20 Minutes to Dinner: Quick, Low-Fat, Low-Calorie Vegetarian Meals (Paperback)

~ (Author) "It's ironic that, in this age of time-saving devices, fast cars, rapid transit, and the "information highway," we seem to have so little time to..." (more)
Key Phrases: Tofu Sour Cream, Soy-Free Sour Cream, Tofu Cream Cheeze Spread (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Get in and out of the kitchen FAST with tempting and nutritious dishes from vegetarian innovator, Bryanna Clark Grogan. Most of the recipes are based on the Mediterranean/Asian model using lots of grains, fruits and vegetables. Nutritional analyses accompany each recipe.

From the Author

I would like to clarify a couple of statements made by reviewers. First of all, a reviewer referred to a "fish" recipe, which has caused some concern among vegetarians. THERE IS NO FISH OR SEAFOOD IN ANY OF MY BOOKS! The recipe referred to was a "mock fish" cake made with rice and tofu.

Secondly, in regards to the time it takes to make a recipe, and complaints that I had misled readers, read my section on p. 18 entitled "About the Length of Time Needed to Make These Recipes", which I will quote in it's entirety below. Before I do that, however, I would like to say also that I believe that it's my responsibility, as a cook making someone else's recipe, to read the entire recipe through before embarking on it. If I don't do this, I can hardly blame the writer of the recipe if I don't have the right ingredients! It is also completely unreasonable to add time for shopping into the time it takes to make a recipe! There is a whole chapter in the book on tips for the "time-challenged" cook, covering shoppping, kitchen efficiency, and equipment, in which I urge cooks to make menus ahead of time and keep a running shopping list so they don't run out of things. I do this myself, because I live on a small island. If I had to add shopping time to a recipe, it might! seem that every dish takes me over 4 hours to make!

Also, if these foods are unfamiliar to you, it's going to take you a little longer than it takes me. When you are used to vegan food items and how to cook them, then, of course, it takes less time.

I use this book often myself, and I'd like to thank all the reviewers who wrote in with positive comments.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Book Publishing Company (TN); 1 edition (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570670277
• ISBN-13: 978-1570670275
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bryanna Clark Grogan kicks butt in the kitchen!, April 7, 2003

By A Customer

EXCELLENT! A must have. I have been vegan for a little over 7 months now and this is the first book I've found that is consistently good, fast, healthy,economical,and so delicious that even my non-vegan husband didn't pull a face when I presented him with the carrot-oat patties and brown gravy. Recipes for substitutes for egg, meat, fish, cream, and cheese are found throughout the text (the Melty Pizza Cheeze is mild and not disgusting like a lot of the faux vegan subs)as well as quick meal suggestions. I own a few other vegan recipe books and, although they have beautiful recipes, I find that they are not fast or simple enough for the everday- gotta -get- the- meal- on-while-kids-are-screaming- life that I lead. Some say the recipes take 30 minutes-I don't think that matters. If it is under 45 minutes then it is a quick meal. Gourmet vegan menus can take hours sometimes. This book will be the one with gravy splatters and juice stains. I highly reccommend it.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the book I'd wish I'd had 10 years ago ..., November 17, 2002

By	Søren Jensen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews

... when I became a vegan. Perhaps this book ought to have been entitled "30 minutes to dinner" instead - yet this shouldn't put any people off, and as the previous comment rightly states, the negative critics given by some people is completely unjust! Bryanna is - in my opinion - one of the most innovative vegan cooks, and I can recommend any of her books (I have them all myself). Not only is the book about quick vegan meals, they are also extremely low-fat, yet all are rich-tasting delicious meals - AND as also mentioned below - the ingredients are easily available in health food stores (even in Denmark where I live!) If you do not have a food processor, get one now, as this is one equipment that Bryanna uses very frequently in her books. The opening chapter is about cooking & shopping tips, and this is very useful for planning your meals, as well as making a lot of your basics yourself - it's cheaper and you're sure not to get any weird extra-ingredients! There's a chapter on speedy dips and spreads, lovely soups and chowders (check out the sea vegetable chowder!), inventive salads (the oriental noodle salad is sooo delicious!), pasta dishes, quick pizzas, extensive sandwich and all kinda stuffed breads ideas, grilled alternatives to meat (tofu & seitan), stirfries, ... the book is simply jampacked with ideas and variations so that you can use what you have at hand. It is a superb cookbook, and it's definitely recommended!

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Passes New Orleans food test!, November 5, 2002

By A Customer

I own four cookbooks by Bryanna Clark Grogan, and plan on buying the rest. They are all EXCELLENT. I was born and raised in New Orleans, so I think I can claim to know what good food tastes like. The negative reviews of this book just blow my mind. The only people who might not like Bryanna's recipes are folks who think a McDonald's drive through is gourmet eating. And Bryanna's recipe ingredients are not hard to find at all; I don't know what that reviewer is talking about. I live in the country, two hours drive from a major city, and most of the ingredients can be found in my local, very rural grocery store. For those in an urban environment, ANY health food store will have nutritional yeast flakes and kelp. Hello! Don't you have a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes? Switching to a vegetarian or vegan diet means opening your mind and having some new experiences, food-wise and shopping-wise. That is part of the fun. Grogan's Chinese cookbook exposed me to Chinese mock meats, and now I get to have a lot of fun shopping in Chinese markets when I go to town. Live a little! And the mock feta isn't going to taste *exactly* like feta...do you expect a vegetarian Boca burger to taste *exactly* like a Big Mac? As for the rice issue, I use Quick Brown rice, available in ANY grocery store...cooks in FIVE MINUTES! Some of you really need to expand your shopping and cooking horizons.