Customer Reviews

Yellow Rose Recipes, Over 120 Quick and Delicious Vegan Creations with Kick

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I have never written a review until today. I have purchased just about every vegan cookbook Amazon carries over the past 2 years searching for some kind of healthy vegetarian/vegan cookbook that I like more than a couple of the recipes. I have to say that the Yellow Rose Recipes cookbook is going to be my favorite. I am not an activist, I just want to eat healthy and enjoy good food. I do not eat soy, and even though there are several recipes that have soy, there are so many of them that do not. They are excellent recipes, clear instructions and most of all good tasting. It's also a beautiful cookbook with many photos and lots of nice introductions to the recipes by the author. I thank her for putting these recipes together, this is the first vegan cookbook that I really am using. When I first sat down with it when it arrived I was not able to put it down until I read through each section and looked at all the recipes...I love this cookbook. Over all very healthy, not a ton of soy and very user friendly. I highly recommend it.

Unlike some of the previous reviewers, I was NOT a tester for this cookbook, so my first taste of these recipes was after I'd bought the book and brought it home. Before I bought it, I leafed through it at the store and thought to myself, "Wow! Gorgeous pictures of yummy looking vegetarian food that looks healthy and easy to make!" And I was not disappointed.

There are several things I already love about this cookbook, in no particular order: 1) the recipes are simple, but not so simple that I don't need a recipe for it. Case in point, the roasted red pepper hummus. It's so easy to make, but I wouldn't have known the proportions of chickpeas, red peppers, spices etc. and it tastes fabulous! 2) Did I mention gorgeous pictures? Lots of them. And really cute artwork, too. 3) Not weird ingredients. But a lot of flavor. 4) Personality -- friendly chit chat, helpful tips, notes on being budget conscious and health conscious.

In summary, this is a beautiful, user-friendly, tasty cookbook that is destined to get splashed with food on my counter due to excessive use!

Here's a list of the recipes:

Breakfast:
Tofu Scramble, Perfect Oatmeal, Buckwheat Pancakes, Jalapeño Corn Cakes, Buttermilk Biscuits, Rosemary Home Fries, Cherry Almond Granola, Zucchini Muffins, Raisin Bran Muffins, Very Berry Muffins

Appetizers:
Roasted Red Pepper, Hummus, Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Hummus, Spinach Chickpea Dip, Lettuce Wraps, Polenta and Eggplant Napoleons, Veggie Wontons with Ginger Miso Dipping Sauce, Baked Samosas with Cilantro Mint Chutney

Soups:
Potato Corn Chowdah, Tortilla Soup, Black Bean Soup, Miso Soup with Edamame, Black Eyed Pea Soup, Curried Carrot Ginger Soup, Mom's Lentil Soup

Salads:
Daily Green Salads, Antipasto Salad, Taco Salad, Minty Summer Fruit Salad
Barley and Avocado Salad, Texas Caviar, Goddess Pasta Salad, Couscous Chickpea Salad, Quinoa Tabouli, Carrot Salad with Herb Lime Dressing, Wild Rice Salad

Sauces, Salsas & Toppings:
Sundried Tomato Cream Sauce, Ratatouille Pasta Sauce, Marinara, Béchamel Sauce, Pesto, Mexican Pesto, Lemon Artichoke Pesto, Mushroom Gravy, Almond Milk Gravy, Lemon Tahini Dressing, Creamy Pepita Dressing, Tangy Sour Cream, Nacho Sauce, Guacamole, Mango Salsa, Raw Corn Salsa, Birthday Salsa, Chipotle Ranch Sandwich Spread, Tapenade, Sunflower Feta, Vegan Parmesan

Sides:
Simply Sweet Potatoes, Braised Cauliflower, Lemon Pepper Chard, Collard Greens, Sesame Green Beans, Pickled Onions, Creamy Herbed Polenta, Spiced Applesauce, Lemon Rice, Green-wa, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Stuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes, Roasted Roots, Refried Black Beans, Dirrrty Rice and Beans

Mains:
Simple Chicken-Style Seitan, Mustard Crusted Seitan, Crispy Beer-Battered Seitan, Tofu Marsala, Baked Mac and Cheese, Spinach Lasagna, Butternut Squash Lasagna, Penne Alfredo, Pasta E Fagioli, Kasha Varnishkes, Grilled Portabellos, Asparagus with Spinach and Artichoke Cream Sauce, Thai Bowl, Sloppy Joannas, Chana Masala, Cajun Spiced Tofu, White Beans and Kale, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Flautas, Tamale Pie, Better-than-Basic Veggie Chili, Northwest Meets Southwest Chili

Sweet Things:
Aloha Bread, Cherry Compote, Soft Oatmeal Cookies, Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Bars, Mojito Pie, Lemon Almond Cake, Spice Cake

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Everything I've made so far has been terrific and full of flavor. The recipes are quick and easy, but still inspiring with some new (for me) flavor combinations. I was surprised how great the espresso was in the Northwest Meets Southwest Chili for instance. The lemon in the Tofu Marsala sauce perked up the dish. And I would never have come up with the great Pepita Dressing.

