As a veggie myself I am always looking for new recipes and ideas to give a whirl, I found them here! For those who are part time, full time, or even just trying out vegetarianism this book is perfect!

I love cooking, and paging through a beautiful recipe book is a favourite hobby. It is not often that I am put off by the cover of a book, but the Part-time Vegetarian’s Year retro (I presume?) cover in garish colours, was so awful that I would not have picked the book up if I had not tried some of the author’s recipes before.. The bright pink and green background to some of the text pages did not help, nor did the textured backgrounds to the photographs (take away the background and the photos of produce and food were stunning) So it took some perseverance to ignore these factors and actually focus on the recipes.

The comment in the introduction “as a family we have become more mindful of what and how we eat” rang true for me, and, as a keen gardener and cook I focus on eating seasonally, so the fact that this collection of recipes is grouped seasonally appealed to me.

However, in my recipe testing, I have decided that whilst none of the recipes I tested were failures, they were ultimately disappointing; the Rejuvenating coconut and spinach broth was simple and easy to prepare and I would make it again. However, the Spinach, saag and paneer needed more spices to give it flavour. The Cauliflower risotto did not have a touch on the recipe by Dennis Cotter, and I’ve eaten much more interesting vegetarian burgers than the Crumb-coated mushroom burgers.

On a more positive note, all the ingredients are in both metric and imperial and clear preparation and cooking time are given for each recipe. Menu ideas such as spring lunch menu – green gazpacho, spring green and leek filo pie, new season potato salad- and a barbecue feast are interesting additions.

I like to cook more plant-based meals and try to entice my family of meat-eaters into trying them. These are a little less likely to work for us. Many ingredients will be difficult to find where I live, and the amounts don't look very family friendly.
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC to review, however!

I don't eat meat haven't since I was a child, and love looking for new recipes.I liked this book, it makes sense to eat seasonal food especially these days.We have a garden and grow vegetables and fruit and want to be more adventurous with what we plant.I want to try different vegetables that I haven't always been keen on, and needed new recipes to make them appeal to me more,and I got that from this book.So looking forward to being more flexible in what I try.Good book with some interesting recipes.

What I love about this book is its premise: Even though I am a full-time vegetarian, the Part-Time Vegetarian’s Cookbook has the idea we should all be striving for – focusing on fruits and vegetables and adding fish, meat or dairy once in a while, and instead of quantity focus on quality and where the animal products come from. It is exactly the way I try to explain it to others: If everyone was eating meat and dairy more consciously and less regularly (eg. once a week as recommended) a lot of problems around the meat and dairy industry would be solved.
So I think the approach is perfect: One recipe, two to three variations depending if you want to add dairy, eggs, fish or meat. It’s an inclusive book with lots of great ideas. My only caveat is that is could use a few more pictures with the dishes as that is would make some recipes more appealing and interesting. Some pictures are there, but it’s far from the majority of recipes and some photo pages don’t say which recipe they relate to. Otherwise, a perfect cookbook to have and come back to often.

This book contains some lovely photography and the recipe lay-out is clear and concise, complete with preparation and cooking times. Ingredients are mostly available in supermarkets nowadays (pak choi, halloumi, etc). Also, as someone who is genuinely a 'part-time vegetarian' the idea appealed to me and it was quite entertaining to see the 'token meat eater' addendum to each recipe in a little section at the bottom of the page, in the way that the vegetarian suggestions are so often displayed in other cook books. I also liked the book's arrangement by season and using ingredients that are available.

One thing that annoyed me was the portion size. I know it's in vogue to be rail thin, but honestly, my lot would be off to the chip shop within the hour if they were presented with some of the little meals shown in the pictures. Also, there was nothing sweet; no desserts.at all. The book would be best viewed as hard copy or on a large colour reader. The little black & white kindle doesn't do it justice.

So I might have been spoiled for life by recently reading Melissa Hemsley's Eat Green, in which I bookmarked nearly EVERY recipe to try out. I thought I would like this one a lot more than I did. None of the recipes really stood out that much, and I didn't bookmark a single one.

While I really love the idea of a Flexitarian cookbook, after reading one I'm not actually sure if I see the point. I think I would have preferred it to either be vegetarian and vegan, or not. I also think if you're vegan, or looking to eat more of a vegan diet, this cookbook might not be for you. Some recipes include a quantity of animal products, and while substitutes are suggested, you'd almost be making something completely different by the time the recipe was done.

