La Dolce Vegan (Sarah Kramer)

[Est]

Yesterday was my last day in my old job, and one of my (very nice!) leaving presents was a copy of La Dolce Vegan by Sarah Kramer.

It was up there on my "to buy" list along with Vcon and VCTOTW so I was mighty pleased

I won't have a chance to cook anything from it for at least 2 - 3 weeks, but first impressions are very good. The layout and design are great - very appealing. Sarah Kramer's writing style is really friendly and interesting. Oh, and the recipes sound fab too!

[vava]

I have tried a couple of her recipes for mayo and was mightily disappointed but I made the French toast for breakfast and it has 10 out of 10 from me - yummy.

[Est]

Yay vavavegan The cake section caught my attention... just need to find someone to cook 'em all for me while I'm so busy!

PS The "black pepper" coffee cake made me giggle - that's just the kind of thing I would do by mistake

[Roxy]

Today I made 2 recipes from this book.

I made the Aloo Gobi Potatoes & Cauliflower on page 141. I doubled the recipe, so that it can be eaten for meals during the week. It's quite spicy, and very, very flavourful.

I also made the Baked Chili with Cornbread Biscuit Topping on page 173. The chili is really good! However, the cornbread topping is really disappointing. I have another cornbread topping recipe that I'll use next time, in place of the one that's in this recipe.

Here's a pic of the Aloo Gobi. I didn't bother taking a pic of the Chili, since the cornbread topping didn't really work out.

[fondducoeur]

O man, that looks delicious, Roxy! I think it will be a while before I can afford to buy another cookbook though! (I have so many already).

[Roxy]

Thanks I know what you mean about affording more cookbooks though!

[Est]

Looks v yummy Roxy

I still haven't had time to cook anything from it yet! So frustrating. I bought another cookbook yeterday (VWAV) and was determined to do some cooking tonight from both books and report back w/ pics, but it looks as though yet again I'll be working late *sigh*

I'll definitely try that dish though, and I think OH will like it too

[Cattmogg]

I might sound like a miserable moaner but this book irritated me. I just didnt see the retro irony humour in the whole food pin up chick thing. I dont really care what the writer looks like, id rather see the food!

[Cattmogg]

Having said that i am liking the look of your curry Roxy.

[sandra]

You see, that's what I was meaning on that other thread Mr Flibble.................all it takes is to post a smiley face in answer to a post!

I'm still waiting on you answering my question though!

[Mr Flibble]

[sandra]

Just as I expected Mr Flibble

[Opheliac]

What the..? Sorry, this is so off-topic, but I have to tell the world that I was quitely shocked when I read who the author is, because my cousin shares exactly the same name! xD

[Ms_Derious]

It's a great book too. Love it, Love it, Love it

[veganwitch]

I love this book as well. I make the red lentil and rice casserole along with the baking powder biscuits regularly.

[Buddha Belly]

Me and helen both love this book. Has anyone else got the vegan a go-go? It is a mini travel version of La Dolché Vegan.

[Ms_Derious]

Me and helen both love this book. Has anyone else got the vegan a go-go? It is a mini travel version of La Dolché Vegan.

Yah! it's great. It has a selection of recipes from How it all Vegan, La Dolce Vegan and The Garden of Vegan, as well as 25 new recipes.

Its very nice as a taster of some of the best recipes, and most of them are pretty easy to make without loads of specialist ingredients so really good if you are travelling with access to kitchens but not lots of vegan ingredients.

[BlackCats]

I just saw the recipe for the Tofu Balls and it looks really nice but I don't have all the ingredients to make it. I don't even know what tamari is. Maybe soya sauce would replace it.

ETA oh, it is a type of soya sauce, duh.

[Est]

Tamari is really nice... to me it tastes kind of light and salty. At a restaurant in Manchester I had deep fried tofu balls with tamari and they were amazingly delicious

[tin_can]

Yeah, I love tamari! And I think this book is the best of the three, overall.

