[barsikjal]

Yesterday I got The New Laurel's Kitchen cookbook in the mail and I already can't recommend it enough! I discovered it last week thanks to the connection the authors have to Eknath Easwaran. It's full of information, recipes, ideas and inspiration for those of us who want to eat healthy.. simply and affordably.

Here's the Amazon review that sold me:

Like many people, Laurel's Kitchen introduced me to vegetarianism as a way of life, not just a food style. But far from strident evangelizing, this hefty volume leads by example. The authors testify to their vegetarian path and how they learned to cook along the way.

When Laurel's Kitchen -- A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition was first published in the 1970s, the world of healthy foods looked quite different than it does today. The bread was a fluffy, white balloon and beef was for dinner. Whole-wheat flour? Forget about. Soy milk? No way. Many products we now expect to see at any large supermarket could only be found at hole-in-the-wall natural foods stores in the student districts of large cities and college towns.

Nothing remotely like a healthy, vegetarian convenience product was available, so vegetarian who wanted to actually eat nutritious, balanced, and varied meals had to cook. And really cook, making everything from bread to peanut butter to yogurt from scratch. Laurel's Kitchen told them how to do it.

Do we still need Laurel's Kitchen? I think our wallets would say yes. Convenient foods are expensive, and the book's simple approach empowers the reader to say, "Yes, I can." I have made yogurt with powdered milk and an electric heating pad, using this book. I have baked whole-wheat, multi-grain nut bread in coffee cans, using this book. I have even sprouted seeds with wet paper towels and plastics bags, using this book.

In addition to yogurt making, bread baking, and mung-bean sprouting, Laurel's Kitchen features pages and pages of vegetarian versions of basic fare. A sprinkling of Indian and Asian dishes, as well as American southern cooking, adds variety. All recipes have clear directions and minimal ingredients (that are a lot easier to find these days). They also have an intangible quality, a gentleness and sense of peace, the authors have found as they walk, and cook, softly on the earth.

In addition to being a philosophy book and a cook book, Laurel's Kitchen is an extensive nutrition guide. All major macro and micro nutrients rank a chapter. Do you wish to understand how incomplete vegetable proteins can be combined into complimentary amino acids and thus be as complete a protein source as meat? Here is your teacher.

When I sat down to re-read Laurel's Kitchen, I wondered if it would seem dated. But I still felt welcomed, and still felt I had a lot to learn there. I'm excited to try the vegetable-bean casserole. My local supermarket carries whole-wheat egg noodles now.
Here's what I made last night:

Creamed Spinach

3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons powdered milk

1/2 small onion
1-3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
3 quarts fresh spinach, washed, dried, and chopped
(3 small bunches)
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
or 2 tablespoons Parmesan
or 1/4 cup cream cheese crumbled with a fork

Blend the milk and powdered milk and set aside. Chop onion fine and saute in the butter in a large, heavy skillet. When the onion is clear, stir in the flour and cook and stir it for about 2 minutes very gently. Don't let the flour brown. Add the milk and bring to a boil, stirring.

A handful at a time, stir in the spinach, adding more as the greens cook down. Simmer gently until tender, seasoning with salt and nutmeg. Add the cheese if wanted.

This recipe will make about 3 cups, enough for 4 generous servings. It is not a soupy creamed spinach but goes nicely on the plate by itself, or with mashed potatoes, or in crepes. I didn't have nutmeg, powdered milk or any of the cheeses listed on hand last night (I would've picked cream cheese, though, 'cause that sounds the yummiest), so I used a half cup or less of shredded Mozzarella, and I also added some organic garlic that needed to be used, sauteing it w/ the onion and butter.

Very creamy (surprise, surprise) and filling! I ate this and a bowl of watermelon for dinner and it was plenty.

One more:
Honey-Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups whole wheat flour, preferably pastry flour

Preheat oven to 350 F

Cream peanut butter and honey together. Stir in egg and vanilla. Sift together salt, soda, and flour, and stir into peanut butter mixture.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto oiled cookie sheets. Mash each cookie slightly with the back of a fork, wetting the fork frequently to prevent sticking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they just begin to turn golden brown on the rims. Keep a close eye on them! Cookies made from honey pass very quickly from golden brown to black.

Makes 3 or 4 dozen. Very good keepers. No-fuss, quick and easy! The honey makes for a different tasting peanut butter cookie but I approve! Soft, chewy and sweet! 9 minutes in the oven was just right for me.

Used regular whole wheat flour.