Tag Archives: veganism

Love that juice

17 Jan

I was so happy to have yesterday off in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling very well, so I spent most of the day languishing in bed watching Felicity for the first time. Blame lady troubles and a random fever. I did manage to wash the dishes — to which Mr. X exclaimed, “But babe, that’s the one chore you should never do!” Apparently I’m the worst dish washer ever — and walk to Trader Joe’s for some sustenance. However, dinner last night was chips and salsa and a root beer float, so it’s not really worth documenting.

Today I feel so much better, and it’s a good thing because I’m back at the office. Work work work. I didn’t get lunches for the week made last night because of how craptastic I felt, so I allowed myself a trip to Rainbow:

An apple-cucumber-ginger juice and a salad bar run. My concoction included spring mix, artichoke hearts, red pepper strips, shredded carrots and beets, a little eggless salad (vegan, made with tofu), avocado, mushrooms, Follow Your Heart Vegan Lemon Herb dressing, and raw sunflower seeds. I’m officially in love with the juice combo and am now in “need” of a juicer. I also adored the salad, as always. I love shredded raw beets but am way too lazy to do them myself.

I had to photograph it in the car because I knew the juice wouldn’t last the drive back to work! Also, proof that I should never be allowed to wear nail polish.

I had a snack at 2 p.m. of tea and chocolate:

My favorite bar ON SALE! Except I only had a little:

For the record, I only put the chocolate on my cup like that for the photo. However, the warm tea slightly melted the chocolate, which was awesome. I’m sure other people like to hold wrapped chocolate in their hot hands before eating them, right?

Dinner will be another salad with avocado and mushrooms, but I promise it will be a creation unto its own.

Goals

I’ve really been working hard to attack all the goals I lined up for myself and, almost more importantly, the things I admitted to putting off. Aside from the ones I’ve already mentioned, here’s some more points of progress:

  • Something involving my car that I’m afraid to post until it’s actually done for fear the man might come bitchslap me. I made an appointment with the DMV for Friday so I can cross this one off my list — and stop driving in fear.
  • Be a better friend/Call a friend just to chat. I chatted on the phone with my dear friend who is recovering from a major health scare. She called me, but it to return a call I’d originally placed to her. I’m so glad to hear that she’s doing well. She’s seriously the strongest, smartest woman I’ve ever met.
  • Clear my name at the library. I paid them off, dammit, and just in time to pick up my copy of Mama Pea‘s cookbook! I’m so excited!

How’s your week starting off? Did you have Monday off?

Taco salad

10 Jan

Dinner #1 (to be repeated tonight) this week is taco salad.

Taco salad isn’t sexy or fancy or ground-breaking, but it is delicious and healthful, when prepared lovingly. And if you have cooked beans on hand, it qualifies as a quick and tasty meal suggestion!

Here’s our variation on Taco Salad this week:

  • 1 bag of organic greens (the crunchier, the better, but we used baby romaine this time), squeaky clean and dry
  • 3 cups cooked pinto beans, warmed and tossed with spices (cumin and chili powder) – optional
  • 1 large or 2 small avocados, sliced
  • 1 jar prepared salsa (anything low in sugar, sodium and salt — I’m in love with Trader Joe’s garlic chipotle salsa)
  • 1/2 a bunch green onions, washed and sliced
  • Baked tortilla chips*

Just layer everything in order (or your preference) in a large bowl. Toss and enjoy! Serves 4.

Basic but delicious. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll note that X topped his salad with low-fat sour cream, but mine remained dairy-free. I made the pinto beans from scratch — actually, Mr. X did! And the kitchen didn’t catch on fire! I’m so proud. I also baked the tortilla chips myself using an incredibly simple method. You just preheat the oven to about 375, cut tortillas (I use whole wheat from Trader Joe’s) into 1/8ths, lightly toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt (and optional cumin and/or chili powder), and bake for a little under 10 minutes. I like to flip mine after a few minutes, but I think it’s unnecessary. I’m just paranoid of burning the chips, having done so on several occasions in the past.

It was lurve — healthy, spicy, beany love. Mr. X revealed to me this weekend that he loves salads, just not basic lettuce-tomato-dressing ones, so expect more slightly jazzed-up versions in the coming weeks.

