College Vegetarian Cooking [Paperback]

Megan Carle (Author), Jill Carle (Author), Penny De Los Santos (Photographer)

Book Description

Release date: July 7, 2009

Beyond Rice Cakes and Ramen

Quiz time! Vegetarianism is:

A) strictly for humorless health nuts.
B) fine if you actually like brown rice. I guess.
C) what? I wasn' t sleeping, I was resting my eyes. Can you repeat the question?
D) just kind of . . . normal.

You answered D, right? Meatless eating is healthy, inexpensive, ecologically friendly, and even hip. What's not to like?

But it's not always easy being green. The salad bar can get pretty uninspiring after a while, and you don't even want to know how much salt lurks in that can of tomato soup.

Enter the Carle sisters: Megan (the long-time vegetarian) and Jill (the skeptical carnivore) are the dietary divas of yummy, doable dishes for teens and young adults. In this new book (their fourth), they offer the tips, tricks, and tasty recipes they use to feed themselves and their friends in style--veggie style.

The Carles make cooking easy for cash-strapped, kitchen-shy vegetarians, starting with instructions on how to set up a basic veggie kitchen on the cheap. And they keep it simple with 90 recipes organized into student-friendly chapters, from "Cheap Eats" to "Impressing Your Date," "Dinner for One" to "Party Food," plus a desserts chapter packed with vegan options. Every page bursts with color photographs.

Whether you're sharing Pasta Primavera with your roommates, taking a Caramelized Onion Tart to a party, grabbing a Roasted Red Pepper and Avocado Wrap on the run, or buttering up your sweetie with Mushroom Ravioli, College Vegetarian Cooking will break you out of the ramen rut--without breaking your budget.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Grad students, cookbook authors and sisters, the Carles (Teens Cook Dessert, College Cooking) present another approachable but uneven collection aimed at peers who are going vegetarian. Emphasizing familiar favorites like cheese enchiladas bolstered with green chiles and corn, Asian lettuce wraps, falafel and pasta primavera, the dishes come together without fuss or the need for arcane ingredients, ensuring the book gets plenty of use. Time-saving steps, like employing already-made wontons for mushroom ravioli and puff pastry for cherry turnovers or tomato tarts will help budding cooks build confidence quickly. That said, novices may find instructions frustratingly brief-those unfamiliar with caramelizing may well end up with a scorched mess instead of a caramelized onion tart, and there's little help in crafting one's own pizza dough. Greater light is shined, however, on procedures for making potato gnocchi and maki rolls. Pesto pasta may be a little light on the basil, and the reliance on cream of mushroom soup in Tofu Tetrazzini may give one pause, but the sisters' hits outnumber their misses.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Will help budding cooks build confidence quickly.”
—Publishers Weekly
 
“Lots of tips and useful advice. Will be in demand by both students and recent graduates.”
—Library Journal
 
“One of these days, the Carle sisters—authors of ‘Teens Cook,’ Teens Cook Dessert’ and ‘College Cooking’—will grow up. But until they graduate from Arizona State University, they’ll remain two of the most accessible young authors for college students.”
—Hackensack Record
 
“more than 80 simple recipes and vibrant photos in sensible categories such as ‘party food,’ ‘impressing your date’ and ‘cheap eats.’”
—Chicago Tribune
 
“Dishes so tasty, no one will complain ‘Where’s the beef?’ ...students looking to enhance their cooking repertoire will find plenty of solid choices in this book.”
—Omaha World Herald
 
“Easy, inexpensive recipes.... And, no one says you have to be vegetarian to use it.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
 
“It’s not on the required-reading list, but College Vegetarian Cooking may in fact be the most useful ‘textbook’ your kids could have.”
—“Eat In and Save” Food Columnist Marialisa Calta, United Media Syndicate
 
"delicious meatless recipes...inexpensive and easy meals."
—National Examiner
 
“Simple versions of comfort classics and familiar ethnic dishes should appeal to busy students who have little experience in the kitchen.”
—Oregonian
 
"College Vegetarian Cooking is an easy-to-use masterpiece that we just can't get enough of."
—College Times
 
