Customer Reviews

ExtraVeganZa: Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I know, you're wondering about whether you should get this book, since it doesn't have many reviews yet and this is the first one. But let me tell you, I have over 150 cookbooks, and this one ranks in the best of them. It doesn't matter if you are a vegan, omnivore, or lacto-ovo-vegetarian - you will enjoy these recipes if you like vegetables, healthy grains, nuts, and legumes, the occasional sweet, and new and inventive ways to cook your favorite foods. Vegan foods, luckily, can be eaten by anyone - so just kick back and enjoy; this book makes it especially easy. Some recipes are wheat-free and others, like the vegetable mochi casserole, are gluten-free. The casserole is delicious, and the lemon sesame kale is my new favorite way to eat it. The Thai noodle salad is one of the best Thai dishes I have ever made. My boyfriend and I have greatly enjoyed these recipes, and I am confident you will, too.

This is a great vegan cookbook! I won't say what's been said in other reviews (especially the very first review that convinced me to buy this book). The hardest part of going vegan for me has been finding really good baked goods--cookies, pies, sweet breads, etc. This cookbook meets that need. At first I was put off by the baking section since spelt flour is used in a lot of the recipes. I finally bought some spelt flour, tried the recipes and was converted. Most of the baked goods are wheat free (as well as vegan) and all of them come out wonderful.
Pros: Good recipes, good flavors, some unique flavor combinations (think lavender and chocolate). Not the typical vegan cookbook--you'll find interesting and easy to make main dishes and wonderful desserts. Recipes are easy to follow and every one that I've made has come out. I especially like the cookie recipes--they make 30 to 45 cookies per recipe--a nice quanity (3 to 4 sheets), are easy, and tasty. The cookies and baking section are wonderful!
Three Cons: 1. There are a few editing errors. The Lavender Chocolate Chip cookies don't have water in the ingredient list and the directions mention water (but not the maple syrup mentioned in the ingredient list--I just used the maple syrup and they came out great). Another cookie recipe has almond in the title and hazelnuts in the ingredients. 2. The cookbook assumes a general competency in the kitchen--this isn't the book that will give you all the great kitchen tips or tell you about the ingredients. 3. There isn't a breakdown of nutrition or calories for the recipes.
And why a 5? It's a great cookbook. I've had it for a month and it is one that I keep coming back to. The cons aren't very significant--I mention them because if corrected the book would be stellar.

As long-term vegans we're always looking for good vegan cookbooks. This is one. I bought a copy for my sister and her family since my husband was buying a copy for us. Recipes are well organized and easy to follow, photos are tantalizing. This cookbook contains recipes using ingredients we're likely to have, in novel combinations, such as Buckwheat Bean Casserole with Sesame Sauce (p.107) and Strawberry Jalapeño Corn Muffins (p.121) . Others call for ingredients we're less likely to have, such as lavendar. The Chocolate Jalapeño Cake is among our favorites so far.

A superbly compiled and presented compendium of delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes that would please any palate and satisfying any appetite, "Extra Vegan: Original Recipes from Phoenix Organic Farm" is an enthusiastically recommended addition to any personal or community vegetarian cookbook collection! Featuring more than 250 vegan dishes that range from Pumpkin Seed Yam Pate; Garbanzo Bean and Sundried Tomato Spread; Lemon Curried Lentils and Potatoes; and Ginger Anise Peach Muffins; to Creamy Mandarin Orange Icing; Toasted Pecan Apricot Crust; Mocha Hazlenut Spice Cookies; Vegan Baklava; and Blueberry Yogi Popsicles, there are vegan recipes for every dining occasion from daily family meals, to snack time, to that special celebratory occasion. Of special note are the sections on 'Natural Food Dyes' and 'A Glossary of Edible Flowers'. If you only have shelf space for one more vegetarian cookbook, then you'd be well advised to make it "Extra Vegan"!

I give great praise for this book and the author. She did an amazing job creating simple delicious recipes that are easy to make and delicious! Everything is so lovingly rendered it makes me feel like I am a guest at her B&B. I don't usually bake but these recipes are so awesome it makes me want to run in the kitchen and bake something. I especially appreciate that she uses alternative flours like spelt, rice, and hemp, which are good for you and better for people with food sensitivities. The main dishes and salads are wonderful too. I highly recommend this book!

I love this book - everything from the clever name to the mouthwatering pictures to the liberal use of lavender and did I mention that the recipes are delicious too?

The author, Laura Matthias, has quite a story. She was a field biologist raising a young son and wanting to escape the city. When she found a rundown organic farm with a funky house, she jumped at the change to move to the country. With lots of help, she got the farm up and running and then decided to open a Bed and Breakfast where she could serve gourmet breakfasts made from her own farm fresh produce. This cookbook is made up of many of the dishes she serves at the B & B - and lots more.

The appetizers include Spinach Balls, Artichoke Heart Dip, Spicy Stuffed Avocados and lots more that I can't wait to serve at my next party. Since I was reviewing this book in the winter, I was happy about the all the delicious soups to choose from. I made the Spiced Red Lentil, Potato Parsnip and the Sweet Pepper Corn Chowder. We liked them all but the favorite of the kids was the Red Lentil while I especially liked the Chowder - made with coconut milk and jalapeno peppers.

I didn't have a chance to try any of the salads (like I said, it's winter) but there are some great choices like Mint Beet, Tuscan Bean, Pad Thai Noodle, and Sesame Spinach. Side dishes also sound good - like Coconut Cilantro Rice and Lemon Curried Lentils and Potatoes. I just bought the ingredients for the Black Bean Sweet Potato Almond Burgers and my kids can't wait for me to make the Smoky Baked Beans.

