Cook 1.0: A Fresh Approach to the Vegetarian Kitchen

by Heidi Swanson

A guide for beginning-level cooks shares a wealth of vegetarian recipes that can be prepared in a minimum of time and without extensive exotic ingredients, sharing simple instructions for such options as Creamy Mushroom Pot Pie, Apricot Summer Tart with Macadamia Shortbread Crust, and Ice-Cold Blueberry Lemonade. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Vegetarian

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 5, 2004

Reviews

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot as an introduction to Heidi Swanson’s cooking style and how it has evolved and matured over the years. It eases you gently in, especially to the way she takes a basic recipe and does many remixes of it. The ingredients are more accessible and familiar than her more recent recipes. I’m not quite ready to make my own pasta, but I do love me some fake bacon! So my high rating is for this reason rather than because this is the mother of all vegetarian cookbooks.

[59 yo]

Nice book

[Jim Newman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recipe from heaven

[Nicole (Reading Books With Coffee) · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the last month or so, I've been reading and cooking from Cook 1.0 by Heidi Swanson. I've made about 4 recipes and I wish I had more time to cook a couple other things that look really good. But since I've had for 6 weeks, I think it's time to return it to the library.

I really like Heidi's blog, 101 cookbooks. So when I saw that she had a few cookbooks, I knew I had to check them out from the library.

I can honestly say that I LOVE how her cookbook is set up and organized. It's divided into different sections: chapter like breakfast, lunch, dinner and sides. Each chapter is further divided into sections, which is cool. It's thought out very well, and it's very easy to find recipes. And the recipes themselves? Everything is in table-format. There are no long lists of ingredients or paragraphs for the recipes. A quick glance, and you know where you should be and what you need to do next. It's very intuitive and it's such a good vegetarian cookbook. As much as I like tofu, it's nice to see a cookbook that doesn't rely a lot on tofu.

The recipes are simple, with a lot of fresh ingredients. I love that they don't seem to take long to make- no more than 30 minutes for the ones I've made, and a lot of the recipes seem to be around the 30 minute mark.

I also like the different variations that she has. There are some basic recipes, and the variations of stir-fries, vinaigrettes, and flavored butters (amongst others) build on those basic recipes.

I give it a 5 out of 5. It's well-thought out, with good recipes.

[Ehrrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be my favorite cookbook of all time. It's chock-full of tons and tons of great recipes and ideas and Heidi's signature gorgeous photos. It's so well laid-out--she'll have a category, like rice bowls or stir-fry or quesadillas, and then give all the steps and a couple pages of recipes on that theme laid-out in the smartest, most intuitive and user-friendly way ever, along with ideas for stuff to try on your own. And, all the recipes are really simple, healthy and, most importantly, delicious!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently I love anything by Heidi Swanson. I'm not a vegetarian, but I do enjoy her simple approach to cooking with fresh, natural ingredients. She does lots of variations on themes which I really enjoy (different types of stir-fry's, ice teas, margaritas, etc., all using the same basic ingredients and then with a distinctive twist for each). This is one I plan on buying to have on my cookbook shelf alongside her other one that I already have, Super Natural Cooking. Also check out her blog with tons of amazing reciples and photos, 101 Cookbooks (http://www.101cookbooks.com/about/).

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very different approach to writing a cookbook. I liked it okay, but wasn't particularly enthralled with it. I liked the chatty style of the author. I read the entire book, so that says something. But the recipes didn't inspire me to try anything new, except to encourage me to try to make my own tortillas and pizza dough. I'll think about it.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across Heidi on her blog 101cookbooks.com, which I like to read as well. I liked the way her cookbook was set up with "options", a different approach to recipes by using different ingredients, etc.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Ms Swanson now. Finally a vegetarian cookbook without a bunch of cheese or salt added to every recipe and not too much tofu! Got it from the library and it will be the next book I buy.

[Ianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this cookbook, but the layout and formatting just threw me off. It looks like a chemistry book or something, with table lists of variations on each main dish. I totally lost interest.

[Jesse Kelly-Landes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a book for people who dislike cooking or don't really know how. It's actually great for that. Yummy sangrias and margaritas!

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

at last, a cookbook, even I can use. lots of beautiful picture, nice layout, vegetarian. I even paid CASH MONEY to buy my own copy!

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps I shouldn't rate it as I haven't cooked anything from it yet...but, I love Heidi's blog. She gives me lots of ideas for fresh vegetarian cooking.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, how I want to own this book. A couple weeks ago it was nearly $100 on Amazon so I resorted to the library copy again. Seriously, I just keep going back for more. I can't get enough of it.

[Julie Doherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

With this being a vegetarian cookbook, you'd think the recipes would be more health conscious. Not so. Lots of recipes called for white flour, sweetened condensed milk and sugar.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the format of this book! Perfect for the way I cook on the fly most days. I've already made several successful recipes and have many more lined up to try soon.