Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook [A Cookbook] by Joe Yonan

Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook [A Cookbook] Reviews

• 
  Wanda Pedersen

  I loved the concept of this book--that the single person shouldn't settle for second-best in the food department. And I love his emphasis on fresh ingredients and planning quality meals for oneself.
  
  However, unlike many recipes books that I borrow from the library, I don't have the urge to copy even one of them. Hence only 3 stars. The use of many ingredients that are unfamiliar to me put me off a bit. Plus I can tell the author has professional chef training (and I confirmed that by reading the author blurb at the end). What he considered to be easy and casual was often a bit complex for me at the end of a work day.
  
  That said, I do enjoy cooking and eating good food. And I do seem to be heading towards vegetarianism slowly, so I definitely appreciated Yonan's perspectives on these subjects. It was a case of enjoying his writing without necessarily wanting to use his recipes.
• 
  Heather

  I have been a pescatarian for 3 years, which means that I eat fish and seafood, but no red meat, pork or poultry. So that means that I eat a lot of vegetarian dishes. I am also single, so that also means that I often have to make way more food than I need.
  
  This book is designed to address both of these issues, as it is vegetarian cooking for one or two people. There is even a handy section that has a list of suggestions for recipes in the book to help you use things like a half of an avocado, or a half a lime, or 1/2 a can of beans, knowing that the biggest problem with cooking when you are single is the leftover ingredients.
  
  The author includes a guide to using the book, and encourages readers/cooks to merely use the recipes as a guide, not as a rule book. I tried several of the recipes. The Fusilli with Corn Sauce (whole wheat pasta, sauteed onions and corn) was fresh tasting and easy to make. The Enfrijoladas with Egg, Avocado and Onion (corn tortillas coated in a bean sauce and topped with copped hard boiled egg, avocado and onion) was a surprising mix of flavors that actually worked well together, despite my reservations. But the best was the Roasted Sweet Potato with Coconut, Dates and Walnuts. Oh so good!
  
  This book was filled with lots of pretty pictures that made everything look so tasty! The only real negative that I have is that there were several things I'm not big on like curry and tofu, and things I'm hesitant about trying like Kimchi. So there were a lot of recipes that I didn't want to try right now-- but that's just me!
  
  My final word: Easy recipes for weeknight dining. Interesting flavor combinations. Nothing ordinary here. If you are looking for some fresh ideas for easy vegetarian dining for one or two, grab this book!
• 
  Ardyth

  Verdict: try it from the library before you buy
  
  
  Some interesting ideas in here, but the recipes lean more towards unusual-for-its-own-sake than practical.
  
  Chickpea pancake, for example, which calls for chickpea flour...which is unlikely to be in the kitchen of a single person, even a well-stocked one. Or a family kitchen for that matter.
  
  Also..what single cook is firing up a grill...especially a charcoal grill?? All to grill lettuce for one person??
  
  He did well with variety of miso paste uses, and some of the creativity was very welcome.
  
  But, to my mind, _An Everlasting Meal_ is a better investment of time and money, even for vegetarians (not so much for vegans). And especially for single cooks who so often get stuck wasting food because small portions are hard to come by.
  
  The kitchen doesn't *have* to be an expensive, frustrating place. I feel like this book lost sight of that, and that makes its usefulness less than it might have been.
  
  
• 
  Catherine

  With the realization that I can’t fault the author for my own projections, I anticipated this would be about making interesting vegetable side dishes. Instead it’s a compilation of vegetarian recipes in all categories -- just in smaller serving sizes, which I already know how to achieve via a thing called math.
• 
  Darren

  This reviewer had not considered that there needed to be a book aimed at the single vegetarian/vegan or for the sole adherent within a household. For some reason it was just assumed that they just got on with things without any fuss, yet this book seeks to change that viewpoint.
  
  The book notes that it has over 80 recipes specifically sized for single portions as well as various essays looking at moving beyond mock meat and the evolution of vegetarian restaurants. It is hard to get past an initial scepticism to this purported need. Are traditional vegetarian or vegan books so hard to follow that someone cannot see a recipe is for three people and adjust things for a single person? Is this book based on genuine need?
  
