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After reading Jenny Marie’s cook-a-long monthly challenge, I thought it would be fun to share some posts reviewing the book as well. If you have a blog with a review (specifically of the recipes), leave a comment and I will add you to the list.

Kittens Gone Lentil

This month I reviewed The Great Vegan Grains Book. I got it for Christmas this year, and I have been wanting this book for quite sometime. I wanted to know more about various different grains, and get more comfortable cooking with them in the kitchen. So let’s jump into the review!

Photos

Not every recipe has a photograph and that is okay. There is enough to sustain interest, all are beautiful and very inviting. They do a great job making the photos different enough from each other, especially when many of the dishes are pilafs, grain salads, etc. Almost all are in bowls, you know? They also make sure they take photos of dishes that need a photo- like polentas, balls, etc so that the reader understand what the dish is and should look like to prevent confusion.

Set-up

This has the classic layout of modern cookbooks, a short introduction then the recipes with some random staples in the back. The staples in the back were favorites from other cookbooks from the authors. I didn’t make any of these, but they looked good. The different recipe categories are Eye-Opening Grains (Breakfast), Grains Mains for All Appetites (Entrees), Super Side It with Grains (Side Dishes), and finally Great Grains Soups and Salads (Soups and Salads.)

Some of the recipes I felt like they could of bounced in and out of the various categories. I guess maybe the “side dishes” were best described as dishes you would serve with something else, not putting into a box of “grains” “vegetable” or “protein” category.

Writing

The writing style was good, but not particularly interesting. Oof… that sounds so much harsher than what I intend it to. I think the focus of the writers are the recipes, not on their writing style. And I think that is fine and good especially since people usually just go ahead and cook.

BUT…. I have a major complaint, think this book needs more writing! Simply put I remember seeing in Susan’s review that she didn’t seem to know (at the time) what einkorn was. Well, I feel like the authors could of done something better to try and make it more clear what each grain was. I get that if you don’t read the beginning it doesn’t make too much of a difference, but I have some ideas of how to make the differences more apparent. I think pointing out these differences are super important. Especially with corn. Yup, the authors don’t know much about corn, cause they give a recipe for grits, and it isn’t definitely not grits. Pretty much grits are of a finer consistency, and they are made from hominy (lime-treated corn) making it easier to digest. Although it is a subtle difference, I think it should be noted- especially since there are so many different wheat products listed in this book. No distinction of all the different rice varieties either, which there are many that can confuse a newbie.

Overview

Lately I feel like I’ve been slamming recipe books. So I will start with the good part about this book- the recipes rock! For a book about whole grains, these recipes are really simple and easy to make. At first I scoffed at the recipes as they called for already cooked grains most of the time, but I find that it made the dinners faster to cook. Just cook the grain over the weekend and freeze, or cook in the morning before work, storing it in the fridge. Then it is all super fast cooking for dinner. With the exception of the Berbere Kamut, I think everything was pretty easy, and not too time consuming. I think the authors REALLY got creative on ways to use up grains, and they were really thoughtful about cultural appropriation but still having a wide range of different ethnic foods to feature. I wasn’t wowed by the first recipe- the chickpea curry millet, but everything else has been great in the flavor department. I can see why Tamasin Noyes and Celine Steen have so many books under their belt.

But I have to be truthful- I am VERY disappointed with this book. One, as mentioned, is that there is too much wheat in this book. I have nothing against wheat. I think it can be great. But half of the recipes I made use wheat, and boy did I gravitate to those recipes. I had to really try and seek the non-wheat recipes. Part of the reason why I picked up this book is that I wanted to variate my grains, and in western society, wheat is the most common option. I am also sure that MANY people are trying to do gluten free by picking up this book, and this quickly narrow down the options.

My second biggest complaint is because of the title. If you are naming your book the “great grains book” I expect it to be BIGGER! If the book was just “The Vegan Whole Grains Cookbook” I would of been fine, but “GREAT grains BOOK” it implies a massive selection, and the lacking of “cook” from “book” suggests there will be lots of information. I know this seems a little critical, but I think this is what I wanted and expected in this cookbook, and it clearly fell short. Maybe I am a little nerdy and outdated with cookbook expectations, but I feel like they have completely stopped providing detailed information. If I did this cookbook I would of divided it by grain, giving instructions on how plainly cook the grain, provide information of the different variations, and give a few recipes. Then maybe there would be a chapter at the end with “mixed grain” recipes. Would some chapters be longer than others? Yeah, and that would be fine.

So did this book live up to my expectations? Mostly nope. I am a little bit more comfortable in the kitchen with certain grains, mostly wheat groats. Not so much the other stuff. Oh well. But I am still very happy to have this book because the recipes ARE good. And there are more recipes I want to try out in the future. I wouldn’t want to pay the retail suggested price of $23, but the lower Amazon and Barnes and Noble for $12-17 seems to be a perfect price in my opinion. So I recommend this book, just don’t expect an encyclopedia like I did.

Recipes

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Jenny Marie is trying to challenge herself to start using her cookbooks more. I don’t have this issue (at least at the moment) as I am use to cooking hearty meal every, fucking, day. I am sure one day I’ll have a melt down and force my family to eat steam veggies and butter pasta for two months straight. But for now, I thought I would try my best to follow along when I can.

For the month of February she wanted to cook from Isa Does It. I already reviewed this book, and I’ve cooked A LOT from it. So I thought, why not do a cookbook update? I’ll review the recipes I’ve tried since the post, and try and cook a few more recipes. Remember, these are just recipe reviews, if you want the whole overview- check out my review.

And as I’ve been doing this year with my cookbook reviews, here are some other recipe reviews of this cookbook. If you have a blog post about recipe reviews, comment and I’ll add it to the site.

Becca Does ItCook Easy Vegan – Herbivore’s Heaven Part 1 Part 2 Part 3Kittens Gone LentilMy Apologies for the NovelVeganopoulousA Woman in Real Life

Bhindi Masala with Black-Eyed Peas
Section: Stews, Chilis, & Curries
I’ve made quite a few okra curries, mostly because it is a crop that does well at my CSA and I hate eating it any other way. I was trying to see if it could switch it up with this recipe, and it was a little disappointing. It is super tomato heavy, which gives a nice burst of flavor and acidity. I am not a huge fan of the black eyed peas, as it makes the dish feel like it is in limbo between some sort of southern dish and indian food.

