The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook: A Fresh Guide to Eating Well With 700 Foolproof Recipes (The Complete ATK Cookbook Series) Paperback – Illustrated, March 1, 2015

It's often difficult to buy a cookbook online without being able to thumb through it first, but I am extremely happy with this purchase as I switch to more plant-based cooking. The "Why this recipe works" sections are especially helpful as they often explain different techniques that I did not know before.

I have many vegetarian cookbooks, but I had to get this one because I trust Cooks Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen (ATK is the tv program/CI is the magazine from same company) to get delicious and successful recipes. Everything I have prepared so far for my family has been great. I made a quinoa salad with black beans (and remade for company), quinoa patties/cakes (fyi: I did make them a bit smaller than they suggested), snow peas with lemon zest and garlic (snap peas worked well too), and Thai Style Tofu and Basil Lettuce Cups. All received high praise from the vegetarian (me and older teen daughter) and non vegetarian (teen son and husband) members of my family. I stuck with my usual Moosewood Cookbook gazpacho, but I incorporated some ideas for preparation and ingredients from this book that were helpful. I cannot wait to make more. This will be my new "go-to" cookbook and I am giving it as a gift to two friends.There are many vegan (250) and gluten free (500) recipes. The ones that I have made that are gluten free or vegan were worth the price of the book. The only drawback, as another reviewer noted, is the lack of nutritional info. I wish they would do this with all their cookbooks (and TV show and their website!), but especially in a vegetarian cookbook which would attract some health focused cooks. I do think if they make another edition of this book in the future, that they should include this. That said, the ingredients for the recipes I have made so far were healthful. Perusing the book, I see some recipes that use butter, 1 soup that has butter (creamy cauliflower) and 1 that has cream and butter (creamy butternut squash-I think it would be good without the cream though), pie dough with butter, but I would estimate that there are enough recipes in the book that do not use cream or butter and a small percentage call for eggs to make it valuable for the low fat cook. I see recipes using cheese-some just with parmesan which is lower fat, and then some cheese and egg recipes like soufflé, pizza, and quiche. Again, there are many without cheese as well. It is a big book with a total of 700 recipes!I have the Mark Bittman Everything Vegetarian, which I found helpful as a basic resource for cooking various vegetables (example: the best/recommended way to cook a list of vegetables, with details on timing, etc) and fruits (I always use his plantain recipe), as well as some good recipes. This one has some educational points too-info with photographs of how to shop for and prep various vegetables and fruits for example. I do like the photographs in this one. What I like the best is that every recipe I made so far has been healthful, vegetarian, delicious and successful and my family (and I!) love them and even eat the leftovers.

OK, I'll admit it; I'm an America's Test Kitchen groupie. I've watched their TV shows forever and when I had to make some major dietary changes because of health issues researching their cookbooks was a logical step.My kidney doctor highly recommended the DASH diet and when I asked about a weight loss plan he sent me to his group's nutritionist who suggested I add the Mediterranean Diet. I found a book on Amazon that helped me make sense out of both diets, The DASH Diet Mediterranean Solution: The Best Eating Plan to Control Your Weight and Improve Your Health for Life by Marla Heller and this helped me understand how to integrate both diets' concepts into my meals. After reading this I went to my reliable ATK resources and purchased ATK's The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook: 500 Vibrant, Kitchen-Tested Recipes for Living and Eating Well Every Day that has a lot of information as well as meals for all tastes and cooking ability.I've made vegetarian meals every once in awhile but never considered myself a vegetarian, but when I saw The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook I thought this would help me not only add tasty vegetarian meals but also learn how to get the best use out of different vegetables. Also, learning how to use different spices has allowed me to drastically reduce my salt intake! However, I think the most important information I've gained is an understanding of different beans, rice, and grains. ATK's cookbooks follow a similar format. The beginning explains the basics of whatever the book's subject is, followed descriptions of essential ingredients and how to prepare the ingredients. This book also has descriptions of many vegetables as well as how to shop for the freshest ingredients, prepare them, and store them. There are over 700 recipes in the book and some are main meals while others are side dishes which are one of the things I looked for to add variety to my meals, and there are recipes for snacks. I tire quickly but I've learned I can do a lot of the prep work earlier in the day then at dinner time everything is ready to make the meal; this has made cooking meals less overwhelming because I've read the recipe while doing the prep work so steps involved in making the meal is already familiar to me. I do agree with other reviewers that there seems to be a lot more steps and ingredients involved in making these meals but it's also occurred to me that for me this is so because cooking healthier was unfamiliar to me and it's becoming an easier and more enjoyable task as I become more familiar with the ingredients and the techniques. The best incentive for me is seeing the results; my cholesterol numbers are all within normal limits, I'm losing weight, and my blood pressure has improved!