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The CSA Cookbook: No-Waste Recipes for Cooking Your Way Through a Community Supported Agriculture Box, Farmers' Market, or Backyard Bounty
Make the most of your CSA membership—or your garden harvest—with simple yet bold, inventive yet nourishing meals from acclaimed blogger Linda Ly.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs have connected farms to consumers and made people more in tune with where their food comes from, but still leave many stumped beyond the conventional uses for their produce. How many times has a CSA share arrived with things you've never seen before or not known what to do with?
The CSA Cookbook will help you cook your way through a CSA box (or farmers' market or backyard bounty) with 105 seasonal recipes that utilize every edible part of the plant, from leaves and flowers to stems and seeds. Think of it as a nose-to-tail approach—for vegetables!
With innovative ideas for preparing the lesser-known but no-less-delicious parts of plants, tips for using the odds and ends of vegetables, and easy preservation techniques, Linda Ly helps you get from farm to table without a fuss. Chapters include tomatoes and peppers, leafy greens, peas and beans, bulbs and stems, roots and tubers, melons and gourds, and flowers and herbs. You'll find globally-inspired, vegetable-focused recipes that turn a single plant into several meals—take squash, for instance. This year-round vegetable brings a variety of tastes and textures to the table: Sicilian Squash Shoot Soup, Squash Blossom and Roasted Poblano Tacos, Autumn Acorn Squash Stuffed with Kale, Cranberries, and Walnuts, and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds. If you grow your own food at home, you might be surprised to learn you can eat the leaves from your pepper plants, or pickle the seed pods from your radishes.
The CSA Cookbook aims to inspire curiosity in the garden and creativity in the kitchen. You'll look at vegetables in a whole new way and think twice before you discard your kitchen "scraps"!
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs have connected farms to consumers and made people more in tune with where their food comes from, but still leave many stumped beyond the conventional uses for their produce. How many times has a CSA share arrived with things you've never seen before or not known what to do with?
The CSA Cookbook will help you cook your way through a CSA box (or farmers' market or backyard bounty) with 105 seasonal recipes that utilize every edible part of the plant, from leaves and flowers to stems and seeds. Think of it as a nose-to-tail approach—for vegetables!
With innovative ideas for preparing the lesser-known but no-less-delicious parts of plants, tips for using the odds and ends of vegetables, and easy preservation techniques, Linda Ly helps you get from farm to table without a fuss. Chapters include tomatoes and peppers, leafy greens, peas and beans, bulbs and stems, roots and tubers, melons and gourds, and flowers and herbs. You'll find globally-inspired, vegetable-focused recipes that turn a single plant into several meals—take squash, for instance. This year-round vegetable brings a variety of tastes and textures to the table: Sicilian Squash Shoot Soup, Squash Blossom and Roasted Poblano Tacos, Autumn Acorn Squash Stuffed with Kale, Cranberries, and Walnuts, and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds. If you grow your own food at home, you might be surprised to learn you can eat the leaves from your pepper plants, or pickle the seed pods from your radishes.
The CSA Cookbook aims to inspire curiosity in the garden and creativity in the kitchen. You'll look at vegetables in a whole new way and think twice before you discard your kitchen "scraps"!
224 pages, Hardcover
First published December 30, 2014
48 people are currently reading
691 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
May 24, 2023
I love browsing cookbooks, but seldom buy them, partly because we already have shelves full of them, partly because while most have a few recipes I like, very few have a critical mass of such recipes that makes buying seem worthwhile. The CSA Cookbook is a definite “buy!”
You may or may not have CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where you live, and, if you do, you may or may not be a subscriber. The premise is simple: pay a set amount up front, then receive a mixed box of fresh produce every week throughout the growing season. Some cooperatives will even deliver the boxes direct to your door, rather than requiring that you go to a pick-up location.