Overall the dish is palatable, and I think could surprise anyone who doesn’t really like okra. It removes most of the slim, and is very flavorful. BUT I think there are better okra dishes to introduce people to.


Cast-Iron Stir-fry with Avocado, Basil & Peanuts
Section: Stir-Fries & Sautees
This was one of the dishes I was able to make this month. I figured it was something new from the book, and figured why not? Naturally there is a wrinkle in recipe, I didn’t have a cast-iron skillet. I just used my wok, I can’t imagine it making THAT much of a difference. Used the suggestion times saute times, followed the recipe pretty much to a T.

The results were pretty yummy, though nothing life changing. I make a lot of stir-fries, and this one didn’t offer any unique flavors, but was still great. It was easy to follow, fairly cheap ingredients, and pretty fast once you get everything prepped. I think the unique part of this recipe is that she tops the stir-fry with fresh avocado, which my husband liked. Even though it wasn’t unique, it is a solid stir-fry recipe.

Chana Masala
Section: Stews, Chilis, & Curries
Recipes: Isa Chanda.com
This is one of my summer favorites. When my CSA is producing tons of tomatoes, it isn’t a big deal to use up three pounds of tomatoes in one dish. In my area, that many tomatoes can cost $9 overall or $12 organic. It isn’t the worst amount of money when you consider that it makes 4 servings, etc, etc. But when your cheap like me, it is a big deal. Wait? I’ve gone horribly off track.

So I guess my whole point about the tomatoes, is that using fresh results in a very different Chana Masala than using canned tomatoes. If you used canned tomatoes, which you totally can, I find that you get two totally different dishes. Canned results in a sweet dish, and fresh results in a much more acidic dish. I like how Isa does have two different chickpea curry dishes in her book, showing the difference.

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
Section: Desserts
I didn’t use white chocolate chips for this. Too expensive, and too hard to find. But I was really happy with the end results. I love the texture and chewiness of the cookies. It has been awhile I’ve gotten such great results. I am not 100% sold on the ginger chocolate combo. I know Wolfie wasn’t a fan- though it didn’t stop him for asking for more, as if each bite would taste different. I think I will try this without the ginger, as the texture and bake of the cookies were too perfect.

Creamy Potato-Leek Soup
Section: Soups
My husband was super proud of himself for picking the recipe, and I wasn’t impressed. I mean, it wasn’t bad. Maybe I just don’t care about potato leek soup? Both are boring ingredients, and one is expensive (the leeks) I think we made it in part because we got leeks from our CSA. Who knows. It also felt like a whole lot of work for very little return. Again, not bad, just not worth it…? Maybe that’s the best summary.

Curried Peanut Sauce Bowl with Tofu & Kale
Section: Bowls (& a Few Plates)
Recipe: Veg Kitchen
I am not sure why I find bowls so intimidating. Maybe I am afraid of all the dishes at the end? Or something. This one was pretty easy to put together. Not too many dishes, nothing was particularly hard to do. So I finally tackled it, and had mixed feelings.

The sauce was clearly the star of the show. It really made the dish. Everything else was just so-so, which kind-of made me not fall in love with the dish. Would I make this again? Possibly. I might just feel free to add a little more personality for the other components of the dish.

Edamame Hummus & Tofu Wraps
Section: Handhelds
This is a super easy meal to put together. Just wiz together the edamame hummus, and grill the tofu. The wrap all up. I liked how fast these were to make, in fact they could be faster if you use prepared pressed tofu. We ate them for dinner, but I used the leftovers for lunch. I liked how “flexible” the veggies are, making it easy to modify for the different seasons. I’ve made it a few times now.

Eggplant & Bread Crumb Fettuccine
Section: Pasta & Risotto
This is another Jon picked recipe, that he was really proud about. I remember it clearly, I asked him to pick a recipe and listed some of the produce from our CSA we had to use up, eggplant was one. And this was a winner despite my skepticism. This was really easy to make and put together. One of those “30-minute” type of meals. If I were to guess, this was Isa’s answer to a breaded eggplant parm-pasta. It tasted great, but a pretty basic flavor overall (I mean eggplant doesn’t have a HUGE flavor).

Everyday Pad Thai
Section: Stir-Fries & Sautees
Recipe: Isa Chandra.com
I avoided this recipe for the longest time. I remember making Brooklyn Pad Thai from Vegan With A Vengence and hating it. In my defense, I had many peanut heavy pad thais, and therefore, wasn’t what I was expecting. Finally I bit the bullet and made this one, and I can safely say it is one of tried and true go-to recipes.

Most ingredients are cheap and shelf stable. I get extra pre-pressed tofu and rice noodles from my local H-Mart since they are extra cheap there. The main veggie in this dish is broccoli, and that is super cheap. It is pretty easy to prep, and super salty and tangy. The best. But I do recommend having an open mind when trying this, most American restaurants have a peanut forward Pad Thai, and that isn’t really what they are like.

Gardeny Shiitake & Chard Fusilli
Section: Pasta & Risotto
This seemed like an easy meal to quickly make, and I had chard to use up. I liked the choice of pasta because the noodles were able to cling to the sauce and veggies pretty well. As mentioned it has an earthy taste, and definitely not a dish to eat if you aren’t a mushroom fan. But I liked everything pretty well, and will probably make it again.

Goddess Noodles
Section: Pasta & Risotto
I am starting to get the feeling that there is a lot of broccoli in this book. Or maybe I’ve been avoiding making broccoli for years and only now decided to try out these recipes? Or maybe it is just that 2017 was a great year for broccoli at my CSA and I actually needed recipes to use it up.

This is a super easy recipe. It was quick to make, and I can’t remember if I used whole wheat linguini or regular spaghetti. It seems obvious that I would like this since it uses some of my favorite foods- broccoli, tempeh, and tahini. My husband thought the dish was so-so. Neither tahini or tempeh are his thing.