“an easy-to-follow cookbook that doesn’t require a ton of specialized culinary equipment or technique. ...If your scholar doesn’t do meat, have them pack College Vegetarian Cooking.”
—Energy Times
 
“dozens of delicious vegetarian recipes that you can easily prepare in your kitchen or dorm. ...helps even the most inexperienced cooks find their place in the kitchen. ...something for every occasion. ...Yum!”
—Justine Magazine
 
“Perfect for time- and money-strapped young adults. ...truly easy, fun, and delicious. Cookbooks aimed at young adults are nothing new, but this book’s format and tone are just right for the target audience, making it a good selection for almost any nonfiction collection.”
—VOYA: Voice of Youth Advocates
 
“Whether you’re among the 20 percent of college students who consider themselves vegetarians or you’re looking for fast, budget-friendly, meat-free meals, the Carle sisters have delicious solutions.”
—Cookbook Digest

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; 1ST edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580089828
• ISBN-13: 978-1580089821
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.5 x 11.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,860 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this cookbook! March 20, 2010

By Jenn

Format:Paperback

I haven't been a college student in a long time, but this cookbook is great for our whole family! We don't eat much meat, and several of the recipes in this book have become some of our standard dinners. I really like how it is organized too- into sections by event instead of ingredient (recipes for one, party food, to impress your date.) We use the "survival cooking" and "cheap eats" sections the most- with a 3 year old I try not to spend too much time stuck in the kitchen instead of playing, and the healthy and fast recipes are really helpful. This is one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks- we use it all the time!

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice selection of recipes, but beware... January 27, 2010

By L. Becker

Format:Paperback

I am no longer a college student, but I thought this cookbook would be nice to add to my collection because of the simple, familiar vegetarian meals it promised. The recipes can be categorized as lunches, dinners, appetizers, and desserts which are divided into different sections based on portion sizes. For example, "Dinner for One" contains recipes that make a single serving while "Food For The Masses" contains recipes that make 10-12 servings.

PROS: The recipes aren't weird. You'll be making familiar food like tacos, pasta primavera, falafel, stuffed shells, and vegetable pot pie. The pictures of the food are beautiful. In general, what you end up making will look similar. Tastewise, I've made the cheddar cheese soup with Irish soda bread - that was delicious. I've made the vegan chocolate pudding - getting over the fact that it turned our rather lumpy and weird-looking, was also delicious. Black bean and corn soft tacos were also nice, though I added TVP to it to make them a "beef and bean taco" instead. Nonetheless, delicious. The directions for making the meals are also pretty thorough. Though I will warn you: I've been cooking for 7-8 years, so I have some experience with preparation and knowing what works and what needs to be modified.

CONS: Some recipes are downright DANGEROUS. I tried making the barbecue tofu with onion rings the other night and it was an absolute disaster! The directions state to put 1 1/2 inches of oil into a saucepan to fry up the tofu and onion rings and heat until very hot over medium-high heat. Within 3 minutes, hot oil exploded out of the pot and all over my new oven and kitchen. I cannot imagine what would happen if a college kid attempted this in their dormroom kitchen!! Saucepans do not make good deep fryers! If that wasn't bad enough, the recipe itself was awful. After the oil incident, I baked the tofu and the onion rings. However, the recipe did not call for the tofu to be marinated, so it was tasteless. It was like eating bread and barbecue sauce. The recipe also didn't call for the onion rings to be dipped into the egg wash before being dipped into flour, so the onion rings turned out to taste like cooked onion and...dry flour. I recommend only attempting the recipes that are pictured, since it seems those are the ones that work out and taste good.

OVERALL: I rate this book 3 out of 5, removing 2 stars for dangerous recipes and the occasional poor-tasting recipe.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I really like it but... August 6, 2010

By K. Wint

Format:Paperback

I really liked this cookbook after flipping through, however, when my mom purchased it we were under the impression that there would be an abundance of meals that I could prepare in my dorm, there are not a lot of those, however it is still a really GREAT cookbook.