vanessaveg's Reviews
66 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title 
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Website: Averie Cooks
These are very rich and decadent, thanks to the secret ingredient (avocado.) There is a large amount of sugar in them as well: both granulated and brown. So, they are delicious but you can't eat that many. Which is probably a good thing. I made these as mini-muffins instead of regular muffins, which worked well. The recipients and I agreed that smaller was better with this recipe. The recipe made 36 mini muffins.
Equipment needed: 3 12-cup mini-muffin tins, potato masher (optional, for the avocado)
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Better Than Vegan: 101 Favorite Low-Fat, Plant-Based Recipes That Helped Me Lose Over 200 Pounds
By Del Sroufe, Glen Merzer, Lindsay S. Nixon
BenBella Books - 2013
This is a low fat vegan book, I get that. However this recipe is in need of more spice, oil or tahini to keep it from being on the bland side. I dumped some tahini in it, I think a vegan pesto would work as well. It needs some excitement.
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Eh, this was ok, but I wasn't that crazy about it and I like greens. A little oil would go a long way here.
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This is a fantastic vegan and healthy makeover. The potatoes are steamed, then baked with a white sauce made with cauliflower puree (trust me.) The result is worthy for a carnivore's holiday table.
Equipment needed: steamer, 9x13 baking dish
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Website: Better With Cake
These were delicious and so easy to make-there are only 5 ingredients. It was a challenge to find freeze-dried strawberries surprisingly-I had to buy a few boxes of Special K and pick them out. You can really taste the vanilla extract. These will be ready in about 10 minutes, and are no bake.
My only complaint: the recipe claimed to yield around 40 bites, which didn't seem possible from the list of ingredients but I went with it. It made slightly less than 20. I had to go back out and buy more ingredients to get the yield I needed.
Equipment needed: food processor or high quality blender.
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Betty Goes Vegan: 500 Classic Recipes for the Modern Family
By Dan Shannon, Annie Shannon
Grand Central Life & Style - 2013
Made these for Thanksgiving, they were delicious. I feel like even kids would eat these (those that aren't immediately put off by the word "green.") The "bacon" is either vegan bacon bits (fairly common, actually) or smoked tempeh. There are plenty of ingredients that add flavor: liquid smoke, lemon juice, cooking wine.
One thing worth mentioning: although I know this, I was still surprised how 6 cups of collards cooks down to next to nothing. Be aware you may need to double it. Three of us easily wiped out what I had made.
Equipment needed: Dutch oven or tall stockpot, skillet
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I love shiitake mushrooms, but this recipe was just ok for me. On the plus side, every recipe in this book has exceptional instructions, and complex flavors.
Equipment needed: steamer, cast-iron skillet.
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The Chicago Diner Cookbook
By Jo A. Kaucher
Book Publishing Company (TN) - 2002
This recipe is easy and a comfort food suitable for picky audiences. You just toss tempeh in olive oil and tamari, then bake it. The rest of the ingredients cook on the stovetop.
To ensure success, just buy a good organic ketchup, not Heinz or whatever. It's the biggest component in the sauce.
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This vegan version is delicious. It will definitely satisfy a craving for the original. It's also a snap to make. Get some cheese (vegan or otherwise) to melt over the top to complete it.
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Chloe's Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way
By Chloe Coscarelli, Neal D. Barnard
Free Press - 2012
I made these to take to work. I only have one vegan co-worker, but these were so popular I was asked to make them again. They are super easy to make, and there are no ingredients you'll have to go out of your way to find (you can get canned coconut milk in the Asian section of your grocery.) As the other reviewer said, you can cut the pieces on the small side. The fudge is crazy rich.
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This pasta is delicious and so fast and easy to make. You can be done by the time the linguine boils. There are only a handful of ingredients. She recommends fresh or sun-dried tomatoes for garnish, I always use sun-dried. This makes a huge bowl that I eat for days. If you check YouTube, there is a video of Chloe making this.
