Cookbook review of “A Modern Way to Eat” by Anna Jones

I was definitely really excited to receive Anna Jones’ “A Modern Way to Eat,” as this book has a lot of recipes that will make weeknight and group dinners much more interesting, while being healthy. It is actually a 100% vegetarian cookbook and mostly gluten and dairy free! While Jason and I will never go fully vegetarian, I like to cook vegetarian about half of the week and am always looking for meals that will taste great and be filling. It’s always a plus knowing my dietary restrictions won’t prohibit me from making anything in such a lovely cookbook.

She does a really great variety of mains, roasted vegetable sides, very unique salads, even healthy snacks! And of course, I was pretty excited for her section on desserts. It’s been a while since I have had a cookbook that I can actually cook desserts from!

The photos are gorgeous, I really love the mix of lifestyle photography with food photos taken by Brian Ferry.

As far as difficulty of recipes, I’d say that they are mostly intermediate. There are lots of ingredients involved in each, though at close look, they are mostly made up of lots of fresh herbs and spices, a few vegetables, and usually a grain. There are usually a few steps, but I love recipes like these because I feel they always grow me as a cook, by trying new techniques and ingredients. These are the recipes I look forward to trying after a long day of staring at a computer screen, they allow me to be creative with my hands and other senses for a while.

Jones also includes a helpful page in each section that I have never seen before, on building blocks to creating your own recipes. She starts with a column of options for a base, a few accents, an herb or spice, a back up flavor, and how to make it more substantial, which is a really neat concept for people who follow recipes a lot but are looking to cook from the hip a bit more. I am definitely thrilled to have this book on my shelf, or coffee table, to learn from and add new meals to our dinner table during this summer’s fresh bounty!

I received this book from bloggingforbooks.org in exchange for writing this review. All photos and opinions are my own.