Notes about Recipes in this book

• Applesauce-cocoa cake

  • jzanger on January 22, 2011

    Fantastic cake although I adapted it here and there, adding espresso powder, omitting the orange zest, increasing the cocoa by 50%, adding chocolate chips, subbing almonds for walnts and making a few other small changes. Definitely will make again.

  • TrishaCP on October 05, 2013

    This cake is amazingly moist and flavorful. I used the optional spices, and to my mind, they really aren't optional- they add depth to the cocoa powder that can't be replaced. The one thing I would play with next time would be the amount of butter. Given the ground walnuts, yogurt, and applesauce already in the cake, I would think the butter could be greatly reduced if not totally omitted.

  • eliza on March 08, 2017

    I liked this cake. It's quite large, so I made 2 smaller cakes. I added all the spices plus espresso as noted by a previous reviewer, and also increased the cocoa powder. I would consider increasing the spice a bit next time. Small bundt took 45 minutes, small round cake took 30 minutes in my convection oven. Would be nice served with berries etc for company. Edited to add: I wanted to add that this cake keeps extremely well at room temperature or in the fridge. The taste seems to improve over time too.

  • oboistaalli on December 06, 2020

    Delicious and moist cake. As did the others, I added the optional spices.

  • CynthiasCooking on February 20, 2021

    This was a favorite for years. I always make it in a bundt pan and a piece makes a great treat with lunch.

  • Globegal on October 05, 2014

    Made 10-4-14. Looked for recipe to use up applesauce I made with Apple Pie Spice that didn't particularly like the taste. Added the optional spices. Chopped nuts with nut mill on fine. Baked in mini bundt pan for 22-23 minutes. Made 12 cakes Reminds me of a plain chocolate doughnut -- with nuts and a hint of applesauce & spices. Minimally sweet, as she says in her book. Definitely a keeper.

• Chocolate chip-mint cookies

  • jzanger on January 01, 2013

    Been eating these for years. Very chocolatey!

  • TrishaCP on December 24, 2021

    These are really easy to make and all of the mint flavor is great for the holidays. As promised, these freeze well so are a good choice for Christmas cookies.

• Roasted and marinated green beans with onions and garlic cloves

  • lorloff on September 16, 2017

    I could not agree more with Eliza. This is a wonderful green bean dish each to make, delicious, good for a weeknight and brings out the flavor of all ingredients wonderfully.

  • eliza on March 26, 2014

    This is a fantastic way to prepare green beans. I tried the recipe as written years ago and have tried many variations since then. A great way to use up extra beans from the garden; they are even good cold right out of the fridge.

  • oboistaalli on December 04, 2020

    Totally agree with Eliza & Lorloff. I make this with red onions and add more garlic. Simple and elegant with the Golden Pear Soup.

• Southwest salad with black beans and corn

  • lorloff on August 10, 2016

    Excellent. I added more peppers and ground the cumin. I used dried green chipotle for the red pepper. Used boxed organic beans because I did not have time to soak and cook the beans from scratch this time. It came out really well.

  • ccmcooks on August 13, 2011

    This is one of my go-to recipes for summer potlucks -- people rave about it. I use a lot less oil than the recipe calls for and don't usually add the tortilla strips, and it still turns out delicious. It's also easy to add in some extra peppers for more veggies without throwing off the balance. Toasting the cumin seeds is definitely worth it.

• Avocado and grapefruit on greens with grapefruit vinaigrette

  • TrishaCP on June 21, 2013

    Avocado and grapefruit are two of my favorite ingredients, and I enjoy their melding in this salad. The recipe calls for walnut oil, which I imagine would be great, but I didn't have any on hand so just used olive oil instead. Looking forward to trying this again once I have walnut oil back in my pantry.

• Cabbage, carrots, and onions with sesame

  • eliza on February 26, 2017

    A very simple and really good vegetable dish that lends itself well to substitutions. The sesame salt would probably go well with most stir fried veggies; I've substituted green beans for the cabbage, and also added mushrooms. Very tasty.

• Almond-orange sauce

  • eliza on February 14, 2016

    I make this sauce to go with the millet dish as suggested, and I also put it on various other veggie and grain dishes. I usually cut back on the orange zest a bit. The almond butter version is much better than peanut imo.

• Millet and vegetable pilaf

  • eliza on February 26, 2017

    I used quinoa instead of millet and cooked it separately for this pilaf. Served with the almond-orange sauce in the same book, this was delicious.

