Customer Reviews

Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites: Lip-Smacking, Belly-Filling, Home-Style Recipes Guaranteed to Keep Everyone-Even the Meat Eaters-Fantastically Full

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

 

 

I have tried many things from this cookbook and everything has been exceptional. It is a great collection of recipes that will appeal to anyone and is a great go-to for when you are entertaining a mixed crowd but want to keep it vegan. My husband who used to be a big meat eater but is now vegan loves when I cook from this cookbook because it matches the flavor profiles he is used to and always says "it's vegan magic" because it all tastes the same but without the animal products. Highlights for us have been the Buttermilk Blueberry pancakes, the Twice Baked Spaghetti, maple bacon donuts, the taco salad, cheese tortellini, cake batter ice cream, smokey pub cheese and the burger you make with it, seriously....all of it! I love the design of the book and the photography is amazing! There are lots of pictures to show you exactly what you are going to get and just looking through it you will be drooling and planning your menu for the week. Celine and Joni have definitely done it again, this is a definite must have!

I am sure there are a lot of people that would enjoy this cookbook. It would be great to use as a resource when the carnivores come knocking for dinner, but.... It is just too unhealthy for me. So many of the recipes are fried, use TVP, lots of faux cheeses, butter etc.. I don't mind some junk vegan food now and again but, this is not a nightly go to cookbook for dinner. I did try a couple of things (making some changes to how it was prepared so as to not use as much oil etc) and the flavor was decent. If you like junk food or need to cook for a carnivore then this book may work for you... as for me I enjoy the health aspect of being a vegan and felt that this cookbook would not benefit me.

Hearty Vegan is a delight for the palate and for the eyes.
This book makes it a pleasure to eat vegan, to enjoy every meal, and to find the perfect menu to prepare for yourself or to entertain your friends.
Together with my husband, we enjoyed the Scalloped Potato Pie, the Eggplant Parmigiana, the Pesto con Gusto Pizza. To entertain, we served the Crispy Pepperoni Bites with rosé wine: they went together so well. The Super-Tender Whole Wheat Bagels, slightly toasted and served with jam, make for a great breakfast. We also loved June's Swedish Dessert Blender Pancakes.
We're looking forward to trying even more from this book!

I'm a cookbook ADDICT. I must have 200 veg*n cookbooks right now and THIS one is my favorite! EVERYTHING I've made has been just to die for. I've been vegetarian for over 30 years. Vegan for about a month now. My husband eats fish, but is vegetarian otherwise. He is hesitant to be "more vegetarian" than he is(n't) now. BUT, with this cookbook- he's been eating vegan and loving it! Last night: the alfredo sauce over whole wheat linguini. Tonight the "beefy" mac followed by the STRAWBERRY CREAM PRETZEL PIE (OMG-seriously!!!!!!!!!). These two chefs are amazing.I'm their new biggest fan for sure. :)

Why does this cookbook not have a hundred five-star reviews? First off, it is beautiful and beautifully written. The page weight, the photography, the recipes, beautiful. Second, it is completely absorbing. I--and everyone else I know who has this book--cannot put it down for marking what to try first, and then next, and next, and next. Third, the recipes are incredible. I made the beefy cheesy mac within three hours of receiving my copy, and now have also made the saucisses, the ultimate patty melt, garlicky sauce, and smokey pub cheese. All superb, and they have converted me to liking TVP, something I thought was not possible. I have my eye on scalloped potato pie next! This is my first experience with Joni/Celine cookbooks, and it won't be the last by a long shot. Highly recommended.

This book redefines comfort food, going well beyond the usual. Creative twists on classics and full blown new recipe concepts make this book indispensable in the vegan kitchen. Especially for vegans who share meals with non-vegans. Starting with breakfast, the book is filled with delicious recipes: muffins, french toast, scrambles and more, including my personal favorite Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes. Main dishes run the gamut from stews, sandwiches (the Monte Cristo!),pot pies and other one pot meals. Side dishes include healthy, fresh vegetable recipes and a few surprises, such as flautas. The bread chapter may be my favorite. The Skillet Corn Bread, Cinnamon Swirl and White Panini Rolls are all wonderful. The condiment chapter has some go-to recipes, Mamou's Magical Vinaigrette being one of them. I haven't made any of the desserts yet, but they are very tempting so that will change soon.

