Introduction

For the first time since starting college four years ago, I have my own kitchen. Having finally moved out of the dorm, and thus no longer having a meal plan, I am faced with the problems of feeding myself. Like a grown up, I have to plan my meals, budget for groceries, go shopping, cook, and even *gasp* do dishes.

Faced with this large stack of chores, and still working part-time and going to school, for the first few months of living in a house I turned my back on adulthood, and ket a freezer stocked with prepared veggies, microwave pizza, and Trader Joe's soy nuggets; my cupboard was filled with pasta, canned sauce, and that college standby, Ramen. After a while of this quick and easy eating, I noticed that not only were prepared foods costing a little more than raw ingredients, but I have put back on twenty of the fifty pounds I had lost last year. Having had some success making rice stuffing and cranberry sauce over Thanksgiving, and given my skill at baking Christmas cookies, I decided to try to start cooking real food for myself.

I flipped through my mom's old cookbooks--Good Housekeeping, Looney Spoons, Tea Time at the Masters-- and had trouble finding recipes that suited me. Most of the recipes were meat based, time-consuming to prepare, and, with the exception of Looney Spoons, pretty fatty. While visiting my boyfriend Jacob's parents in Springfield, Ohio, I sat in the dining room with Jacob's mom, Nancy, while she planned out the weekend's menu, (with the exception of Jacob's brother, Luke, the family does not share my vegetarianism, so feeding me when I visit takes a bit of planning). She pulled out an old, flour-encrusted copy of Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook, and began to select that evening's dinner. I recognized Mollie's name, as my friend Paul has been a long time devotee of Moosewood, and my roommate and her boyfriend occasionally cook from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Flipping through the pages, I found page after page of Rachel-esque recipes for healthy, vegetarian "hippie food" -- homemade hummus, falafel, vegetarian chili, mac and cheese casserole. Noticing my enthusiasm, Nancy made sure Moosewood showed up under the Christmas tree for me.

This blog is designed to document my journey through the Moosewood Cookbook. I've only experimented with about 3 of the recipes so far, so I thought I'd start at the begining, and work my way through. I'm not positive what format each post will take yet, but I'm playing with a few ideas.

On to the food! :)