We aren’t current subscribers to a CSA, but we have been in the past. The benefits are obvious: lots and lots of in-season produce grown locally to minimize its carbon footprint. The drawbacks? Well, it’s a lot of produce. Also, on any given week you may or may not be familiar with cooking the produce included in your box. Fennel? Romanesco? Pea Shoots?
Even if you don’t subscribe to a CSA, The CSA Cookbook will provide you with lots of ideas for using produce—not just bits of it, but whole plants. I love buying beautiful organic carrots with fluffy green tops, but those tops usually wind up in the compost. The same goes for the leaves around a head of cauliflower or broccoli. However, if you follow Linda Ly’s directions, you’ll find yourself turning unusual produce and unusual parts of produce into delicious meals.
Ly opens the book with a chapter of basics: recommended brands of olive oil and fish sauce, the best methods for storing particular fruits and vegetables—and an entire section on the possibilities of pesto. This is followed by chapters focusing on different groups of vegetables: Tomatoes and Peppers, Leafy Greens, Bulbs and Stems, and so on.
The CSA Cookbook doesn’t just offer the “usual suspects”: the maple carrots, citrus salads, and roasted lemon asparagus that seem ubiquitous in cookbooks. These recipes are genuinely original. How about Grilled Green Onions with Chile Lime Marinade? Sweet Potatoes with Mustard and Thyme? Pan-Fried Cucumbers in Honey Sesame Sauce? Fennel Frond and Ginger Pesto? Ly dreams up all sorts of brilliant combinations. She’ll also having you foraging for interesting new ingredients like nasturtium seeds and radish pods.
Ly’s writing style is clear and friendly. Reading her book is like kibitzing with a good friend on a weekend afternoon. The ideas keep coming and there’s ample room for play and variations. Ly is full of what I’d called “real-kitchen tips.” The kind of suggestions that comes from years of home cooking, rather than from working in a state-of-the-art restaurant. For example, she advises us to “roast broccoli on the most battered and blackened pan in [the] kitchen, as the broccoli seems to caramelize better, producing beautiful bits of brown that are full of flavor.”
Almost every recipe is accompanied by a photo, which makes this book particularly fun for browsing. You can flip through the pages looking for a picture that catches your eye. Or you can use the index to find options for that farmers’ market impulse buy that you suddenly don’t know what to do with. This is a cookbook that will spend as much time open on the counter as it will on your shelves. Use it to broaden you palate and to make the most of each and every produce purchase.
You may or may not have CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where you live, and, if you do, you may or may not be a subscriber. The premise is simple: pay a set amount up front, then receive a mixed box of fresh produce every week throughout the growing season. Some cooperatives will even deliver the boxes direct to your door, rather than requiring that you go to a pick-up location.
We aren’t current subscribers to a CSA, but we have been in the past. The benefits are obvious: lots and lots of in-season produce grown locally to minimize its carbon footprint. The drawbacks? Well, it’s a lot of produce. Also, on any given week you may or may not be familiar with cooking the produce included in your box. Fennel? Romanesco? Pea Shoots?
Even if you don’t subscribe to a CSA, The CSA Cookbook will provide you with lots of ideas for using produce—not just bits of it, but whole plants. I love buying beautiful organic carrots with fluffy green tops, but those tops usually wind up in the compost. The same goes for the leaves around a head of cauliflower or broccoli. However, if you follow Linda Ly’s directions, you’ll find yourself turning unusual produce and unusual parts of produce into delicious meals.
Ly opens the book with a chapter of basics: recommended brands of olive oil and fish sauce, the best methods for storing particular fruits and vegetables—and an entire section on the possibilities of pesto. This is followed by chapters focusing on different groups of vegetables: Tomatoes and Peppers, Leafy Greens, Bulbs and Stems, and so on.