Lentil-A-Roni
Section: Pasta & Risotto
This is another fan favorite in the book. I made this and was pretty happy with it. This is one of those recipes that I never think about making, but whenever I do I am pretty happy with it. Funny thing is that I can’t remember why I even bother making it? And why I never think about making it again? Maybe because I never had meals like this before? Who knows. It is a very agreeable dish that almost anyone would love.

Omaha Yakisoba with Red Cabbage & Corn
Section: Stir-Fries & Sautees
I was hesitant to make this recipe since I remember making yakisoba spaghetti squash and not being very impressed. The recipe seemed so simple I was afraid I would be disappointed. The recipe had the opposite effect- it was awesome!

All ingredients are pretty cheap, which makes it easy to justify buying the more expensive frozen or fresh udon noodles. This really make the dish go from good to great. I made this dish towards the end of 2017, so I think when corn is fresh I will be making it more this summer.

Puffy Pillow Pancakes
Section: Breakfast, Brunch, & Bakes for the Morning
Recipe: Isa Chandra.com
Jon wanted to get Gavin on the breakfast bandwagon. He didn’t want to have a kid who wouldn’t like pancakes and french toast. So he was happy to try out this recipe. He liked how detailed the instructions were, which resulted in some pretty awesome pancakes. It is our go to recipe, and some of the other recipes we tried have been good, but not nearly as perfect as these.

Pureed Split Pea & Rutabaga Soup
Section: Soups
I got a few rutabagas from my CSA and although I love the taste, I am never too sure what to do with them. So they’ve been sitting in my fridge forever. I finally saw that this soup used rutabaga and I like split pea soup, so I figured why not? Well, I ran into some problems. One is that I ran out of rutabaga. Some went bad before making, so I had to use some mystery root that was leftover from my CSA (turnip? or radish?) The second problem is that I was out of rosemary, so I used tarragon instead.

The soup was pretty easy to make, and the photo in the book does a great job of making the worlds ugliest soup look awesome. But I am not sure if I like the whole flavor of star of anise with split pea. I might have to make this another time to make up my mind. So for now I am giving this a solid “not sure” rating.

Spinach & Black Bean Burrito Bowl
Section: Bowls (& a Few Plates)
This dish was so-so. This had the same issue as the other bowl dish. Not enough flavor for the individual components. So it pretty much tasted like quinoa, beans, and spinach. I don’t think there is much to say about this, other than you are very dependent from the condiments.

Sunflower Mac
Section: Pasta & Risotto
Recipe: Isa Chandra.com
This is NOT my favorite vegan mac and cheese recipe out there. But I understand that not everyone can have cashews. In fact, this is why I’ve made this recipe so many times already. My friend Justine can’t have cashews, and therefore I’ve made this recipe a few times for her. I do have some big issues- one is that the ratio of sauce to pasta is crazy! After making this the first time, I added more pasta, and I let it sit for a minute or two before serving so the pasta soaks up some of the sauce.

My second issue is that I’ve had better tasting non-cashew mac and cheeses. I really like Chloe’s Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese, it is practically perfect. By all means, this isn’t TERRIBLE, just not as good as what it could be.

Tofu-Mushroom Stroganoff
Section: Pasta & Risotto
Recipe: Oregon Live
Another recipe my husband happily picked out. He was super excited about it, and it tasted amazing. I really need to make this dish more often, but for some reason I keep telling myself mushrooms are too expensive. Why I don’t know?

Anyways, this is a simple dish that packs a lot of flavors that aren’t normally thought of with vegan foods- creamy and umami. The choice of fusilli is perfect because it captures all the sauce, which holds a lot of the flavor. This recipe is one of the best in the book, which is probably why you see it on so many online sources.


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I originally bought this book my Mother for Christmas. She said she wanted to eat more vegetables, so I thought this would be a great book for that. At the time my Mom was living with my sister while looking for a new home, so my sister ended up flipping through and liking a few recipes. So she bought the book for herself.

Funny thing is for awhile my Mother and my sister would tell me to make a recipe from the book, and I keep pointing out that I don’t own it. I still don’t. I’ve been checking out from the library. I think I was afraid because the book is so small. Did I REALLY need a whole book on salads? Answer- yeah- I really do.

After reading Jenny Marie’s cook-a-long monthly challenge, I thought it would be fun to share some posts reviewing the book as well. If you have a blog with a review (specifically of the recipes), leave a comment and I will add you to the list.

Herbivore’s HeavenKZ CakesKittens Gone LentilVegan Eats and Treats

Photos

Not a big fan of the black side bars. Although I LOVE how visually it is different from other cookbooks, it is easy to leave marks on it. I think the biggest issue is the fact that it is a salad cookbook, meaning you are using oil for dressings, and I left quite a few greasy finger prints on the side (right where you touch to turn the page!). And since this is a library book, I could easily see which recipes other patrons made (hello Fiery Fruit and Quinoa Salad!) Naturally my vegan mind is racing- are they vegan? Are they omnivores diving into the vegan world? Did they like it?!

As always I love the photos in the book. They are done by my second favorite food photographer (my main man will always be Ted *insert winkie face*) Vanessa K Rees. I’ve mentioned it in other reviews, but she has worked with Romero before for Protein Ninja and Moskowitz for Isa Does It. You will recognize her signature style photographing from above. If you want a preview of the sexy photography there are some on her website.

What I do love about the photos is that the images aren’t unrealistic. Nothing bothers me more than inaccurate photos. I’ve caught a few photos in other books where CLEARLY different vegetables are in the dish, or the color is unattainable. What I like about these photos is the dishes are shown as a reasonable end result. The green apples are big chunks for the Reubenesque salad for example. And there notes when they are being fancy, like in the Mermaid salad (no, I sadly didn’t make this) They spiralized the beets instead of julienned them.

Set-up

The book is divided up by the introduction/information, dressings, side salads, salad toppers, spring, summer, fall, winter, and then breakfast ‘salads.’ The last chapter is clearly bending the definition of a salad, and frankly the easiest to ignore. Sorry. But I am glad she divided the recipes up by seasons. Yeah, sure you can make a winter salad in the summer (or vise versa) but if you have a CSA share, you would much rather wait till the summer when the produce is super fresh, knowing it will taste better. This is also why I have tried mostly the winter and fall salads, I keep making salads during this time of the year.

