This is a collection of the 120 most popular recipes from the first two years of posts to my Valley Vegetarian blog. There’s nothing fancy here, just plain good home style cooking that appeals to everyone without regard to specific diet. The recipes tend toward comfort food with a taste of Ojai. Many have been published in the Ojai Valley News under the header Chef Randy.All recipes are vegetarian, of course, but what omnivore doesn’t like a good side dish of Idaho Potatoes, a hearty main dish of Nutty Meatloaf or Vegetarian Meatballs?Although all of these recipes are healthy, I find the term healthy to be subjective. Instead of focusing on nutrition I focus on fresh, fun and tasty recipes leaving the determination of relative health to you. With a little imagination many of the recipes can be modified to meet your specific needs.The Baked Potato Soup, for example, calls for whole milk but it can be made with 1% milk and still be good. Not as tasty as if made with whole milk but still good and healthy. If you are vegan, substitute olive oil for butter in the Guinness Potato Salad, use vegan egg substitute in the Spicy Apple Cake and leave the bleu cheese out of the California Dreamin’ Burger.So what is different in this second edition? There is a new cover with a color photo of one my most requested recipes, Egg and Gruyère Strata. Look for it as bonus recipe number 121. In addition to a new cover, food photos have been added to each chapter page.
