The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes [Paperback]

Lindsay S. Nixon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

This book will save you money by using "everyday" inexpensive ingredients, save you time with easy, no fuss recipes and improve your health with each nutritional bite.

Vegan chef of one of the top 50 food blogs on the Web, HappyHerbivore.com, Lindsay S. Nixon, creates recipes that show eating a low fat vegan diet is not only healthy but delicious, too.

Now, Nixon combines some of her tastiest recipes in The Happy Herbivore Cookbook, each made with no added fats, using only whole, unprocessed plant-based foods.

With Nixon's help its easy to make healthy food at home in minutes using inexpensive, "everyday" ingredients and tools.

The Happy Herbivore Cookbook includes:

• A variety of recipes from quick and simple to decadent and advanced.
• Helpful hints and cooking tips making home cooking easy and stress-free.
• An easy-to-use glossary demystifying any ingredients that may be new to the reader.
• Pairing suggestions with each recipe to help make menu planning easy and painless.
• Allergen-free recipes, including gluten-free, soy-free and sugar-free.

The Happy Herbivore Cookbook is easy-to-follow with a comprehensive index so you can always find what you're looking for or find a recipe to use up a leftover ingredient. Nixon also provides nutritional analyses; inspiring colorful photographs on nearly every page; funny blurbs at the beginning of each recipe; and chef's notes suggesting variations for each dish. Even the most novice cook will find healthy cooking easy--and delicious!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Happy Herbivore Cookbook's low fat, plant-based dishes promote health in a delectable and wholesome way. Lindsay Nixon's recipes are a practical and affordable means to a nutritious lifestyle that can help prevent and reverse disease."

-- T. Colin Campbell, PhD, author of The China Study

"Home fries and cupcakes and meatball subs.... Not the healthiest though, right? Wrong! Nixon's new cookbook chock full of fat-free and low-fat vegan versions of our favorite highly caloric (and highly delicious) eats."

-- VegNews Magazine

"The Happy Herbivore Cookbook will not only make all your culinary dreams come true but will give you a recipe for lifelong health... Jump on in, get your feet wet with all the foods you thought you'd have to set aside to get healthy."

-- Neal Barnard, MD, president, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

"The Happy Herbivore Cookbook is filled with simple-to-prepare and delicious healthy recipes. We recommend that you make this part of your kitchen library. Using it often will help you preserve (and regain) your health and appearance."

-- John McDougall, MD, and Mary McDougall, founders of the McDougall Program

"The Happy Herbivore Cookbook is down to earth and sings to my heart and mouth. Deliciously brilliant!" 

-- Rip Esselstyn, author of The Engine 2 Diet

From the Author

I created happyherbivore.com to prove that food can be just as nutritious as it is delicious. This cookbook emulates that vision. These recipes, a combination of blog favorites and new creations, will proudly show you that eating healthy doesn't have to be a chore and can instead be a pleasure. Best of all, every tasty dish is made with whole foods and no added fat. Additionally, all of my recipes have been designed to be accessible to every person, every palate, and every budget. No matter where you live, you'll be able to enjoy healthy vegan meals at home quickly and affordably.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: BenBella Books; Original edition (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935618121
• ISBN-13: 978-1935618126
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (471 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Low Fat

More About the Author

Lindsay S. Nixon is the bestselling author of the Happy Herbivore Cookbook Series: The Happy Herbivore Cookbook (Jan 2011), Everyday Happy Herbivore (Dec 2011) and Happy Herbivore Abroad (Dec 2012). As of September 2012, Nixon has sold more than 100,000 cookbooks. Nixon has been featured on The Food Network and Dr. Oz, and she has spoken at Google. Her recipes have also been featured in the New York Times, Vegetarian Times magazine, Shape Magazine, Fitness Magazine, Bust, Women's Health, WebMD, and countless other online publications. A rising star in the culinary world, Nixon is praised for her ability to use everyday ingredients to create healthy, low fat recipes that taste just as delicious as they are nutritious. Learn more about Nixon and try some of her recipes on her award-winning blog happyherbivore.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

154 of 168 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick, Easy, Low-fat, YUMMY & Cruelty-Free! January 16, 2011

By Roxanne Sumner

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Meeting Lindsay on Twitter shortly after deciding to go Vegan was one of the best things that ever happened to me and I was really excited when Lindsay chose me to be one of her testers for this cookbook. Newly vegan I wasn't sure where to start. Lindsay introduced me to new foods with her creative, easy, few ingredient recipes.

I thought Chickpeas were something you sprinkled on salads at the salad bar but Lindsay has some really tasty recipes with them. I used to make Tofu Scramble with tofu, oil and a box mix. No oil, some tofu and a few spices add up to the best Tofu Scramble I've ever had. Make French Toast without eggs? Lindsay does and it is better than the real thing. Home fries without the fat? Lindsay has it! The BBQ Chop Wrap is one of my favorite all time recipes. I make the single serving brownie almost every week! And don't get me started on her Pumpkin Pie...

Recently I discovered that I can't tolerate Gluten and also had to cut back on Soy - Lindsay's book has many recipes that I enjoy.

