Book Review: A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones

April 2015, I was lucky enough to receive a copy from of Anna Jones' cookbook A Modern Way to Eat.  I wrote a review on my other blog, Apparently, I've Been Domesticated, talking about how great the recipes looked, with easy to find ingredients, and how excited I was to cook from it.  Then, I loved the book so much, I did a follow up on this blog, with a Recipe Review List, detailing my experiences with the recipes.  While a couple of things were just okay, I absolutely loved just about every recipe in that book.

When I got the opportunity to review her second book A Modern Way to Cook: 150+ Vegetarian Recipes for Quick, Flavor-Packed Meals, I was ecstatic!

Much like her last book, it's put together beautifully.  Nice thick paper and beautiful photography. This time, her book is broken up into quick 15 minute meals, 20 minutes, half hour and 45 minutes.  Then into what she calls investment cooking; things you can make a big batch of and use through the week like nut butter or beans.  This is followed by chapters on super-fast breakfasts and quick desserts and sweet treats.

I sat with a glass of wine last night and perused through the book.  I have a slew of pages marked with post-its of recipes I could make this week with ingredients I currently have at home.  Last night, I made the Lentil Ragu Agrodolce.  Like most of her recipes, it's rather unassuming.  Lentils and carrots cooked forever with some balsamic.  It seems so simple that it can't be good.  I was so wrong, it was amazing.  My daughter declared it is her favorite recipe out of Anna Jones' two cookbooks.

I have so many plans of things to make out of this book, that I will have to start another recipe review list just to keep track of what worked.  This week, a modern moussaka; kale, tomato, and lemon magic one-pot spaghetti and a feast of mushrooms.

I'll keep you posted.

IS IT VEGAN-FRIENDLY:  Yes.  She gives you lots of non-dairy substitution options.  I will say, I felt like this book had more cheese and eggs than the last, but I can't say that for certain.  Thankfully, both are easy to replace with vegan-friendly ingredients.

WOULD I BUY IT:  I think that's pretty obvious.  I would buy A Modern Way to Cook: 150+ Vegetarian Recipes for Quick, Flavor-Packed Meals and if you don't already own A Modern Way to Eat you should go out and buy that one too.  If you're a meat eater, don't think of this as a vegetarian cookbook.  I mean really, aren't you sick of meat-based dinner with random mediocre sides?  Think of these recipes as a way to expand your horizons, using ingredients you either have in your pantries or are easy to find.  I highly recommend both of her books.

I received a free copy of this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.  There was no obligation to give a positive review, and if you read my blog, you know I'm a tell-it-like-it-is kind of girl.  I mean what I say and say what I mean, that holds true for my review.