  It is unfortunate that the packaging and the general "editorialising" by the author has managed to grate in this reviewer's mind. If you are able to detach yourself from the possibly superfluous, relatively meaningless "packaging" that surround the recipes then, and only then in the mind of this reviewer, might you start to find a few gems. Many of the recipes have even caught the attention of this admittedly meat-first reviewer and do seem worthy of an appearance at his table. It even proves that one does not necessarily have to equate vegetarian food as being boring or tasteless. Spicy Kale Salad with Miso-Mushroom Omelette is a perfect light summer dish, a Tomato, Beet & Peach stack is a simple, enchanting snack ideal for parties and an Oyster Mushroom & Corn Tart will get admiring glances from surely everybody.
  
  The recipes themselves are well-written (although sadly in sole U.S. imperial units - using a conversion table at the end of the book is no substitute for doing it right from the get-go), detailed and accompanied by some excellent food photography. But again the reviewer's mind is just brought back to the packaging, the editorialising and the hectoring tone of the various essays. It just feels out of place. The "converted" already know why they are adopting a meat-free diet. The to-be-possibly-converted, such as this reviewer, will probably tire of it very quickly and just ignore it. It is a shame.
  
  It is hard to give a wholehearted recommendation to this book as it feels that a large chunk of it will be ignored by many. As a collection of recipes it feels over-priced but that could just be a kickback to the large amount of superfluous material. At half the price and just the recipes it would be a good deal, whether you are a meat consumer or not. It is just in its current form and price point that it is harder to recommend, although if you spot a great deal on this book it could be worthy of a closer look. But don't take this reviewer's word for it, you only need to find a few good recipes that return as regular favourites and you will have got a good thing. If you have the chance, do check this out. You might even care for the author's editorialising…
  
  Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook, written by Joe Yonan and published by Ten Speed Press. ISBN 9781607744429, 196 pages. Typical price: USD24.99. YYY.
  
  
  // This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
• 
  Yaaresse

  I consider recipes as road maps or guidebooks. I don't feel the need to obsessively measure, I take cook times as an estimate (because I know my stove better than the author ever will), and I have enough cooking experience that I know what ingredients can be substituted with what results. The ultimate criteria for a cookbook to get praise from me are three factors:
  1. Functionality. Can you put the thing on the kitchen counter and cook from it?
  2. Education. Did I learn anything new?
  3. Temptation factor. Will I cook from it or use it for ideas more than once?
  
  On that score, this cookbook scores high in functionality. Not just because it was an e-book (stick the iPad in a gallon Ziplock and cook already), but because the print is legible and the formatting unfussy.
  As for the other two factors, it didn't fare so well. I don't think I learned anything new, and I didn't see more than a couple dishes that tempted me.
  
  Maybe I've read too many cookbooks and am jaded. Maybe it's just that too many recipes relied on cheese or tofu for texture and flavor. I don't particularly like cheese, and soy products are off-limits to me. Then there was the provisions issue. The author lives in DC where he likely has access to many groceries and produce stands. My pantry is well-stocked with staples. I probably have every spice known to man (except tarragon, which I detest). But I also live in an area where all produce is pre-packaged to death, and all those packages seem to be sized with a family of 12 in mind. While the chicken-fried cauliflower looked intriguing, there is no such thing as a "small" cauliflower in our groceries. And what do I do with the rest of it? I'm supposed to roast it and sprinkle in in other things over the week. That doesn't solve the problem of single diners not wanting to eat the same thing every day. I don't like cauliflower enough to sprinkle it on everything just to try one cauliflower "steak." It's the same problem with herbs. A recipe will call for two or four leaves of mint or basil or thyme. So now you have to figure out dishes for the rest of the week that will use the rest of the fresh herb. I don't want to eat mint-flavored dishes all week. Maybe if you have money to burn, you don't mind paying $3.99 for a bunch of herb just to throw most of it away, but real people don't live like that. Nor to we obsessively package up everything in single servings to freeze "for later", nor do we want to prep and cook for an hour for one meal.
  