There are photos of most of the dishes so you know what they should look like and you can get inspired to make them. From Tex Mex and down home cooking to westernized Indian and Thai, there's a great eclectic mix here.

I was lucky enough to test many recipes from this book and I had great success feeding them to my family and other omnivores. Often it seems that cookbook authors use the same foods and flavors repeatedly in their books. This is not the case with Yellow Rose Recipes. Aside from the author's fondness of cilantro (which is okay with me!), there is great variety of food and flavor combinations.

Another great thing about this book is that it avoids using prepackaged foods such as soy cheese and fake meats. Most recipes can be prepared using ingredients found in your regular grocery store which is helpful if you don't have access to health food stores. Preparation is also simple and quick.

You really can't go wrong with this book. Grab a copy while you can.

I was also lucky enough to test for this book. I have a lot of cookbooks, and most of them remain untouched because i'll only make a recipe once and then put it on the shelf. Joanna's book however, has many recipes that I already use over and over in my daily cooking. Some cookbooks can seem overwhelming to a novice cook, but this one is simple while still producing yummy recipes that are familiar and new at the same time. I added some photos of a few of my favorites to the image gallery for this book if you need any more convincing.

I was lucky enough to be a tester for this cookbook and can't wait for the finished product. The recipes are accessable and easy, but still interesting and flavorful. There are recipes for every occasion and craving that will appeal to vegans and meat-eaters alike, ranging from down home dishes to the author's spin on ethnic cuisine. Some of my favorites include the tortilla soup, simply sweet potatoes, twice fried beer battered seitan, and lemon almond cake, to name a few.

I'm often skeptical of recipes that say "quick and easy" because they're reminiscent of Rachel Ray (and her 30 minute meals) but Yellow Rose Recipes really does deliver that. Joanna's recipes are really easy, flavorful, delicious, healthy and the best part for me is: the ingredients aren't hard to find! The illustrations for this book are also super adorable, and there's plenty of pictures of the dishes (something I love! Cookbooks without pictures are just wrong, in my opinion.) Plus, the fact that she's a Texan makes it all the better. I'm a believer that cumin and cilantro can make anything taste good. The recipes are super versatile, too. I've improvised on some things when I was out of an ingredient and they still tasted delicious. I'm looking forward to everything else Joanna has in store!

The recipes in this book are simply amazing. Down home favorites deliver the taste and quality that one would expect from Joanna Vaught. The recipes are easy to follow and most ingredients are easily found at the local market. Her seitan recipe alone is reason enough to buy this book. "Yellow Rose Recipes" has already become a favorite in my household.

I don't usually write reviews, because I'm lazy. I've purchased another vegan cookbook that I love so far (Vegan with a Vengeance), but haven't been rushing to make all of the recipes. So while that book is great if I have some time to plan ahead and cook, I find myself increasingly turning to Yellow Rose Recipes for --as the title says-- quick and delicious meals. I absolutely love the eggplant hummus, tamale pie, and chickpea couscous salad (a co-worker asked, "what's that incredible smell?" and it was the couscous salad, leftovers are great warm or cold and it's lasted me for 3 lunches!) and the roasted roots are great. I also like that I can experiment fairly easily with different ingredients, leaving out fresh parsley if I don't have it and that sort of thing...and the recipes still turn out amazing. The raisin bran muffins are my favorite muffin recipe ever, and that's saying a lot (try them with pumpkin seeds instead of flaxseeds!) I should try to summarize this review, so basically: I didn't think I needed to spend $20 on another cookbook after buying/checking out from the library a few others. But I did, and it was a worthy investment because I make something from this book every week-- it never leaves my kitchen counter! I'm also not completely vegan, but this books makes it seem much easier and the food impresses picky omnivores as well.

Yellow Rose Recipes is one of my favorite cookbooks. Not only is the book witty with the most adorable illustrations and tempting photos, the recipes are thoroughly impressive and require minimal effort. Many dishes call for ingredients I already have in the house and all the recipes I've tried are unique and flavorful. A few of my favorites are the potato corn chowdah, the minty summer fruit salad, and the lemon almond cake. That cake is my go-to recipe when I have to make a cake fast and don't have time to shop, and my friends always beg for seconds and the recipe.

A few things I absolutely adore about this book:

1) You can use this book year-round and know that you're making the most of what each season has to offer.

2) The layout. Most of the recipes fit onto one page, and you never have to flip the pages while you're working on a recipe. As someone who does an enormous amount of cooking at home and who likes to use a cookbook stand, this little detail saves me from a lot of aggravation I get from using other books.

3) So many of the recipes are health conscious, but are so insanely flavorful that you don't feel deprived. Joanna shatters the myth that vegan food is bland and boring.