The Clueless Vegetarian [Paperback]

Evelyn Raab (Author), George A. Walker (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: The Clueless series | Publication Date: August 5, 2000

You're young, you're vegetarian, you're clueless.

So you're a vegetarian. Or you're thinking about becoming a vegetarian. Or maybe you live with a vegetarian. Or maybe you just have to feed one occasionally.

The Clueless Vegetarian is designed for vegetarians who love good food, cooked from scratch, but also want to have a life. If you've just switched to a vegetarian diet, The Clueless Vegetarian gives you the straightforward nutritional information you need to help you make good food choices (without obsessing). If you're a practicing vegetarian looking for some good old fashioned cooking, then this is your guide. There are lots of hints for concocting vegetarian versions of your favorite old recipes, and suggestions on preparing meals for the mixed household. You'll even find survival tips and cooking advice that's just plain useful for everyone, vegetarian or not.

Incredibly thorough and with lots of humor, The Clueless Vegetarian leads the new-vegetarian through a whole new kitchen experience. Every recipe is coded so that you can easily identify whose a lacto-ovo vegetarian, who's a lacto-vegetarian, who's a vegan, an ovo-vegetarian or an occasional vegetarian, it's all laid out simply and straightforwardly, with no surprises.

The Clueless Vegetarian is filled with simple recipes for just about everything you might ever want to eat. There are recipes for lasagna, chili and burritos, there are curries and casseroles, hearty soups and lots of great snacks. There are even some truly decadent desserts. There are lots of delicious recipes to choose from:

• Chunky Avocado Salsa, Black Bean Dip, and Mexican Meltdown
• Creamy Carrot Soup, Minestrone Soup and Curried Red Lentil Soups
• Corn and Tomato Salad, Warm Mushroom Salad and Simple Sesame Noodle Salad
• Frittata, Quiche and Ricotta Pancakes
• Roasted Tomato Fettucine, Pad Thai and Nearly Normal Shepherd's Pie
• Mexican Red Rice, Ratatoutille, and Potato Latkas
• Amazing Eggless Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake, Fruit Crisp, Frozen Chocolate Bananasicles

Whether you're just trying a vegetarian lifestyle, or you're looking to spruce up your everyday cooking style, The Clueless Vegetarian is the best possible guide to vegetarian cooking.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This vegetarian cookbook feels like a flashback to a time when vegetarianism was a virtually unknown lifestyle choice. A nutritional pyramid revised for vegetarians is helpful, but advice for vegetarians who wish to face the "challenge" of dining out sounds dire (suggestions include pizza, Indian, Chinese and sticking to salad and bread). In general, not eating meat is presented as problematic and strange, with recipe titles like Seemingly Normal Chocolate Pudding (made with soy milk) and Nearly Normal Shepherd's Pie. The latter, like many of the recipes, feels like a throwback with its filling of vegetables, ketchup, and TVP (texturized vegetable protein). It's not that Gazillion Bean Salad, made with canned beans, and Zucchini and Basil Strata aren't good, but they're '70s classics, not new ideas. A section on crepes hearkens back to a good idea that is often overlooked, and a few pizzasAsuch as Pizza with Sweet and Sour Caramelized OnionsAbring back the '80s. Raab employs a tone more suited to her earlier effort, Clueless in the Kitchen, which was geared to teens. For example, she describes Mexican Meltdown as a "wonderfully gloppy cheesy goop," and the headnote to Sweet and Sour Roasted Beet Salad promises: "Remember those yucky gluey beets with the sweet sauce you always hated? Well, this is not them. Totally." (Aug.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The tyro vegetarian, particularly the teenage one rebelling against the dominant "burger culture," will relish the irreverent tone of Evelyn Raab's delightfully illustrated The Clueless Vegetarian. Raab assumes the posture of a teacher whose audience knows virtually nothing about vegetarian cooking but who believe it may be an appropriate choice for their lives. Raab takes care to define terms and to present recipes that presuppose no prior cooking experience. Her recipe classification system, rendered in icons, will also attract the computer-minded young adult. Despite her simple approach, Raab's recipes reflect a range of cooking styles and cater to today's multiethnic tastes with an emphasis on Italian and Mexican dishes and such Eastern exotica as pad Thai. So eager is she to expand her readers' horizons that she gives extensive instructions on managing the intricacies of phyllo pastry, a base for many Middle Eastern appetizers and entrees. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (August 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1552094979
• ISBN-13: 978-1552094976
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #836,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A vegetarian cookbook that even meat-eaters will love!, October 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Clueless Vegetarian (Paperback)

Until I acquired THE CLUELESS VEGETARIAN, I had no luck at all with vegetarian cookbooks. The food combinations were often odd, the prep work was time-consuming, and worst of all, the finished products just didn't taste all that good. I'd spend hours kneading and chopping, only to have my husband and kids turn up their noses when dinner was served. But wow, this cookbook is different. The recipes are refreshingly "normal"-- lasagna, shepherd's pie, spinach pie, crepes, quiches, pancakes, muffins, and moussaka, to name a few. There are some unusual ethnic entries for those with adventurous palates, but plenty of delicious, easy-to-follow recipes for those with more standard American tastes. There's also some helpful info on easing into the vegetarian lifestyle and feeding a "mixed" family, all rendered in light, witty prose (that's another thing about most other vegetarian cookbooks...they're so deadly dull and serious). Best of all, the results are awesome and leave my family asking for more. I'm rooting for a sequel!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steal this book, April 29, 2002

By 

Jennifer Adams (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Clueless Vegetarian (Paperback)

This book was incredibly helpful to me as a delved into the vegetarian lifestyle. It does a great job of helping the less-informed understand ingredients that they hadn't encountered prior to experimenting with veggie cooking. (tempeh? what's tempeh?) Many of the recipes are easily converted to vegan and my carnivorous boyfriend even likes some of them. Most of the recipes are also quick and quickly become staples. The Spicy Black Bean Dip is now a common request at all of my parties.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great source for the beginning vegetarian!, December 14, 2004

By 

M. K. Moore "Eating no meat, and loving it..." (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Clueless Vegetarian (Paperback)

This book is absolutely wonderful for the beginning vegetarian, or for the experimental cook. In addition to fabulous recipes, it also contains little hints to make cooking easier, serving suggestions, as well as a visual guide to whether a recipe is entirely vegan, or if it contains eggs. This book is also completely appropriate for teen cooks. The recipes, while good, are not too complicated, and are explained in detail. I heartily recommend it.