new favorite

I have a new favorite cookbook.

According to my sister-in-law Rachel if you know Moosewood, you love Moosewood. I didn't know Moosewood, but I believe her. I was just introduced to it by a great friend as she checked one of their recipe books out of the library, noticing it had fewer meat/cheese recipes and more recipes we might enjoy as a family. Due to Andrew's ulcerative colitis and my melanomic past (not certain melanomic is a word) we eat differently than we used to. Other factors have been the strain on the environment and a new understanding of what we call food. Basically we attempt to stick with anything that grows out of the ground; and the kids and I do milk/cheese in various forms.

So, with that said, Moosewood Restaurant low-fat Favorites has become my new favorite cookbook for meals. Before you shut-er-down as I would if I read "low-fat," please understand that low-fat doesn't mean splenda, diet Mt. Dew, or diet anything. I've found it to mean "grows out of the ground."

A few of the recipes we've tried and loved are -

• Quinoa Black Bean Salad: a chilled salad that is like a salsa. we it ate with chips for a nice light dinner on a hot day.
  
• Middle Eastern Cannellini Patties: ate these with homemade pitas, hummus, and cucumber slices. A-mazing.
• Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito: with homemade tortillas and salsa.

Looking forward to trying - applesauce cranberry muffins, cinnamon apple crepes, mango coconut cucumber salad, . . . Amazon is sending the book to us so the next person who checks this one out of the library can enjoy it without too many signs of my cooking. It is 400+ pages of bliss. I dare you - any of moosewood's cook books. Tell me what you love.

Here is Moosewood Restaurant's page - actually I linked you to their recipe page. Kaeden was enjoying beans and rice every week, but cooking was getting really boring for me; and now when Andrew takes a bite, smiles, and says, "this meal's for the list," I know I'm back in the game. so fun.