Cathleen Hockman-Wert

I bought this one the first summer we had a CSA share. . .over 10 years later seemed like a good time to revisit. Many of its recipes have been absorbed into my repertoire (to the point of not remembering where I first found them), but it’s extensive enough that I’m still finding new recipes to try. I appreciate that the recipes are simple, straightforward home cooking. These are divided into the four seasons with a fifth ‘all season’ section at the end; this is useful for gauging show more which vegetables will be in season at the same time but not always accurate as to the season in my location. The index in back helps with that. I also often refer to the reference section in the front when I can’t remember how to store or use a less common vegetable. My copy is spiral bound, as all good cookbooks should be. show less

This is one of our top go-to cookbooks. I found it at the Ten Thousand Villages in Champaign and picked it up because of the focus on eating seasonally. The recipes are divided by season, with a handy list of that season's foods at the beginning of each section. The layout of the recipes is very nice -- the ingredients are in bold, in order of what gets used first, and the relevant instructions come immediately after them. There are plenty of recipes for both vegetarians and meat-eaters. The show more only downside of this cookbook is that the recipes are collected from lots of different families, and the editors didn't clean them up as much as they should have. So, for example, you'll get a recipe that just calls for 2 cups of beans but no indication of whether these are canned, baked, dried, or what. If I was a more experienced cook, the distinctions might be obvious but for us beginners, a little more description would go a long way. Even with that, I still give the book five stars since it has proven so helpful and reliable. We're even making soups - a section I usually don't even look at in other books since they sound like too much work. Highly recommended! show less

This cookbook has interesting anecdotes below each recipe and offers ideas for seasonal, "buy local" eating, but some of the recipes have pretty weird ingredient combinations.

This cookbook has interesting anecdotes below each recipe and offers ideas for seasonal, "buy local" eating, but some of the recipes have pretty weird ingredient combinations.