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I cheated a bit and bought store-made pizza dough, instead of electing to use Chloe's optional recipe. This recipe is a bit unusual in that you cook the pizzas on the stovetop in a griddle pan which (oops) I don't have (I have GOT to start reading recipes more closely before I start cooking.) They seemed to cook fine in a skillet though.
My guests loved the pizza, and so did I. It sat really heavy in my stomach though. I might try to reduce the oil in the pesto if I make these again. This recipe has numerous components and the pizzas have to be cooked one at a time (although I guess you could have multiple skillets going), so budget yourself 2-2.5 hours for this.
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Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen: 150 Pizzas, Pastas, Pestos, Risottos, & Lots of Creamy Italian Classics
By Chloe Coscarelli
Atria Books - 2014
My co-worker gave me some excess basil from his garden, and I ended up making this with it. Chloe's recipes are frequently simple but mega-delicious, and this one is no exception.
Just throw a handful of ingredients in a skillet (including sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, tofu, basil and some spices), and saute. This can be ready in under 30 minutes. It tastes even better the next day.
This can easily be adapted to incorporate more veggies. I think next time I make it, I'll throw in some greens and fresh tomatoes.
Equipment needed: non-stick skillet
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The Complete Book of Raw Food: Healthy, Delicious Vegetarian Cuisine Made with Living Foods
By Victoria Boutenko, Juliano Brotman, Nomi Shannon, Matt Amsden, Julie Rodwell, Lori Baird, Julie Rodwell
Hatherleigh Press - 2005
It's healthy, but lacks pizzazz. The "cream" comes from cashews, and they are more gritty than creamy. I'll soak the cashews first if I make this again. Or maybe by then I'll have a Vitamix.
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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Baking
By Donna Diegel
Alpha - 2011
These came out great. Moist, sweet and chewy. I was concerned whether they would bind well, but I followed the directions and put the ground flax together with silken tofu and water in the blender (instead of soaking the flax separately.) The blondies held together just fine. I really don't think there's a "tell" that these are vegan. So, high praise.
As with all types of brownie-type desserts, watch your cook time very carefully.
Directions were very clear and numbered.
Equipment needed: blender, 9x9 pan, hand mixer with dough hook attachments
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This isn't an every day recipe, there are a number of steps and it's rather involved. I made this for Christmas dinner. The recipe calls for white bread baked from their recipe; I did what most people would do and got bread from the grocery bakery.
The steps are clear and numbered, and I found the time estimates accurate.
Equipment needed: 9x9 pan, blender, pan, whisk, rubber spatula
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Website: Delish Knowledge
I bought some Japanese eggplants at the Farmers Market, so I put them to good use in this recipe. Chinese or Japanese eggplants are pretty much the way to go for me these days: they are less bitter than their American counterpart, and the skin is thinner, thus they caramelize better.
This recipe isn't that complicated. The most difficult part is cooking the tofu, removing it from the skillet, adding other ingredients and then adding the tofu back later. Minor annoyance there. The recipe includes its own teriyaki sauce, which was fun and simple to make. I served this over brown rice.
Equipment needed: slotted spoon, a few saucepans, skillet.
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Everyday Vegan Eats: Family Favorites from My Kitchen to Yours
By Zsu Dever
Vegan Heritage Press, LLC - 2014
I've never had the non-vegan original, but I'm willing to bet this is a brilliant doppelganger. It calls for Butler Soy Curls. I had to drive a bit out of my way to find them. In their dry form, they look a bit like french-fried onions or egg noodles. They are mixed in a dish with peas, onions, arrowroot, oil and a savory broth mix (recipe in the book, separately), thrown in a casserole dish with a tater tot topping, and baked.
The arrowroot did not dissolve very well, and I was anxious that the results would be lumpy or have an odd taste but they didn't. The guys who ate it are not vegan, and said they would have believed the soy curls were chicken. Like all junk food eaten at my age, it sat in my gut like a sluggish ball of lead and outraged porcupines. But it tasted good.
