Customer Reviews

The Saucy Vegetarian

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I have a friend who swears that the sauce makes the meal. It used to be that the mere word "sauce" gave me pause, conjuring up images of corn starch, heavy, rich ingredients, and standing in front of a hot stove stirring. Erase those images from your mind and imagine a whole book of entirely vegan sauce and dressing recipes that you can make in a blender. That means no cooking and literally seconds to a better meal. A few recipes do call for toasted nuts or roasted garlic, but those can easily be done ahead of time, and believe me, that simple extra step is well worth it. The vast majority of recipes simply call for dumping everything into the blender and flipping the switch. With the help of this book I turned out a dinner of pasta with Walnut Pesto and green salad with Sweet Basil Vinaigrette in under 30 minutes. Even my omnivorous guests wholeheartedly approved. Included are sections on planning vegetarian meals and combining and correcting flavors. Recipe chapters are: Vinaigrette Sauces & Dressings; Nut & seed Based Sauces & Dressings; Tomato, Bean & Vegetable Based Sauces & Dressings; and Creamy Tofu Sauces & Dressings. A bonus with each recipe is a list of suggestions for each using each sauce; for example, you can use the Green Ecstasy Dressing on pasta with asparagus and carrots, on shredded daikon radish with Bibb lettuce or on sliced, ripe tomatoes. This cookbook is my current favorite!

I have several shelves full of vegan and vegan-friendly cookbooks. The Saucy Vegetarian is one of my favorites, not just for the delicious 100% vegan recipes, but for the creativity it inspires. The recipes generally involve processing about 6 to 8 no-cook (with occasional stove-top roasting) ingredients in the blender, and in some cases a food processor. Using this simple technique, I've made many awesome sauces and dressings, both Jo Stepaniak's recipes, and variations based on her recipes. A couple of ingredient substitutions I make that work well are 1 tablespoon chopped onion for each teaspoon powdered onion, and 1 teaspoon maple syrup for each teaspoon sugar. Unlike Jo's earlier works, some of these recipes call for sugar rather than a more natural, lower glycemic index sweetener. Fortunately, this isn't a problem as the maple syrup works fine, and there is a section listing recommended sweeteners and describing how they work in recipes.

My favorite recipes from the book include:
* Instant Alfredo Sauce - Very cheesy and smooth. And you would never know it contains only 13 calories per tablespoon and 0 grams of fat!
* Walnut Pesto Sauce - Delicious and very quick to make. No need to chop the walnuts first, just pile them high in the measuring cup. Works well with 1 to 2 teaspoons of Bragg Liquid Aminos (similar to soy sauce) in lieu of the salt and water.
* Carrot-Dill Sauce - I add a secret ingredient of celery seed and cut down on the water a bit for a thicker sauce. Delicious over rice and vegetables.
* Tahini, Tamari & Onion Dressing - I was afraid when I first made this raw onion dressing it would be overpowering, but the tahini and olive oil combine with the onion to make a mild oniony dressing that won't make your eyes tear. I always double this one and cut down on the water a bit to thicken it. I imagine that with mint or dill, it would make a great falafel sauce.
* Herb and Onion Vinaigrette - Makes a restaurant-quality house dressing. I double this one and substitute an equal quantity maple syrup for the sugar. Works great with balsamic vinegar in lieu of the wine vinegar.
* Sunflower Seed Dressing - This makes an interesting ranch-style salad dressing or dipping sauce. But it excels as a sandwich spread or pita bread filling with vegetables.

Of the dozen or so recipes I've tried in the book, there's only one I didn't like--the Miso Citrus Sauce. Tasted like salty orange juice.

Two helpful features with each recipe are the nutrient listing (calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates) and the listing of foods in the margin to try the sauce on. But, this cookbook contains an amazingly helpful feature rarely found in cookbooks: In addition to merely giving you her recipes, Jo teaches you how to put together the six basic tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, pungent and astringent) to develop recipes of your own. She goes into a lot of detail about these tastes, which raw ingredients to use, styles of no-cook sauces and dressings, and even how to correct flavors if you don't like the concoction you invented. She also provides information on planning vegetarian menus, along with sample menus. Whether you're a novice or experienced vegetarian or vegan, it's worth reading the nearly 40-page educational section to get the creative juices flowing. Then follow Jo's advice to be innovative and consider her recipes as a starting point, altering as you see fit. That's what I do, and receive a lot of compliments in the kitchen. :-)

This book certainly made my creative juices start flowing! I have never been comfortable with substitutions in the kitchen, and I found Stepaniak's description of viscosity, texture, taste and energetics,in addition to her listing thickening ingredients and how to adjust the flavors,really incredibly helpful. Her chart for improvising sauces and dressings has made me courageous and actually excited about exploring new options in the kitchen. This book is full of fresh ideas, and I've been a vegan for over 20 years, but never was completely happy without a recipe; I've always been reluctant to make things unless I had every ingredient listed. Now I have a greater insight into substitutions. I think experienced cooks will also profit from the description of the subleties of flavors. I highly recommend this book!

