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I made these 46 Recipes:
1) ORANGE TOPPED Italian polenta cake – LOVED IT! Grade- A+++++!!! My husband loves this. I give this a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. But This is a family favorite. I have made this 9 times BUT I BAKE it in the oven at 350 F degrees in a 8x8 pan for 45 minutes and I get a Fantastic cake. I made this at Christmas and Easter. (Honestly for a vegan cake it is good. I don’t think it is great BUT my entire family loves it and it disappeared in 20 minutes.
2) PINA COLADA CAKE – LOVE IT! Grade A+++++ Amazing! We LOVED this! But again I BAKE it in a 8x8 for 55 minutes at 350F degrees.
3) THREE SISTERS SQUASH- LOVE IT! A+++++, LOVED IT! I made this recipe three ways to test which would give the best flavor. I made it in the slow cooker, in the oven and in my pressure cooker all on the same day do I could do a side by side taste test. The POT-IN-POT pressure cooker method gave the BEST flavor. I cooked it in an 8 quart pressure cooker for 70 minutes.
4) ETHIOPIAN STYLE TEMPEH and LENTIL: LOVE IT! grade A+++++ - LOVED IT! Family favorite! I have made this 12 times. But I make it in my Pressure cooker for 9 minutes on High pressure with a natural release. I also use her suggested swap of TVP instead of tempeh. We are not tempeh fans so I always substitute tvp or more lentils. I made this at a family reunion of 20 and everyone loved it and asked for the recipe!
5) GREEK STYLE BEANS with tomato and spinach - LOVED IT! A++++ Family favorite! I put mine in my pressure cooker when I am in a hurry and it does make it taste significantly better. I made this at a family reunion and everyone loved it.
6) AFRICAN INSPIRED PEANUT STEW – LOVE IT! A++++ Family favorite. It is ready in 5 hours on high. We LOVE this over rice. Again I put this in my pressure cooker when I am in a hurry and it tastes just as good. My family asks for this once a week.
7) CORNBREAD TOPPED CHILI: LOVED IT! GRADE A+. I make this as is in my slow cooker on days I am out working for the day. But when I am home I put this in my pressure cooker. And I use My favorite cornbread by Sally’s baking addiction for my oven baked cornbread.
8) CHILI MAC page 147, LOVED IT! And we gave it A++ or 5 stars.
9) THE WHITE CHILI p79, LOVED IT! A+, 5 stars. I add one bottle of Hernandez salsa verde to this to adjust the flavor in order to make it delicious.
10) CABBAGE and YELLOW BEET BORSCHT p61. LOVED IT! A- 4.75 stars out of 5.
11) NORTH AFRICAN CHICKPEA SOUP pg 48. LOVED IT! Family favorite. A++++ I have made this 15 times now. I made it for a big family reunion and everyone wanted the recipe. It is fabulous!
12) Slow and Spicy Sloppy Joes p114. Grade B or 4 out of 5 stars. The directions need to be fixed in the cookbook. I did a sloppy Joe recipe cook off test and my Crockpot Vegetarian slow cooker “All American meatless sloppy Joe recipe won hands down with all the members of our family. Also if you make this recipe don’t add the chipotle until the lentils are soft because the vinegar in the chipotle sauce kept my lentils from softening. I cooked this for 48 hours in the slow cooker and they didn’t soften. I put it in my pressure cooker for 2 hours and they finally softened. The next time I made this I did not add the chipotle until the lentils were soft.
13) Apricot Tapioca pudding. My guests liked it. And said it was good. But I cook a lot and for my standards it was a FAIL. My go to recipe for tapioca in the slow cooker is from “Cooking Light: Slow cooker tonight” cookbook.
14)Thai Coconut Rice Pudding with mango - My family liked it. But for me it was a Fail. I make Thai mango sticky rice with mango in my pressure cooker that puts this recipe to shame. Seriously a huge let down.