I REALLY wish that recipe writers would portion their ingredients for individual recipes. While I could have done that with the savory broth mix, it would have been somewhat onerous with the long list of ingredients (including garlic powder, sugar, turmeric, rosemary and nutritional yeast.) I now have a Tupperware container full of just the broth mix. The mix is good, but I didn't realize there would be so MUCH of it. Like most of us, I have a large number of cookbooks. I don't want to make specialized mixes, dressings etc. in bulk to use with each cookbook for a mere handful of recipes. I wish cookbook writers would get hip to that.
Equipment needed: 2 frying pans, blender (for the broth mix), 9x11 casserole dish, whisk
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The Everything Vegan Baking Cookbook: Includes Chocolate-Peppermint Bundt Cake, Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes, Southwest Green Chile Corn Muffins, ... Oatmeal Bars, and hundreds more!
By Lorena Novak Bull
Adams Media - 2012
These were excellent. Super moist, held together well, tasted exactly like red velvet. I think what took it over the top was that instead of using red dye or a plant alternative, I used a red velvet bakery emulsion I got at a specialty shop.
The recipe has a few lacunal hiccups. It instructs you to mix the wet and dry ingredients, then skips to bake time with no instructions to combine them first. Another oddity is the yield was supposed to be 14 cupcakes. My muffin tin is a 12 cup, and from looking on Amazon, that seems to be the standard.
The book includes a recipe for cream "cheeze" frosting, made with vegan cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar. The frosting on its own had a bit of a cardboard aftertaste-you'll never be able to trick anyone into thinking Tofutti is the real deal-but spread on the cupcakes you couldn't tell at all.
(I Googled vegan cream cheese reviews, and from the sample that I read Tofutti was the clear winner. Which worked out just as well as that's all the closest supermarket had.)
Equipment needed: muffin tin, hand mixer, cooling rack
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These look involved, but there aren't that many ingredients and are a snap to assemble. The few ingredients that are used shine: you can really taste the small amount of cinnamon. Be aware that since these are sandwich cookies, the yield will only be around 12 pies (although the recipe promised 10, so I did come out ahead.)
The filling is the cream cheeze frosting in the toppings section of the book.
Equipment needed: one large cookie sheet or two smaller ones, whisk, hand mixer
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This only has three ingredients and is a snap to whip up. It appears that every recipe in the book calls for half of this, so I'm unclear why the recipe writer wouldn't just present the halved version of the recipe in the first place (at least it's very simple to cut in half.)
Vegan cream cheese is a work in progress. I used Tofutti, which works but has a bit of a cardboard aftertaste. The icing tasted better after it had been refrigerated; regardless though, the aftertaste wasn't noticeable after the icing was schmeared on a dessert.
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Fresh & Fast Vegetarian: Recipes That Make a Meal
By Marie Simmons
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2011
I used a mix of broccoli and cauliflower, but otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter. I wasn't crazy about this for some reason. I think I would have preferred the raw crucifers. My friend however claimed it was her favorite part of the meal. Maybe she was just being polite. I doubt I'd make this again, but I do want to try some other recipes from this book.
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The Great Vegan Protein Book: Fill Up the Healthy Way with More than 100 Delicious Protein-Based Vegan Recipes - Includes - Beans & Lentils - Plants - Tofu & Tempeh - Nuts - Quinoa
By Celine Steen, Tamasin Noyes
Fair Winds Press - 2015
This is an excellent facsimile of a dish a local organic restaurant serves. I no longer need to go there when I have a craving. I sub'ed brown rice for sushi rice because one flavorless, gummy grain is the same as another for me. The sauce made of ingredients including Sriracha and lemon juice provides all of the flavor anyway.