Writing

I feel a little crazy writing this- but Romero’s writing is a little bland in this. Sure there is a lot of wit and spunk in the introduction, but not as much personality in the descriptions. Maybe I am just imagining that? Regardless, I think my favorite part of the book- no diet talk. No talk about gurl you gonna be so thin with this salad talk.

Overview

Vegans have a love hate relationship with salads. So many times we know in the back of our minds that if we go to a restaurant there will “always be a salad option.” A lot times it is sad and pathetic- iceberg lettuce, oil and vinegar, and subpar veggies cut in large chunks. I had a similar issue when living with my in-laws. Although they are great cooks, every single dinner included a side salad with oil and vinegar. I think they genuinely enjoyed this, but I couldn’t help but think of better uses of the lettuce.

Salads have been morphed into the pinnacle of diet culture and clean eating. It has been called out for being an excuse to starve yourself, and for being overrated. Most salads in American culture are either heavy fat-calorie bombs (pasta salad, chicken/tuna/egg salad and the like) or watery-crunchy-vegetable based meals that are so bland you need to drench them in dressings.

But if you ever got a salad from a higher-end restaurant, you will know they are so much more. It is a delicate balance of flavors as you only have a few ingredients, they need to work with each other. There is also the question of quality, if your produce isn’t at it’s peak quality your salad is lacking. And this is what Romero addresses in her book. She wants you to use produce when it is fresh- and that’s why she organizes everything by season. She wants people to eat well thought out, flavorful salads that are more than lettuce, cucumber, and radishes.

Pretty much Romero wants to take salads away from rich white women who are littering their wellness Pinterest boards with expensive fancy looking salads, and trying to democratize them. They are filling, full of flavor, and pretty affordable. Salads, at least in this book, are for everyone. And I love Romero for being able to accomplish that.

Recipes

As with all my cookbook reviews, I try my best to leave links with recipes that are online BUT are up there with the publishers permission. I also won’t link recipes that might stray too far away from the recipe (which some bloggers do) I also made sure I provided at least one recipe from each section of the book.

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I originally started this post two years ago. It was suppose to be for a Vegan MOFO prompt. I am not 100% sure what it was, but it was something like “favorite cookbook” or “show us your cookbook collection.” I figured I would do a quick post about this one. Well, considering this was my very first vegan cookbook and I’ve owned it for over 10 years, it has had a few recipes made from it.

After reading Jenny Marie’s cook-a-long monthly challenge, I thought yeah, I should finish this post. In the spirit of this post I figured I would share some posts reviewing the book as well. If you have a blog with a review, leave a comment and I will add you to the list. And as always I try and share links to recipes. Most of the time I try and only share recipes that are sponsored/approved by the publishers but I went ahead and linked every blog, livejournal, and whatever that had her recipes. It was a different time on the internet back in 1999, and well, I think it is in the spirit of the book to share all the vegan love.

Vegan KindKittens Gone Lentil

Photos

None. A big downfall of the book, I know. There is no photos of the recipes, but there are some retro stock photos at the beginning of the chapters. There are some fun retro styled clipart throughout the book. The green and greyscale design does keep the book visually interesting. This never bothered me much since photoless cookbooks I think were much more common at the time, before the blogalution

Set-up

What I love about this book is that it is very “zine”-y. I might not of known much about zines when I first picked this up, but I loved how personal it was. It didn’t start with a chapter how they were chefs, or their relationship with food, no it was about why they became vegan. I think this was the first time I’d ever actually READ a cookbook. 

After the introduction of why Tanya and Sarah went vegan, the book goes into a quick substitute section, giving readers a rough idea of how to modify non-vegan recipes. The chapters then go into various different food types, breakfast, soups, drinks, entrees, etc etc. Then instead of ending with desserts, the book continues with various little recipes and tips for raising vegan kids, and other hacks that are vegan but aren’t food related. My REAL favorite part of the book was the list of non-vegan ingredients.

Writing

As mentioned the charm and shortcomings of the cookbook can be credited to their zine roots. On Sarah Kramer’s website, she says how she and co-author Tanya made homebound recipe zines for friends and family. After the positive feedback, they decided to try and publish a book. This book reminded me of the cookbook my older sister made to raise money for her sorority. These are recipes made for people who are cooking in regular old kitchens, with budgets, and limited time. The ingredients are practical, instructions are easy, and everything is easy to modify for personal preference.

But since Sarah and Tanya are not chef’s there are some holes. Some recipes are overly simplified, or not as good as what they could be. And some of information is a little vague, or at this point outdated. For example B12 is listed under non-vegan ingredients, when I am 99% sure almost all B12 supplements are vegan (well, the B12 part, the capsules might not).

And then she has the whole breads section saying yeast is bad. It is a little confusing, as they recommend sourdough starters. Spoiler alert- that’s yeast! I get it. There are lots people who think instant yeast isn’t as good as sourdough, but that isn’t communicated in the book. Plus they give recipes soda breads, which doesn’t fix the active yeast problem. This blog post is really good at explaining the theory about why instant yeast isn’t the greatest. She also says kamut is a great wheat replacement. It isn’t. It is just a different STRAIN of wheat. It is easy to give her a pass since the internet wasn’t so expansive as it is today. Answers weren’t as easily a google search away. 

Overview

As I mentioned- I’ve had this book for over 10 years, and we are getting close to their 20th anniversary! I would love to see a big book revamp for the occasion. New photos! Updated information (as mentioned with the bread thing)! Anything really. It looks like their 10th anniversary release didn’t have that much changed other than a pretty little logo on the front.

As much as I love how down to earth and un-intimidating this cookbook is, so much has changed since it’s release. Veganism is much more common, probably thanks to blogs. Oh blogs, you have given us so much in the publication front of cookbooks. They are both a blessing and a curse. 

One thing I am loving about How It All Vegan over most modern vegan cookbooks is how much information this has. Just little bits of stuff in the kids section, lots of homemade toiletries, and cleaning tips. I would love to see this book become more trendy to reach a wider audience. Come on Sarah Kramer! I know you can do this! All that being said, I think this book is still super useful, and every new vegan could learn a lot from this book. It is easy to flip through, and it easy to add your own personal flair to all the recipes.