  I'd seen some reviews that complained that the flavor combinations were "weird" in this book. I scoffed. Having lived in an area where people regularly said "I don't eat nothin' I ain't never had before," I figured that was just a few unadventurous folks afraid of trying quinoa or something. No, some of these combinations are a little out there. Pickled beets in carrot soup comes to mind. I will try a lot of things, but that sounds awful. Other things were less odd, and most of those looked much like recipes you would find in one of Ottolenghi's cookbooks.
  
  Also, note to vegans, you won't get your money's worth here. Many, many of the recipes have dairy.
• 
  Cassie

  Underwhelmed with this book. It has great photos, but the recipes are not ones I would use. I really dislike cookbooks that use very rare and special ingredients.
• 
  Kari

  Normally I wouldn't track cookbooks but these two by Joe Yonan have a lot of essays as well as recipes.
  
  ----------------
  
  I read and really enjoyed this book. It's mostly vegetarian (as am I) and I liked the essays and interesting stories, even if the author is a bit weird about "unpronounceable ingredients" and "things that end in ~ide or ~ate". (Please don't tell him about Sodium Chloride (table salt) or Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda).) I'm excited to try a bunch of the recipes - they sound easy but delicious, and approachable.
  
  Unlike the author's first book, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of preparation for a lot of the recipes here. A good example is his kimchi, which is not only very easy to prepare to begin with, but he explicitly tells the reader that he removed the Asian pear from the original recipe because they can be "hard to find".
  
  I also loved that he talked at the beginning of the book about how to "deal" with partial amounts of produce, like "half an avocado" or "part of a can of beans". I also liked the techniques and the thoughtfulness present throughout the book.
  
  Admittedly some of these recipes are not something I would eat - Tomato, Beet, and Peach stacks? Celery Soup with Apple and Blue Cheese? - but at least 80% (if not 90%) of these recipes are ones I'm excited to at least look at/try to find ingredients for. (Right after that Celery Soup is a recipe for "Bean and Poblano Soup with Cinnamon Croutons" which sounds both delicious and easy.)
  
  Highly recommended for anyone who wants to eat more vegetables, vegetarian or not. These dishes would make great sides for any meat you care to name. I also think they would make a great "tasting" menu if you made a few different recipes!
  
  (Also, that grilled kimcheese sounds to die for, and it's basically as easy as it sounds: make a grilled cheese, but before closing the sandwich, add in some kimchi and (if you must) some Asian pear. I would make a further recommendation: dry out your kimchi first, such as by putting in a fine strainer for ~30 minutes (or gently wrap in paper towels), as kimchi is usually packed in brine/pickling juice, and wet grilled sandwiches are sad.)
• 
  Carolyn

  Yonan wants good, honest food, from good farms, and he’s so over vegan restaurants that put quotation marks around half the dish titles—“cream cheese,” “chicken,” whatever. Okay, so far I’m with him. I wouldn’t appreciate that either. This cookbook is specifically for single people who need encouragement cooking just for themselves, as opposed to endless takeout or leftovers. Again, a worthwhile goal (says the homeschool mom who probably wouldn’t cook for just herself).
  
  I picked it up because vegetables are an ongoing struggle around here. Some of the recipes looked fine, and some of them looked like a foodie had been there. Which is fine except my people have Opinions. His straightforward vegetable preparations are not that different from how I cook, except I have much less time and energy to put into it, and I just don’t like kimchi, which is not his fault. I wish more of the recipes had a picture. The book is reasonably well done and enjoyable to flip through.
• 
  mol

  2.5 stars, finished
  so admittedly this isn't exactly a book and i hardly read anything but the recipes but i was very intrigued by the title and i just spent a half an hour flipping through it so it's going on the goodreads. of all these recipes, i liked some of them, but i only have interest in making a few, hence the 2 stars. thinking of coming back as i make them and leaving my thoughts here
• 
  Celia Burn

  Majority of this book falls short of using any kind of seasonings. While many of the recipes can be creative (ex: almond butter and plum sandwich), I found many of the recipes to have multiple ingredients with too similar textures (kimchi grilled cheese) and not enough spices to bring out more individual flavors to better compliment each other.
• 
  Cris

  I picked it up looking for recipes for the single cook. The recipes themselves appealed to me not at all. The flavor combinations didn't sound good to me. The instructions though were clear and seemed easy to follow.
  