On a slightly related subject, I’m aching to try making pizza next week, so I was hoping some of you might have homemade dough recipes to share. I prefer it to contain some whole wheat, and it cannot require a food processor or mixer, as I’m totally technology-less in the kitchen still. I’ll keep Googling, but a tried-and-true recipe from a reader would be great!

PB&J Cookies and more planning

9 Jan

First, let’s get to the good stuff: PB&J Cookies. These were created by looking at a bunch of different recipes, and the end result is a tasty, fluffy, fairly fiber-loaded treat.

PB&J Cookies

  • 1/2 cup unbleached flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if peanut butter contains salt)
  • 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • About 1/4 cup warm water, as needed
  • 3 teaspoons (or a little more) jam, flavor of your choice

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flours, oats, 1/4 cup of sugar, and salt. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter, vanilla, oil, and 2 tablespoons of water, mixing with a fork until combined. Add the wet to dry and mix until just combined. If the dough won’t hold together, add water a tablespoon at a time until it’s workable. I used my hands.

Pour 3 remaining tablespoons of sugar on a small plate. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, roll them in the sugar, and place on the baking sheet. Flatten each ball slightly. Grab your 1/4 teaspoon measure and use it to make an indentation in each cookie. Now use it again to fill each dent with your jam of choice (mine was a strawberry-raspberry-blueberry blend from the Hollywood Farmers Market). Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes. Do not over-bake. Mine were perfect — lightly browned on the bottom and not runny) at 12 minutes.

Makes 12 cookies.

These will go fast! They have the classic flavor of America’s favorite sandwich but with a grown-up sophistication.

I wanted to talk a little more about meal planning. We finalized our plan for the week (after realizing we aren’t allowed to grill on-site — boo!). The plan outline:

Monday: lunch — quinoa soup; dinner — taco salad
Tuesday: ditto
Wednesday: lunch — quinoa soup; dinner — chili
Thursday: lunch — zucchini wrap; dinner — chili
Friday: lunch — zucchini wrap; dinner — leftovers?

I want to prepare all my legumes from dried this week, so I decided to take my meal plan a step further by writing a daily schedule of when to soak or cook what. This will be especially helpful as I use the slow cooker multiple times. Here is the plan

Sunday: day — make quinoa soup in the slow cooker; night — soak pinto beans (for taco salad)
Monday: day — X makes pinto beans on the stove; night — soak black beans
Tuesday: day — make black beans in the slow cooker and soak chickpeas; night — cook chickpeas on the stove
Wednesday: day — make chili (containing chickpeas and black beans) in the slow cooker; night — cook zucchini and make cilantro spread (for wraps)

I’m hoping this plan will keep me organized and de-stressed. I’ll let you know how it goes (and the meals, too!).

Empty pantry scramble

8 Jan

My bank account is so close to empty right now that every In N Out order – and, heck, dollar in the parking meter – stings. So I decided to spend no money yesterday (which addresses my financial goal) and cook using only what we had in the fridge and cabinets (touching on my dairy-free one, since we have very little in the apartment). Here’s what I was working with:

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Food cabinet. This is where I keep my beans, grains, peanut butter, oils, vinegar, and such. Eventually this will go in the pantry . . . once it has shelves.

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Grapefruit and tomato (that ended up being rotten – blech) on the counter.

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Spice cabinet. I also keep tea and a few random things in here. This, incidentally, is my favorite thing about the kitchen.

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Fridge scariness. Normal things, plus really old takeout.

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Freezer. Apparently it only contains, flours, sugar, vodka, and ice.

For breakfast, I decided to go with a classic bowl of oats:

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Ugly but delicious. In the mix: Trader Joe’s hot breakfast mix (oats, barley, rye, and wheat) with peanut butter, homemade pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, a splash of coconut milk, six (yes, six) chocolate chips, and a pinch of raw sugar. ‘Twas delicious. A couple of hours later, I made Mr. X a slightly different oat combo (jam instead of PB) and we split the grapefruit.

For lunch, I was excited to use up two little zucchini (and the tomato and partial onion, but both ended up being deceased). I decided to give farinata a new twist:

It was incredible. I know I said the last one I made was the best, but this one was even better. It contained: garbanzo flour, water, garlic, nooch, oregano, zucchini, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. I sauteed the zucchini and topped the farinata with it after about a minute on the stove.

