Even when you're pressed for time, you'll be able to enjoy a home-cooked meal with this collection of easy-to-prepare recipes. Create scrumptious entrees, salads, soups, side dishes, beverages, and even desserts that are centered around unique sets of just four ingredients. These recipes are attractive in their visual simplicity, remarkable in flavor, and will also appeal to mainstream tastes. With creative combinations of beans, grains, veggies, and fruit, you'll discover simple touches that make a meal more memorable. And you'll get tips on how to use vegan convenience foods to save time, provide lots of flavor, and make nutritious, satisfying fare. Zippy Potatoes O'Brien, South-of-the-Border Quesadilla, Roasted Raspberry Beet Salad, Baked Artichoke Dip, Ginger-Kissed Butternut Squash Soup, Aegean Chickpea Salad, Chocolate Mousse and Vegan Fudge are just a few of the recipes to try. Whether you're just learning about plant-based cuisine or too busy to prepare anything elaborate, these recipes will make meal time easy and enjoyable.
The 4-Ingredient Vegan
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About the Author
Maribeth Abrams is a nutritionist, cooking instructor, public speaker, corporate chef for Vitasoy USA and spokesperson for the North American Vegetarian Society. Known for her enthusiastic demeanor, Maribeth has appeared on radio and television discussing food and nutrition, hosts the cooking DVD Tofu 1-2-3 with Olympic athlete Carl Lewis, and is the author of the cookbook Tofu 1-2-3. She writes the column Ask Maribeth in Vegetarian Voice Magazine for which she is also an associate editor. Maribeth also provides nutritional counseling for weight loss, detoxification, food allergies, and healthy eating for the treatment and prevention of various diseases. She is a Certified First Line Therapy Lifestyle Educator. Anne Dinshah is a lifetime vegan, recipe developer, and the author of Healthy Hearty Helpings, a vegan cookbook for busy people who like to eat.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
70 of 71 people found the following review helpful
By VeganLizard
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book on a recommendation from a vegan website. They raved about it but I was vastly disappointed when I realized that the recipes consisted of ingredients such as, "vegan cheddar broccoli soup" and "vegan chili" amongst others. Every recipe requires you to find a vegan store with a pre-made soup, pasta, or frozen dish. While I live in a very metropolitan area, I have NEVEr seen vegan cheddar broccoli soup, for example, and would have preferred simple recipes that didn't require pre-made, store bought ingredients.
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With the exception of water, salt, pepper, and oil or margarine (the "freebie" ingredients), every recipe in this cookbook contains just 4 ingredients. That includes herbs and spices, which I do appreciate. Though many argue that "the ingredient list may be long, but it is mostly just herbs and spices" you still have to take the time to get out and measure those spices and chop those herbs! I think it is great that the author counts these in her 4 ingredient limit.
What I love most about The 4 Ingredient Vegan - simplicity. Sometimes recipes drown themselves with too many ingredients and flavors, not to mention eating up my time in preparation! Plus, this is a compilation of great baseline recipes for building your own creations upon. I've already started experimenting with the first two recipes I trialed ...
Cashew "Cheese" Sauce - This struck me as more of a "miso" sauce with a cheesy vibe, but it was tasty and unique nonetheless. I liked the flavor, but then opted to add a dash of turmeric for a wee bit of color and some freshly ground pepper to bring out some spice. I actually think smoked paprika would go beautifully in this too. I did opt to heat it and cook it down a bit to thicken and compliment my freshly steamed veggies.
Sweet-and-Creamy Hot Rice Cereal - I loved, loved, loved this concept and the taste. I lowered the sweetener a bit, and upped the liquid as my rice sucked it up quickly. I also added cinnamon for a cinnamon-raisin hot cereal - delicious! Since my first round, I have made a "Carrot Cake" version too. This is a very easy breakfast when you have leftover brown rice on hand.
A surprising amount of the recipes in this cookbook are "from scratch" (including the two above), and of course, some use convenience foods like jarred spaghetti sauce, prepared salsa, phyllo dough, and butternut squash soup (believe it or not, there are a few vegan brands on the market!). Even though I typically cook and bake from scratch, I appreciate these shortcut recipes, since I do sometimes buy things like spaghetti sauce when they go on sale for an unreal price. The ability to just flip this book open for a unique idea to use these ingredients (especially since I don't regularly buy them) is a definite plus.
Though you'll find a couple of recipes using items like vegan marshmallow crème and the occasional dollop of vegan mayo, this cookbook has a definite healthy vibe. The recipes are pretty wholesome, and I like that most are low in sugars.
Other recipes I have dog-earred to make soon: Berry Turnovers (amazingly from scratch!), Hot Spiced Apples, Lentil-Walnut Pate, and Buckwheat Pancakes.