As someone who is trying to eat more vegetarian meals, this book was perfectly timed for me and I have found many meal ideas from it. The instructions and clear and the book is well crafted and gives a good variety of meal options

This cookbook was perfect for me and my partner, he is flexitarian whilst I'm a meat eater (trying to cut down). The recipes were perfect for any preference as there is a "part-time variation" for every recipe.
I also loved that it was split into seasons and made use of the seasonal veg.
I've already recommended it to others as its easy to do and follow.
Note: not the best on kindle and could not download pdf.

I am not Vegan or Vegetarian, but very interested in reducing meat in my diet.
I also have a Flexi friend that we try take it in turns to cook for each other when not in lockdown!

The concept of this book is fantastic. All recipes are Vegetarian or Vegan, at the end of the recipe there is an offer of a Part-Time (Flexitarian) variation ie, replace tofu with beef and how to cook it. The idea behind this was so that anyone having a dinner party can make for both parties, (Although personally I would probably cook only veggie if making veggie for at least one person) It does mean I can use it as an everyday recipe book using the Part-Time Variations when I do want to have meat.

The next very interesting feature of the book is that it is divided into seasons. Meaning the recipes use seasonal fruit and veg to make sure you are cooking with the best flavours which I think is fantastic! This would also make me more confident with picking up seasonal Veg which I have not used before or don't have a recipe in mind - but know there would be a few recipes in the book in the Summer section.

I highly recommend reading the start of the book before delving straight into any recipes. I NEVER read the start of a recipe book but this one has changed it for me. I learned so much about the book before even looking at the recipes and it gave me a better understanding of how it works, and why the book was written which really helps you use the recipes.

The Recipes! Having looked at most the recipes I would say I have the majority of the store cupboard ingredients already which is a massive perk for me, I hate a recipe book that uses random ingredients that are not realistic to buy locally. Next on my list is the red onion tarte tatin and the Spiced leek flatbread with mint raita, but to be honest it is hard to choose, the book is full of amazing looking recipes,

It must be incredibly hard to come up with new recipes when everyone seems to have tried every combination under the sun. And yet Nicola Graimes seems to have found some unique dishes. And on top of that, she's not only divided them into handy seasons but also given us variations to add meat or fish, or turn them vegan. This book is suitable for everyone!

So this book ticks two boxes. Eat less meat - she recommends high welfare meat infrequently, with the meat playing second fiddle to the vegetables, and eat seasonally. There are handy lists at the beginning of each season, showing us which vege are in season and are at their peak.

The photography is beautiful. So beautiful I wish every recipe had an accompanying illustration. I personally like an idea of what to aim for when I try a new recipe. These photographs are aspirational and I feel less inclined to try the ones that aren't pictured.

I've got a short-list of dishes I want to make, in the Spring / Summer section: broad bean humous with artichokes; Roti with spinach saag and paneer (did I mention there are some interesting recipes from around the world?); Broccoli, lemon crumb and crispy capers (who knew you could make capers crispy?); Harissa-roasted new potatoes and Aubergine pide. And when I've run out of summer recipes I imagine the nights will be drawing in and there will be a whole new chapter to explore.

I expected to like this cookbook a lot as I'm a part time vegetarian cook (I cook for family members who are vegetarian, omnivore, gluten free and other dietary restrictions and I try to eat mostly plant based foods myself) and I definitely cook seasonally. But I was just repeatedly disappointed by this book.

First off, this is not a budget cookbook or designed for family weeknight meals. There are so many specialty ingredients... cavolo nero, harissa paste, baharat spice mix, kaffir lime leaves, birds eye chilies, lemongrass, chickpea flour, nigella seeds, black rice, red carmargue rice, dulse flakes, shichimi togarashi and many more. Yes, I have some of those in my cabinets but I don't even know what some of them are and certainly can't get them easily in rural Minnesota.

Secondly, the foods didn't sound very appealing to me. It just seemed pretentious and not like foods I'd really want to eat... Example dishes: Roasted spiced tofu with corn chaat, baked halloumi with red mojo sauce, Thai aubergines with sunflower seed raita, courgette kaftas in vine tomato sauce...