Recipes

I do warn anyone who wants to see what I made from the book. THERE IS A LOT! I know I’ve made even MORE in the book, and boy I don’t even feel like I scratched the surface. There are LOTS of recipes in the book. I’ve made more than what I wrote about for sure, but I don’t remember the results. I know I’ve made more her desserts, but I’m a little fuzzy on the details.

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proteinninja-web
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It is no secret I really like Terry Hope Romero and Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Sometimes I feel like the vegan world is crammed with feel good Californians, so having some snarky New Yorkers with killer food makes me happy. Since Terry and Isa both started to write their own cookbooks, it has always been interesting to see how each person cooks. Romero seems to write about specific topics- whether it is a specific world cuisine, salads, or in this case- protein.

Photos

There isn’t a photo for every recipe, but then again, do we need that? Answer- probably not. I mean we don’t need to see what a smoothie bowl looks like more than once. But the photos that are in the book are beautiful and fun. Instead of JUST featuring the recipe, the photographer arranges the recipe as if it is just being arranged in the kitchen.

The photographer worked with Terry Hope Romero for her sister book Salad Samurai and for Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s book Isa Does It. As I praised with Isa Does It, the photos look as if you walked into a working kitchen, but somehow with the perfect lighting and the perfect amount of mess. Although the photos are clearly staged, it does give the recipes a sense of approachability that encourages people to make them everyday.

Set-up

Romero takes a quick approach, giving you an introduction and some protein basics. This is probably a good thing since she uses protein powders in so many of the recipes. She talks about the basic different powders and why she chooses to use one in a certain recipe and not another. I am a little disappointed that she doesn’t include soy protein isolate, or at least explain why she doesn’t like it. It use to be THE protein for vegans.

She then touches base for other common ingredients she uses and talks about some cooking basics. Most people can skip this section but if you never cooked brown rice before? Well Romero has you covered so you don’t have to pause that podcast to google “how to cook brown rice.” Heck I even used her coconut bacon recipe in that section.

Recipe categories? I liked how she divided them up: Unstoppable Smoothie Bowls and Granola; Stealthy Protein Pancakes, Waffles, and Much Much More; The Protein Bakery Basket; Super Toast: Savory and Sweet; Protein-Packed Patties and Burgers; Better Than Ever Burger Bowls; Grain and Noodles Bowls; and finally Sweet Treats.

Writing

As with all Terry Hope Romero’s book, I am always impressed with her writing. It is always open and very relatable. She more or less mocks the pseudo-enlightened statements that are the so common ever since M.F.K. Fisher. She also has no visible typos or issues with the recipes- oh wait except for one. Her chickpea eggplant hemp veggieballs have no hemp in them. It bothers me endlessly. But truthfully, this is the least amount of issues I’ve seen in a cookbook where there is always one or two ingredients out of place or letters missing.

Overview

It seems there is a divide in the vegan world over this cookbook. A lot of vegans complain that it feeds into the “protein complex” that America has. Which is sad because Terry Hope Romero addresses this in the introduction. She, for the most part, wrote this book for weight lifting vegans. And I have to say, I think this is super helpful. I know Alexa would love this book since she is a big crossfitter, and is a flexitarian. She would like to avoid dairy and eggs, but when you are surrounded by a world that loves the paleo diet, it is hard to learn about vegan protein. This book would be perfect for her. Terry’s recipes recommends cheap protein powder, aka not to use Vega (though some recipes need that, like the smoothie bowls)

What I also love about this book is that there are lots of tips to save your recipes. Many people don’t live with their significant other, or eat the same thing as each other. So I hear lots of vegans say that they can’t make a full recipe because it will go to waste. Romero gives lots of notes on which recipes you can double and freeze. This has been nice for me since I am expecting so I am stocking my freezer up for sleep deprived post baby me. 

Right now, protein isn’t on my list of things to pay attention to. I’ve been getting what I need, and probably should be eating more whole grains (as a pregnant lady that is) But once I deliver I probably going to dive into this cookbook. I find that this has lots of recipes that are very warming, and don’t use as much fresh produce. So testing out these recipes while I have my CSA is a little bit of a struggle.

Otherwise I love this book. I will be using it a bunch in the future. If anyone is a vegan weight lifter, even with light weights, they will probably want to pick up this book. Terry Hope Romero uses protein powder, yes, but I think she varies the types making it friendly for lots of vegans. I am still a little sad she ignore soy protein, but hey, she likes to use tofu so that’s okay.

Wanna Skip the Protein Powder?

As mentioned above, some of the biggest critizism has been how much the recipes use protein powders. I have to point out a few things if people want to save some cash. One tip would be to skip the hemp protein powder and only get the rice and pea protein powders. I got NOW protein, which isn’t the best for smoothies, but works well with these recipes. You can get most of the rice and pea proteins for $6-10 per pound depending on the size you buy. I super recommend getting these for the baked goods and burgers as the protein powders help with binding (think of eggs and how their proteins work in traditional baked goods)

Wanna skip protein powders overall? Well, some of the recipes aren’t going to be high in protein, but you can do almost everything in the first chapter with the smoothies bowls. But there is almost always a non-protein powder recipe in each chapter. Quick way to find them is to look at the savory recipes over sweet. So you want to check out the end of Stealthy Protein Pancakes, Waffles, and Much Much More, and almost all recipes are protein powder free in Super Toast: Savory and Sweet and Grain and Noodles Bowls.

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I have always been a big fan of Indian cuisine. I loved how it was very vegetable heavy and you had lots of different options for meals without meat. But as I went vegan I soon discovered how many of those vegetarian dishes were full of dairy. So I was happy when I found the food blog Vegan Richa. Not only did she have some authentic Indian dishes, all vegan, she also had some fun Western/fusion dishes. So when Richa Hingle said she was releasing a cookbook all about Indian food, I knew I had to get it.

Photos

I love the photos that are in this book. It is pretty important to me to have photos of food that are not traditionally made in your area *cough* Vegan Eats World *cough* The Asian Vegan Kitchen *cough* If you are buying this cookbook you probably know a little about Indian food, but not a lot. And Richa’s photos does help paint a picture of what to expect with textures, serving, etc. 

