cookbook: The Bold Vegetarian Chef by Ken Charney - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

Suzanne 3FC · 06-19-2009, 09:24 PM

I am so in love with this cookbook

http://www.amazon.com/Bold-Vegetaria...tt_at_ep_dpi_1

If you love food with lots of bold flavors, and you love to cook, you'll probably love this cookbook

Every recipe is just popping with layers of flavor. You won't find anything quick and easy, though. The recipes use medium to long lists of ingredients and long instructions - which is why I won't copy any here

But if you like to cook, these recipe titles might pique your interest:

soft tofu tacos with tomatillo pumpkin seed sauce

roasted corn and ancho plantain cakes topped with red pepper chipotle cream

sweet potato and black bean burger with roasted yellow pepper sauce

wilted greens with miso-tamarind sauce and caramelized pears

roasted potatoes with arugula and aged vinegar

kale garlic risotto with fresh mango

Italian fontina and roasted garlic polenta with creamy tomato sauce

This is just a sampling. There are 200 recipes in the cookbook. He does incredible things with beans, grains, tempeh, veggies, etc.

I've had the cookbook a long time, but I misplaced it and just found it today. I plan to try some of the recipes this week.

If you click thru the amazon link above, you can click the 'search this book' link to view some of the recipes.

rockinrobin · 06-20-2009, 07:29 AM

Those titles are QUITE appealing. Wow! Every one is incredibly enticing. Although I'm wondering how many of the long list of ingredients are items that are difficult to get a hold of.

Thanks for pointing it out. I will definitely check it out.

bacilli · 06-20-2009, 07:48 AM

roasted corn and ancho plantain cakes topped with red pepper chipotle cream ....... I think I just drooled on my keyboard.

I'm off to order a copy, one can never have too many veg cookbooks!

bacilli · 06-20-2009, 07:54 AM

Speaking of cream, I found a recipe for vegan "cream" a few weeks ago. I used it to make leek soup, and it was amazing. It uses pine nuts and water, with a bit of nutmeg, salt, and pepper. And it's only got 39 cal/serving (2 TBS), which makes me feel better than using heavy cream.

nelie · 06-20-2009, 08:38 AM

So Suzanne, question is, how many recipes are vegan/able to be veganized? Does he use a lot of animal products or ?

I have a hard time buying non vegan cookbooks although I have a few but most were bought pre-vegan stage.

Edited to add : Went through the recipes on amazon and was impressed he didn't use egg in a burger and only noticed 2 recipes with dairy in them. One was with feta (not sure about veganizing, would depend on reading the entire recipe) and other was with yogurt (easy swap!).

bacilli · 06-20-2009, 08:46 AM

Nelie - do you have Vegan Fire & Spice? It's my favorite cookbook ever, everything in it is so tasty! Robin Robertson's cookbooks are soooo good.

nelie · 06-20-2009, 09:18 AM

bacili - I do !! Its an awesome cookbook. I made something last week from it. I have lots of cookbooks

Suzanne 3FC · 06-21-2009, 05:41 PM

Nelie, I think most of the recipes are vegan friendly. There are a couple of fritatta recipes that use eggs, but there's very little dairy involved. I saw a recipe that calls for feta, but I use soy feta which is pretty good stuff.

Robin, I think most or all of the recipes use fairly common ingredients. Most of the reviews on Amazon pointed out they thought the ingredients were easy to find. I think if anything, it's just the recipes themselves that are a little out of the ordinary and may not appeal to everyone. They aren't really homestyle foods, but they will appeal to the adventurous cook. My only complaint is the lack of nutrition info, so I'll probably run them thru mastercook just to make sure I don't get too caught up in the flavor and blow it.

Bacilli, I just got a copy of Fire and Spice! I haven't had a chance to give it a good look, but it sounds great. The Thai recipes in particular caught my eye. I also just received a copy of "You Won't Believe it's Vegan" which looks good.

CountingDown · 06-21-2009, 06:11 PM

Oooh - thanks for the cookbook suggestions all! I'm always looking for new recipes!

My mom is coming for a month to visit - a perfect time to try something new

rockinrobin · 06-22-2009, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzanne 3FC

. My only complaint is the lack of nutrition info, so I'll probably run them thru mastercook just to make sure I don't get too caught up in the flavor and blow it.
.

Okay. Now you've got me thoroughly and completely intrigued. A new cookbook and I googled this "Mastercook" that I believe you are speaking about. Are you telling me there's a software where I just plug in my ingredients and they figure everything out for you? And kind of organize it and put it into recipe format? I couldn't exactly tell from the info I found. I would LOVE something like that. They had a downloadable version and a purchasable one. Which would you recommend? This seems right up my alley.

bacilli · 06-22-2009, 06:10 AM

Yeah, sorta. It organizes your recipes, and as you plug a recipe in it will give you nutritional info. It's handy. I personally would go with the actual software, but that's because I don't do so well with computers. I put out more energy or something, and fry them.

Suzanne 3FC · 06-22-2009, 10:34 AM

I LOVE Mastercook. The only bad thing is that it doesn't work on Vista, so I had to hang onto an old laptop to use for it. The latest version claims to be Vista compatible, but there are tons of reviews on Amazon complaining that it really isn't. There are some other brands of similar software, but so far everything I've tried is clunky and hasn't won me over. Living Cookbook seems to have a lot of fans, and you can download a trial version from their website. But it seems to take a few extra steps to get the nutrition data, unless I overlooked something. I've honestly not played with it enough to find out. I was spoiled by Mastercook. Living Cookbook even has a built in points calculator so you can figure Weight Watchers points.

rockinrobin · 06-22-2009, 10:45 AM

Thanks folks. I think I would love this Mastercook thing-y. I am actually ordering a brand spanking new laptop today. I've never even heard of Vista. I'll have to look into this. I'd love to have that new computer along with this MAstercook.

bacilli · 06-22-2009, 08:02 PM

I heard the new version isn't very compatible with Vista, but I cannot stand Vista, so I didn't read too much into it. I actually bought a new computer that came with Vista on it, uninstalled it and put XP Pro on it. Vista still seems way too buggy for me, I want things to work NOW, the first time, when I want it, etc. I'm way too impatient!

MasterCook is really simple to use, it's exceptional software if you like to cook.

kuhljeanie · 06-22-2009, 08:31 PM

FWIW, you can also use the licensed (e.g. paid) version of Fitday to determine nutritional information. i don't know Mastercook so i don't know if it's got swankier features, but Fitday has worked out great as i transition more to scratch cooking.