I dusted off the slow cooker (literally — the thing was pretty dirty inside) to make dinner:

Weirdly glowing barbecued lentils and rice with steamed Swiss chard. The meal contained: dry brown lentils, dry brown rice, water, garlic, a tad of zucchini, barbecue sauce, chard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. For the entree, I added half a cup of lentils, a cup of brown rice, three cloves of chopped garlic, and three cups of water to the slow cooker and set it on high for about three hours. When everything is cooked, I added a small amount of zucchini (what was left over from lunch) and about a half cup of barbecue sauce. I didn’t measure, just pouring and mixing until it coated everything well. Then I put the lid on and set it to low for another three-ish hours, when we were ready to eat. It made a lot! Probably four servings.

Just before eating, I prepared the chard: set a pan over medium-low, washed the chard, tore it, and tossed it in the pan without drying it. About a minute later, it was lightly wilted. I plated it and squeezed a little lemon juice on top, as well as salt and pepper. Yum!

While dinner simmered in the slow cooker, I decided to throw together some dessert:

PB&J Cookies! These contained: unbleached white flour, whole wheat flour, oats, raw sugar, peanut butter, canola oil, water, salt, vanilla, and jam. I’ll share the whole recipe tomorrow, but I will tell you now that they are awesome!

All in all, I was really excited about the success of my experiment and plan to try the challenge again soon. Not next Saturday, though, since we’ll be celebrating our anniversary. :)

Plannin’ and linkin’

7 Jan

Plannin’

In an effort to make 2012 a ballin’ year, I’m taking the goals I outlined (plus a few others, too) seriously and getting to work on progress. One step that tackles several goals at once is my old friend, meal planning. I wrote a whole post about my method a year and one day ago — ha! What a coincidence. I’m so far out of my normal routine, however, that I decided to get it going the old-fashioned way: with pen and paper.

At the top, I wrote some ideas and then had my mister pick two dinners he’d like to have. I then started to plan out when we would eat what at the bottom. I wrote a grocery list on the next page to make it easier. Basic but easy. I’ll give more details on any successful recipes this week.

I am excited that meal planning addresses more than one of my goals: reducing my dairy (everything I cook this week will be vegan), prioritizing diabetic-friendly meals, making progress on my financial goals (cooking at home is obviously cheaper than eating out all the time), and cooking dinner at home at least three days a week. Hurray for productivity!

Linkin’

I wanted to share a couple of links I loved today:

(from wilton.com)

25 clever ideas to make life easier. (Thanks to Sasha of the amazing Global Table Adventure for the link on Facebook!) I’m all about the walnut, the baby powder, the magnet, the cupcakes in a cone (having first read about them in Eat, Drink and Be Vegan), and the cookie bowls.

Speaking of Global Table, did you hear Sasha on Rick Steves this week? Go listen right now! Sasha’s an amazing cook and blogger and also a great person (and fellow Tulsan).

In some happy news, the Fitnessista is having her baby! Possibly right now. Wow!

I am planning to re-line the drawers in my kitchen because they’re, well, grody. I hit up my friend Google and found this design*sponge tutorial from the Wayback Machine. Easy, cheap, and adorable? Heck yeah!

I was looking for a vegan hot and sour soup recipe that wasn’t full of crazy stuff, and I stumbled onto Kathy’s Slow-Cooker recipe on the FatFree Vegan Kitchen. How amazing does that look?!

Alright, friends. I’m off to do tackle my some more goals (cooking dinner and doing yoga — did I mention I’m sick? From whence comes this energy?). I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Progress and (im)perfection

6 Jan

I woke up with allergy nonsense today: itchy dry eyes, burning throat, the snufflies, and the sleepies. Blech. It’s just about 9:30 in the morning here, and I’m already on my fourth hot beverage of the day (one cup of black tea with honey followed by two mugs of miso soup and now a cup of DeTox tea). They are helping somewhat, but I’m in still in that yucky days that accompanies the sickies. If anyone has good, natural allergy remedies, please let me know. I’m using my neti pot, gargling with salt water, drinking hot liquids and cold water, and putting raw local honey in my tea.

