The Vegetarian Lunchbasket: Over 225 Easy, Low-Fat, Nutritious Recipes for the Quality-Conscious Family on the Go (Paperback)

~ (Author), Jyoti Haynes (Illustrator) "My first home-baked loaf of bread was a disaster, because I didn't know the difference between baking yeast and brewer's yeast..." (more)
Key Phrases: cup tamari sauce, tablespoon tamari sauce, tablespoons tamari sauce, Tofu Mayonnaise, Brown Gluten, Mama Papa's Peppers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

It's hard to plan healthy meals when life is so hectic. The author, a mother of three vegetarian kids, offers a selection of breads, spreads, soups, sandwiches, entrees, and desserts that are healthy, delicious, easy to make, and perfect for eating on the run.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: New World Library; 2nd edition (September 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157731087X
• ISBN-13: 978-1577310877
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #296,665 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must" for all vegetarian and health conscious kitchens., February 4, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

A vegetarian for over twenty years and mother of three children, Linda Haynes has lots of experience in preparing vegetarian lunches. She shares her expertise in The Vegetarian Lunchbasket, a collection of over 225 mouth-watering recipes. Her book was first published in 1990, and updated in 1994 and 1999 to reflect changes in nutritional information and availability of products. Haynes developed most of her recipes through experimentation. That enables her to advise readers which ingredients may be replaced with substitutes to accommodate different tastes and budgets. She also shares stories of her experiences, like learning that there is a difference between baking yeast and brewer's yeast when it comes to making bread. At all times, she emphasizes the practical, both in ingredients and techniques. The first chapter provides an amazing variety of recipes for breads and sandwich wrappers. A simple one is lightly steamed cabbage leaves. The next chapter is full of even more suggestions for fillings and spreads. Many of the soups and thermos foods are designed to be made the night before, to provide a delicious evening meal, with leftovers heated for the next day's lunches. The salad and salad dressing recipes allow you to leave wilted lettuce drenched in runny dressing behind forever. Main dishes like "Tofu Telephones" or "Somewhat Knishes" also work well for a meal the night before with leftovers going into the next day's lunch boxes or on a family picnic. The condiments and snacks chapter includes items like nut milk and yogurt chips (both incredibly simple to make!). As does most writers of cookbooks, Haynes ends with a chapter on desserts. She maintains the richness, but makes her desserts a bit more healthy with tricks like a tofu substitute for eggs, and pureed vegetables for liquids. Although nutritious and healthy, the recipes are all tasty. Practicing vegetarians and those curious about what vegetarians can eat other than lettuce and carrot sticks will find a wealth of practical and easy recipes in The Vegetarian Lunchbasket. Although some recipes include dairy products, many are suitable for vegans. And don't be fooled by the title--most of the recipes makes equally tasty main meals! Paper, 205 pp. -- Sandra I. Smith, Reviewer

69 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There are better books out there, December 28, 2005

By	Jazzbrat (Bebop City, USA) - See all my reviews

I received this book as a Christmas gift this year because it was on my list and, based on the online reviews, it looked as if it would be just what I was looking for.

I am used to cooking with "exotic" ingredients such as umboshi plum paste, nutritional yeast, agar agar, and miso but there were ingredients in this book I would not go out of my way to buy given the meager amounts in the recipes.
I am speaking about hing, which according to the author is so smelly she keeps it in the garage. I haven't seen a recipe yet in this book that called for more than 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff. If she had offered a substitute, I wouldn't have been so turned off. There were also the pickled nasturtium buds (she did mention capers as a substitute) and dried tofu skins, which can be hard to find.

There is one recipe in the book for "Soy puree" except instead of soybeans, she has chickpeas listed. Chickpeas are NOT soy.

I'm a pretty seasoned cook (pun intended) and I really wanted to like this book but alot of the recipes just didn't sound very appetizing. For example, she gives you her recipe for one of her favorite soups: Kale and Bean Curd. Its nothing more than water, miso and kale. No depth of flavor, no aromatics, no complexity- just boring.

I think that this is a book for the unsophisticated vegetarian palate. I believe that if you enjoy more complex flavors and consider yourself a gourmet or a foodie you will be highly disappointed.

I think Joanne Stepaniak, Paulette Mitchell, Mollie Katzen and Deborah Madison do a much better job.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Convenient time saving recipes, January 10, 2001

By	"carolyn5000" (NY United States) - See all my reviews

I really like "the Vegetarian Lunchbasket" because it is full of easy to make recipes that one can afford with even extremely limited funds. Boston Brown Bread was fun to make, and absolutely delicious. There are many bread recipes and ideas of how to make the bread appealing to children utilizing ingenuity. My favorite part of this book however is the Chapter 2: Fillings and Spreads. I find myself frequently eating cheese sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner and this book is helping me branch out. Peanut-Yeast Spread is pretty tasty, as is Tofu Salad. I look forward to trying the others like Tofu-nut spread, Sesame-Avocado Spread-and Vegnut Spread. There are many other spreads. I also like the fact that these recipes don't make a huge amount. It is perfect for creating meals for one person. Also, there are good recipes for meatless gravies in here, like Nut gravy, and Dal Gravy to name a few. It's a great resource.