• Miso-almond sauce

  • eliza on March 03, 2016

    Another simple sauce recipe from this book. I use a white miso and sometimes add tahini instead of the almond butter. Good on grains and roasted veggies of all kinds. It is quite watery so I sometimes adjust the amount of water added for a thicker sauce, and it can also be a bit salty depending on the type of miso used.

• Yogurt scones

  • eliza on August 20, 2020

    As the author notes, these are very easy and quick to make (I skipped the processor and mixed mine totally by hand). I made a half recipe, and my yield was much higher than that stated in the recipe at 11 medium sized scones. I used sifted red fife for the whole wheat flour and skipped the egg topping. These are barely sweet and very tasty. I would definitely make them again. Baked about 12 minutes 400 F with convection.

• Tuscan bean soup

  • oboistaalli on December 04, 2020

    This is a really delicious soup. I just made it with Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye Beans and the result was even more delicious.

• Lemon snaps

  • oboistaalli on April 13, 2021

    In the description, Mollie Katzen wrote: "Lemon snaps are hard to stop eating, especially when they're about one hour old." These cookies are truly addictive. As she suggests, I increase the lemon rind (zest) to ¾ teaspoon for more lemon flavor.

• Marinated eggplant

  • oboistaalli on December 04, 2020

    This is a super simple recipe for eggplant and quite delicious. I made this with my homegrown Little Prince eggplants: https://www.reneesgarden.com/products/eggplant-container-little-prince

• Mediterranean lentil salad

  • oboistaalli on December 06, 2020

    Easy and delicious. A staple in our household!

• Middle Eastern spinach soup

  • oboistaalli on April 13, 2021

    This has become my favorite spinach soup recipe. Great depth of flavor.

• Golden pear soup

  • oboistaalli on December 04, 2020

    I look forward to making this soup (and the whole menu) every fall. It's super simple to make and it's very elegant.

• Chilaquile casserole

  • oboistaalli on August 11, 2020

    I make Chilaquile Casserole quite often and it's especially good when fresh roasted Hatch chiles are available in the market.

• Coconut creamed vegetables

  • Krisage on January 13, 2014

    Made a few modifications--canned tomatoes, coconut milk from a can instead of preparing from scratch, and red chili paste (contains lemongrass) instead of chile powder and fresh lemongrass. We quite enjoyed it.

• Szechwan green beans

  • nadiam1000 on November 06, 2016

    delicious fast and easy way to cook green beans - I added some red pepper flakes and used about a tsp of kosher salt. served them with some Ponzu sauce - will definitely make again

  • Christinalego on July 20, 2020

    I’ve made this many times. We love it.

• Chocolate eclipse

  • CynthiasCooking on February 20, 2021

    I love step 7: "Pour on the boiling water. It will look terrible and you will not believe you are doing this but try to persevere." It's a great cake.

• Chocolate ginger snaps

  • Globegal on October 19, 2014

    Easy to make with good flavor.

• Potato latkes

  • MWFhome on May 17, 2014

    I made a leek and potato quiche with chives based on this recipe. Mixed and cooked the potato pancakes with leeks instead of onion and added the chives, then put the whole mixture, browned pancakes mushed together, into a buttered pan and added quiche liquid (eggs, milk or cream, and seasonings including paprika). Baked, it came out delicious- Thanks to Ms. Katzen for a good base for this dish.

• Sweet and tart cabbage with cottage cheese-dill dumplings

  • kateiscoooking on February 22, 2024

    This was far too sweet for us. It would have been much better with a good splash of dry white wine and no brown sugar. I put some lovely sausages on top before I put the lid on to allow it to simmer. Even they didn't help the sweetness. Do check your liquid level because I had to add some water to keep it from sticking

• Cinnamon-raisin-walnut oatmeal cookies

  • Christinalego on June 27, 2020

    Really good. Dense, not too sweet, almost like a biscuit.

  • Christinalego on June 30, 2020

    Great

• Pasta with greens and feta

  • tjf on July 05, 2020

    The effect is of spanakopita pasta. Yum!

  • CordovaBayCook on January 28, 2023

    This is a good basic recipe for pasta and greens. Very quick and easy to make, once the veggies are chopped. It is very flexible, i.e. in that you can use various greens and pasta shapes. But I find that you need to add some extra elements to accent the neutral flavours - options are garlic, lemon zest, sun-dried tomatoes. I made this once with spaghetti squash instead of pasta, and it was great.