The CSA Cookbook doesn’t just offer the “usual suspects”: the maple carrots, citrus salads, and roasted lemon asparagus that seem ubiquitous in cookbooks. These recipes are genuinely original. How about Grilled Green Onions with Chile Lime Marinade? Sweet Potatoes with Mustard and Thyme? Pan-Fried Cucumbers in Honey Sesame Sauce? Fennel Frond and Ginger Pesto? Ly dreams up all sorts of brilliant combinations. She’ll also having you foraging for interesting new ingredients like nasturtium seeds and radish pods.
Ly’s writing style is clear and friendly. Reading her book is like kibitzing with a good friend on a weekend afternoon. The ideas keep coming and there’s ample room for play and variations. Ly is full of what I’d called “real-kitchen tips.” The kind of suggestions that comes from years of home cooking, rather than from working in a state-of-the-art restaurant. For example, she advises us to “roast broccoli on the most battered and blackened pan in [the] kitchen, as the broccoli seems to caramelize better, producing beautiful bits of brown that are full of flavor.”
Almost every recipe is accompanied by a photo, which makes this book particularly fun for browsing. You can flip through the pages looking for a picture that catches your eye. Or you can use the index to find options for that farmers’ market impulse buy that you suddenly don’t know what to do with. This is a cookbook that will spend as much time open on the counter as it will on your shelves. Use it to broaden you palate and to make the most of each and every produce purchase.
July 12, 2023
Excellent compilation of recipes. The author is not lying, they use every bit of the plant possible. I knew sweet potato leaves and tomato leaves and all were ok to eat. Even a good greens option like kale and spinach for many records. But they go above and beyond using pepper leaves, beans and pea leaves, every part of chard, kale stems (usually fibrous and bitter), radish leaves, carrot leaves and so many more options. What a great way to prevent waste. Of course, this means less for my compost pile or my vermicomposting, but I'm ok with that because we'll always have tree leaves, failed plants, melon rinds (although I pickle watermelon ones), strawberry caps, and coffee/tea grounds available. I have so many ideas to play with now. This was a library borrow but I may have to actually purchase a copy, physical or digital. I like that the author describes the flavors of items outside normal use. Bitter, peppery, sweet, savory, nutty, ... Because items off the same plant will not taste the same. Carrots tend to be sweet, but their greens are bitter/peppery... usually. Depends on variety, too.
July 22, 2018
Solid recipes, great tips for using all parts of the plant, easy suggestions for substitutions.
August 10, 2021
This should have been called "Turning Trash into Pesto." It would have been a far more accurate title. There were a handful of creative ideas - like pickled radish pods! Or stir frying sweet potato leaves! - but the rest of the book was full of bland, uninteresting ideas that seemed like they were the result of a Google search on the topic vegetable to find a pedestrian recipe to fill out the page count. I mean - hasselback potato in a CSA cookbook? Mac and cheese but.. wait for it... it has broccoli in it! Kale chips - what - you mean like we were all making 5 years ago? No unique view point, no compelling narrative - and once you got into the recipes, the book also had a serious identity crisis.
More telling, for a garden/CSA cookbook it really ignored a lot of the interesting stuff you get in a CSA box. Celeriac? Okra? Bitter melons? Gai lan or Bok choy? Scapes - I mean, talk about a great subject for your pesto-a-gogo theme here! Gooseberries? There are so many differing fruits and veggies that come packed in CSA boxes over the season and this book just ignored them all to focus on the relatively normal stuff, with only a small handful of exceptions.
2 stars - for the pretty pictures.
More telling, for a garden/CSA cookbook it really ignored a lot of the interesting stuff you get in a CSA box. Celeriac? Okra? Bitter melons? Gai lan or Bok choy? Scapes - I mean, talk about a great subject for your pesto-a-gogo theme here! Gooseberries? There are so many differing fruits and veggies that come packed in CSA boxes over the season and this book just ignored them all to focus on the relatively normal stuff, with only a small handful of exceptions.
2 stars - for the pretty pictures.