And I can’t stress enough how much this book needs lots of photos. The names of the recipes aren’t too appealing. Richa describes the dish for what it is, but let’s face it, how many different lentils can she use to keep your attention in the dal section? The photos gives a visual that stimulates the reader to pick it and make it. 

Set-up

Nothing too unique about how this book is set up. But here is something I really liked about it. Richa explains why she made the book in the very beginning. Many times I would find this a little pointless with a vegan cookbook as it comes off preachy after awhile. But I think it is important because her book is about a specific type of cooking- Indian food. Some people might pick this book up without seeing it is vegan, so the introduction can be inspiring to someone.

Otherwise it is the same ol’ same ol’ deal. There is a large section about all the different foods you will need, explaining all the Indian specific ingredients, then moving to vegan specific foods. She divides up the recipes in a way that makes it easy to plan a traditional Indian dinner. Then she has the index in the back, which is very easy to use if you are looking for specific ingredients (something I like a lot!)

Writing

Richa isn’t the best writer out there. But as a trade off she is short and to the point. She writes directions that are easy to follow. She also describes various indian staples in a quick no fuss manor. My only disappointment is that since she is so quick to describe things she glosses over the ingredients descriptions in the beginning a little too fast for my taste. But she makes up for it in the recipes, and gives a lot of details of different ways to make a recipe, where they are from, and how it may vary from region to region.

As for grammar, I think I only spotted one or two spelling errors. Nothing huge, and hopefully was fixed in the next pressing. The grammatically errors were minor and didn’t make the things confusing on what the ingredients or recipe needed. I think there was one case where a spice wasn’t listed in the steps. But Richa is so organized with the ingredients, ALWAYS listing them in order of use and grouping them by steps, that it was easy to figure out when to use the missing ingredient, which I think is much more important.

Overview

I can not stress how much I love this book. I got my copy for Christmas, and accidentally had two people get it for me. My Mother took the extra one and found out that she loved the book too. I can only hope that she gives lentils another try because I am falling in love with the potentials of dals. They are so cheap and are very versatile.

What I also love about this book is that there is a lot of ingredient overlap. Many cookbooks that focus on a specific cuisine or cooking style can sometimes fall into the trap of requiring ingredients that are only used in one or two different ingredients. I have many of these ingredients in my cupboard, granted I have a well stocked pantry. And if I don’t have it, I have found a few other recipes that use that lentil that I had to buy, or whatever spice I had to buy.

I love this book and I think it is one of my new favorites. I will probably use it as much as Isa Does It since it uses a wide variety of foods and they are simple to make. None of the dishes are particularly hard, and usually don’t take long to make. Some take a little longer to make, but usually has a lot of down time. I recommend this to anyone for weeknight dinners, and anyone who loves Indian food and wants to make some at home.

Recipes

This cookbook I tried my best to pick at least one recipe from each section of the book to show all the variety that is available. If there was a recipe available online legally, I left a link for people to try it out before buying the book.

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When I first went vegan I did it mostly for health related reasons. In the middle of it all I started to get sucked into the raw lifestyle. I slowly branched away from it, but I am still always interested in eating more raw food. I decided to try and eat more raw lunches and decided to use some of the recipes from Ani’s Raw Food Asia cookbook. I love Ani’s simple and easy recipes, making it quick and easy to prep a lunch.

Photos

The pictures are pretty true to what the food looks like, which I really like. Nothing drives me more bonkers than seeing a photo that will never match my recipe. Ani’s food does look inspiring to make, but there aren’t that many photos of the food themselves. The photos in the book are actually more about the sights and people that are in Asia. There are photos of Ani preparing recipes, and posing at markets. I would say this is annoying in a cookbook, but honestly, I like it. I find it relaxing and I like flipping through the book to just look at the photos. And let’s be real, do I need a photo for all these salads? Answer- no.

Set-up

Unlike most modern cookbooks, Ani’s organization is a little all over the place. This might be a smart move. It isn’t often do that people sit down and read all of a cookbook. So Ani takes advantage of how people read a cookbook, by flipping through recipes, and gives information and facts throughout the recipes. Most of her tips are mostly about keeping up health, mentally, physically, and living an eco-friendly life. Before doing this review, I’ve read most of the note she has written, which I normally don’t do.

What does drive me nuts about this style is that certain recipes are scattered all over. I would of liked to have the sauces and pastes all grouped together rather than all over the place. If I just want to make that sauce, it is easier to find in a chapter devoted to sauces, rather than tucked away under the “rice” section. It isn’t a huge problem though. Otherwise, like any other cookbook there is an introduction, recipes divided up by types, suggested menus, then some more closing remarks about living a healthy life. 

Writing

Ani’s writing is always easy, but sometimes a little too dumbed down. It is a little frustrating to read some poorly worded information, that ends up being false. I might know what Ani is trying to say, but it the wording makes the information easily misinterpreted. For example she talks about buckwheat and writes “buckwheat is a seed, not a wheat, so it’s gluten-free.” Yes buckwheat is gluten-free, and yes, it isn’t related to wheat. But “not a wheat”? That is just horrible english, and makes the definition of grains even more confusing for most people.

On the flip side there is also some great information that is very much true. I have to agree with many of suggestions she makes for living a generally healthier life. So I wouldn’t say that everything is false, but when it comes for nutritional and food specifics know that she is simplifying the information a lot.

Overview

In general I like Ani’s super easy raw style of food. This book is probably better than her other books for starting out with a raw diet since most of the food doesn’t use a dehydrator. The dishes are pretty veggie heavy which is what I am looking for in a raw recipe. I do wish she offered up more recommendations for substitutes for recipes that use a dehydrator. She does recommend using the oven but it would of been nice is she suggested other substitutes like using a rice paper wrap instead of her dehydrated coconut wraps.

What I do like about the cookbook is that it isn’t very judgmental, particularly at the end chapter. Ani shares her experience with raw food over the years, and admits that she doesn’t eat raw all the time. Nor is she totally a vegan anymore, but is more so a pescatarian (or maybe a flexi-pesca-tarian? Basically fish is only a small fraction of her diet.) It takes a lot guts for a person to admit when their health isn’t 100% when their whole profession is built on it.

