Customer Reviews

Student's Go Vegan Cookbook: Over 135 Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegan Recipes

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book right when it first came out entirely upon the strength of Carole Raymond's other cookbook, the "Student's Vegetarian Cookbook," which I would describe as the perfect cookbook for people who can't cook. I was expecting more of the same easy, cheap, quick, and great tasting recipes I had found there. Unfortunately, the "Student's Go Vegan Cookbook" is a disappointment on every single one of those attributes. The recipes found here are more complicated, more expensive, more time consuming, and just less useful than the ones in the previous book.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are some hidden gems in this book as well, but that just it: they're hidden! Time and time again I find myself hungry and flipping through this book saying to myself: "nope... nope... nope..." because everything I see isn't a meal, it's just part of a meal. If you filter out the endless array of salads, dips, dressings, toppings, and side dishes you are left with a scant few actual meals. I'm an active (mostly) vegan male, and need hearty and healthy food to keep me running, not salads and side dishes! The idea seems to be that the author is giving you all the building blocks so you can go and create your own meal. All I can say is that's what people who can cook do... and if I could do that I wouldn't need this book in the first place!

I have no idea why Carole Raymond decided to organize the book like this. I don't have time to cook all day and combine 6 recipes into one full meal - that's why I bought this book. The great thing about the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook is that almost every page seems to have a complete meal on it, and the same thing just can't be said about the Vegan version. As a warning, I also find the book to be very heavy on Tempeh and Tofu recipes. I personally cannot stand Tempeh and don't like to eat tofu every day, so that also discounts a large number of recipes for me.

In considering this book, one does need to realize the reality that cooking vegan is harder then cooking vegetarian... but I don't think it has to be THIS hard. I think Carole Raymond needs to re-evaluate exactly who her target audience is here. I generally like Raymond's recipes, and I'd love to see a stripped down version of this book, with a renewed focus on quick, easy, complete meals. As things stand, there are some great recipes in this book... but I just don't find it all that useful.

I own A LOT of vegan cookbooks, but there are only a few I turn to on a regular basis for every day meals. This one has become my new favorite! The recipes make just enough for a couple or a small family, and the ingredients are easy to find at any basic grocery store. When I first started looking at the recipes, I thought they seemed too simple. I was worried that they would be bland, but I was totally wrong! I especially love the edamame stir fry--the sauce is divine, and the ingredients are interchangeable, so you can throw in whatever veggies you have on hand. It has become my "oh crap, what are we going to do for dinner?" standby. I seriously love this book--five stars for sure!

Easy and delicious recipes by the author of "Student's Vegetarian Cookbook", except all the recipes are totally vegan this time. My favorite is Cinnamon-Maple Granola. Her recipes are easy to make, quick, and use easy to find ingredients. Highly recommended for the student or lone vegan in the house. This is the cookbook I grab when I can't figure out what to make, and I need something in a hurry!

This cookbook is exactly what I have been looking for! Creative, healthy, and delicious recipes abound in this book. It's vegan without being pretentious, without tons of sugar and processed flour in the recipes, and includes a ton of magnificient vegetables (something that is often missing, strangely, in alot of vegan cookbooks). The first recipe I made, a warm spinach/apple salad, was so unlike anything I had ever eaten and yet possibly the most delicious thing I've cooked in years. I was hooked. I'm recommending this to all my friends, and I'll be serving dishes from it many times over. The word "student" in the title is misleading. This cookbook is for everyone interested in delicious, healthy, awesome recipes.

The flavorful recipes in this book have short ingredients lists and simple, easy-to-follow instructions. It would be an excellent book for both beginning and experienced cooks interested in a plant-based diet. I'm an experienced cook who found this book at the library and liked it so much that I bought it.

I bought this book because I am trying to cut down on saturated fat and get more produce in my diet, I also bake vegan, no sugar desserts as a hobby. So far, the two best recipes have been the 10 minute brownies and the seitan salad. For the brownies, I substituted spelt flour and used maple syrup instead of sugar. They were divine: moist, chewy and fudgy, the first vegan brownies I've made that were actually good. I made the seitan salad sandwiches to take to work for lunch. They seem to develop the best flavor if you let the seitan salad sit overnight to meld the flavors. It is very tasty and similar to a chicken salad sandwich. The texture of the seitan works perfectly!
Unfortunately, other recipes were not as successful. The pumpkin scones are extremely bland. I had some pumpkin left over so I made another batch this weekend, I tried tweaking things a bit: adding more sweetener, tossing in some cinnamon and nutmeg, but it didn't help. They were still incredibly bland. Pleasant, just not "wow." To the author's credit, these do seem to be intended to be more like a dinner roll to go with chili or soup, she says to eat them hot out of the oven and they are best that way. The coconut tapioca was terrible: bland and flavorless, not worth the effort at all. Likewise, the Spanish tomato soup was almost inedible, with a very strange flavor. It was also not edited well, as the recipe calls for miso and then doesn't tell you when or how to add it to the soup. I put it in at the end.
I'm not a student, but the recipes don't seem that expensive to me. They are much simpler and cheaper than a lot of the vegan cookbooks I have. There are more recipes that intrigue me, I'm trying the vegan baked beans this week. But the recipes do seem very hit and miss in their quality.

This is really one of the best vegan cookbooks I've ever read. And I've read a lot of them. The recipes are all easy, delicious, and economical to make. Just right for a student, but also for a busy person who likes to eat ethically and healthily, like myself. Spread the word!!

I liked Carole Raymond's last book, "Student's Vegetarian Cookbook" because the dishes in it are uniformly good for you, easy to prepare, easy on the budget, and exceptionally tasty. The same holds true for the recipes I've tried in this book. Her blueberry cornmeal pancakes, for example, are fluffy and hold together, unlike many vegan pancakes I've tried, and they're absolutely delicious. Raymond peppers the book with up-to-date information and tips about equipment and preparation techniques that are useful for beginners and seasoned cooks alike. I count myself in the latter category, and I still learned plenty from this book. Highly recommended.

I just received this cookbook today, and was dismayed that so many recipes had a big list of ingredients. How is a lot of ingredients considered "cheap eats"? The pear smoothie was good, and it had very useful information throughout the book regarding vegan ingredients, but I would not recommend this book for anyone who is on a low-income!!!

Dude, this book's for you!
A great guide for beginning vegans and for vegetarians who want to increase their cooking range. If you think vegans have nothing to eat, this book will change your attitude!