Moosewood is so good

When I was in my 20s I worked at a vegetarian cafe. It was one of the best jobs I have ever had. I loved the people I worked with, absolutely loved my boss, and the customers were always pretty cool, too.

I never liked eating meat when I was a kid, but my parents forced me to eat it. I would pick at the meat on my plate and they would say, "eat your meat." I hated it. I vowed when I was a kid that as soon as I was grown and could choose for myself I would not eat meat. I especially did not like hamburger and cube steak.

True to my word, in my early 20s I became a vegetarian. I joined a book club back in the day, and when I joined I could pick several books for free. One of the choices I made was the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant cookbook.

I didn't really use it for many years because the recipes called for some pretty exotic ingredients. I was living in an area that didn't offer much of anything exotic, except the little shop that catered to exotic dancers. But that's another subject for another day.

I made one recipe from the cookbook about 10 years ago. It was the mushroom pie recipe, which is found in the Finnish section. But for years I have carted that cookbook from one state to the next, and enjoyed just reading the recipes.

For the first time this year I've started to really use it. I LOVE it! Absolutely love it! Recently we were trying to figure out what to have for dinner and we didn't want to make a run to the store. We wanted to just use what we had in the pantry.

I had shrimp in the freezer and fettuccine in the cupboard, and I wanted some kind of white creamy sauce to go with it. I didn't have the ingredients for Alfredo, so I pulled out the Moosewood cookbook and threw together a sour cream sauce. It was delicious.

I've tried some North African recipes, Armenian, Indian and some New England recipes. I now live in an area of the country where exotic ingredients are readily available.

I have to toss in some meat for Chuck, but I am totally happy with the veggies and variety of recipes. I understand Moosewood has a lot of other cookbooks out there.

You can visit the restaurant if you're ever in Ithaca, N.Y.
Or you can go on a virtual visit  here.

What's your favorite cookbook?