Anyway, despite being sick on top of the awkwardness of settling back into my routine, I’ve been working hard this week to made progress on both sets of goals I mapped out. Here’s how it’s gone so far:

January:

  • 1. a. Cook dinner at home three days a week every week in January. So far, I’ve cooked dinner twice (see details below) and plan to do so again tonight! I’m proud of myself. I love cooking, but the long days make having the energy difficult. Still, the rewards are worth it.
  • That’s it so far, but I have plans for the others.

This Week (things I’ve been putting off):

  • 2. Do more yoga. The night I wrote that post, I went home and did one of my favorite 20-minute podcasts from Yoga Download! It felt incredible. My arms are still a little sore from it today, which is a good thing.

Not a ton of progress, but not bad either for only a couple of days.

Now back to that cooking thang. I can’t tell you how excited we are to have our stuff in our new apartment. Not that it’s all (or even mostly) unpacked yet, but we’re working on it. Slowly.

One thing I was happy to be reunited with was my rice cooker. Not that cooking rice on the stovetop is terribly burdensome, but I like being able to ignore the little cooker and have it not take up real estate on my cooking area. Well, we decided to do a simple, cheap stir fry of mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, onion, broccoli and tofu over brown rice on Tuesday night. My rice cooker is very unsophisticated (it doesn’t have any settings other than cook and warm, so nothing special for different kinds of rice or grains), which means I have to guesstimate how much water to use when I cook up brown rice. Apparently I was rusty. The result was a total disaster. The rice was all waterlogged, and then I stupidly thought to add more rice to soak up the rest. I don’t recommend it. I would have taken a picture, but it was really, really gross. Instead, I had to send Mr. X to the Chinese place up the road to get some precooked rice. Dinner was saved, thankfully, but the rice was one exciting kitchen failure.

The next night, I planned to make my Gnocchi with Arrabbiata Sauce, but X ended up getting booked for a show that filmed later, so he didn’t get home until after 9. I knew better than to make myself wait that long, and when he said they were feeding him dinner on set, I decided to make something I haven’t in a very long time: farinata. Also called socca, it’s kind of a chickpea flour “pizza,” though I use that term loosely. Maybe “pancake” would be more accurate. Anyway, I used to make it all the time in my previous life but haven’t attempted it in over a year. It’s crazy-easy, though, and requires few ingredients, so I gave it a whirl. The result:

Seriously the best one I’ve ever made! Somehow my cheap-o IKEA frying pan has a perfect nonstick coating that made removing the usually sticky result so easy I couldn’t believe it. The spices were spot-on, too, and I devoured every bite after my yoga session. Here are the basics of making farinata:

Basic Farinata

  • 2/3 cup garbanzo flour
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 cup water
  • Spices to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a medium bowl, combine the garbanzo flour and salt (I use Bob’s Red Mill garbanzo/fava flour combination because it’s tasty and also the only kind I’ve ever found in a store) with about 1/4 cup of water until it forms a paste. Slowly add the rest of the water, stirring vigorously with a fork until all the lumps are gone. Cover the bowl with a towel (or whatever) and let it hang out on the counter for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the broiler. Stir the batter from the bottom and add any spices you want. I like to go Italian with mine and this time threw in dried oregano, nutritional yeast, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Now heat two teaspoons of olive oil in a 12-inch frying pan (make sure it’s oven safe!) over medium or medium-high heat. When warm, pour in the batter. Drizzle on the remaining tablespoon of oil. Let it cook for about four minutes or until it’s set. It’s a little like eggs in texture, if that helps, and you don’t want any runniness.

Now stick it under the broiler for about four minutes or until light brown spots begin to appear. Cut into triangles, like a pizza, and serve. Makes enough for one hungry person or two as part of a larger meal.

You can really add any kind of herbs and spices you want to the batter, but I pretty much always use this combination. A generic Italian seasoning is great in place of the oregano, and I suspect herbes de Provence would be great, too.

So while my rice cooking was a total, unequivocal disaster, the next night I managed to make the best farinata of my life. Go figure.

Have you had any major kitchen mishaps or successes lately?

