21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quick and easy, and tasty too., Mar 18 2010
By Retired Geek - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian: Meatless Main Dishes You'll Love! (Hardcover)
This review covers both "Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian: Meatless Main Dishes You'll Love" (2006) and the older "Betty Crocker's Vegetarian Cooking: Easy Meatless Main Dishes Your Family Will Love" (1998)
I like the Betty Crocker vegetarian recipes because they use readily-available ingredients and are generally simple to make, yet are still creative and tasty. They're also great for households with both vegetarians and non-vegetarians, since many can be modified to accommodate both. The recipes are also likely to appeal to non-vegetarians.
Some people complain about the use of a lot of canned and frozen ingredients, but it's not that hard to substitute the equivalent from scratch if you want - cooking dried beans instead of using canned beans, fresh vegetables instead of frozen, etc. However, the point is for the recipes to be easy and approachable. It's not Moosewood or Vegetarian Times, but it doesn't try to be. I don't mind making my own tomato sauce or cooking dried beans - but sometimes I just want quick and easy.
The reason for mentioning both books in this review is that it isn't really clear from the titles or descriptions whether they're different books or different editions of the same book, so hopefully if you already have one of the books or are wondering about the difference, this information will be useful.
There's a large amount of overlap in recipes between the two books - about 35%, especially in the soups, sandwiches, pizzas, and casseroles. The older book has more salad and side-dish recipes, plus some muffin/scone recipes. The newer book has more appetizers, and a lot of recipes that use soy protein nuggets/patties/crumbles as meat substitutes--in fact, there's a whole section on soy. If you like to use that sort of product, the newer book might be more appealing, but since I don't, I find the older book has many more recipes in it that I'd use, and I give it a slight edge over the updated version.
1998 book chapters:
1. Hearty Soups, Stews and Chilies
2. Satisfying Sandwiches and Pizza
3. Meal-Sized Salads
4. Easy Skillet Meals
5. One-Dish Oven Meals
6. Simple Side Dishes and Breads
2006 book chapters:
1. snacks bites & nibbles
2. grains, risotto & pasta
3. gratins, casseroles & pot pies
4. burgers, wraps & pizzas
5. slow cooker
6. soups, stews & chilies
7. unbelievable! it's soy
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this cookbook!!, Sep 6 2007
By M. F. Washington "Good-Book Detective" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian: Meatless Main Dishes You'll Love! (Hardcover)
I have bought a LOT of cookbooks over time and this is by far my favorite. The recipes are easy to follow, the ingredients can be found at any grocery store, the flavors are amazing, and although it is a vegetarian cookbook the recipes easily convert to meat entrees for your meat-loving guests. I have tried about 5 or 6 of the recipes (some twice!) and my husband and I have loved every one of them. I am thoroughly looking forward to trying the rest.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mainstream vegetarian, Nov 12 2007
By P. Nelson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian: Meatless Main Dishes You'll Love! (Hardcover)
After reading The China Study by Colin Campbell, my husband and I decided to try a vegetarian diet. I have lost 60 pounds through Weight Watchers and eating mainly whole grains, fruit, vegetables, and legumes. I was thrilled to find this recipe book. It contains complete nutrition information at the end of each recipe. Some of the recipes have too many calories for my diet, but at least I know that and can modify or omit those recipes. Thanks Betty!