Vegetable Love: The Indispensable Vegetable Cookbooks in Our Kitchens + Cuisine at Home's Cook the Book Cookbook Club

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Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, flexitarian or an omnivore, there’s no doubt vegetables are huge part of your diet – or at least they should be. But are they the boring side show or the main feature? Are they the polarizing dish on the table or the first one gone?

Vegetables open a world of possibilities with their versality, with thousands of varieties and endless ways to cook and flavor them. Plus they’re delicious, healthful and, quite frequently, a real treat for the eyes. They come in all colors and shapes: think of heirloom tomatoes, deep purple radicchio, vibrant watermelon radishes, beets of all colors, curly green-and-white frisee and fractal Romanesco. And this is just a start to the rainbow of colors and mélange of shapes you find in the produce section or farmer’s market. They can be the superstars on a table full of vegetable dishes, or an exciting accompaniment to your meal. They’re also quickly becoming the darling of restaurant kitchens and chefs around the world.

Nothing speaks to the seasons quite as much as fresh produce. Asparagus in the spring, tomatoes in the summer, squash and pumpkins in the fall, and cabbages and Brussels sprouts in the winter…while many vegetables are becoming available (almost) year-round, there is still something to be said for eating seasonally. The quality is greater, the taste is fresher and purer and the cost is generally lower. However, we’re not going to deter you from eating vegetables when the craving strikes, no matter the season! A diet rich in vegetables is always a positive, but knowing how to choose, prepare and cook them properly is key to feeling excited to eat them.

All this leads us to one exciting announcement: Cuisine at Home is starting an online cookbook club! If you’re anything like us, you have shelves and shelves of cookbooks, but may need an excuse to open them up and get cooking – or maybe you need an excuse to fill your bookshelves with more cookbooks. This will be a space to discuss and share our favorite recipes from our monthly pick. The intent is to to create a supportive and inspirational community of cooks who share a love of food. You can also use this group to ask questions, look for inspiration and share your wins (or fails). Our inaugural cookbook pick is actually a group of books listed below, all focused on vegetables. You can pick one, a few or all of them to cook from during the month of August. Join us as we explore some of our favorite vegetable-focused cookbooks, from comprehensive reference books to vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. You’re guaranteed to learn diverse and satisfying ways to get more vegetables into your diet, from roasting, grilling, steaming, sautéing and frying.

Here’s how it works:

1. Join our cookbook club Facebook group here.

2. Get the book: purchase it, borrow it or check it out from the library-or maybe you already have it and just need a reason to start cooking.

3. Cook the book: pick out a few (or many) recipes that catch your eye or use the Facebook group to find inspiration from what others are making and get cooking! Make sure to snap pictures so everyone can see what you created.

4. Share your feedback and photos: add them to the Facebook group with the recipe title and your thoughts on how the dish turned out. No photos directly from the cookbook please!

5. Share your questions, best tips, suggestions, or any other relevant, appropriate food-related content from other group members to comment on.

Here are the vegetable cookbooks we consider indispensable in our kitchen:

REFERENCE BOOKS

1. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

2. Vegetables Illustrated: An Inspiring Guide with 700+ Kitchen-Tested Recipes by America's Test Kitchen

3. Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka

4. On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen by Jeremy Fox

5. The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

6. Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison

7. The Vegetable Butcher by Cara Mangini

8. Vegetables Every Day: The Definitive Guide to Buying and Cooking Today's Produce with More Than 350 Recipes by Jack Bishop

9. The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook: A Fresh Guide to Eating Well with 700 Foolproof Recipes by America's Test Kitchen

10. Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters

VEGETARIAN/VEGETABLE-FOCUSED BOOKS

1. Vegetables Unleashed: A Cookbook by José Andrés

2. Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden

3. Plenty and Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi

4. The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow From the Inside Out by Angela Liddon

5. Love Real Food: More Than 100 Feel-Good Vegetarian Favorites to Delight the Senses and Nourish the Body by Kathryne Taylor

6. Mostly Plants: 101 Delicious Flexitarian Recipes from the Pollan Family by Tracy Pollan et al.

7. The First Mess Cookbook: Vibrant Plant-Based Recipes to Eat Well Through the Seasons by Laura Wright

8. Simple Green Meals: 100+ Plant-Powered Recipes to Thrive From the Inside Out by Jen Hansard

9. At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin

10. The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Join our Vegetable Basics class tomorrow, July 18th at 2 PM CDT! This inspiring class will teach you methods for cooking and using vegetables that even the pickiest eaters are sure to appreciate. Plus, you’ll come away with clever new ways to incorporate more of these good-for-you ingredients into your regimen. You can sign up for the seminar here.