Putting it off

4 Jan

I am a Virgo and a procrastinator. Does that make sense? Part of the problem is that I work really well under pressure, so sometimes I push myself to that point to accomplish things that don’t really appeal to me. I will be the first to admit that this system blows. It causes stress and, worse really, it spirals out of control, creating a never-ending and never-improving cesspool of crap I don’t want to do.

Today’s 31 Days to Better Health post over at the Vegan Epicurean is all about breaking this nasty cycle. She asks, What Should You be Doing that You Have Been Avoiding? The first part of the exercise is to write a list of however many things you know you need to tackle. Here are a few of mine:

1. Get my finances in order. The move to LA has totally messed up my previously mostly organized financial situation. To be honest, I took a pay cut for this job, and that coupled with the increase in cost of living has left my bank account weepy.

2. Do more yoga. I used to look forward to my lunchtime yoga. I haven’t done it once since I moved. I know I’d be happier and healthier if I re-committed.

3. Something involving my car that I’m afraid to post until it’s actually done for fear the man might come bitchslap me.

4. Reduce my dairy intake. I can feel the difference physically and mentally when I eat dairy too much, but I’ve been in a gross cycle for the past year almost. No more.

5. Start cleaning my apartment on a regular schedule. For the first time ever, I genuinely love my home, and I want to keep it comfortable. I despise housework, but I know I’ll be glad for having done it.

6. Be a better friend. I mentioned this goal yesterday, but it’s something that’s been weighing on my mind over the past several months. I want to be the best friend I can be.

7. Get back on a diabetes-friendly eating plan. I never quite got the traction on this goal last year like I wanted, and we’ve both been eating terribly since the move.

8. Let go. This goal is not particularly measurable, but it is meaningful to me. I have trouble forgiving and forgetting, which makes moving on difficult. I don’t want to be that person any more.

9. Clear my name at the library. Yeah, didn’t take long for me to rack up fines. Bad Brigid. I miss reading, so it’s time to get myself back on the nice list.

The next part of the challenge is: “Once you are satisfied that your list is long enough please choose one item in your list to work on this week.”

I am going to commit to #2. Do more yoga. Since I’m currently doing none, “more” is even one time, and I will be totally fine with that. So, by midnight on Saturday, I will have done at least one yoga session. A 20-minute podcast is totally fine by me. I feel more relaxed just thinking about it.

Do you have any goals for the week? Share them here, and let’s keep each other accountable!

Workout fuel

13 Oct

I am currently testing the limits of my sanity – and my physical endurance.

I don’t purport to be a fitness blogger, which is good, considering how out of shape I am. I’m always trying to get myself into a regular routine, so I do post about fitness here and there (mostly there; occasionally here). But, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, it’s far from the norm. I’m certainly no Fitnessista or Caitlin (though maybe someday I will approximate their exercising awesomeness). The man I live with isn’t exactly an Olympian either, so we spend a lot of sedentary time together.

Well, that changed. He announced that he wanted to begin working out, and specifically he wanted to try a cycling class. That scared the bejeesus out of me. I always found riding Marcello to be a strain, so a 50-minute class full of taught bodies jumping and sprinting and cranking up the resistance sounded like torture. Mr. X, however, was sure it would be doable.

For the record, I was right. It hurt, friends. It hurt. And our legs weren’t the problem – it was the combination of butt-mangling seats and nauseated tummies that did us both in.

Of course, we returned the following week. And the week after. Yep, we are gluttons for punishments who now attend voluntary torture cycling class every Tuesday and Thursday, with our padded seat covers in tow.

Now there’s also the Saturday Pilates class in which we’d like to become regulars . . . and I have, for some heinous reason, agreed to join a Couch to 5K program with some of my coworkers. This will be the fourth time I’ve attempted the program, which I’ve yet to complete. Is now the time? I have no idea. I can only say we have our first group run next Wednesday and, well, I r scurred.

A recurring theme with all my cardio is the stomach upset. I’m either nauseated from eating too much or too little, which is hindering my performance. I’m sure my wheezing is, too, but I’m working on that. This weekend, when I plan next week’s meals, I will make a concerted effort to plan better, but at the moment, I’m a little stumped.

What’s your favorite workout fuel? I know I’m not burning enough calories to consider a protein powder. I am trying to find a vegan replacement for yogurt, my former go-to pre-run munch, and haven’t sampled any of the dairy-free versions. I know potassium helps me prevent side stitches, so bananas and potatoes are on the mental list. This week, I’m turning to a banana, half a whole-wheat bagel, and a smidge of peanut butter in the afternoon following a light lunch.

