France, but there are no pictures of it! Also disappointing, is that all the potagers displayed are filled with annual vegetables. I didn't see any suggestions on what to plant, or what to do with empty potager beds once the growing season is over. This is a good book to browse in a book store or library but not for the hard-core landscaper or vegetable grower.

This full-color cookbook is a feast for all of your senses. With luxurious photography and pastel-colored pages, this cookbook will make you long for a potager garden of your own.

The authors were compelled to write this cookbook after twenty years of running Chez Panisse. The authors had a passion for freshness of ingredients that compelled them to snipping fresh rosemary while their neighbors were asleep!

The recipes are organized by seasons:
Spring: The Season of New Growth
Summer: The Season of Full Growth
Fall: The Crossover Season
Winter: The Dormant Season

The Recipes include:
Spring: Onion Pancakes with Dandelion Greens and Bacon, Fettuccine with Pea Pods and Mushrooms, and Fresh Cherry Tart
Summer: Red and Yellow Tomato Platter with Balsamic Vinegar, Cream of Ratatouille Soup with Savory Croutons, and Compote of Peaches and Plums
Fall: Cabbage Leaves Rolled with Roquefort, Pine Nuts, and Jambon Cru, Garlic-Rubbed Roast Chicken with Turnips, Carrots, and Wild Mushrooms, and Persimmon Flan.
Winter: Golden Stew of Pumpkin, Cabbage, and Turmeric with Riso, Civet of Rabbit with Pickled Wild Mushrooms and Caper Toasts, and Tarte Tatin of Quinces and Golden Raisins.

If you enjoy French cooking, and are seeking new tastes and new challenges, you will feast on this cookbook.

Still, some of the basics stand the test of time. My favorite advice from the book is to avoid raising turkeys because they are stupid and disease prone. I would put this in the category of quaint, general interest gardening book. It doesn't really address homesteading in the sense I was looking for, but it does give a good overview of the basics of gardening, "orcharding", and suggestions for small livestock.

This book is a lovely blend of gardening and cooking. It is a worthwhile read to spark creativity and ideas.

The "rave" reviews here sound like industry blurbs, and there isn't anything really new worth your money. My mom gave it to me, and I'm going to keep it only to recycle as a "duty" gift this Christmas. And in case no one else has pointed it out, "simply grande" is an oxymoron.

These recipes aren't useful, and some are downright silly and pretentious. This is the kind of cookbook you get as a gift and then never use. The author doesn't come across as very likeable.

Enhanced with gardening notes by Peter Garrett, Jean Ann Pollard's The Simply Grande Gardening Cookbook combines outstanding recipes with elements of Yankee garden "know-how". This grow-and-cook compendium of more than 300 recipes is based on Pollard and Garrett's personal experiences raising award-winning produce and creating delicious recipes for sixty-eight garden fresh vegetables. From Springtime Violet Soup; Marigold Wine; and Gazpacho; to Bok Choi Stir-Fry; Apple Pancakes; and Jean Ann's Carrot Nut Soup, The Simply Grande Gardening Cookbook will prove to be a popular and much referenced book for those wanting to take complete culinary advantage of their own home-grown garden produce!

As a gardening and tomato enthusiast, I was excited to find a book dedicated to my favorite vegetable. This volume, however, was a complete let-down.

Not only does it lack illustrations/photos, it offers gardening tips and information readily available in your standard gardening book or guide. From the information available on the author, it seems that he has little if any gardening background at all, making his many unusual and unconventional cultivating tips suspect at best.

Although 'American Tomato' offers some lists of the different varieties of tomato available, the lack of illustration and absence of detail for the varieties named is both frustrating and disappointing.

If you are very fond of growing unusual, exotic or rare tomato types, this book will surely disappoint. This book simply does not give the level of detail or description that one would expect from a book dedicated solely to the tomato. Content is rather basic, and seems directed to the casual or new gardener. This audience, however, would be better served by purchasing a general vegetable gardening book.

It is interesting to note that the author has written several other books, all on wildly varied subjects. Perhaps the author should become better acquainted with one subject area and be able to write with more authority, rather than spending his time writing numerous books of lackluster quality on such a wide range of unrelated interests.

if you are not a really good gardener, and maybe don't understand the standard lingo, then this good book could disappoint. it helped me diagnose an illness in one of my tomatoe plants, but i disagree with the comments on pruning. but the biggest problem is that it does not have pictures. so, if you are new to gardening, you also should buy the vegetable gardener's bible by edward smith. together, i think a beginner can do well. (if you don't prune, make sure you have LOTS of room. and stake, stake, stake!)

I have found some wonderful recipes in this cookbook that are healthy and tasty. The Broccoli Pie was wonderful and so was the Southwestern Tomato Soup. My family does not eat enough vegtables and this is a great way to make them fun. The recipes are easy to follow and also do not contain ingredients that you can't find at your local supermakert. There are also pictures for almost every recipe of what the finished recipe should look like. I did see a few recipes with bacon wrapped around them, but every once and awhile it is nice to have a good ole piece of bacon to flavor things up! Besides, in moderation, you should treat yourself to something that yummy.

If you are looking for a cookbook to use in-season farmer's market foods, keep looking. This cookbook features standard vegetables like corn and potatoes. It is organized by vegetable, not by season and is heavy on desserts. The recipes are not particularly healthy or original. As my husband said, "Wrap bacon and cheese around any vegetable and it will taste good." If that is what you are looking for, this cookbook is for you.

What a disappointment! This book doesn't provide any real recipes for juices. The information it has about certain vegetable juices or benefits can be found for free on the internet or in most juicing books that have far greater value than this. This is outdated and mostly useless.

I have used this book for multiple years. The information has worked for me to the point of helping in the curing of ailments. Have bought a total of 6 copies to give to others. This information is timeless, not outdated.

I expected a book that would give me a lot of information about gardening. Instead the book only gave me acouple paragraphs about certain vegetables and only one parargraph about nut tree's. The Author refers the reader to other books if they need more information any gardening book would be more detailed then this one. This book was a waste of my money.

I loved this book. I don't have a lot of space to work with. I think Martin did a wonderful job of explaining things in great detail without alot of the useless information. Would have loved for there to have been more pictures.

The book, in terms of physical appearance, is incredibly childish. Pages are alternately brightly coloured with a purple, yellow and orange colour scheme. Throughout the book one sees ridiculous flash-style images which add absolutely nothing to the book itself.

However, some of the actual information contained within this book is quite useful. That is, however, if one can find it amongst all the colourful pictures of bees and flowers.