15) Berry Banana Breakfast bread - grade Fail. The texture was not good. And the flavor not great.
16) carrot cake - epic fail. It tastes even worse the next day! We garbage canned it.
17) Fat-free applesauce cake - Epic Fail flavor wise. I have eaten a fat free vegan diet for 8 years so I had high hopes for this. NOPE!
18) Applesauce Walnut cake - grade Fail. F. Will NOT make it again.
19) Braised collard greens with pot licker page 201- Fail. Nobody would eat this. And we love our greens. Next time I will just omit the spice and my family will eat it up.
20 Moroccan Inspired Stuffed Winter Squash - verdict: grade 3 stars out of 5. I won’t make it again.
21 Moroccan Tempeh and Chickpea with prunes and apricots p160. rating: Epic FAIL. Disgusting. F. We flushed it down the toilet. We are not fan of beans with fruit.
22) Tunisian Inspired Stiffed Bell Peppers - grade - Fail. F. Garbage canned it.
23) Chipotle Polenta Bake pg. 135- Fail. Gross
24) Three Bean Cholent pg 100. Grade C-, or 2.25 stars. Really, really, really bland. I could not figure out how to fix the flavor.
25) Brunswick Bean Stew p 85. grade C . 3 out of 5 stars. I won’t make it again.
26) Happy New Year Chili - verdict : Fail. I have better chili recipes and THIS cookbook has much better chili recipes. We love Lorna Sass’s “Great Vegetarian cooking under pressure” black bean chili. It is my go-to chili recipe. I make it for our church chili cook off competition and win. No money awarded just bragging rights. I also love Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight’s Caribbean chili and three bean vegetarian chili. All three have won at our church chili cook off.
27) Chipotle Black Bean chili with winter squash- Fail. Flushed it down the toilet. ( I LOVE “Crockpot the original slow cooker vegetarian recipes” Butternut squash, chickpea and lentil stew it is a family favorite and I have made it over 20 times now.
28) Crockpot Callaloo Soup - 3 stars out of 5. Grade C. Won’t make it again.
29) Grandma Gennero’s Minestrone. EPIC FAIL! Grade F. This was super bland. Like nursing home bland. I tried 5 different ways to jazz this up but nothing worked to fix it.
30) Summer Vegetable Soup - Grade F, Fail. 0 stars. Again the flavor was really, really bland. I couldn’t fix it he flavor.
31) Lentil Vegetable Soup p 47. As is a C-. I had to adjust the flavors a lot to get it to an A-. I added 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp dried rosemarry and 1/4 tsp Tony Chaucer’s blend.
32) Kale and Cannellini Bean Soup p46. grade Fail. 0 stars. Again this is super, super, super bland.
33) Breakfast polenta p 283. verdict: gross! Flushed it down the toilet.
34) Cuban black bean soup ~ F 0 stars. We love “Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight! Black bean soup.
35) Holy Mole Red Bean chili p 73. Fail. F. Nope nope. My family doesn’t like chocolate with beans. This was the first time we had mole.
36) Two Lentil chili, Fail. Nope. Chocolate in lentils. I tried two of her recipes on the same night that had cacao in them because I hoped one would taste good and be a backup in case one tasted bad. Both recipe 35 and 36 failed. We flushed them down the toilet.
37) Pasta with Sunday Gravy. LOVE LOVE LoVED IT! Grade A. I have made 5 tomato pasta sauces to find the best non-fat vegan version. Jill Nussinow’s from Vegan under Pressure was really good. But Lindsay Nixon’s Happy Herbivore was an epic fail. As was Lorna Sass’s Great Vegetarian cooking under pressure version. And Isa Moskowiz’s Appetite for reduction’s marinara sauces failed. The two winners were this Pasta with Sunday Gravy by Robin and Jill Nussinow’s Vegan Under pressure Lentil Tomato Sauce.
