Appetite for Reduction

[RubyDuby]

I got this for Christmas and it looks awesome!

I made the Lentil & Eggplant Chili Mole last night (with Southwestern Corn Pudding from V-con) and it is very satisfying. It made 3 meals worth for 2 of us!



I can't wait to try the Goddess Nicoise, Pad Thai Salad, Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu, Caesar Salad w/ Eggplant bacon, Cranberry-Cashew Biryani, Jerk Asparagus, Tofu Chimichurri, Tempeh Helper, Manhattan Glam Chowder, or the 2nd Avenue Veg Korma.

Tonight we're having the Buffalo Tempeh with Cool Slaw on an Italian Baguette. (and have fixin's forLettuce Wraps with Hoisin-Mustard Tofu for tomo) mmmmmm Can't Wait!!!


Anyone have this book>?

[cobweb]

That looks nice. Why is the book called 'Appetite for Reduction', Rubes?.

[RubyDuby]

It's Isa Chandra's answer to reducing fat, calories, unhealthy ingredients, environmental impact, grocery store costs, and animal suffering... according to the intro.

[cobweb]

ah...........sounds like I need to buy a copy!.

[khadagan]

Mmh looks delicious!

[Maranne]

I just ordered this book and I can't wait until it gets here. I have a few of Isa Chandra's other books that I've really enjoyed using.

[khadagan]

[CODE][/CODE]
Sounds great, I will look out for the book as well!

[fiamma]

That looks great That wouldn't be fresh coriander on top, would it? (*snarls*) Can't get that here, so am just a teensy bit envious, hehe
I badly want to like Isa's cooking, but she uses too many spices and flavourings for my liking... dunno... I get put off by all the ingredients...
Indeed Vegan With a Vengeance and Veganomicon are on my shelf gathering dust as we speak *sigh*


Enjoy the book, Ruby!!!

[RubyDuby]

Thanks! Yup, lots of fresh cilantro on top

[veganwitch]

I'll look for this at the bookstore next time I'm there. I still have some gift card money left from xmas. All that food sounds delicious. Way more healthy and labor intensive than I've bee eating though.

[RubyDuby]

it is work... Isa makes ya work! But the lettuce wraps were so good! I'll put up the pics.

[RubyDuby]

YUM!




and the Buffalo Tempeh with Cool Slaw was just okay. I don't know if my bf messed it up or if the lower fat version just isn't as good. I'll make it next time and update.

[veganwitch]

Mmmmm...all of those pics look so good Ruby! You're making me hungry!!

[Tigerlily]

I really want this book. But I also want Veganicom. But I can only afford to buy one book. What should I pick?

[RubyDuby]

i use veganomicon more...

[fondducoeur]

I got Appetite for Reduction for Christmas, too, but haven't used it yet. Anything you would recommend Ruby? The lettuce wraps you made look super good.
And Tigerlily, I can't speak for the new book yet, but Veganomicon is my all-time favorite cookbook.

[RubyDuby]

I've only tried the few recipes so far, but definitely recommend the lettuce wraps!

[Kitteh]

There are a few samples recipes on the ppk website. I made the chickpea picatta, SO GOOD and so was the Caribbean curry with black eyed peas

[emmapresley]

oh COOL! i got this book a few weeks ago.. have been banging on about it, couldnt find a thread anywhere. (didnt look very hard obviously)

ive made a few things so far.

the coolslaw is really good. like the book says, leave it a bit to wilt and it tastes better the next day. also teh dressing is good..but a bit of salt and pepper really perks it up.

i made the quinoa bean and kale stew..really really good. just substituted spinach for kale..the roast cauliflower stuff..i did take some pics..oh no wait i didnt.

chickpea everyday salad.ill start taking pics BEFORE i start eating.

oh! and eggplant bacon..that stuff is really good!!

slice teh aubergine up thinlyish..cook in the oven for 8ish mins, put a slart of soya sauce and a tiny bit of smokey liquid stuff in a bowl..dip in the cooked slices,,back in the oven for a few minutes.

ive also made the surefire seiten which is a VERY way way to make it

the falafel..which were FABBY and the hummous..(but tbh i shoved some tahini light in)

the pics are on my phone..i just never uploaded them

[fondducoeur]

I have so far only made the caribbean curried black eyed peas w/plantains, the pad thai salad, and the red thai tofu. I am happy with the recipes (especially the thai tofu), although they were not outstanding. However, they are much healthier than recipes from her other cookbooks, so that is definitely a plus.

