Cozy Cookbook Review: Tenderheart

Tenderheart is one of those cookbooks that grabs your attention from the second you see the cover, so I was super excited to grab this one from the library. I had to wait a while on the hold list to get it, so I know it’s popular. I will warn you that the rating may not be totally fair for this cookbook because I made a huge mistake when cooking the first dish, but I’ll get into that later on in this Tenderheart cookbook review. 

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Background of the Book & Author

Hetty Lui McKinnon is from Sydney, Australia, and kicked off her cooking adventure by sharing her salads with fans. It led to her first book, Community. Her career and fanbase just kept growing. Her vegetarian recipes have been featured in countless magazines, and Tenderheart is now her 5th cookbook. She continues to share her recipes on her Substack called To Vegetables, With Love, which I instantly subscribed to. 

Tenderheart is a beautiful tribute to the author’s father. She sprinkles in stories and photos throughout the book. It organizes recipes by the main vegetable utilized. Each section includes main dishes and even desserts. The chapters include Asian greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, fennel, ginger, kale, mushrooms, peas, potato, pumpkin, seaweed, spinach, sweet potato, taro, tomato, turnip, and zucchini. In this Tenderheart cookbook review, we tried one recipe from three of the different vegetables.

What Grabbed My Attention

The cover instantly caught my eye. It’s a full smiley face made out of vegetables. I was happy that my first impressions were true and the book was packed with vegetarian recipes. Once I started flipping through, I was instantly drawn to the family photos and the stories about her father and family. It was a perfect reminder that food brings people together and can invoke so many memories. I love it when a book ties in something human and brings everything together. 

Overall Cookbook Rating

Ease of recipes – 5/10

Knowledge of methods & ingredients – 6/10

Fits the theme – 9/10

Taste overall of test recipes – 6/10

Quantity of recipes that generated excitement – 5/10

Overall rating – 6.2/10

Feedback from a lazy cook who hates a dish pile up and making dinner decisions:

This wasn’t a book that was easy to jump into after a busy day. There were a lot of ingredients needed in most recipes, and I didn’t have them in the pantry. I had to plan in advance and shop for specific recipes. There were quite a few dishes that piled up in the sink as well, but at least there were leftovers.

Feedback from an aspiring cook who wants to impress herself and learn how to do more:

This was a fun cookbook to learn from. I cooked with a brand-new (to me) vegetable, and others would’ve been new for me as well. I made a new dessert that I’ve never made myself at home, so it was fun experimenting. 

Recipes I Cooked from the Tenderheart Cookbook:

Dish 1 – Butternut Squash “Lasagna”

I have to admit, I just did not do this recipe justice. When I decided to make it for book club (we read this classic that I highly recommend reading as an adult), and we always keep everything vegan for the group. I have made a million lasagnas in my life, so I didn’t really thoroughly read the instructions. What did I do wrong, you’re wondering? I added noodles to the lasagna. It turns out that the intention was to use butternut squash to replace the noodles in a standard recipe. But I completely missed the paragraph introducing the recipe where the author says, “I’ve replaced the pasta sheets with thin slices of butternut squash.”

The vegan cheese was the other problem for me. I think a little nutritional yeast instead of parmesan is OK, but a recipe that calls for a lot of cheese is probably better off not being made for a vegan dinner. The ricotta cheese was so expensive, and the mozzarella wasn’t great. I’m not giving up on it, but I must keep testing different brands and amounts.

Changes made – Added noodles to a recipe that didn’t ask for any noodles.

Suggestions for next time – Definitely follow the recipe and stick to regular dairy cheese.

Dish 2 – Fennel and Black Pepper Ice Cream

I really wanted to include at least one dessert, so I made this one to bring along to book club with the lasagna. I was so skeptical about using fennel in ice cream, but once I took a little nibble, I realized that it’s oddly kind of sweet. I’m so curious now what other people’s favorite fennel recipes are because I’d love to try more. 

Changes made – Made this one vegan using her suggestions, which was great.

Suggestions for next time – No notes, this was wonderful!

Dish 3 – Carrot Peanut Satay Ramen

This dish was our absolute favorite. We love a peanut butter ramen recipe, and this one included more vegetables than we usually add. The carrots added a perfect extra flavor. Plus, I’ve never made a better soft-boiled egg than I did when I made this recipe. I need to cook with ginger more often. This will be in rotation for us, especially in the winter months. 

Changes made – None, shockingly.

Suggestions for next time – The vegan swap is to replace the eggs with tofu on top, and I think that would also be fantastic.

Lessons Learned

• Read the recipe. All of it.
• I had never used fennel in anything before and was really surprised when we smelled it and tasted it. 
• Many recipes in the book have veggie swaps, and I loved reading what she would use as alternates to help me get ideas of ways to use up vegetables that I have left over from other recipes.
• Each chapter opens with a page about the vegetable featured, and I loved it. She shared the origins of the veggie in cuisine and even a beautiful quote about each one. 
• I hate to admit it, but the TikTok food trend of olive oil on ice cream is damn good.
• At the end of the book, there’s a page about the Ching Ming festival and how food helps connect us with those we have lost. Remembering that celebrating the lives of those we love is incredibly important.
• Stick to vegan cookbooks for our next book club. Read our review of Best of Vegan, which would be perfect.

Who Should Buy This Cookbook

I would highly recommend this book as a gift to a friend who loves being in the kitchen and might be dabbling more in gardening. The photography is beautiful, and the recipes are unique but not so wild that the family won’t enjoy them. Anyone looking to incorporate specific vegetables into their diet would love how this book is organized. 

Get your copy here (or on Amazon here.)

Final Thoughts on Tenderheart

While I didn’t score the book that well, I want to give it another try in the future. It was my fault that the lasagna didn’t turn out. Other recipes in the book looked fantastic, I definitely want to try cauliflower and broccoli recipes next. I also loved how the book was organized. Let me know if you decide to try this book and which vegetable is your favorite to work through.