I did get to try a couple of entrees. The Vegan Pad Thai was very good - more peanut buttery than the authentic dish but a real hit with my family. The Baked Kabocha Squash with Savory Stuffing was perfect for our holiday dinner and I'm still looking forward to trying the Root Vegetable Pot Pie and the Friendly Shepherd's Pie.

I'm baking my way through the wonderful assortment of muffins, buns, and breads offered. So far, we've made the Apple Walnut Spice Muffins but I want to try the Lemon Lavender Blueberry Muffins next. Speaking of lavender, the Lavender Chocolate Chunk Cookies were amazing. Really amazing. Really, really amazing. I almost always try the chocolate chip cookie recipe in any cookbook I review and this is the first vegan version I really feel I can rave about. If you like thick, crisp chocolate chip cookies (which my husband for one much prefers over the chewy kind), you will love these. I happened to have guests over the day I tried them and they were gobbled up in no time. (Darn, I was hoping for leftovers!)

Okay, I'll go on with my review before I start drooling. There are lots of other goodies like pies, cakes, tarts, brownies, truffles, puddings, "cheese" cakes, baklava - okay, I really am drooling now. I think I'll go do some baking - and you, don't you need to be heading to the bookstore to get a copy for yourself?

Recipe as seen on www.vegfamily.com by Cathe Olson

Let me start by saying I have one daughter who is a vegan and that is difficult (none of the rest of the family is) but since she is now the only one left at home we are trying to eat more vegan food. I have tried many vegan cookbooks but this is by far the easiest and tastiest of them all. The only complaint I have about the book is that the binding came apart but was easily fixed. I have tried several recipes from this book, each one being EXCELLENT! We have tried the spinach hummus, (trying to get something different from regular hummus) and it was excellent and probably better for our eyes with the spinach, Sweet Pepper Coconut Corn Chowder, Spiced Red Lentil Soup, Paul's Thai Noodle Salad, Lemon Curried Lentils and Potatoes, and more. I haven't tried any desserts as of yet but I hope to. It is the vegan cookbook I will use over and over again, although my husband and I will still eat our dairy, at least once in a while. Recipes are excellent for vegans and non vegans alike. Wonderful book.

Mm, mm! When I look for cookbooks, I look for something that not only sounds good but doesn't look too intimidating to make or have ingredients I'll never be able to find. I'm not the world's best cook by far, so I steer clear of anything truly complicated. When I saw this book it sounded delicious so I went ahead and picked it up and boy am I glad! I've only made a few recipes but they have all been DELICIOUS! The veggie kebabs and the shepherd's pie have become staples in my family and when serving guests because they are just SO good. Very good recipes that don't require you to be a professional. Perhaps not for someone who has never cooked before (it's not a tutorial-type book), but well worth having. I have several vegan-specific cookbooks as well as some general cookbooks and I think this may be my favorite of all of them. YUM!

ExtraVeganZa reminds me a lot of a vegan version of an Ina Garten cookbook. I say this because Matthias' recipes reflect a simple and yet worldly elegance that one would expect from a B&B owner. The meals demonstrate that you don't need fancy techniques or a pantry full of exotic ingredients to create memorable meals your friends and family will enjoy. Yes some of the recipes do require a trip to a specialty or health foods store, but most of them are built on everyday ingredients or can easily be made with substitutions. And when they do call for specialty ingredients, you will agree that the results are so worth it and the extra money and effort do not go unnoticed.

While this cookbook may not be as massive as the much respected Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook it has a very extensive collection of recipes ranging from desserts to breakfasts to dinner entrees. Being a lover of baked goods I was especially excited with how many recipes from this book fell into that category. Having a lot of cookbooks I also loved that it was a mix of classic recipes as well as many with more unusual flavor combinations that I had not previously seen in other cookbooks, vegan or otherwise. One of my favorites so far has been the Blueberry Lemon Lavender Muffins. Even though I had to substitute all purpose flour for the whole wheat pastry flour they still came out with a lovely crumb. They were moist, flavorful and surprisingly complex with for a muffin. In fact, they came out so well that when I brought them away to a ski weekend many of my travel mates, none of whom are vegan, proclaimed them the best muffins ever. They went MUCH more quickly than a non vegan muffin I made out of another cookbook. I have also really enjoyed the recipes for Sweet Pepper Coconut Corn Chowder and Spinach Tempeh Mushroom Stroganoff on Semolina Linguine. I love when recipes come out so perfectly because it gives me the confidence I need to try other things out of the book. It's this kind of confidence that makes me want to try some of the more unusual recipes like the Strawberry Jalapeno Muffins. And I am quite certain I will be trying MANY more recipes because each one sounds more mouthwatering and unique than the rest. I have been invited to a soup party for this upcoming weekend and am certain I will end up making something from the book such as the Curried Squash Pear Soup or Tomato Garbanzo Spinach Soup. I know that the pie crusts have also received rave reviews on Veg Web so I am sure those will become base recipes for me as well.

The bottom line is that this is a simply outstanding cookbook not just for vegans and vegetarians but for omnivores (like me!) who appreciate good, creative food regardless of whether it includes animal products. Anyone can try these recipes and feel inspired not deprived. I highly recommend it and believe it deserves as much praise as Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Great Vegan Food for Special and Everyday Celebrations, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and other famed vegan and vegetarian cookbooks.

I've been vegetarian for over 20 years (vegan on and off) and have collected many, many cookbooks. This book is my absolute favorite - the one I reach for if I'm cooking for non-vegetarians who are traumatized at the idea of not getting meat. This woman uses SPICES and GARLIC. I can absolutely count on her recipes to be so flavorful that even my omnivore husband is wowed.

And if you like to read cookbooks, this one is a treat. Suffice it to say that her pigs do their spring tilling.