38) Smoky Split Pea Soup - A+ 5 stars. I made two split pea soups for a side by side taste test off. I am glad I did because Robin Robertson’s Fresh from the vegan slow cooker won hands down. I made it in my pressure cooker . I cooked it 14 min on high pressure with a natural release. Jill Nussinow’s spring split pea soup was disgusting.
39) Carmelized Onion Soup - LOVED IT!!!! A++++ 5 stars out of 5. I sautéed the onions in a fry pan for 20 minutes then added all the ingredients to the slow cooker to increase the flavor. I cooked on HIGH for 12 hours NOT on Low for 8.5 hours. I did a cook off with Crock-pot’s the original slow cooker Vegetarian recipes. I made crockpot’s French Onion soup and I also cooked it on HIGH for 12 hours instead of 6 hours. Both recipes were really good. My family really liked both. My husband likes the sweetness of crockpot a tad bit more. But I LOVE Robin Robertson’s savory, earthy deep flavor more. But both are good. Robin’s is fabulous!
40) Spiced pumpkin cake : I love pumpkin flavored anything so I decided to make both pumpkin desserts in the cookbook to test them on the same day. The flavor is DISGUSTING! I gave this zero stars and my family gave it 2 stars out of 5. Garbage canned this. I have really good pumpkin bread recipes that I will just bake in the oven.
41) Pumpkin chocolate chip bread : GOOD. Grade C. 3 stars out of 5 stars. I have better recipes. So I won’t make this again. My family ate it.
42) CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE - delicious. B or 4 stars out of 5 stars. I have better chocolate cake recipes. But for a LOW FAT VEGAN cake this is pretty good.
43) PUTTANESCA PIZZA - LOVED IT! A++++++++++ I was super skeptical. Pizza in a crockpot? I worked as a chef when I was younger. My family LOVES this deep dish pizza. I accidentally cooked it too long and it got nice and brown, but the bottom was a tad wet. So I heated my oven up to 525 F degrees and slid the pizza onto a sheet pan. I crisped up the crust in 3 minutes or so. My family said make this every week! This is fabulous! My family requests it every week.
44) LEMON GINGER POACHED PEARS - LOVED IT! A+++++++ I made these for my mom’s 75th birthday. And served them with crème brûlée from “Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight!” they were both a huge hit. I love that the pears are non-alcoholic.
45) Farm Stand Stew p87- NOPE. This gets a 2 out of 5 stars. I made this in a recipe taste test off for my mom’s French themed dinner party to celebrate her 75th birthday. I made “Cooking Light Slow Cooker Tonight’s! White Bean, Artichoke, and Chard Ragout” to compare the two because the ingredients were very similar. Cooking Light’s recipe won 5 out of 5 stars. I am so glad I made a back up stew to serve at the party.
46) BUrgundy Red Beans p109- I love cooking with wine. I voted 1.5 stars out of 5 stars. My family gave it 2.5 stars. These were really bitter. I had to add a lot of sugar so my family would eat a bowl of them. I garbage canned the left overs.
Out of 46 recipes 18 were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and became weekly family favorites and the recipes are good enough to serve in restaurants or to important dinner guests. The rest were epic failures taste wise. I highly do recommend this cookbook. As some of our family favorites are in here. Remember that these recipes can be made in a pressure cooker as well and will give you better flavor in some cases . I will keep trying recipes from her cookbook. IF YOU ARE NOT A FAN OF SPICE FILLED RECIPES and or SPICY FOOD you MAY like the recipes my entire family found EXTREMELY BLAND. I did work as a chef in my younger years and I did experiment with each failed recipe. I took 6 small bowls and added different spices or seasonings to the failed recipes to TRY to FiX them and make them edible for my whole family. But alas I could not fix them all. Some I did salvage. With food prices sky rocketing and inflation hitting, I hope my review will save you TIME & MONEY. I flushed a lot of recipes down the toilet to find 18 family favorite recipes to die for.
