Customer Reviews

The Complete Vegan Cookbook: Over 200 Tantalizing Recipes, Plus Plenty of Kitchen Wisdom for Beginners and Experienced Cooks

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've found the recipes in this book to be, on average, very good to excellent. Many recipes are made entirely from vegetables you can get at the local farmers market. Dependance on soy and soy derivatives is (refreshingly) minimized. This book focuses more on wonderful and delicious recipes made from vegetable instead of trying to imitate or substitute for the usual meat and cheese dishes. No need to special order ingredients from Venezuela or the Ivory Coast either. I found this book approachable, practical, and with recipes that can fit into any meal, vegan or not. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in cooking with vegetables.

Who knew vegan food could be so delicious and varied? I still eat some dairy and eggs, but this book proved to me that I can (and someday will) be completely satisified with no animal products in my diet. The broad range of foods used in these recipes, and the creative way they are combined, truly opened my eyes. I'm not even a great cook, but I've enjoyed making these dishes, and they've all been really good, especially the soups and the pilafs (and the tacos!). Even if you don't like or are allergic to soy products, you can eat for a year on these recipes without getting bored. And don't worry about the low-carb thing--these recipes use healthy complex carbs like veggies, beans, and grains. Also, I learned a lot about nutrition and a lot of great cooking tips with this book--in a fun way, not like a textbook. The Complete Vegan Cookbook is great!

I just starting eating vegan this year, and this cookbook makes it very easy and tasty. This is a very diverse cookbook, yet the ingredients are not so exotic that you cannot find them. I especially love the Soba with Fresh Soybeans and Spicy Tahini Sauce and the Orrechiette with Tomato Sauce, Basil, and Toasted Pine Nuts. I made a few recipes out of this book for my non-vegan parents and in-laws for Easter dinner, and they loved them. This book has definitely made the transition from omnivore to vegan a great experience.

This was my first Vegan recipe book. I have tried many recipes from the book, and they have all been wonderful. I would highly recommend this book.

Vegan diets can get boring if people are not aware of the many, many foods that are available to a vegan. This book solves that problem neatly. I've been surprised by how easy it is to obtain, use, and store many new-to-me ingredients.
The recipes in here are fairly complex if you're comparing it to something like Betty Crocker. I usually save them for weekends when I have a little more time to spend in the kitchen. However, there are a few simple gems that I make very frequently (tofu tacos is my favorite). The reason I LOVE this book though is that I can rely on the recipes tasting so fantastic and being so interesting that even my non-vegan friends ask for the recipes when they've tasted my cooking.
For someone who is unfamiliar with basic cooking techniques, this book might be a little overwhelming to use. However, it has an exhaustive list of kitchen supplies that are needed, an index of ingredients, and a thorough discussion on keeping a well-stocked kitchen, using ingredients and cooking techniques. It's all there, but it will be a steep learning curve for someone who is just starting out in the kitchen.

I bought this book thinking I could use it to make some good vegan meals. I was very disappointed by it because although the recipes do look tempting and interesting and exotic, they are not practical - one would have to buy too many 'strange' ingredients to make them. In the end I just kept getting frustrated looking through it, because all these ideas she presents were not realistic, so I returned it. There may be one or two good recipes, but there are better vegan cookbooks out there.

I just recently made the transition from vegetarianism to vegan and was looking for some good meal ideas. This book is awesome! I would recommend it to anyone, whether you're an advanced chef or a beginner.

This book has many innovative recipes. The recipes vary from very simple, to somewhat more sophisticated, which is good since sometimes you just want to throw something together for yourself, but other times you may want to cook something more complex or impressive (for entertaining). The only draw back that I wanted to point out is that while this cookbook is vegan, it DOES NOT pay any attention to fats. So, some of the recipes may contain as many as 29 grams of fat per serving! Granted, this is the high end of the spectrum for the entire cookbook, but most of the recipes hover between 10-17 grams of fat per serving. The fat is mainly from canola oil, although some of it is from nuts and seeds. I try to modify the recipes myself so that they contain less fat. It is very healthy to eat a meal with no animal products, but equally unhealthy if it is SOAKED in oil! I definitely prefer a lighter style of cooking--so if you are willing to modify the recipes to contain less fat (or if you are not concerned about fat intake), then this book is worth your while.

I am just getting started on this one. Everything sounds great (this is one book that can get away with no pictures)! Anxious to try the Grilled Pizza. I am evolving from a Vegetarian to a Vegan diet so first most important is getting comfortable with new cheeses, egg and butter replacements etc. I have created Vegan diced boiled eggs with tofu, seasonings and a little mustard...works great for Potato Salad!

My boyfriend and I sit down for a meal and it goes something like this:

Bf: Wow! This is really good. Where did you get the recipe?

Me: From the cookbook my coworker gave me in the book exchange. You know the one.

Bf: (mouth full of food) Mmm hmm, yum.

Another winner from The Complete Vegan Cookbook.

This is my go-to cookbook. I make the fast and delicious recipes in this book more than any other recipes. I love the pasta puttanesca with artichokes, the potato and garlic soup, rice noodles with curried veggies, tempeh rancheros, chorizo "sausage", linguine with asparagus, walnuts and fresh herbs. This book has my favorite hummus recipe. When I made the chocolate-cinnamon walnut cake, a non-vegan friend asked for the recipe and made it for her non-vegan husband's birthday that week!

I also appreciate a little bit of history, accompaniment suggestions, leftover storing and alternative ingredients in the side bars.