I really want to try the lettuce wraps and the chickpea picatta some time soon.

[Ms_Derious]

I'm thinking of getting an e-copy of this for my iPod touch as I have far too many cookbooks on the shelf.

I've always found with Isa's books in the past they have two (arguably three) flaws
1) They tend to make massive amounts as they seemed aimed at shared houses/dinner parties
2) They tend to make mostly fancy foods, often with expensive or harder to find ingredients
3) They tend to be very bias towards fatty/sugary foods (Which presumably isn't the case here.

Are points 1&2 in effect here?

Thanks lovely people

[pete_m]

1) They tend to make massive amounts as they seemed aimed at shared houses/dinner parties
2) They tend to make mostly fancy foods, often with expensive or harder to find ingredients
3) They tend to be very bias towards fatty/sugary foods (Which presumably isn't the case here.

That's because they're written for our American friends

Nah, I'm making a very lazy joke about 1 & 3, but it does explain point number 2. I think Isa lives in New York, where the variety and types of vegan food available far outclasses anywhere in the UK outside London (and maybe Brighton). I've got Vegan with a Vengence myself. It's a good cookbook, but it's pretty impossible to find quite a few of the ingredients here in Hastings!

[emmapresley]

theres a recipe in this one for using yuca. is that not like a plant that your mum used to have in the late 80's?

i have no problem with massive amounts of low fat food.

[Ms_Derious]

Nah, I'm making a very lazy joke about 1 & 3, but it does explain point number 2. I think Isa lives in New York, where the variety and types of vegan food available far outclasses anywhere in the UK outside London (and maybe Brighton). I've got Vegan with a Vengence myself. It's a good cookbook, but it's pretty impossible to find quite a few of the ingredients here in Hastings!

I agree, it might be easier to get specialist ingredients in somewhere big like New York, but actually the lions share of people buying the books don't live in places like that so it's a bit silly.

I also find a lot of the fancier recipes just don't work with our lifestyle. We don't tend to eat shared meals with friends as we have no other vegans in the area, and making something very complicated is the last thing I tend to fancy after a day at work. You can put that down to laziness though

i have no problem with massive amounts of low fat food.

LOL, no, but it does get expensive!

[RubyDuby]

I love leftovers, so no problem here. Also, I live in Rochester, NY, which is not a big city and don't have too much trouble finding ingredients in one health store or another... haven't found yucca (cassava) though.

I have tried the chickpea passata and loved it!

thanks for input on eggplant bacon. I've been eyeing that one!

[missbettie]

I live in a small town and I can pretty much find all my ingrediants. i don't have this book but i have veganomicon. it did however take me a long time to find yuca, but finally found it at the 99 cent store actually.

I think one big difference is especially in california, is we drive a lot here. my job is a half an hour away from my house, and i go into a different city, so i have access and i'm extremely willing to go to several different stores to find my ingrediants. There are 4 stores I go to a few times a week just to find all my ingrediants. From what I've read it doesn't really seem like the UKers drive as much as us and everything seems much closer...

[Ms_Derious]

I think one big difference is especially in california, is we drive a lot here. my job is a half an hour away from my house, and i go into a different city, so i have access and i'm extremely willing to go to several different stores to find my ingrediants. There are 4 stores I go to a few times a week just to find all my ingrediants. From what I've read it doesn't really seem like the UKers drive as much as us and everything seems much closer...

Nah, we drive.... we are veeeeery lazy My job is about 50 mins away.

