366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains

I have had 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grain about a year and have tried many of the recipes. Quite a few of them have been disappointing (some of them are SO bland), though there have been some keepers as well. Most of the recipes aren't too complicated, and many of them can be made with ingredients that are easy to find. For some of the recipes you might have to make a trip to a health store (for quinoa, amaranth, wheat berries, cranberry beans, etc). Having an herb garden is a plus if you buy this cookbook, as a fair number of the recipes call for fresh herbs.The first chapter has useful information on choosing, storing, and cooking just about every kind of rice, bean, and grain out there. The second chapter is on Dips, Spreads, Starters, and Snacks and includes recipes for hummus, bean dips, etc. The third chapter is on soups (barley/vegetable soups, bean soups, lentil soups, stocks, etc.). The fourth chapter is on salads that tend to feature just beans or beans with grains. The fifth chapter is Risottos, Rice Pilafs, and More. The sixth chapter is Beans, Beans, Beans, and the seventh chapter is Pasta e Fagioli (pasta with beans). The eighth chapter is Great Grains, and the ninth chapter is The Marriage of Rice and Beans, Beans and Grains. The tenth chapter is on breakfast (funky pancake recipes, porridges, granola, etc.). The eleventh chapter is on muffins, biscuits, and breads, and the final chapter is on dessert. Here's what I've tried and what I thought:Didn't like:Herbed White Bean Spread (for vegetables, crackers, bread, mayo substitute, etc.)Roasted Garlic, Red Pepper, and White Bean Spread (for crackers, bread, vegetables)Black Bean Soup with Indian SpicesCurried Red Lentil SoupMediterranean White Bean and Vegetable Soup with FennelSouthwestern Rice and Bean SaladBlack Bean Salad with Goat CheeseFrench Lentil Salad with Lemon-Garlic VinaigretteSpanakorizzoBlack Bean--Sweet Potato Cakes (these were a disaster)Curried Spinach with Chickpeas (this supposedly "rich-tasting" curry is horribly bland)French Country White BeansLebanese Navy Beans with Tomatoes and OnionChili MacQuick Louisiana Red Beans and RiceBasic Bean BurgersTasted okay, but not good enough to make again:Black Bean Roll-Ups (black beans, chipotle en adobo, salsa, tortillas, cilantro)Black Bean and Goat Cheese QuesadillasSmoky Black Bean and Tomato SoupButternut Squash Soup with Black Beans and CilantroSpinach-Bean SoupGingered Red Lentil Soup with Sweet PotatoesTabouli (I generally am a fan of tabouli but was not a big fan of her recipe)Summertime Black-eyed Pea SaladWhite Bean Salad with Sun-dried TomatoesRefried Black BeansCurried Cauliflower and Chickpeas with TomatoFalafel (I like other falafel recipes much better than hers)Syrian Lentils in a Spicy Tomato SauceMexican Vegetable Saute with Pink BeansCowboy Frijoles15-Minute Barbecued BeansCouscous and Roasted Vegetables (I substituted quinoa for the couscous)Slow-Cooked Louisiana Red Beans and RiceLiked quite a bit:Fresh Tomato-Rice SoupSplit Pea SoupRoasted Red Pepper and White Bean SoupCouscous and Black Bean Salad (I substituted quinoa for the couscous)Lemony Couscous Salad with Chickpeas and Feta (I substituted quinoa for the couscous)Quinoa TabouliBlack Bean Salad with Chipotle-Honey VinaigretteTropical Bean SaladMexican Black BeansKidney Bean and Sweet Potato StewSpicy Slow-Cooked Barbecued BeansRefried Pinto BeansPinto or Black Bean Chili-Cheese BurritosQuick Cannelini and Broccoli RagoutBlack Beans and White RiceGarlic-roasted Soy NutsBreakfast Black Bean and Egg Burritos

