Hello, remember us? Stephanie and Johnny? It's been a while. We're still alive. Our house still has a hole in the ceiling. We haven't acquired any more animals (yet). Things are terrific- I (Stephanie) am employed full time, my horse is a real winner, and I think I might be getting over being sick. Johnny has acquired about a zillion boxes filled with things from his youth. Johnny also acquired a vegan cookbook.
We've been trying to eat in a more healthy way for months. We've successfully curbed our restaurant dining down to once or twice a week (as opposed to 3-4 times). Johnny has his addiction to sweets sort-of-under control. I ate cheese (and only cheese) for dinner only once last week. Best of all, our grocery bill is down to a somewhat reasonable amount. (Savings on actual food has somehow translated into spending more on snacks and juice, though...)
Johnny found the internet's favorite vegan cookbook, The Happy Herbivore, about two weeks ago. Both of us were very excited for its arrival. It's well reviewed, seems accessible, and promised there were no crazy ingredients required. When it was delivered, we eagerly started cooking our way through it.
We cooked black bean burgers, 'cheater' pad thai, smoky black bean enchiladas, and a stir-fry over the course of two weeks. Every last one of them was dreadful. Each dish was over-seasoned and oddly cooked. The enchiladas called for a pound of tofu, but the tofu wasn't seared or flavored beforehand. It absorbed enchilada sauce until it was a big, gelatinous, vaguely spicy mess. The black bean burgers overpowered both mustard and pickles with their cilantro. The pad thai's sauce was heavy and gloppy.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the entire cookbook was its lack of information on a vegan lifestyle. No tips on how to balance meals to ensure nutritional requirements were being met (although nutritional information was provided for each recipe- a big plus). No advice on cooking unfamiliar foods like tofu, seitan, or textured vegetable protein. For a cookbook that touts itself as accessible to beginners, it sure didn't make cooking vegan meals appealing.
The recipes themselves are pretty easy to follow and clearly written. The book includes an appendix with definitions of common abbreviations (like TVP for textured vegetable protein). The recipes are of a low degree of difficulty and not very time consuming. However, they just aren't tasty. They seem to be written by someone who has no idea how spices and seasonings work or how things like "texture" can affect a meal.
I wish The Happy Herbivore was a better cookbook, because there are many things about vegan meals that appeal to me. For now, though, I'll just have to stick with the Meatless Monday meals found on eatingwell.com.
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We've been trying to eat in a more healthy way for months. We've successfully curbed our restaurant dining down to once or twice a week (as opposed to 3-4 times). Johnny has his addiction to sweets sort-of-under control. I ate cheese (and only cheese) for dinner only once last week. Best of all, our grocery bill is down to a somewhat reasonable amount. (Savings on actual food has somehow translated into spending more on snacks and juice, though...)
Johnny found the internet's favorite vegan cookbook, The Happy Herbivore, about two weeks ago. Both of us were very excited for its arrival. It's well reviewed, seems accessible, and promised there were no crazy ingredients required. When it was delivered, we eagerly started cooking our way through it.
We cooked black bean burgers, 'cheater' pad thai, smoky black bean enchiladas, and a stir-fry over the course of two weeks. Every last one of them was dreadful. Each dish was over-seasoned and oddly cooked. The enchiladas called for a pound of tofu, but the tofu wasn't seared or flavored beforehand. It absorbed enchilada sauce until it was a big, gelatinous, vaguely spicy mess. The black bean burgers overpowered both mustard and pickles with their cilantro. The pad thai's sauce was heavy and gloppy.
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the entire cookbook was its lack of information on a vegan lifestyle. No tips on how to balance meals to ensure nutritional requirements were being met (although nutritional information was provided for each recipe- a big plus). No advice on cooking unfamiliar foods like tofu, seitan, or textured vegetable protein. For a cookbook that touts itself as accessible to beginners, it sure didn't make cooking vegan meals appealing.
The recipes themselves are pretty easy to follow and clearly written. The book includes an appendix with definitions of common abbreviations (like TVP for textured vegetable protein). The recipes are of a low degree of difficulty and not very time consuming. However, they just aren't tasty. They seem to be written by someone who has no idea how spices and seasonings work or how things like "texture" can affect a meal.
I wish The Happy Herbivore was a better cookbook, because there are many things about vegan meals that appeal to me. For now, though, I'll just have to stick with the Meatless Monday meals found on eatingwell.com.