This isn't hard to make but there are multiple components to putz around with, so it did take me nearly an hour to make. It could stand for more veggies than just broccoli OR Brussels sprouts as the recipe calls for. Next time, I'm throwing some carrot in there. Maybe some kale or spinach too.
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Website: Hell Yeah It's vegan
So, last night I wasn't feeling very good about these. The chocolate didn't temper very well (as chocolate chips typically don't), and the bottom layer was very difficult to cut. Four different knives, including my chef's knives, failed to make much of a dent.
But then it occurred to me that a real Butterfinger wouldn't cut that well either. Once I made a dent in the pan, the others were easier to pry out by grabbing a piece and breaking it off. I will say, they were real popular at work. I even had people stop by who had heard by word of mouth, a sure sign of success. And, the taste was genuinely, eerily close to a Butterfinger.
If I made these again, I would take a lot more care in the tempering stage to make sure the chocolate was in the right temp range and maybe use a chocolate bar instead. And I would definitely line the pan with parchment paper, so that I could just lift out the final product.
(You may wonder, what magic goes into making those crispy, crunchy, Bart Simpson-beloved Butterfinger layers? I will tell you: peanut butter and sugar. SO much sugar.)
Equipment needed: candy thermometer (this is a MUST), double boiler (although you could temper the chocolate in the microwave, I suppose. See also Alton Brown's method of tempering with a food processor and a hair dryer. I'm tempted to try it, but it looks messy.)
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Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week
By Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Little, Brown and Company - 2013
The "clam" comes from a mix of shiitake and button mushrooms, however Isa says you can do all shiitake if you feel generous-I did the mix and it tasted fine. The mushrooms provided the chewiness I remember from clams-granted, I haven't had a clam in 20 years or so. Some chiffonaded Nori provides the sea taste. This was pretty good, and surprisingly tasted even better when heated up the next day. There is lots of chopping to do, so if you have an organized mise-en-place then cooking will be a snap. Just add veggies at the appointed times, and otherwise this soup cooks itself. As always, Isa's instructions are friendly and precise.
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Maybe my expectations were not properly managed by calling this pesto. Despite the cup of fresh basil, I found this soup on the bland side. It's healthy though-ingredients include pureed cauliflower, garlic and Swiss chard. There is a small amount of oil, the rest of the base is broth. So you'll feel virtuous eating this, but don't serve it to impress. I recommend you take her suggestion to garnish with pine nuts. Also, cut the cauliflower into small florets, as I had imperfect results pureeing.
Isa is one of the best recipe writers I know, and this recipe is written in her clear, friendly manner.
Equipment needed: dutch oven or stock pot, immersion blender (preferable and more fun!) or blender/food processor.
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Keep It Vegan: Over 100 Simple, Healthy & Delicious Dishes
By Áine Carlin
Kyle Books - 2015
This cookbook has beautiful pictures for every recipe, and clear instructions. This recipe, however, was too sweet for my palate, and I didn't care for it.
The recipe suggests either agave nectar or pomegranate molasses. I used agave, which I think drove the sweetness past the limit. I wonder if the molasses would be more tart, and provide a better balance.
If you use agave, I would halve the called for amount.
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Meatless: More Than 200 of the Very Best Vegetarian Recipes
By Martha Stewart Living
Clarkson Potter - 2013
I made this for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. Martha is my idol, so I'm thrilled to have a cookbook of hers I can use.
This doesn't have a strong pea taste, thanks to the other ingredients, especially tahini. It takes very little time to whip up, most of it is spent shelling the peas if you use fresh ones as Martha (naturally) suggests.
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The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health: More Than 200 New Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes for Delicious and Nutrient-Rich Dishes
By Moosewood Collective
Simon & Schuster - 2009
This is super delicious, and comes together pretty quickly. You just stir fry the tofu, and chop up the rest of the ingredients. This recipe was a snap to veganize too, I just swapped vegan mayo and yogurt.
I made this for a 4th of July cookout, but could have easily scarfed the whole thing down myself.