I have lots of cookbooks, but this is my everyday source. It's not overly dependent on cheese and other fatty ingredients, and yet Ms. Chesman doesn't shy away from them. Same with unusual ingredients--I can find quite a few recipes to choose from based on my pantry, but there's plenty of inspirational cooking here. All the recipes are simple, and use simple, healthy ingredients and every single one I've tried has turned out wonderfully. Mostly vegetarian, the few recipes that recommend meat ingredients offer vegetarian alternatives. I was looking for a cookbook like this for a long time and was so pleased when I started cooking from it and realized I'd found exactly what I was after!*Update 8/17/13*I wanted to add to this review because I continue to be so impressed with this cookbook. I'm not sure it shows up in searches for "vegetarian" or "vegan" cookbooks, which is really too bad. So many of the reviews for the newest vegan cookbooks complain about all the meat analogs, and the reviewers say they were looking for "real food." I want to recommend this book to all of those people. Personally, I like to change things up with seitan or tempeh or even frozen "veggie ground" every once in a while. But 366 Delicious Ways has none of that. There are exactly two recipes that call for tofu, and they're Asian dishes. Everything else is beans, grains, vegetables, and the occasional dairy or egg.Some of my favorite dishes: Pizza-flavored Popcorn, Black Bean Salad with Goat Cheese, Vegetarian Paella (flavorful, and not at all greasy like some others I've tried), Syrian Lentils in a Spicy Tomato Sauce (like so many of these dishes, the ingredient list seems incredibly simple, but the flavor is outstanding), Dried Lima Bean Gratin (this has the creamy decadence of a great mac and cheese, but with beans and far less cheese - I make a white sauce instead of the can of evaporated milk called for), and Maple Baked Beans.

This was a used book as advertised and it arrived as expected in the condition described. We are pleased with the purchase.

In China, a popular greeting replacing "How are you?" is "Have you had your rice today?". The Chinese word for rice is the same as the word for food. In Thailand when you call your family to dinner you say, "Eat rice"; and in Japan the word for cooked rice is the same as the word for meal. Parents tell young Chinese girls who leave rice in their bowls that each grain of rice they leave represents a pock mark on the face of their future husbands. There are perhaps as many as 40,000 varieties of rice grown on every continent, except Antartica.You will learn about many of these varieties of rice in the beginning chapters of this book, and you'll even learn how to make your own easy mixes. Combined with beans, rice dishes offer a perfect protein, without the saturated fat complementing our meat dishes. Rice is high in complex carbohydrates, contains almost no fat, is cholesterol free, and is low in salt.On top of all the wonderful rice dishes found inside the cover of this beautiful book, you'll enjoy a wide variety of bean and grain recipes. This book is a must for any flexitarian, vegetarian, or vegan . . . and for anyone who wants to achieve a better diet. The recipes are easy to make, can be prepared ahead, and are delicious!If the only rice in your pantry is Minute Rice, you are missing out . . . on flavor, nutrition, and eating pleasure. Expand your palate and buy this book! You and your health will be all the better for it.Lynette Fleming, Coauthor of  Lunch Buddies : Buddy Up for a Better Diet

Printed on cheap paper, no illustrations, photos or artwork so you have no idea what you are making. Very boring book.

I bought this book because it said in the product description that it had recipes for quinoa and other grains. I really wanted some quinoa recipes but there are only 3-4 recipes for quinoa and amaranth. A lot of the recipes are very similar were ingredients are concerned so the author has really tried to eke the recipes out to have 366 recipes, most recipes have black beans and salsa in them.The author is American and she loves cornbread there are so many recipes for cornbread and similar corn based items, I just want to say if you haven't tried cornbread trust me you haven't missed a thing. Most of the bean recipes are for burrito and chili type meals. Also the portion sizes are again American portion sizes and we all know how slim they are in the US.I have got some American cookbooks and there are a few that are good, this is not one of them.

Great book for all manner cooking , this book gets you out your everyday blah cooking, particuarly liked the marmalede corn muffins , something I didnt ever think that the kids would like , big hit!

my go to book for rice, grains, and legumesWill look for another of her books !

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