The Vegan Family Cookbook [Paperback]

Brian P. McCarthy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2005

Over 400 recipes from the kitchen of Chef Brian P. McCarthy!

Now that you’ve become a vegan, you’re learning lots of ways to prepare tofu, but you or someone you love is really starting to miss macaroni and cheese, turkey dinners, pumpkin pie and birthday cake. Maybe you and your family feel self-conscious (and hungry) at holidays, picnics, and parties. Or maybe just one person in the family is vegan, but you need to create meals that everyone will eat.

Since the day Brian McCarthy and his wife, Karen, chose a vegan diet for their family ten years ago, Chef McCarthy has created over 400 simple vegan recipes with easy-to-find ingredients for traditional favorites like biscuits, corn bread, stews, pastas, pizzas, cakes, pies, and even eggnog. All the recipes come from the McCarthy home kitchen and have passed the test of many family meals. For individuals or families who are concerned about animals, the environment, or their health, mealtimes just got a whole lot easier.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Serious in intent and plain in presentation, this is a subdued cookbook for vegans (no meat, fish or dairy) who cook three meals a day and need a reliable cache of ideas. Oregon professional chef McCarthy spent 10 years amassing these recipes to sate his own family's desire for "real food" as they were settling into the vegan way of life. The result is this comprehensive selection that spans all parts of the meal. There are vegan versions of familiar family dishes, such as macaroni and cheese, vegetable quiche pie, lasagna florentine and French toast, which feature such traditional substitutes as egg replacer powder, varieties of tofu and vegan cheese. Some recipes flash with originality (e.g., Moroccan Red Lentil Soup), but others (e.g., Acorn Squash with Molasses) are reliable standbys with no vegan-offending ingredients in their original incarnation. A glossary and list of items in "A Well-Stocked Vegan Pantry" are serviceable, but lack the explanations and idiosyncrasies that make cookbooks and their writers memorable. By emphasizing the everyday aspect of preparing food, McCarthy concentrates on large-scale coverage rather than culinary openness and creates a book that speaks to the converted or nearly converted vegan. (Nov.)
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About the Author

Chef Brian P. McCarthy has been a professional cook for 25 years. While attending culinary college, he and his wife, Karen, began to educate themselves on the dangers of the typical American diet. The McCarthy family lives in Oregon, where they have enjoyed a vegan diet for the past ten years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Lantern Books (September 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590560876
• ISBN-13: 978-1590560877
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chef Brian P. McCarthy has been a professional cook for 30 years. While attending culinary college, he and his wife, Karen, began to educate themselves on the dangers of the typical American diet. The McCarthy family lives in Oregon, where they have enjoyed a vegan diet since 1995. The McCarthy family will donate ten percent of their royalties to nonprofit agencies dedicated to helping the earth's environment. Brian often makes cooking videos that can be found at everydaydish.tv.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Have for Everyday Life, February 22, 2006

By 

Dustin G. Rhodes (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Vegan Family Cookbook (Paperback)

This is the perfect every day cookbook: no bells and whistles, but delicious, simple, healthy, easy to prepare vegan food. This cookbook was a pleasant surprise with its simple layout, no-nonsense format, and diverse range of recipes; I think every vegan would want to own this collection. There are so many vegan cookbooks on the market these days (and I own many of them), but many are filled with complicated (but delicious!) recipes that are not suited to life in the Real World. I enjoy those kinds of recipes now and then, but there is great pleasure in making fast, easy and YUMMY meals that aren't tedious and involved.

One last thing: This cookbook is better than a few of the other "simple" cookbooks (an exception being Vegan With a Vengeance, which is just astounding). If this is the genre you're shopping for, including the aforementioned, this is one of the very best.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! What a great cookbook!, January 13, 2006

By 

Madelyn Pryor "Goblyn Queen" (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Vegan Family Cookbook (Paperback)

I own over 300 cookbooks and it takes a lot to wow me, but Chef Brian P. McCarthy pulled it off. With over 400 practical, easy to make recipes, he has created some great recipes, whether or not you're vegan. But if you are vegan, this is a gem. He has recipes for everything from make-it-yourself Tofurky with stuffing, to a truly delicious pumpkin pancake.

He takes everyday recipes and makes them vegan friendly, which is wonderful. I know some of the vegan cookbooks out there are making food into art, but in this crazy modern world how many of us have time to make 20 ingredient recipes with item we have to order? The Vegan Family Cookbook takes care of that. Often the recipes have around 5-6 ingredients commonly found in every grocery store, and small prep times. Yes, a few are special occasion, and one or two recipes in the entire book contain items you might have to send away for, but these are the exception, not the rule.

This book is a delight, and I can't wait to make more food from it!

Highly recommended!

P.S. Also, if you don't have How it All Vegan by Sarah Kramer and Tayna Barnard, treat yourself to that, too. It's still my favorite, along with its two sisters, The Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan, but the Vegan Family Cookbook is a close second!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy and healthful recipes for you and yours, December 27, 2005

By 

da Vinci - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Vegan Family Cookbook (Paperback)

This is a high quality cookbook with many healthful and tasty recipes, all of which are animal-free as the title states. The most impressive aspect of this book is how simple and easy are the recipes, nothing complicated. The recipes I've prepared so far have all tasted very good. And the ingredients required are most likely already in your cupboard. As I said, this book is simplicity times 400 (the number of recipes contained in it). Highly recommended. Enjoy!