Also, it's not a great fit if you want to be a part time vegan as there are a lot of animal products used here. For instance, the beetroot tarts with goat cheese and dukkah have five animal products (honey, egg, goat cheese, "all butter puff pastry" and creme fraiche). Some recipes have vegan options like substitute vegan cheese, but it's still going to be a lot of substituting. Likewise, many of the recipes have gluten and will be hard to substitute. While most cookbooks these days tell you at the top if they are gluten free, vegan, etc., this one does not.

There is also no nutritional information, which is a major gripe of mine for any cookbook.

I had to make myself finish reading this book for review purposes, but if I'd have picked it up from the library I would have stopped reading early on. It just wasn't a good fit at all.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

Stunning cookbook with beautiful pictures and lovely recipes. They are the kind of recipes I look at and think "that's how I should be cooking!" (though often I fall short - maybe this book will give me some inspiration). I always appreciate when measurements are in both metric and imperial, which these are.

Some amazing simple yet effective recipes in here. I especially love how she makes suggestions for how to add meat to any of the vegetarian dishes, giving you the option to mix things up a bit.

Nicola Graimes's seasonal vegetable-based cookbook provides plenty of inspiration for those looking to change up their cooking with the seasons. I appreciate chefs and author's who think about the seasonality of recipes and how they fit into a home cooks meal planning. Nicola has a good sense of what is a whole meal and has given me lots of ideas for cooking in the future.

This review is based on NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

A lovely book, with some very appealing recipes. This exactly fits the kind of food my family like to eat - a fair bit of vegetarian, but not completely so, and we really like to experiment with our meals, so the combinations and flavourings used in this book really appealed. I liked the way the recipes were written and the 'part-time' options included for some.

The recipes are the best bit of this book - the ones we have tried so far were great and I'm excited to try more soon. However, I wasn't as keen on the way the book was set up. There weren't pictures for every recipe and I do like to see what I'm going to cook and the choice of background on, for instance, the season title pages wasn't appealing to me.

All in all, a book I will be using a lot. Recommended.

As someone who is trying to cut back on meat in their diet this is a great cookbook. Most of the recipes are vegetarian options, but as a variation for some of them they include meat as an option.
I’ve tried 3 recipes which all turned out amazing, I am sure this book will help me cut back on meat even more.

I've got the first Part-Time Vegetarians cookbook and was super intrigued for this one - I love cookbooks that separate recipes into seasonal stuff. I also loved the seasonal vegetables section for each season and 'menu ideas'. Some fabulous recipes in here - can't wait for lockdown to ease more and try them!

Let me start off by making this clear: I am by no means any form of vegetarian. However, I would love to have more vegetables in my diet and hoped this book may be able to help. Which it didn't quite as much as I'd hoped.

One of my favourite parts of the book were the sections at the beginning of each chapter giving you a list of all the vegetables in season. I've always wondered this!
Also, the recipes are very flexible, with options also for meat eaters and vegans.

My main issue with this is the absolute lack of pictures. I would say maybe 1 in 4 recipes at best had a photo. If you're gonna attempt to make me eat vegetables, they need to look bloomin appetising. If I can't see them, then there's no way you're going to get me anywhere near something involving "sweetcorn polenta" 😬
You've also got the opposite problem, in that some of the pictures that were included did not make the food look particularly appealing. I'm still scarred by the photo of "beetroot spaghetti" - surely it should be banned for pasta to be such an alarming colour! 😟

Another problem with this book is that unless you live in the city (or in a particular country), you may well struggle to get a fair amount of ingredients. So this isn't a cookbook necessarily for your average Joe.

Finally, where are the desserts?! 😭

Sorry that this one just wasn't for me, because I really did want to like it.

Not a book that will jump off the shelves with its rather unappealing cover. More importantly though if the book is meant to tempt meat eaters to have a go a vegetarian cuisine there really needs to be pictures for most of the recipes. I found it quite bizarre that there were colourful carefully staged pages (for example at the beginning of each section) yet only some of the recipes had pictures. For me I would have rather had smaller less staged pictures and maybe a couple of recipes sharing a picture page just so I could see what it is supposed to look like and if it would tempt me. Some recipes were over fussy too, but this is probably going to appeal to a large section of foodies. Overall the good thing was the amount of information provided and the instructions for flexibility. The different measurement scales were also very useful, and I appreciate that a lot of work has gone into finding recipes that work very well with or without meat. So if the author manages to tempt some meat eaters into at least part time vegetarianism then she will have done a good job. It may also encourage people to look at other recipes they have and think about adapting them either way