I need some recommendations for a gift for my brother-in-law.  :)  I think he would enjoy a book about vegetable gardening or a cookbook for vegetables. He has had a vegetable garden for two summers, and he loves cooking what he has grown.  He also likes to make soups and stews. He can prepare soup on the weekend and have food for several days. He works so many hours he doesn't have time to cook every night, but he really likes to cook.  I'd love to find something that maybe combines ideas for veggie gardening with recipes for using what you've grown.  Any ideas will be greatly appreciated -- Christmas is gonna be here before I'm ready!  :)

Don't know if anyone is watching this topic, but I did lots of searching and finally ordered a copy of Serving Up the Harvest: Celebrating the Goodness of Fresh Vegetables by Andrea Chesman (this is an Amazon link, because there's so much more info there).  Judging by the descriptions, reviews and the "Look Inside" feature, it covers all the bases I was hoping for.  The veggies are organized by growing season, and a look through the index shows that each veggie's section includes hints on things like growing, storing, cooking times, cooking notes, history, and medicinal properties, as well as recipes.  At 512 pages, I should think it would be a fantastic reference book as well as a pretty serious cookbook (175 recipes).  The soup and stew sections in the index are a bit small, so once I receive it and have a chance to look through it, I may end up getting a soup and stew book as well (maybe birthday...).  But I'm thinking this ought to be a great start.  Looks like it would be great for CSA's, home gardeners, and farmer's market shoppers.  After looking through it, I may have to get copies for myself and my sister, too!  I'll post again if it turns out to be a disappointment.  :)

Take a look at "The Edible Garden' by Sunset publishing.