December 23, 2015
This cookbook is stellar! It shows us how much usable food we throw away as scraps that could be delicious and nutritious additions to the meals we prepare for our families. The book gives much more than just tips for usable food parings and scraps, and recipes which include these things, but also information about storage, tools, and conversions. The photographs range from marginally good to wonderful. The book is also divided into sections for easy access to specific information and recipes. I was approved for this eARC on Edelweiss in return for an honest review. I will be featuring this book in a special gardening blog post this spring. I will add the link here when it goes live.
July 10, 2016
I flipped through this cookbook when I first picked it up and went "meh" and set it aside again. Mood, maybe? On second glance I found a number of things I'd try, and I like the way the book is set up into categories of vegetables rather than meals (it doesn't always work, but in this case, it's a better method). I especially like the options for cooking up the different vegetable's leaves, both with the vegetable and separate from the vegetable.
Now if only I can get my green beans to grow...
Now if only I can get my green beans to grow...
April 21, 2015
Love this cookbook! I love the unique ways she uses not just the fruit of the plant but also its leaves. Unique dishes and she even throws some fermentation into the mix. So glad that the majority of the recipes are meatless. I am going to have to purchase this one. Can't wait for my first CSA share and home grown vegetables/herbs to try these out.
May 21, 2017
An easy-to-read cookbook that will make you rethink which parts of a plant you consider edible and which you consider waste. There's a generous amount of photos (close to one photo per recipe) and none of the recipes look too difficult and most call for familiar "other" ingredients, even if the vegetable ingredients might seem unfamiliar..
This book is ideal for anyone interested in producing less food waste, increasing their creativity in the kitchen, or lowering their food bill. It's one of those books that will permanently change your way of thinking about something. Once you get an idea of the types of recipes that are suited for using up scraps (pesto, salsa, hummus, stir fry, and quick pickle recipes feature heavily), you will be able to think up new combinations and possibilities on your own. For example, the author includes a chart with three columns to help readers come up with their own combinations for pesto (a green, a cheese, a nut).
What kept this book from being a 5-star book for me, was two-fold. First, I wish the author had discussed items that shouldn't be eaten. Even if the worst thing that can happen is stomach distress if you eat a large amount of a certain green, for example, I think it should at least be addressed. Second, there were a lot (a lot!) of pesto recipes - to the point where I think the book could have been subtitled "If in Doubt, Make Pesto."
Recipes that caught my interest: Tomato Leaf Pesto (p.35), Chard Stalk Hummus (p.67), Fennel Frond and Ginger Pesto (p.110), Carrot Top Salsa (p.145), Savory Sweet Potato Hummus (p.165), Spicy Stir-fried Sweet Potato Leaves (p. 168), Watermelon Rind and Jalapeño Pickles (p.174), Stir-fried Watermelon Rind (p.179), Nasturtium Pesto (p.208), and Pickled Nasturtium Pods (p.210).
This book is ideal for anyone interested in producing less food waste, increasing their creativity in the kitchen, or lowering their food bill. It's one of those books that will permanently change your way of thinking about something. Once you get an idea of the types of recipes that are suited for using up scraps (pesto, salsa, hummus, stir fry, and quick pickle recipes feature heavily), you will be able to think up new combinations and possibilities on your own. For example, the author includes a chart with three columns to help readers come up with their own combinations for pesto (a green, a cheese, a nut).
What kept this book from being a 5-star book for me, was two-fold. First, I wish the author had discussed items that shouldn't be eaten. Even if the worst thing that can happen is stomach distress if you eat a large amount of a certain green, for example, I think it should at least be addressed. Second, there were a lot (a lot!) of pesto recipes - to the point where I think the book could have been subtitled "If in Doubt, Make Pesto."
Recipes that caught my interest: Tomato Leaf Pesto (p.35), Chard Stalk Hummus (p.67), Fennel Frond and Ginger Pesto (p.110), Carrot Top Salsa (p.145), Savory Sweet Potato Hummus (p.165), Spicy Stir-fried Sweet Potato Leaves (p. 168), Watermelon Rind and Jalapeño Pickles (p.174), Stir-fried Watermelon Rind (p.179), Nasturtium Pesto (p.208), and Pickled Nasturtium Pods (p.210).