  I did enjoy some of the essays.
• 
  Stephanie

  None of the recipes really stood out to me as something I wanted to make
  
  3/5stars
• 
  Abigail G

  Enjoyed the sections of personal information that were spaced throughout the book. As well the recipes seemed simpler than some of the other solo cookbooks.
• 
  Alicia Impink

  A good variety of recipes. Most seem pretty easy and approachable . My only quibble with this is I wish it had more pictures of the recipes. Otherwise, great cookbook!
• 
  Sarah Jean

  Great ideas for adding more vegetables into your life.
• 
  Arlian

  I have said before I hate name dropping in cookbooks. This author does that a little, but it seems he's just name dropping his friends, not actual organic-food superstars, so it's a little less annoying than those authors who love to tell you every single page that they know Alice Waters *personally* and yes she *does* come over to their house and yes, she does absolutely think the authors version of (insert dish here) totally changed how she served (insert dish here) at her restaurant. I mean--Yonan did have at least once instance of really annoying snootiness where he recounts the tale of a female cook who was very specific about how much time she wanted something to be cooked for, and Yonan wrote her off because he basically like, totally knows the person who wrote the recipe she was using and like, she's totally not as good of a cook as that recipe writer or himself. But only one that I can remember, so I guess that is something.
  
  Generally, I found this dishes to be interesting, and similar to ingrediants I tend to keep on hand and cook with, and techniques that I know and like. A few reviewers said if you were vegan you "wouldn't get your money's worth" if you bought this book because he uses "a lot of dairy products" but I don't actually think that's true. Many of the recipes are dairy free, but even when they aren't it's mostly cheese and milk, both of which are very easy to substitute fake dairy products for, or in some cases to leave out all together.
  
  I liked the cookbook, but I found that, while this particular author wasn't as annoying as some cookbook authors I have read, he wasn't especially likeable either. Kinda prissy, kinda doushey, kinda fancy--I mostly wish he had included less random stories and memories and opinions about stuff that had nothing to do with his actual recipes.
  
  TLDR, If the author left out his personal vignettes, the book would have gotten 5 stars. I had to subtract a star because I just didn't like the way the author presented him as a person, and he "presented himself as a person" way more often than in necessary in a cookbook.
• 
  Lara

  So, I'm not single, but since my husband and I have different schedules during the week I end up cooking for myself fairly often. I liked the idea of a book geared towards making just one or two portions at a time, since that's how I cook anyway.
  
  I hardly ever actually use the recipes out of books, but there are actually several in this one that I want to try. And it totally makes me want to buy or make some kimchi!
  
  I checked this one out from the library, but I might actually buy a copy at some point.
• 
  Nikki

  Joe Yonan and I do not share a palate. Unfortunately this means that what I consider to be a middling-ground cookbook is actually fairly overall useless for my purposes. I appreciate his purpose and his niche here but when I'm not interested in the substance, it means little.
  
  The book itself is aimed toward meals-for-one, vegetarian-style. There are very few pictures of the food which is a negative for me. The pantry/freezer section was too beginner to be of interest, unfortunately. Overall this was the first cookbook in a long time I had to push myself to finish.
• 
  LemontreeLime

  I enjoyed this more than his earlier cookbook, Serve Yourself, because many of these new recipes seemed so much more approachable, less esoteric. He still is complex, expecting chef level ingenuity out of his readers. But there is more I'd be willing to attempt from this collection, like his sweet potato galette with mushrooms&kale, or the spinach enchiladas for one, or the faux tarts he displays in their wicked simplicity in the back of the book.
• 
  Ruth

  I don't agree with Yonan's idea that cooking shouldn't be systematized with timing. I also disagree that people who are omnivores make the best vegetarian food. Nope. Still, I really liked his recipes a lot. He has a good way of dealing with tofu and he knows the pain of too much food leftover. Also, even though the book is about good food for one, he knows that living alone doesn't mean eating alone all the time, so a few of the recipes are expandable.
• 
  Teresa

  an enjoyable book with a good voice. I really loved the portions. I'm not single but I often cook just for 1 person so it's super useful. the recipes include some really interesting inclusions like the blueberry wine refrigerator jam and none require too much fuss. Also enjoyed the "store half" section on what to do with that half can of beans.