I think my only major complaint about The 4 Ingredient Vegan is that the author doesn't note what brands she uses for the short-cut ingredients. She includes an ingredient glossary in the beginning, where I expected to see her mention which brands she recommends and/or used in creating these recipes. Though I realize she may not have wanted to pigeon-hole the recipes with brands (she simply notes "there are many on the market" for most of the prepared ingredients), I think this is particularly important for new vegans who may not know what to look for in terms of vegan spaghetti sauces (which ones qualify and are good?), vegan cheese alternatives (can produce dramatically varying results), vegan mayo (each has its own flavor), etc.
What I love most about The 4 Ingredient Vegan - simplicity. Sometimes recipes drown themselves with too many ingredients and flavors, not to mention eating up my time in preparation! Plus, this is a compilation of great baseline recipes for building your own creations upon. I've already started experimenting with the first two recipes I trialed ...
Cashew "Cheese" Sauce - This struck me as more of a "miso" sauce with a cheesy vibe, but it was tasty and unique nonetheless. I liked the flavor, but then opted to add a dash of turmeric for a wee bit of color and some freshly ground pepper to bring out some spice. I actually think smoked paprika would go beautifully in this too. I did opt to heat it and cook it down a bit to thicken and compliment my freshly steamed veggies.
Sweet-and-Creamy Hot Rice Cereal - I loved, loved, loved this concept and the taste. I lowered the sweetener a bit, and upped the liquid as my rice sucked it up quickly. I also added cinnamon for a cinnamon-raisin hot cereal - delicious! Since my first round, I have made a "Carrot Cake" version too. This is a very easy breakfast when you have leftover brown rice on hand.
A surprising amount of the recipes in this cookbook are "from scratch" (including the two above), and of course, some use convenience foods like jarred spaghetti sauce, prepared salsa, phyllo dough, and butternut squash soup (believe it or not, there are a few vegan brands on the market!). Even though I typically cook and bake from scratch, I appreciate these shortcut recipes, since I do sometimes buy things like spaghetti sauce when they go on sale for an unreal price. The ability to just flip this book open for a unique idea to use these ingredients (especially since I don't regularly buy them) is a definite plus.
Though you'll find a couple of recipes using items like vegan marshmallow crème and the occasional dollop of vegan mayo, this cookbook has a definite healthy vibe. The recipes are pretty wholesome, and I like that most are low in sugars.
Other recipes I have dog-earred to make soon: Berry Turnovers (amazingly from scratch!), Hot Spiced Apples, Lentil-Walnut Pate, and Buckwheat Pancakes.
I think my only major complaint about The 4 Ingredient Vegan is that the author doesn't note what brands she uses for the short-cut ingredients. She includes an ingredient glossary in the beginning, where I expected to see her mention which brands she recommends and/or used in creating these recipes. Though I realize she may not have wanted to pigeon-hole the recipes with brands (she simply notes "there are many on the market" for most of the prepared ingredients), I think this is particularly important for new vegans who may not know what to look for in terms of vegan spaghetti sauces (which ones qualify and are good?), vegan cheese alternatives (can produce dramatically varying results), vegan mayo (each has its own flavor), etc.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By S. Cruden
Format:Paperback
Whether you are vegan, want to be or neither will you find this book a great addition to your cookbook library. Using limited number of ingredients and getting delicious healthy food is a goal that this book fulfills. My first recipe was the Chickpea of the Sea. SAD eaters love it and asks for it whenever we have a gathering.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book of great quick recipes
The first recipe I tried was worth the price of the book (chickpea-of-the-sea)! I love quick and easy! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Shanasy Bratt
3.0 out of 5 stars
One or two worthwhile recipes; the rest ho-hum
The best I can say about this cookbook is that it may be helpful to transitioning vegans, students, and people who don't want to spend a lot of time cooking. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Yugure
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hit and miss
This cookbook has been a little hit and miss for me, but the recipes that worked for me were excellent. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jules42
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for fast dinners!
Who says you can't make a quick and delicious dinner with only 4 main ingredients? The authors not only show you what you can make with a few ingredients, and I also like how they... Read more
Published on February 20, 2011 by J. Paschal
3.0 out of 5 stars
The 4 ingredient Vegan
There were aspects of this book that I loved and others that I was slightly disappointed in. These are truly 4 ingredient recipes (with the exception of water, salt and pepper)... Read more
Published on December 20, 2010 by Diane Hoffmaster
5.0 out of 5 stars
Super yummy and easy recipdx
This is a great vegan cookbook! I have gotten it twice for friends and family and at which point I stole a bunch of the recipes! So easy and yummy! Read more
Published on November 15, 2010 by Amanda
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and Inspired
The review that called this book, Mediocre and Uninspired was unfair. It is a delightful cookbook and I am happy to add it to my large library of cookbooks. Read more
Published on September 20, 2010 by Shirley S. Johnson