The authenticity of the recipes are a little up in the air. Ani doesn’t claim that these recipes are authentic, clearly since some of the originals involve cooking. Some of the Korean namul and kimchis are probably rather close to being authentic since she has Korean roots, and says in her book she visits family in South Korea. I think it bothers me when Ani tries to call a recipe after an specific dish, and it just isn’t even close. For example the samosas were delicious, but didn’t use potatoes, nor did it have a wrap around it. The only recipe that really made me annoyed was the “black rice pudding” which was a recipe for chia pudding. Neither are anything alike, and it really should of just been left out of the cookbook in my opinion.

Overall, I think I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to eat more raw foods. There are some light dishes that are quick to make. I don’t think there was a recipe I wouldn’t make again (except the ‘rice,’ but that isn’t exclusively something Ani has made up, just give me normal rice please.) Sure there are some modifications people might have to make if they don’t have a dehydrator, but if you have a blender and food processor, you will be able to make most of these recipes.

If you are interested in individual reviews of recipes just click to expand the review.

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With the Christmas season here, there is a good chance you are making cookies. And I thought it would be a good time to try out a bunch of recipes from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. It is a classic vegan cookbook that covers the topic of… well… cookies. It goes a little further covering bar cookies, brownies, and biscotti. Some of the cookies I made for christmas, and some I’ve made in the past for daily eating.

Photos

There are lots of photos in this book, I would say about half of the cookies have a photo. All are well lit and beautifully photographed. All the cookie photos are places on brightly colored backgrounds, making the photos very kid friendly (which let’s face it, we all remember the joys of cookies as kids.) There are enough photos to spark the reader in making new cookies, but I do have a problem. There are a few cookies that are nicely clipped to have white backgrounds and randomly show up in recipes. For example the Mexican Snickerdoodles show up in the recipe for Chocolate Marmalade Sandwich Cookies. At first I found this confusing, until I noticed the same cookies photo appearing over and over again.

Set-up

The book starts with some cookie basics which truthfully I skipped. I started to read it, but it can be painfully boring to the seasoned vegan baker. BUT it is filled with important information to a new baker. For example, I think my husband could read it and feel more confident about the different flours out there. There is even a section that have various troubleshooting situations. So if your cookie doesn’t turn out right, you can fix it.

They divide the cookies up by drop cookies, wholesome cookies, bar cookies, fancy cookies, and roll and cut cookies. When flipping through, it is easy to go from one section to another without ever noticing. I think this is true for all of their baking books. I am not really sure if I care too much about having “sections” or not. 

Writing

The book has the usual fun writing styles of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. They really make you feel comfortable with baking, and make veganism seem less exclusive. They also make you smile for the “fancier” cookies, they aren’t that hard, you got this. The directions are easy and to the point, making it easy to tell if I need a stand up/hand mixer or just a big wooden spoon.

Overview

I love this cookbook. All these cookies have been winners, though I wish or rather could see this book being much bigger. Compared to the vegan pie in the sky and the cupcake take over the world, I feel like there are SO many types of cookies that I wish this book could be just a little bit bigger. There seem to be a large amount of drop cookies that used oatmeal. There also aren’t many of the classic Christmas cookies that you might find with Christmas tree decorations, or other classic cookies I grew up with. I know they can’t cover ALL cookies ever made, but I feel like there are so many that aren’t easily interchangeable like how a cupcake can be paired with different frosting to make a new flavor.

But everyone loves the cookies I’ve been making, and there are so many new inventive flavors. Carrot cake cookies? Grapefruit? Tahini lime? And out of all the cookbooks there are the least amount of “weird” vegan ingredients. Meaning I would feel pretty comfortable giving these recipes to an omni baker, who wouldn’t have to go out and buy new ingredients.

Below are all the cookies I made from the book- which is a lot. They are so good, and I recommend buying this book for any vegan who needs to make cookies from time to time.

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Many blogs have featured this newer cookbook on vegan casseroles. Since so many blogs had giveaways, sample recipes, and glowing reviews, I wanted to give the book a try. Which is a little weird since I never really grew up on casseroles. At least “all-American” casseroles. Sure we had mac and cheese, lasagna, and tuna noodle casserole. But that was mostly it. When I started to cook I was always intrigued by casserole recipes. They were so exotic and foreign to me.

So I can’t say if Julie has put all the classics in this book, but many looked familiar. She features both American classics (beans and rice, chili casserole, nacho tots) and more traditional cuisine (stuffed peppers, lasagna, mac & cheese). The overall goal of the book was to make quick dinners that give the comforts of casseroles, but were vegan and not too heavy on fats and calories.

Photos

Compared to most cookbooks reviewed on here, there aren’t that many photos. But truthfully, I doubt that you need a photo for each recipe. Casseroles aren’t the most photogenic food out there. But what I really appreciate is their choice of recipes to photograph. If the dish wasn’t as straight forward as a mixing all the food and baking, they took a picture. For example there was a photo of the stuffed cabbage or lasagna. These aren’t traditionally thought of “casseroles” but fit the definition. The photos that are available are beautiful and presents the foods as something delicious and appetizing. It is interesting to see some reviews online and see the not-so glamorous shots of the dishes. Not to say the blogger casseroles look disgusting, but the photos in the book are just a little more inspirational.

Set-up

The book opens with a very short intro. I think this was a smart choice. If you are picking up a book about specific vegan foods, there is a good chance you already know a good bit about veganism. You are going to know all the different vegan substitutes, which foods aren’t vegan, and the benefits of lifestyle. The book jumps right into the recipes, dividing them up as appetizers, dutch-oven casseroles, old favorites, pasta, vegetable, desserts, and “staples.” The staples section is filled with sauces, and crumbles for recipes. Although it was a pain to flip back and forth for some recipes between the nacho sauce and the casserole, it wasn’t too big of a deal. It was a little easier because by the end I started to memorize the sauce recipes, needing the flip pages less and less.