January 24, 2021
I'm not a cookbook person. Cookbooks have let me down time and time again with bland food that's difficult to know how to customize. Linda Ly changed everything for me with this one. Everything she touches turns to *chef's kiss*.
I have made several recipes from this cookbook each summer I've had it, and each individual dish has rocked my socks off. Her recipes are brimming with flavor, and her notes are not superfluous: they help you understand the vegetable you're working with (especially if you didn't eat many veggies growing up!), the soul and history of the dish, and how to customize it to fit the palates of the people you're cooking for (because of course you're bringing these dishes to parties: they're showstoppers).
Do yourself a favor and make this your kitchen's summer bible.
I have made several recipes from this cookbook each summer I've had it, and each individual dish has rocked my socks off. Her recipes are brimming with flavor, and her notes are not superfluous: they help you understand the vegetable you're working with (especially if you didn't eat many veggies growing up!), the soul and history of the dish, and how to customize it to fit the palates of the people you're cooking for (because of course you're bringing these dishes to parties: they're showstoppers).
Do yourself a favor and make this your kitchen's summer bible.
May 8, 2017
I hesitate putting a cookbook on here from which I haven't made a recipe yet, but this looks so good! The recipes appear simple, but with some classy-touch ones thrown in. There are also a bunch of recipes using all of the parts- finally, a use for kale stems! It also has recipes for the ingredients that I'm most likely to have an over abundance of and don't know what to do with (cilantro, most leafy greens, scallions, etc). Looking forward to using this one this CSA season.
December 14, 2017
I tried buying into a food co-op once. I didn't waste food, but sometimes I'd receive stuff I had no idea what to do with...dragon tongue beans? Pretty, but they didn't work like green beans. I improved all sorts of stuff (I'm not a big cook...) BUT I do go to farmers markets and buy stuff I know! This books going to come in handy for trying new foods!It has lots of recipes using veggies I'm not always familiar with. Could help you, too, if you had the same issue as me.
Read
January 22, 2023I like the information about the basics and the different categories of vegetables. I was intrigued to try some of the Korean and Vietnamese-flavoured recipes. I didn't know you could use most of the parts of tomato, pea, bean and sweet potato plants and that you could cook cucumbers! Maybe this year, I'll plant some radishes!
February 14, 2025
I got this book because I thought it was going to have lots of recipes for using up the less commonly used parts of vegetables (like carrot tops and tomato leaves and pea plant shoots) and it seems like it was mostly just salads and a bunch of variations on pesto. I can figure out "add leaves to your pile of leaves in the salad bowl" all on my own. 😐
April 6, 2021
Lots of really good tips in this book. The recipes are also great and many of them vegetarian. You don't need to subscribe to a CSA to find it useful, but some items would not be accessible or widely found in everyone's kitchen, so I wasn't 100% into it.
March 18, 2022
I feel like this book was actually more geared towards someone with a large backyard than someone with a CSA or who goes to a farmers' market. That said, some interesting recipes and ideas, and good for using every last bit...
February 16, 2018
Practical, good recipes. Some are now my favorites!
March 10, 2019
I need to buy my own copy of this library book. Excellent recipes and ideas for working with my own CSA fruit and veggie box.
May 12, 2015
Back in the day, I was part of a local co-op... and living in the middle of nowheresville, USA, I was incredibly excited to finally have a cool way to get healthy, delicious produce. Except, unfortunately, it really didn't work out that way. By the time I got a second box of mostly half rotted random vegetables, I gave up and decided to go back to boring, ole grocery stores again (until I some day find a better option, I guess!)