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More Quick-Fix Vegan: Simple, Delicious Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less
By Robin Robertson
Andrews McMeel Publishing - 2014
This is easy and fast to prepare as promised. It's also delicious. Tempeh is steamed, then tossed in a mix of soy sauce and some spices, including curry powder. Then after a quick stir fry, it's topped with a mix of canned pineapple and coconut yogurt. I wish I had served it over rice or quinoa, but I was in a rush. It was still good.
Special equipment: steaming basket or electric steamer
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Website: Oh She Glows
This turned out pretty well. I didn't have kelp granules, so I added dulse flakes. It tasted good, I don't know that it lent a fishy taste. I should try it with kelp next time. Her mayonnaise suggestions were a little on the light side, as I thought the salad was rather dry. You can always add more.
I ate this in a wrap with some microgreens and tomato. Pretty good.
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The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Over 100 Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out
By Angela Liddon
Avery Trade - 2014
These only require a handful of ingredients, and can be ready in 15 minutes. And they are awesome. The recipe would be very easy to double or triple, which would be a good idea for guests. The yield is pretty small. I made these to go with Angela's hummus.
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This is a reliable, very standard hummus recipe. It calls for 5-10 drops of hot sauce, I used Sriracha. Depending on your personal tastes, it could easily use a lot more. The recipe calls for two cans of chickpeas, so you'll have a good amount of hummus (the Pita chip recipe that follows it will not give you near enough chips as written. Better have some crudites ready...)
Equipment needed: food processor
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These are easy to assemble, no bake and can be ready pretty fast. They are balls of nut butter (I used sunflower), coconut oil, chocolate chips, almond flour and ground oats. The recipe calls for gluten free oats, which makes the final product gluten free as well. These were inhaled by two male non-vegan friends. They really do taste rich like cookie dough, so the yield is perfect. You can't eat too many.
No special equipment needed, other than your freezer.
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Website: One Ingredient Chef
I had been looking for a vegan stroganoff to make for Xmas. Most of the ones I could find in my cookbooks featured red or green peppers, which I am not super keen on.
This dish was really good, easy to make and has only a handful of ingredients. I like that the creaminess comes from tahini, rather than a processed vegan cream substitute. It works perfectly, there is no overpowering sesame taste.
Rather than using traditional egg noodles, I used bowtie pasta.
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Website: Pickles & Honey
These bars are not only vegan, they are gluten-free (the crust is almond flour.) And the only added sugar comes from maple syrup, unless you decorate with powdered sugar as I did. Lemon zest and juice provide the flavor (I always zest with organic fruits, as pesticides will be most concentrated in the rind.) A pinch of turmeric boosts the coloring.
FYI, the recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of zest. That is roughly equal to one lemon.
The taste of these was wonderful, almost like eating a coconut lemon pie. I did find they were pretty soggy, and once I cut them and removed them from the pan after chilling overnight, some of them completely lost their structure. Perhaps a tweak is needed to the amount of arrowroot.
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Quick & Easy Vegan Celebrations: 150 Great-Tasting Recipes Plus Festive Menus for Vegantastic Holidays and Get-Togethers All Through the Year (Quick and Easy (Experiment))
By Alicia C. Simpson
The Experiment - 2010
This is a simple and reliable baked bean recipe. There is a nice mixture of tart (white vinegar, Worcester sauce, dry mustard) and sweet (ketchup, agave nectar.) The ingredients should be all in your cupboard, or very nearly so.
*The vinegar also keeps the beans from getting mushy.
These actually cook on your stovetop, not in the oven.
Equipment needed: saucepan with lid
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Quick-Fix Vegan: Healthy, Homestyle Meals in 30 Minutes or Less
By Robin Robertson
Andrews McMeel Publishing - 2011
It's hard to go wrong with Robin Robertson. True to her word, these tacos are ready fast and are delish. I've made them a few times now. They do have some kick; to make them less spicy you could cut the number of chipotles in half or just omit them.