Writing

The writing is brief and to the point. This book had a small opening, and jumps rather quickly to the recipes. She keeps the length down in the recipes. There aren’t any long stories, cultural references, stories about the recipe development, just a short paragraph describing the dish. Sometimes she suggests how to enhance a dish (like in the Rice & Beans being served with lettuce, avocados, and salsa). This makes and easy read that isn’t distracting from the recipes.

Overview

The biggest criticism I’ve read about this book is how “unhealthy” the recipes are. I get it, what one considers healthy is subjective. I would say yes, these recipes are vast improvements on the originals. Casseroles are known for using cream, cheap meats, cheese, and canned soups. Some recipes use fake cheese, faux meats, and other processed ingredients. But realistically, you are using mostly whole ingredients that are commonly found in kitchens. Many of the “fakes” can be taken out, or is listed as “optional.” The serving sizes are huge and decently low calorie. I plugged in the ingredients in a calorie counter, and I found that the recipes have lots of nutrition.

 Another arguement for the “it’s unhealthy” debate is that some foods are not made from scratch. This is true, but Julie Hasson points out in the book, if you want you can make your own seitan, soy cheese, or tater tots, but a casserole is suppose to be easy to make. You can do this with ALL of your food. You can make your almond milk, bread, dog food, kombucha, beer, etc. But we as humans can only do so much. That is why bakers, butchers, and restaurants showed up. We can only do so much. It is just your decision.

I think the important thing to put into perspective are the goals of the book. Julie Hasson wanted to make vegan versions of classic casseroles. They are suppose to be affordable, which they were. They were also suppose to be to a certain degree less processed, which most recipes didn’t use processed products. And the final criteria was that the recipes were suppose to be easy. Each recipe varied on the amount of worked required, but overall they were pretty eat to make. I don’t think there wasn’t anything that my husband and I didn’t like. There is definitely some foods that saved better than others, or little tricks to making it turn out better. But overall, I would recommend this book to pretty much any vegan. 

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Back in December I entered a book giveaway on a blog, and won. A few weeks later I got a copy of But I Could Never Go Vegan directly from the publishers. Before the book, I wasn’t really familiar with the blog Keepin It Kind. I might of stumbled on the page once or twice, but never really read the website in depth. So I read this book from the point of view of an established vegan who had never heard of the author before. I read the book with any knowing the author’s preference of foods, styles, and writing.

Photos

There are photos for, I think, every recipe in the book. If the photo isn’t next to the recipe there is a reference number to where you could find the photo, usually found on the chapter dividers. This gives the reader plenty of visual inspiration, and a good look at the food to figure out if you totally fudged up a recipe. I think this is great since this is a book for new vegans. If you haven’t done lots of cooking with vegan foods, it can be hard to imagine what the end result will be, and might discourage people from making a recipe (I know it did when I first started going vegan).

There are also a few step by step photos for slightly more complicated recipes. For example for the tofu cheese log, there are a few step by step photos showing how to form the log. This is a really helpful visual since I find reading reading steps confusing if you don’t already have some knowledge on how to do it.

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Set-up

The book starts with a brief introduction. Although this is a book targeted to new vegans or flexatarians, there is little information about actual veganism. I don’t think this is a bad thing. If you are picking up this book, you probably know the basics. What Turner does is talk about the lesser known vegan foods, like for example she covers why sugar isn’t vegan.

Each chapter is organized by a common excuse for not being vegan, but I could never give up cheese, substitutes are too expensive, etc. Now this idea is fun and novel, but I was worried how well it would “work.” When picking out recipes I am usually concerned with using up a certain ingredient before it goes bad, or trying to find a soup to balance out the menu for the week. Surely how helpful will this new organization system be?

It wasn’t until I hit the chapter called “But Nobody Will Come Over to Eat!” that’s when it all clicked. This book in some ways is more helpful this way. I found myself thinking “next family get together I should make all these recipes.” As a new or veteran vegan you might hit a bump in the road thinking about what to make for brunch, to serve for a family get together, or have a longing for cheese, and you just need to open to those chapters. That said some of these chapters would be made this way regardless in a normal cookbook, they just have a witty name. And I am still a little annoyed to find a smoothie randomly placed in a chapter mostly filled with dinner dishes. But this system sets a new vegan up for random experimentation rather than meal planning, which can be pretty fun for the reader.

Writing

What I like about books by bloggers is that the writing style is informal and feels like they are talking to you personally. Without knowing the Keepin It Kind blog, I could easily recognize a specific voice in the book. In fact, once I started to follow the blog after picking up the book, I can say I think the book reads better than the blog.

Errors seem to be non-existant, or hard to find. The only one I know about Kristy addresses on her blog. For the Jackfruit Nacho Supreme the published recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of agar-agar when it should call for 2 tablespoons. I would assume there will be a correction in the second pressing. Otherwise, everything seems pretty solid.

Overview

This book is great, I find it great for days where you want to cook or bake to enjoy yourself. Some recipes work well during a busy weekday, but most recipes call for a little planning or a little extra time. The book still needs the reader to flip through with an open mind. It might be a little hard to “choose” things if you are looking for just a pasta dish, or something that uses chickpeas. This is a cookbook for someone who is adventurous, or doesn’t mind a spur of the moment trip to the grocery store.

There is only two complaint about this book, one is an odd odor. This is pretty silly to point out, but it is rather odd and off putting when flipping through a book full of food. I have never picked up a book with this odd odor before, and I think I am more curious about what that smell is more than anything. Anyone have a clue?

My second complaint is more a worry. I think the people who will benefit the most from this book are flexitarians, or family and friends who are trying to understand their vegan friend. Mothers who are trying to tailor dinner time for vegans and omnivores might find this book handy. My biggest worry is if this book will sell to these people. Sure it is fun to pick it up as a vegan, but the chapters are just something fun rather than helpful. I think this book has a lot of potential to reach and convert a lot people, and I hope it does. So my “problem” with this book is more about if it was properly marketed and is reaching people who want to eat more plant based foods.

Recipes

As with most cookbooks, I tried my best to try a recipe from as many sections as possible. This will hopefully give an idea of any particular strengths in the recipe selection. But there were so many sections in this book that I could only cover some  of the recipes. If there was any recipes posted online to promote the book, I left a link.
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