All I Think About Is Food: A Vegetarian Cookbook That’ll Keep the Party Going

Hart (I’ve Got This Round), a self-professed “foodie [and] vegetarian cutie,” offers a kitschy collection of elaborate vegetarian recipes. Chapters are organized around menus, many of them styled after restaurant meals, including a “steak house” selection of artichokes Rockefeller and charred cauliflower “steaks.” Some concepts work better than others: a grouping of “tapas” from the American South (boiled peanuts; raw broccoli spring rolls) feels unfocused, but Mexican-inspired meals including gigante beans simmered in beer, and root vegetables al pastor are clever. While Hart eschews fake meat products, she does frequently manipulate vegetables to mimic carnivorous dishes: a menu of aphrodisiacs calls for freezing spheres of juice from canned lychees mixed with vodka to mimic oysters, while canned hearts of palm transform into ersatz scallops and calamari. Each chapter ends with a recipe for using up leftovers, including a pasta quiche after an Italian feast. Many are also positioned as hangover cures, which makes sense given the many boozy cocktail recipes on offer, including a banana daiquiri with a chocolate shell and a cherries jubilee martini. Though not every dish is a home run, Hart proves a welcoming and entertaining hostess. (Apr.)