I got a fab new cookbook for Christmas: Whole Grains for a New Generation, by Liana Krissoff. This is the young woman who did such a great job with Canning for a New Generation, one of my absolutely favorite recipe books, for both recipes used for canning and recipes for using what gets canned (could that be a more awkward sentence--ha!). In the canning book she has a lovely sense of humor that I'm not seeing so much of in this one; however, if a person is looking for excellent recipes using whole grains, this is the book. The book is filled with beautiful colored photographs of the food. And excellent explanations about the grains and how to use them (who knew millet was the "filler" used in birdseed and can be cooked with cauliflower to make something that's better-tasting than mashed potatoes?). Do you know how to make almond milk--and better yet, what to do with it?

The recipes in this book are definitely "out there" and are not for the faint of heart. I would say they are also for those who are comfortable in the kitchen and who like spending time there--in other words, for those who like to cook. In my earlier life, I would have been attracted to but also put off by the recipes in this cookbook; however, I find that as other things in my life drop away, I feel a stronger pull towards spending a lot more time in the kitchen. I also have all the kitchen tools I need, which of course is a big help. For example, if she tells you to use a non-reactive saucepan for the spicy red-tomato chutney, then yes, you really need to use a non-reactive saucepan.

In a perfect world, I would have had a mother like Krissoff's. I love her stories of how these recipes came about, like the time she took her visiting family to a funky semi-vegetarian cafe in Louisville, Kentucky and they ordered a dish called "A Thousand and One Lentils." Krissoff writes: "I'm thankful that my mom had the foresight to take notes {typical of her mother, if you read the other recipes in this book and the canning book}. What follows is her rendition, made many times since the Kentucky days, and it may well be the most comforting, satisfying meal in this book"--1,001 Lentils and Brown Basmati Rice with Cucumber-Tomato Salad. Her mother (and grandmother) sounds like a gem, and they taught her well--and here she is, passing it all along to those of us whose mothers thought "cooking" was heating up a Swanson frozen pot pie. Thank you, Liana (and your mother and grandmother)! ( )