Anyways, my experiences with the co-op are mostly what made me curious about THE CSA COOKBOOK, a handy guide that really shows the depth and detail that can go into fully utilizing every last part of the produce -- including the flowers, stems, and leaves. I can't resist a good cookbook that really differentiates itself with a special focus or unique theme -- and I definitely think that THE CSA COOKBOOK hits the mark in this area, for sure.
On the flip side, though, I really didn't find a ton that I truly want to recreate on my own. I appreciate and admire anyone who can waste so little, but I just wasn't blown away by any of the photos or the recipes that were demonstrated here.
But, to be fair, I'm usually only sold the pretty or useful part of the produce in the grocery store, so I'm probably not going to be the target audience for this type of cookbook, right?
However, if you actually *are* part of a CSA, if you grow your own produce, or if you live near a bountiful Farmer's Market with more variety than a few apples and bananas, I'm sure you'll have a totally different perspective on this nifty little cookbook.
Anyways, my experiences with the co-op are mostly what made me curious about THE CSA COOKBOOK, a handy guide that really shows the depth and detail that can go into fully utilizing every last part of the produce -- including the flowers, stems, and leaves. I can't resist a good cookbook that really differentiates itself with a special focus or unique theme -- and I definitely think that THE CSA COOKBOOK hits the mark in this area, for sure.
On the flip side, though, I really didn't find a ton that I truly want to recreate on my own. I appreciate and admire anyone who can waste so little, but I just wasn't blown away by any of the photos or the recipes that were demonstrated here.
But, to be fair, I'm usually only sold the pretty or useful part of the produce in the grocery store, so I'm probably not going to be the target audience for this type of cookbook, right?
However, if you actually *are* part of a CSA, if you grow your own produce, or if you live near a bountiful Farmer's Market with more variety than a few apples and bananas, I'm sure you'll have a totally different perspective on this nifty little cookbook.
April 1, 2016
One of the biggest struggles of community-supported agriculture (CSA) subscribers and farmers’ market aficionados is what to do with all that produce every week. For the home cook looking for inspiration for their weekly veggie bounty, look no further than "The CSA Cookbook." Linda Ly, well-known for her Garden Betty blog, believes in fully utilizing fresh fruits and veggies, whether purchased from a local farm (or the regular grocery store), or grown in the backyard. This fantastic cookbook offers ideas for a wide variety of produce, including items that might otherwise leave readers scratching their heads, such as kohlrabi (try some Kohlrabi Home Fries), fava beans (Charred Fava Pods with Parmesan), or fennel (Fennel and Seafood Stew). But, Ly goes far beyond most cookbooks; did you know you can eat the fronds from that fennel bulb? (Give Fennel Frond and Ginger Pesto a try!) Did you know your carrot greens make an excellent salsa? Leaves, stems, and rinds from all kinds of fruits and veggies make an appearance here; readers will delight in being able to utilize so many parts of the plants! Each recipe is clearly described, and many feature alternative ingredients in case the original ones can’t be located. And, with pictures on almost every page, this cookbook is practically guaranteed to leave readers inspired and hungry.
Review originally written for San Francisco Book Review.
Review originally written for San Francisco Book Review.
July 27, 2016
The CSA Cookbook by Linda Ly is a helpful cookbook for anyone who uses a lot of vegetables, whether from a CSA or not. While this is not a vegan or vegetarian cookbook, many recipes qualify or require minor substitutions (vegetable broth for chicken broth).
In some ways this is a bit of a hit or miss cookbook, partly for the usual reason (everyone has different ideas of what is good to eat) and partly because CSAs will have vegetables that are most common to their region so aside from those common vegetables found almost everywhere there will be a certain amount of hit or miss with what is called for. On the whole, for me, this was a hit. I like spicy, of which there are quite a few options, and the vegetables available in my location are fairly diverse.
I found the recipes easy to follow and tasty. Some of the "waste not" ideas don't pertain to me because I don't get the produce, or the portions of the produce, being utilized.
