Cookbook Club

Lately the Hubz and I have been talking about starting our own book club, just the two of us.  We would read the same book and then have a discussion about the book over dinner.  All this talk about a book club got me thinking about how it would be fun to start up a cookbook club.

How it would work

Each month, a new vegan/vegetarian cookbook will be announced via email group and on the blog. Once the book is announced, participants will have one week to get a copy of the cookbook and then one month to read, try new recipes and analyze the cookbook. During the month, participants should feel free to blog/tweet/facebook about their experience with the cookbook.  At the end of the review period, each participant will have one week to right a final review about the cookbook and post it to their blog.  If a participant does not have a blog, they can write their review and it will be featured on Cook.Vegan.Lover. Once all the review posts are up, I will link them from my the new Cookbook Club tab (that will soon be up on Cook.Vegan.Lover.)

When doing your final review of each months cookbook each of us will address the topics in our blog post:

Layout

• Is the layout clear?

• Are you able to easily tell the ingredients apart for the instructions and the notes?

• Are the instructions easy to follow?

• Are the recipes numbered or is the section labeled?

Aesthetics

• Does the cookbook feature photos?

• If yes, is there a photo for every recipe?

• Do the photos of the recipes look like the actual results?

• What kind of paper is the book printed on?

• How is the quality of the photos?

Recipes

• How many recipes are in the cookbook?

• What kinds of recipes will you find in this cookbook?

• Is there a theme to the recipes?

• Are the recipes complex or simple? would they be good for seasoned cooks and/or beginners?

Ingredients and supplies

• Are the recipe ingredients easy to find?
• Are there any items that stand out as being expensive or specialty?
• Are there particular appliances that will be required such as blenders, juicers, dehydrators, ect?

Information

• Does this cookbook provide additional useful information?
• What additional information beyond recipes does this cookbook include? Is it easy to follow?

Other important Information

You need to make the recipes! Yes, to get an accurate representation of the cookbook you need to try out at least 3-5 recipes.  Additionally when you right your review you should make sure to include your experience while cooking the recipe:

• How did the recipe turn out? How did it taste?
• Was the recipe easy to follow?

Be honest when discussing the recipes you tried- if you didn’t like it then explain why.

Okay now that you know what this is all about are you interested in participating? If you answered yes then please email me with your 5 vegan/vegetarian cookbook picks to lindsay@cookingforaveganlover.com by January 8, 2011 put “Cookbook Club” in the subject line. I will then tally up the votes for the cookbooks to decide which cookbooks we will be reviewing.  I will email participants as well as post the list to Cook.Vegan.Lover. with the start date, end date and post by date.
*You must participating in the current month book review 1 week prior to the start date. Also you do not have to participate every month.