Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe: Breakfast Served All Day

by Mollie Katzen

Breakfast is back! And Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Café offers tasty, protein-rich, meatless breakfasts to boost your energy level and get you going first thing in the morning--or any time of the day. Mollie Katzen provides simple, mouth-watering, healthful recipes and menus for every day of the week, whether you are preparing a sit-down brunch for ten, breakfast-on-the-go for kids running late, a light bite after a late night, or a luxurious breakfast in bed. Lavishly illustrated throughout with Mollie's luminous paintings, Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Café is divided into 12 chapters of breakfast fare, including yogurt and cheese, griddled foods, muffins and biscuits, eggs and tofu, whole grain cereals, homemade breakfast bars and coffee cakes, puddings and custards--and much more. In addition to showing you exactly how to make the perfect omelet or the crispiest waffles, Mollie offers irresistible recipes that range from the familiar Winter Fritata with Red Onions, Red Potatoes, and Goat Cheese, to the favorite Gingerbread Pancakes, to the surprising Basmati Almond Muffins, and on to irresistible Crispy Southwest Polenta Hash. And Mollie's energy-packed Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Protein Bars are certain to become a ray of sunshine in any kitchen.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Reference

320 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2002

About the author

Educated at the Eastman School of Music, Cornell University, and the San Francisco Art Institute. Although her formal training was as an artist and musician, she exhibited natural cooking inclinations from a very early age, and cooked professionally - in restaurants and as a caterer - for ten years. In 1973 she was one of the founders of the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, and during her five years of cooking there, she compiled, illustrated and handlettered the Moosewood Cookbook.
In addition to her writing and illustrating, Mollie is a committed student of classical piano.

Reviews

[G.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful to look at and full of upbeat (and useful!) asides about ingredients and techniques. I haven't cooked many of the recipes, but can happily recommend the Breakfast Salad (p. 167) and the Miso Soup (p. 14).

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite meal of the day, and one that is difficult for many people to eat. This cookbook should help with a wealth of classic dishes (and no excuses: cooking eggs in every way is thoroughly explained) as well as healthy smoothies & protein bars. Lots of extra information and instructions.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful book, but not one i used.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mollie's books are some of the most used cookbooks in my collection. And this one is no exception, containing a great selection of homey, practical foods that are accesable and delicious.

[Rae Mcquade · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth your time

Rarely do I dislike cookbooks. This was so simple, is was not even for novice cooks -- for example, Chipotle Cream is mixing cream and chipotles. I would not recommend this book, even to a novice cook.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A+ I LOVE this cookbook--I took it out from the library, renewed it a million times and finally bought it. The recipes are fantastic--geared towards breakfast, including many non-breakfast-y recipes (including ricotta, which I made and came out delish!). The vanilla ricotta muffins came out yum too, and I can't wait to try tons of the other recipes. Best of all, Mollie (I love her so much we're on a first name basis!) offers heaps of cooking tips. Maybe my pancakes will start coming out yummlicious rather than simply edible!

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been languishing on my shelves which is a shame because it is beautiful and is full of great recipes. I pulled it out the other day looking for good ways to use up millet but ended up making the Creamy Feta with Ground Walnuts--a delicious spread that I used to make tartines. (Pst here: http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/20...).

Full of classic and unusual vegetarian breakfast and lunch recipes that can be enjoyed all day long and Katzen's charming and colorful illustrations.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of Mollie Katzen's cookbooks are hit or miss, but I've LOVED everything from this one, especially the seasonal frittatas. It's a really wonderful, cheerful, thorough breakfast cookbook packed with recipes ranging from the really simple - fun things to do with fruit and yogurt - to much more complex - crazy breakfast puddings! I consult this one whenever we're having friends over for brunch or just want something a little bit fancier on our own.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entire cookbook devoted to breakfast! What could possibly be more wonderful? I started working my way through this a few years ago, got sidetracked by a bookstore, and just picked it up again. I'm making Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins on Thursday and I'll try at least one recipe a week til I've exhausted the interesting looking ones. Which is most of them, excluding a few that involve cauliflower. Blech.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aaah! Dee-licious,nutritious and informative cookbook about making time for cooking your day's most important meal - breakfast/brunch! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm nuts about eating and making breakfast, so finding this cookbook by accident on the shelves at Powell's was exquisite. I kinda missed Ms. Katzen's signature pen & ink drawings, which have been replaced with more bland oil pastel food renditions...but the content more than makes up for this!

Four forks up!

[Critterbee❇ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book full of vegetarian breakfasty/brunchy deliciousness!

This book is a nice source of healthy morning recipes for your busy family, with a few ideas for entertaining. Fans of the Moosewood Cookbooks will already be familiar with Mollie Katzen's style, and it would be a great introduction for those who have not read any Moosewood cookery books.

This book includes eggs and milk products, so while it does contain some vegan recipes, be aware it is not 100% vegan.

[Harmony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love her cookbooks! I really enjoy breakfast though and this is a great breakfast cookbook...You don't even notice that it is vegetarian... the waffles and pancakes are very good and because she adds protien powder and wheat bran to them you don't get that drop in energy after having a delicious breakfast.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book filled with 'morning food' ideas, with lots of tips and background information. I enjoyed the page of 'Breakfast around the world' to compare to standard North American/Continental breakfasts. It is well laid out, though no photos, as is her style.

I did copy a few recipes though:
Raspberry-Drenched Rhubarb,
Chai Oatmeal,
Blueberry Sauce, and
Pumpkin-Orange Marmalade.

WPL

[Michelle Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't made any of these recipes yet but I have written some down and I am really excited.

They are all breakfast/brunch types and it makes me just want to entertain and have fancy eggs, muffins, fruit platters and bread....so who wants to be my guest?

[Sarah left GR · Rating 5 out of 5]

My go-to guide for all things breakfast/brunch. Includes recipes for some of my "greatest hits": ricotta dill muffins, pumpkin chocolate bread, homemade protein bars, home fries, hash browns, and all sorts of egg dishes.

[Beegobug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every recipe I have tried so far in this book has turned out beautifully- chocolate babka, scones, protein bars, pancakes and breakfast mushrooms among many others. Her breakfast ideas are inspiring- a nice departure from the typical meal of bacon and eggs.

[Mercedes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I consider Mollie my first vegetarian inspiration. It was long a go when my friend Ellen gave me Enchanted Broccolie Forest as a present, and at that time that book made it possible to drop the meat.
Sunlight Cafe is wonderful, and the recipes are easy to veganize.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVE the babka recipes!!

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great breakfast and brunch recipes. I made the pumpkin muffin recipe with much success.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A huge collection of recipes, from veggies to grains, fruit to yogurt. This book features my favorite recipe for homemade ricotta.

[Margaret Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty watercolors. Recepies disappointing.

[Angela Skeie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, if you’re into reading cookbooks, but not my go-to recipes.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mollie Katzen is a wizard! This book has some fabulous recipes. The muffins are the best you've ever tried. Yum!

[Lisa Urso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best recipe in the book: The bittersweet mocha coffee cake. I've made it many times and get compliments on it every time I bake it!

[GoldenjoyBazyll · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas, but ultimately too time-consuming for this working mama.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! I'm going to have to add this one to my collection!