I would highly recommend at least looking into the recipes here before deciding this book isn't for you. If the recipes sound good and the vegetables utilized are similar to what you have, then you will be very happy with this cookbook.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
In some ways this is a bit of a hit or miss cookbook, partly for the usual reason (everyone has different ideas of what is good to eat) and partly because CSAs will have vegetables that are most common to their region so aside from those common vegetables found almost everywhere there will be a certain amount of hit or miss with what is called for. On the whole, for me, this was a hit. I like spicy, of which there are quite a few options, and the vegetables available in my location are fairly diverse.
I found the recipes easy to follow and tasty. Some of the "waste not" ideas don't pertain to me because I don't get the produce, or the portions of the produce, being utilized.
I would highly recommend at least looking into the recipes here before deciding this book isn't for you. If the recipes sound good and the vegetables utilized are similar to what you have, then you will be very happy with this cookbook.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
July 22, 2021
This is one of the better cookbooks I've read in a long time!
I checked out this cookbook in order to figure out how to use up my CSA veggies before they withered and to find other ways to use them than those usually suggested. But I found so much more! Ly offers advice on how to use all the parts of the vegetable (stems and leaves included!) to minimize the least amount of waste possible. Though if you don't have these parts, they aren't necessary either; she just gives suggestions on how to use them. The cookbook is brilliantly laid out by types of vegetables (tomatoes & peppers, leafy greens, bulbs & stems, etc.) rather than by the traditional type-of-dish or meal layouts. This is not only the most appropriate for this type of book; but also puts you in the right mindset on how to use each vegetable.
I normally check cookbooks out from the library first. Then I read them like novels, if I find myself marking several pages of recipes I know I will make, I purchase the cookbook for my shelf. This is one I will be purchasing! After reading, I felt inspired to use up those leftover herbs and now feel confident I can swap ingredients in recipes based on whatever I have on hand.
I checked out this cookbook in order to figure out how to use up my CSA veggies before they withered and to find other ways to use them than those usually suggested. But I found so much more! Ly offers advice on how to use all the parts of the vegetable (stems and leaves included!) to minimize the least amount of waste possible. Though if you don't have these parts, they aren't necessary either; she just gives suggestions on how to use them. The cookbook is brilliantly laid out by types of vegetables (tomatoes & peppers, leafy greens, bulbs & stems, etc.) rather than by the traditional type-of-dish or meal layouts. This is not only the most appropriate for this type of book; but also puts you in the right mindset on how to use each vegetable.
I normally check cookbooks out from the library first. Then I read them like novels, if I find myself marking several pages of recipes I know I will make, I purchase the cookbook for my shelf. This is one I will be purchasing! After reading, I felt inspired to use up those leftover herbs and now feel confident I can swap ingredients in recipes based on whatever I have on hand.
October 26, 2015
I received this book, for free, in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a general guide to cooking vegetables that might be otherwise hard to eat.
As a seasoned CSA member, the veggies covered here, in general, were not that unusual.
If you are looking for lots of ramp recipes or what to do with some fiddleheads you probably will be let down. However, for people who are used to standard grocery fare (e.g .onions, tomatoes, spinach and lettuce) and are trying to branch out this will be an invaluable source.
There were some interesting recipes that I haven't come across in any other cookbooks.
These recipes were well worth the price of admission, as they help me prepare healthy snacks something I've had a hard time doing.
This book is organized by vegetable type which should help in locating recipes for say a bounty of peppers. There are also useful tips scattered about the recipes.
This book is a general guide to cooking vegetables that might be otherwise hard to eat.
As a seasoned CSA member, the veggies covered here, in general, were not that unusual.
If you are looking for lots of ramp recipes or what to do with some fiddleheads you probably will be let down. However, for people who are used to standard grocery fare (e.g .onions, tomatoes, spinach and lettuce) and are trying to branch out this will be an invaluable source.