The book is beautifully photographed and well-orgainzed. Having made a dozen recipes so far, I've only scratched this surface. This one is worth the money.

If you thought that going vegan meant giving up things like macaroni and cheese and spicy wings you have to get your hands on Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites! This book is full of recipes for home-style comfort food that will please both vegans and omnivores a like. There are vegan versions of classics such as 5-cheese baked macaroni, chocolate stout chili, as well as a bacon and egg breakfast sandwich. With this book you can even make your own sausages and hot dogs! There are tips scattered throughout the book on what side dishes are best served with entrees as well as reminders to eat your veggies, because sometimes even vegans don't get enough greens. In addition to being full of mouth watering recipes, this book is full of mouth watering photos. The book itself is gorgeous with a nice clean layout and lots of beautiful photos of the finished recipes.

Raised vegetarian, I could live happily without eating meat. However, most vegan food I have encountered has been either so-so, unsatisfying (hungry again in an hour) or difficult to prepare at home (N.B. there are some amazing vegan restaurants I'll eat at in a heartbeat). I've even been present at a test kitchen session for a vegan baking book that was scarily inedible. Add to that a husband who will tirelessly ask if I can put some form of animal protein into whatever I might be cooking (whilst I roll my eyes behind the shield of the fridge door) and you can probably see why I have not taken any giant leaps to becoming a vegan.

BUT, this and a few other books (some by the same publisher - I am a big baker, so most notably The Joy of Vegan Baking) have made major moves to sway my stance and at least include more vegan meals in our everyday. My carnivore husband remarked that he wanted to cook and eat out of this book (I'll believe it when I see it) when he looked it over. But I agree, flipping through this thing makes me hungry, and the rustic saturated photography style is super appealing (as is the general design and clear layout). Bonus points for being a source of inspiring comfort food ideas for winter meals that don't involve a slaughtered animal. I have a few friends I'm already plotting to get copies for.

I am somewhat conflicted regarding my feelings towards this book. On one hand, the recipes are well thought out and the ones i have tried are pretty tasty, but on the other, it kind of falls into the common vegan trap of trying to make things taste like meat. Plenty of faux bacon makes it's way into these recipes, for example. However, the premise is also to attract meat eaters to the concept of veganism, and so i can see the value of that approach. Personally, i think you can do the same by simply cooking good, fresh ingredients, and simply not advertising the vegan aspect of the plates you craft until after everybody has had a taste, but that is just me, and i realize this whole topic is kind of a grey area and subjective to personal experiences.
Anyway, i wouldnt call the recipes included groundbreaking, but they are good, and i am glad to have this book to provide further inspiration for those times when i am bored and cant think of anything new or cool to cook. Additionally, the writing style i playful, which makes the book fun to read. You can tell that regardless of my own personal opinion of the recipes, that the two authors really enjoy their recipes in their own lives, and i really appreciate that fact. All in all, i feel four stars is a perfect rating for this effort, although i can see why people have given it five.

Enjoy!

At the risk of sounding redundant, previous reviewers have used words like indulgent, decadent and gorgeous... And they would be correct.
But this is also a down-home, "Mom's Kitchen" sort of book you'll be referring to over and over.

I author a "comfort vegan food" blog [...] because that is what my family and I LIKE! I admit I'm picky - and not a fan of green smoothies or chia pudding. Thus I'm often skeptical of other vegan cooking because it seems complicated, filled with ingredients I can't locate or recipes designed for palates different than mine.
However, not so with this lovely book - I'm pleased to report that every one of the recipes I've tried in this book, so far, would qualify, absolutely, as vegan "comfort" food. Warm, hearty, cozy filling foods you would serve to your family on a cold winter night.

Enjoy!!