The Saucy Vegetarian is the most versatile cookbook I own, which is saying a lot, considering I'm a cookbookaholic! This book is idea for beginning veggies, committed vegans and even omnivores. Joanne presents a simple and healthy way to approach meal planning. Cook a grain, bean and a vegetable and serve with one of her delicious sauces! Plus, plenty of stuff to top salad, baked potatoes, breads, etc. I also like that Joanne gives suggestions for what food to pair with a sauce--it's kind of like getting several bonus recipes in one. Some of my favorite recipes include Skordalia, Green Olive and Nori sauce, the pestos and Parisian Vinagrette. Every creative cook needs this book in their collection!

This book is great! Lots of sauces and dressings that you can whip up in minutes in your blender. I just made the Thousand Island dressing and it tastes better than the bottled stuff I used to consume as a child. And it is dairy-free! The No-Cook BBQ Sauce is fantastic and yummy. Joanne always includes the nutritional info for each recipe too. Everything is vegan, too! :0)

I'm a vegan with a gluten intolerance who hates to cook. Rather than starve to death, I bought The Saucy Vegetarian! This book allows me to create really great-tasting meals without slaving over the stove. The sauces require no cooking, so they are ready in less than five minutes. I prepare a grain, like quinoa or brown rice, a protein like beans or tofu, and one of the sauces in the book, mix them together, and voila! I have a yummy, healthy, meal! Many of the sauces in the book make good salad dressings, too. In the margins of the book are suggestions of what each sauce might taste good with. I use the suggestions as a springboard to try all kinds of combinations. If you own a wire whisk and a bowl, this book is for you!

Lots and lots of great recipes in here - in most cases two per page so it's really packed. One thing I really like about this cookbook is that with each sause there are suggestions for what to try it on which is great for me since sometimes I page through and think yum what a great sounding sauce now what can I build around it for dinner 9'cause you can't just each a bowl of sauce :) The vinegrette dressings are excellent (e.g. tamari ginger dipping sauce, different balsamic vinegar dressings, sesame oragne dressing) but even more I love the nut and seed based dressings like the herberd tahini sauce, different types of pestos. The herb dressings and bean sauces are great too. Nothing to complain about - a great way to add new zest to some old favorites. Sometimes when I get home from work I just stream up some rice and vegetables and drizzle a little sauce that I may have made the day before on there - voila a great quick yummy dinner

Vegetarian cooks who want to spice up their results using quick, no-cook sauces and dressings will find this an exceptional guide which lacks photos but doesn't need them. From a Maple-Dijon Salad Dressing to a fiery Hot Mustard Plum Dip, this includes a wide range of winners.

The Saucy Vegetarian presents a rich repertoire of recipes of no-cook sauces and dressings that will enhance any vegetarian menu. Food expert Joanne Stepaniak offers a tremendous collection of vinaigrette sauces and dressings, tomato, bean and vegetable based sauces and dressings, as well as creamy tofu sauces and dressings. Now the time-pressed kitchen cook can simply begin with a grain or pasta, add vegetables, beans or other vegetarian meat substitutes, and top it off with one of these no-cook sauces or dressings. From Sesame-Mustard Sauce, Cashew Sour Cream Sauce, and Walnut Pesto, to Tomato Ginger Dressing, Cucumber-Parsley Dressing, and Tunisian Cream Sauce, The Saucy Vegetarian will become a welcome and often utilized reference for novice cooks and experienced chefs alike when seeking to prepare tasty vegetarian dishes for their family and friends.

I have used this cookbook for years, and have found it delightful. Many other veggie cookbooks offer run-of-the-mill fare - we've all seen chili, tabbouli, hummus, and macaroni-and-cheese more times than we can count. In contrast, this cookbook offers something new and delicious on nearly every page. The recipes are creative and unique, and very easy to make. Generally, I can turn out a meal in the time it takes to boil a pot of rice. The author has good taste - her flavour combinations are reliably tasty, for carnivore and vegetarian alike.