There were some interesting recipes that I haven't come across in any other cookbooks.
These recipes were well worth the price of admission, as they help me prepare healthy snacks something I've had a hard time doing.
This book is organized by vegetable type which should help in locating recipes for say a bounty of peppers. There are also useful tips scattered about the recipes.
May 26, 2016
I am a sucker for cookbooks like this one. I belong to my local CSA, and in the height of the summer, I am tasked with cooking or using 15-20 lbs of produce a week! I think if of it as my own personal cooking challenge, but I also struggle to find things that are truly inspired or just completely different from anything I have done before.
The CSA Cookbook is designed to help those of us getting massive quantities of vegetables in the summer. It is organized by vegetable, and while I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, they look easy and use easily found ingredients. The real advantage to this one, though, is the tips on using lesser-used parts of the vegetables to eliminate waste: Tomato Leaf Pesto, Chard Stem Hummus (though the stems are my favorite part), and uses for kale buds, fava leaves and radish pods.
I would prefer that the entire book is vegetarian, but I know that is not realistic for all cooks.
Thank you to Voyager Press and Edelweiss for the advanced copy.
The CSA Cookbook is designed to help those of us getting massive quantities of vegetables in the summer. It is organized by vegetable, and while I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, they look easy and use easily found ingredients. The real advantage to this one, though, is the tips on using lesser-used parts of the vegetables to eliminate waste: Tomato Leaf Pesto, Chard Stem Hummus (though the stems are my favorite part), and uses for kale buds, fava leaves and radish pods.
I would prefer that the entire book is vegetarian, but I know that is not realistic for all cooks.
Thank you to Voyager Press and Edelweiss for the advanced copy.
March 31, 2015
I received this book from goodreads first reads free for a review.
Unfortunately there is not a community garden near where I live. We have lots of farmers markets and I'm trying to plant a little garden without killing everything with my black thumb :). I'm so glad I got this book before planting it has given me some wonderful ideas not only about planting a few things I would never have considered before but also great recipes and ideas of what to do that will limit any wasted food.
Unfortunately there is not a community garden near where I live. We have lots of farmers markets and I'm trying to plant a little garden without killing everything with my black thumb :). I'm so glad I got this book before planting it has given me some wonderful ideas not only about planting a few things I would never have considered before but also great recipes and ideas of what to do that will limit any wasted food.
December 27, 2015
A very nice book on using garden and CSA produce but although it touts using the "whole plant" really the only unusual items are bean and tomato leaves. That said - those recipes are amazing. A nice gift book for a gardener or cook. Lovely photos. Easy to follow directions. There are a few recipes with meat in them but vegetarians will have no problem adjusting those recipes. I will definitely use this book as the season progresses and have enjoyed what I've made from it so far.
May 24, 2015
The no-waste part is pretty accurate, as there are recipes for leaves and rinds. Let's be honest, if I ever got a CSA I'd be more likely to not eat the food itself. I'm never going to get to the point where I need to use the 'vegetable offal'.
Anyway, simple recipes, 1:1 picture ratio. Seems nice!
Anyway, simple recipes, 1:1 picture ratio. Seems nice!
June 30, 2016
I struggled with the organization of this book and ultimately I don't think it was for me. Some of the recipes in here featured items I don't get or get rarely (such as the greens from sweet potatoes, or nasturtiums) and they're organized by type and not seasonality, which makes browsing less effective than using the index. Good for some people, but not for how I cook.
July 7, 2015
I was so excited to get this cookbook. I love cookbooks! This one didn't do it for me. I love all sorts of new and weird recipes and I didn't find any that I wanted to make. I did get a good idea about making vegetable stock, but that was about it.
June 22, 2016
Great, informative cookbook
Awesome ideas that I never would have thought of. Perfect for vegetarians and vegans add well add carnivores. Five stars!
Awesome ideas that I never would have thought of. Perfect for vegetarians and vegans add well add carnivores. Five stars!
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