Something similar was dinner Tuesday night, ‘cause we were tired and, well, too nauseated to eat anything heavy:

Bagel with peanut butter and a smoothie – enjoyed in bed while watching Jeopardy! Lazy nerds. The smoothie was one banana, ½ cup frozen mango, ½ cup frozen strawberries, and enough hazelnut milk to puree the whole thang. We’ve been craving smoothies all week!

Send me your vegan workout fuel ideas! I’m a girl on the run (and the spin) who needs to get herself together.

Mushroom pasta delight

12 Oct

The big, nasty fight with our roommate went down on a Monday, and we weren’t willing to hit the kitch again until Friday. I won’t even recount the fast-food meals and wasted money that characterized the rest of the week.

Anyway, we decided to make a third recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan, namely the Pasta with Fresh Shiitakes, Tomatoes, and Basil. However, by the end of the week, the fresh tomatoes were gone, as was nearly all of my garlic, so our version was highly, highly altered. Plus, a 1/2 cup of olive oil? Really? I cut that way, way down. Enter the B&X spin:

Shiitake Mushroom Pasta with Basil
6 to 8 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 box whole wheat pasta (I used rotini, but farfalle or fusilli would have been good, too)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup basil, washed and cut into a chiffonade
Black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Add the mushrooms to a bowl and top with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the soy sauce, mixing to coat thoroughly. Pour them on a prepared baking sheet and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 or so.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of water until al dente (according to package directions). Drain and set aside.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive in a pot over a medium-low flame. Add the sliced onions and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until caramelized and fragrant. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about two minutes or until softened but not browned. By now, the mushrooms should be warm and soft. Remove them from the oven and add them along with the pasta and basil to the pot, stirring to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes until everything is warmed through. Top with black pepper to taste.

Serves 4.

It was deeeeeeliiiiiicious. The mushrooms cooked with soy sauce were an ingenious addition to super-basic pasta. I never would have thought to combine them with fresh basil, but I certainly will again. I topped mine with nutritional yeast, which was tasty but not necessary. I would increase the garlic next time and cook it a little longer, but this method worked in a pinch.

What’s your favorite pasta ingredient?

Book review: The Voluptuous Vegan **

11 Oct

The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld

I am an unabashed nerd. I knew I was a real Angelena when I possessed both a California driver’s license and an LA library card. My local branch does not have an extensive collection, but there was a handful of vegan cookbooks on the shelves, including The Voluptuous Vegan, which I haven’t read before. Home it came with me to become my cookbook of the week.

My initial reaction was excitement at some of the meal ideas, but when I dug deeper, I was a bit let down by the actual content. Making many of the recipes would have required me to buy expensive ingredients, which I probably wouldn’t use again. Many others contained weird things, such as burdock root (flashbacks to Alicia Silverstone’s book!) and umeboshi vinegar. Maybe these ingredients are mainstays in some people’s kitchens, but I just couldn’t justify the expense or the hunt. I was also shocked at the amount of fat included in the recipes – one called for a 1/2 cup of olive oil for a pasta sauce! No way, not in my house. I love olive oil, but in no way is that a healthy amount, even if it served four people. Honestly, I think the biggest sin of the book was its layout: the recipes are divided into Soups, Main-Course Menus, and Desserts. I much prefer a more straight-forward design in a cookbook, and the Main-Course Menus was just too big of a dumping ground. Plus, why weren’t soups included in the menus if everything else was? None of the menus as a whole interested me either. Plus, as I said in my recipe post (LINK), I don’t have hours to devote to the kitchen on a weekday. This complaint is totally petty, but I bugged me that she kept calling soy sauce “shoyu” – there’s nothing incorrect about the word, but it felt pretentious.

All that said, the things I made from the book – all altered to meet my fat allowance – were tasty. Kornfeld got me to make vegetable stock for the first time, which was super quick and easy and made a big difference. I don’t normally make a ton of East Asian-type dishes, so it was fun to force myself to try different things. Truly, I didn’t hate this cookbook, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

My rating: ** (out of *****)

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