Giving up all the fat for flavorful food cleared up my skin and helped me lose weight while feeling good.

I highly recommend Lindsay's book for anyone who enjoys food.

98 of 109 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a GREAT vegan cookbook January 22, 2011

By DebAnn

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

So, okay! I'm new to being a vegan and I also am a diabetic. I have been looking through vegan cookbooks out there and have been rather disappointed. Then I stumbled upon the Happy Herbivore blog and tried a few recipes, took a couple of the courses and decided to pre-order this book. Wow! What a great purchase. These recipes are easy, quick and tasty. Added to that you have ingredients that are not that hard to find here in the US. On top of that, the recipes are easy to adapt if needed for someone who is diabetic or needs to eat gluten free or things like that. I haven't fixed every recipe because I have only had the book a few days but I have read through the cookbook completely and I know that for me I have found MY FAVORITE COOKBOOK.
Thanks Linday for creating this book. I really, really needed it. The Happy Herbivore Cookbook: Over 175 Delicious Fat-Free and Low-Fat Vegan Recipes

410 of 473 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Sadly, it all looks better than it is. May 5, 2011

By S.

Format:Paperback

When I saw this book, I could not have been more excited about it. Almost every recipe appealed to me, and I really liked the photos. After I ordered it, it was back ordered for a month and then canceled, so I ordered it from B&N... 5 weeks after the initial order, I had it. So excited!

Baking is my thing, so I started there... the first time making a recipe I always follow it exactly, and save any adjustments for the next time I make it. Everything turned out really dry - not crumbly-dry, but dry in the way people always assume healthy baked goods will taste. I love moist breads and muffins (which can be made in a healthful and vegan manner) but three muffin/bread recipes later, everything was just meh.

But I wasn't ready to write the book off, not even close, so I moved onto to other things. I thought the frittata was ok, nothing special, but my bf requested that it not be made again. The macaroni salad was good, though I ended up adding some extra spices because it seemed a little bland, but the end result was tasty and I'd make it again. The mayo made for it was great, and the easiest & cheapest vegan mayo recipe I've made. The vanilla icing (used for cupcakes from another book) was gross and was thrown out. And I am not a person to throw out icing! I halved the instant cookie dough recipe, and also found that to be an unpleasant snack. The ratio of oats to everything else was not balanced. The seitan pot roast and chicken recipes were alright - they are simple to make and taste fine, nothing special. The rest of the recipes that I've tried had similar, mixed results. When a mayo recipe is the highlight of a book, there's a problem....

Healthy, vegan cooking is my passion, and I know without a doubt that it can be totally possible to make delicious food with great flavor that will appeal to anyone. This book looks like it will deliver, but sadly, for me it did not.

It is with some reluctance that I even wrote this review, because of the fleet of fierce defenders who will jump on every negative word spoken about this book. I'm not trying to stir up trouble! :) It is great that the author has so many fans! But everyone has different tastes and preferences, and that's why we have reviews. Since I'm sure it'll be brought up - yes I did just start reviewing cookbooks here. I've been buying books and reading reviews on Amazon forever, and decided it's about time I start contributing. Read more ›

60 of 67 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have for your Cookbook Library January 19, 2011

By Courtney

Format:Paperback

For anyone wanting to eat healthy--vegan or not--this cookbook is a necessary addition to your cookbook library. Packed full of healthy, great tasting, easy to follow recipes, this cookbook will make you forget you are cooking "healthy" and just allow you to focus on and enjoy great tasting food!

Along with being vegan, I also avoid gluten and refined sugar, and I have no problem cooking out of the Happy Herbivore Cookbook. From frittatas to scones to dips and sauces to burgers, every recipe I have made has been delicious. You must buy this book!

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice idea, but... January 13, 2012

By Vegan Girl

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've had this book for over a year and have only been enticed to cook about five things from it.I guess I was just underwhelmed with everything I tried. I made the Hawaiian Chickpea Teriyaki, which was basically just chickpeas, salsa, and teriyaki sauce. I found the banana bread as well as the pumpkin bread to be somewhat dry and tasteless. I had to add earth balance to it to make it something I wanted to eat, which kind of defeats the purpose. And the rajma masala was good and basic, but nothing extraordinary.

I like the concept of a fat-free vegan cook book, especially as a dedicated vegan. I have read all the research (The China Study, etc) and am completely on board with eliminating excess fats (olive oil, margarine, etc) from the diet. But I am sorry, I just cannot get on board with the idea that we should also eliminate nuts, seeds, and avocados. Organic, all-natural peanut butter (the kind without added sugars that is essentially just ground peanuts) is tasty and GOOD for you. Avocados are incredibly nutritious. The idea that we need to restrict/avoid these items makes me feel like this is some kind of fad diet rather than sound nutritional advice for healthy living. I have read all the article links that the author provides about the health experts who advocate this kind of restrictive diet. But as for me, I am choosing a healthy diet without meat or dairy, with lots of whole foods, and YES, WITH guacamole made out of AVOCADOS, and peanut butter made out of peanuts and not beans!

That being said, no disrespect to the author. She is doing her thing and clearly has a lot of followers who are on board with the way she cooks. It's just not for me.