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This slaw is fabulous, full of veggies and fresh flavor. There is a LOT of prep and dicing involved though, so I wouldn't say that it meets Robin's claim of being ready in 30, not for me at least.
I made this for a friend for dinner and she asked for the recipe-always a sign of cookbook success.
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Website: Serious Eats
(I hacked this recipe to make it vegan. More on that below.)
I made these for a friend who can't have gluten and another friend who is very finicky. They loved it. They come together pretty quickly and weren't difficult to make, as long as you can find all of the ingredients--you may have to make a trip to Whole Foods or someplace with a large baking section to get the xanthan gum.
My only complaint is the recipe states this serves 8. I made 10 and I had a huge amount of batter left over. I think you could almost make double the amount stated. Also, keep a close watch on the frying dogs, they burn very easily.
There were lots of tips about how to make the end product successful (dry the hot dogs completely first, roll them in rice flour to help the batter stick, etc.), which I really liked. This was my first time going to this website, but I'll definitely check it out in the future.
**I converted this recipe to vegan (successfully) by swapping the following:
1. ) Veggie dogs. Many aren't gluten-free. You''ll have to read the packages. I used Light Life.
2.) Unsweetened plain almond milk in place of dairy milk
3.) Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer (one tablespoon combined with three tablespoons water for each egg) for the two eggs. I was most worried about this part, but the batter integrity was fine.
4.) The recipe also calls for honey, which is strictly speaking not vegan. I still eat honey. If you wanted to swap it out, grade B maple syrup should do. Be sure to use real maple syrup, or the viscosity will be way off.
5.) Unrelated to veganism, but the recipe specifies white rice flour, and I only had brown. I used the brown, and everything came out fine.
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Website: Serious Eats
It turns out most commercial tater tot brands are vegan and gluten free, which fulfills the various dietary needs of everyone who would be eating these. So I'm not sure what possessed me to make these from scratch. They are so much work. To wit: peel and cube potatoes, lightly fry them, transfer them in small batches to a food processor and pulse, combine the mix with cornstarch, salt and pepper, shape them into cylinders and fry them again. Getting and keeping the oil at 350 in order to do all this frying took a lot more time than I expected.
These were good, but in the end they didn't really taste that different from store-bought. Too much trouble to make again.
(Also when you see how much oil it takes to make tater tots, you won't want them again.)
Equipment needed: food processor, wok/dutch oven/deep fryer
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Superfood Snacks: 100 Delicious, Energizing & Nutrient-Dense Recipes
By Julie Morris
Sterling - 2015
These made me no longer miss Doritos. The kale is combined with a spice mixture (tahini, lemon juice, smoked paprika, etc.) and then baked in the oven at a low temp for 70-90 minutes-a dehydrator would also work here. I only cooked for a little less than an hour, because they smelled like they were burning. This may have been because I had been baking something else in the oven and it was still warm. The kale was crisped up, but still juicy. I thought these were supercalifragilistic delicious, but my fellow vegan friend said they gave vegan food a bad name. So, you'll love or hate these.
*to be fair, he hates kale.
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Thug Kitchen Party Grub: For Social Motherf*ckers
By Thug Kitchen
Rodale Books - 2015
So, as promised these were fudgy and slightly crispy (not cakey) the way a brownie should be. What they weren't were cohesive. Despite the ground flax added to the "buttermilk" (almond milk + vinegar), these babies fell to pieces when the knife hit them. Which coincidentally is the story of every vegan brownie I made this year. I have all the sadness!!
They taste legit though. I was thinking of taking them to work for the people who have to be there on Christmas Eve, but they are kind of a mess. I think I'll make my guests coming tomorrow eat them for dessert. "Merry Christmas, have some brownie rubble. No, it's supposed to look like that. It's.....French."
Equipment needed: whisk, 8x8 pan
ETA: I put these in the fridge, and found they firmed up nicely. I'd add an additional step to let them sit in the fridge for an hour or so, then cut them.
