Forest Feast is a vegetarian cookbook series known for its beautiful photography and fresh, uncomplicated recipes that are perfect for the summer. This one is centered around a California road trip, which was frankly over-the-top but still undeniably beautiful. So if you like reading travel books, that’s a bonus to this one, but I skipped straight to the recipes.
My favorite this time was Root Vegetable Nachos, which used a base of roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes instead of tortilla chips. (If you don’t generally use parsnips, you’re missing out. See also: the parsnip fries with Hatch chile sauce in Lukas Volger’s recent Snacks for Dinner.) In a similar vein, try the Spaghetti Squash Taquitos—corn tortillas with a filling of spaghetti squash, refried beans, and cheese, topped with salsa, avocado, and sour cream—or the Walnut Enchiladas filled with walnuts, mushrooms, onion, and black beans.
The author Erin Gleeson is also a toppings genius:
- Tomato Salad with Pistachio Gremolata (pistachios, cilantro, lemon, and garlic)
- Roasted Carrots with Mint Caper Tapenade (mint, capers, and walnuts)
- Breakfast Burritos with Apricot Salsa (or in Nashville, Peach Truck peach salsa)
We also tried two delicious drinks—the Orange Frappé and the Pineapple Swirl. The frappé was just two oranges and ten ice cubes in a blender, but somehow it transformed into a thick, luxurious slushie. The swirl was frozen bananas, frozen pineapple, and coconut milk, which amounted to a milkshake greater than the sum of its parts.
And finally, don’t forget to try the Date-Almond Sundaes to use that leftover mint you got for the carrots.