[BlackCats]

I might look out for tamari. The tofu came out a bit weird last night, I had to make it into scrambled tofu in the end. Will have to give it another try.

[smallhelen]

The tofu balls are a definite favourite in our house. I make 'em smallish and cook them really well. Then we serve them with a veggie and tomato sauce and pasta. YUM. Last time, I had run out of tahini, and used peanut butter instead, and they were even tastier than usual.

[rainbow]

Just discovered this book. It has really got me in the mood for making my own seitan, and some of the recipes look good. Not entirely convinced, though. Most of the recipes appear to be sent in from other people via the internet. Some are so achingly obvious that they really don't need to be in a cookbook. And I share Cattmogg's opinion that the endless photos of the author are irritating and offputting. I want pictures of food, not tattoos! The picture of Roxy's curry looks totally tempting, and maybe if there were more pictures like this in the book I might find it more exciting. But every last picture is of the author, which makes the entire book feel like a vanity project rather than a serious culinary adventure.
Still, others seem to like it and the proof is in the eating, so I will try out some of the recipes and hope that the book offers some redemption. And the section on seitan really does look great (although the only source of vital wheat gluten in the UK is painfully expensive *sob*).

[fondducoeur]

I have made the aloo gobi that Roxy posted about several times and it's delicious

I also made the garlic scrape stir fry. This could be made with any vegetables (so in some sense it is an "achingly" obvious recipe for a simple stir fry), but the tahini sauce that goes with the stir fry is amazingly good!

I am intrigued by the cannelloni recipe. Has anyone tried that one?

[johnb]

Just discovered this book. It has really got me in the mood for making my own seitan, and some of the recipes look good. Not entirely convinced, though. Most of the recipes appear to be sent in from other people via the internet. Some are so achingly obvious that they really don't need to be in a cookbook. And I share Cattmogg's opinion that the endless photos of the author are irritating and offputting. I want pictures of food, not tattoos! The picture of Roxy's curry looks totally tempting, and maybe if there were more pictures like this in the book I might find it more exciting. But every last picture is of the author, which makes the entire book feel like a vanity project rather than a serious culinary adventure.
Still, others seem to like it and the proof is in the eating, so I will try out some of the recipes and hope that the book offers some redemption. And the section on seitan really does look great (although the only source of vital wheat gluten in the UK is painfully expensive *sob*).

This website sells vital wheat gluten at 2.29 for 500g is that expensive? www.honest-to-goodness.org.uk

[rainbow]

If you spend over £45 (which is easily done on that website, as they seem to stock a whole load of vegan goodies), then delivery is free, which makes this a relatively good deal. The actual cost of the VWG is higher than on the flourbin website, but flourbin charge £7 for delivery, which makes honest-to-goodness the better bet (plus they seem like a nice ethical company who sell other good things - thanks for the link!).
I recently bought some VWG while in the USA (after all these hours trawling the internet in the UK desperately trying to find some, there it was just sitting on the supermarket shelf next to all the other flours, easy as pie). I shall be making my first dish with it this evening! Pictures to follow in the food pictures thread... (provided it doesn't turn out very badly!).

[Veggie Tales]

Me and helen both love this book. Has anyone else got the vegan a go-go? It is a mini travel version of La Dolché Vegan.

I have Vegan A Go Go. I love it so far. I made a pledge to try all the recipes in it, even though I promised my friend to never make the "Burnin' Butt Burritos"...

But really it's a great book, so small and handy. The recipes I have tried so far have been simple, and it's nice that she uses basic, easy to find ingredients in most of them. I am stoked to try the tofu balls after hearing what everyone here says about them.

[fondducoeur]

Overall I am not too impressed with this book, but tonight I made the Portabella cannelloni w/ sun-dried tomato white sauce and it was delicious. I recommend it if you miss pasta w/white sauce. Also, In an earlier post I mentioned I made the aloo gobi, and it has since gone into our regular dinner rotation.