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I could basically almost live on this. You can bake your own loaf of bread, but the recipe just calls for a loaf of french bread from the grocery. You just whip up a garlic "butter" with olive oil, roasted and raw garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cut the bread, pour it on and toast for around 20 minutes. Top with some nutritional yeast. The garlic and bright lemon flavor complement each other beautifully. Crazy delicious and super fast and easy.
I made this to go with the artichoke dip from the same cookbook. It's more than good enough to eat on its own.
Equipment needed: the volume of liquid is so low, even my immersion blender didn't make much of a dent. I ended up crushing the garlic with the back of a spoon. Otherwise, just an oven-safe pan and aluminum foil.
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A very credibly veganized version of the spinach/artichoke dip. And with nutritional yeast subbed in for cheese, it's substantially lower in fat. The garlic and lemon juice provide plenty of flavor.
It was a bit gritty at the bottom of the container, possibly from the nutritional yeast. This didn't seem to bother anyone, but I noticed it.
Equipment needed: food processor, whisk, flour sifter
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Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck
By Thug Kitchen
Rodale Books - 2014
This is the type of dish that Chloe Coscarelli whips out recipes for in her sleep, and I'm sorry to say she would have done it better.
This was......ok. Edible. Inoffensive. It was a good way to use up some cauliflower that was getting ready to go bad. I used half of a head of cauliflower as instructed, but I think closer to a whole head would have been more appropriate. The sauce to spaghetti ratio was stingy. Also, the dish was just kind of bland. I added some veggie parm and some basil to it for lunch today-which helped-along with heaping helpings of salt and pepper.
This tasted overall like a recipe I'd expect to find in a no-fat cookbook for heart patients or diabetics. I still like the thugs, but I'm betting there are better cauliflower white sauce recipes to be had. Having cooked a lot from books where the authors are able to make a small ingredient list shine (e.g., Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Chloe Coscarelli, Robin Robertson), this was a bit of a letdown.
Also, the recipe states to boil the cauliflower to soften it. I think steaming would achieve the same result, but result in a more nutritious final product.
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Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For--From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes
By Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Da Capo Lifelong Books - 2009
Just a warning, she's pretty heavy-handed with the "nooch", so you may want to adjust there. I followed a tip from Veg News and did not press the tofu first. I found it too crumbly for me, I wouldn't do it that way again. I added cremini mushrooms to this. This is delicious and basic enough that it's a good tofu scramble to have in your weekend breakfast arsenal.
Equipment needed: a cast-iron pan is desirable, but not essential.
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This recipe is easy and delicious; it's pretty much my go-to tempeh scramble now. There are only a handful of ingredients. The thyme and tempeh really are a fabulous flavor pairing. From a time and ingredients standpoint, this is easier to make than her tofu scramble (although neither are that difficult.)
Equipment needed: cast-iron skillet desirable, but not essential.
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This recipe is pretty simple. There aren't that many ingredients, and none of them are obscure or hard to find (as long as you can get your hands on vegan chocolate chips.) I thought they were ever so slightly dry, but the recipients didn't. The recipe called for instant coffee grounds; I hate instant coffee, so I just used the drip coffee grounds that I had on hand. Despite the fact there was no discernible binder in the ingredients list, these held together just dandy.
Equipment needed: 12-cup muffin tin
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Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats
By Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero
Da Capo Lifelong Books - 2009
These really taste snickerdoodley. Do watch them in the oven. They can overcook very easily, and they don't give off the strong aroma some cookies do when they are nearing done. Plan these before you make them, there is a little prep time involved (you make the dough and let it sit in the fridge a while.) I mention this because I tend to do things last minute.
Oh-and don't be lazy like me. You need to roll the cookie balls in a cinnamon/sugar mixture before you bake them. I used turbo sugar, as that is what I had on hand. It doesn't stick well. Use powdered sugar for this step.
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