I think part of it is we don't tend to have things like 'Oriental Supermarkets' etc which I read about in some of the vegan cookery books. There is one grocery store I can think of in my town, and then a bunch of supermarkets. There seems to be very few independent ingredient retailers. For example, I've been vegan three years now and I have only ever see seitan for sale in one place, where it was £5 for about a cups worth in a jar of 'stock'. I only know of one place in a 50mile radius that sells tempeh, and they only have it in very occasionally. There is only one brand of Tofu which is widely sold in the UK, it costs about U£ 2.25 = 3.61 U.S. dollars for just short of 400g (less than 1lbs) so it's quite expensive ( I think it's cheaper where you guys are?)

I'd quite happily go visit a number of stores to pick things up if they existed in the UK. You might have more luck in London, but anywhere outside that and it's very, very hard to source stuff that seems to be easy to get in America.

I do, however, understand that as the books are American, they will be written with the mind of what American's can buy, rather than what UK people can buy. This is why I need more UK cookbooks

[missbettie]

I was totally wrong then. Ya tofu is about 1 dollar where I live, granted I live in California in a more "health" concious area....my local market just started selling tempeh and its about 2 bucks...

How come they don't sell that kind of stuff in the UK? and or why is it so expensive?

[leedsveg]

How come they don't sell that kind of stuff in the UK? and or why is it so expensive?

Because we invent stuff like veganism, the flush toilet and television, and then everybody else comes along, pinches our ideas, and then does it better and cheaper? We're more intellectuals, than we are entrepreneurs.

lv

[missbettie]

damn americans... LOL

[emmapresley]

white bean quinoa and kale stew has now become chickpea, cabbage, sweet potato and kale stew. slart of balsamic vinegar and soya sauce at the end. omg and on a SW plan its free..its all freeeeeee!!!!

*eats voraciously*

[Rooey]

I have my book now and have bookmarked a few things to make.. I find some of the ingredents hard to get and am not always sure what to substitute it with, but there are quite a number of oriental supermarkets so am not sure why people would find it hard to find one unless you are a little out in the sticks? Else there's always online

[twinkle]

I made the chickpea piccata tonight, which I thought was pretty good, although I don't think I'll be putting as much caper liquid in next time as it seems to have dominated the flavour. I have a feeling I may have got the wrong kind of capers as mine are in quite vinegary liquid rather than in "brine", but I got them because to be honest I don't quite know what the difference is! Would brine be just salty, rather than sour as well?

On the subject of finding ingredients in the UK, I live in a city, and have trekked around at least 8 shops so far to find ingredients for things I want to make, and am STILL missing panko breadcrumbs, and chipotles which I can't seem to find anywhere, let alone in adobo sauce? Well, I can find them as ingredients in salsas and sauces, but not as a cooking ingredient, unless I buy them online in which case I have to factor in fairly high postage costs

[missbettie]

I got it literally 2 hours ago...its actually quite frightening...we will see...

[twinkle]

frightening?

[missbettie]

i'm worried we won't like any of the recipes, a lot of them aren't conventional....to me at least, i made the tofu hosin lettuce wrap thingies, it was pretty yummy, SO wouldn't eat it however because there were bell peppers and onions, i have a feeling most of the recipes are going to be non SO recipes.

[RubyDuby]

[twinkle]

Ah, yeah, I've had to discount cooking quite a few of the recipes for my friends because several have aversions to mushrooms, olives, capers or avocados (or a combination of these). Onions are a tough one to avoid!

I'm very happy today because after days of checking loads of shops I finally found chipotles! It's a jar of paste but 57% chipotle and the rest seems to be vinegar and tomato and seasoning so I think that should work in the recipes. I also had a ton of quinoa left after making one of the salads in the book yesterday, so I made egg fried rice with silken tofu instead of egg and quinoa instead of rice and it was yummy! And I gave my friend who came to dinner a big tub of leftovers from Sunday (the quinoa salad, bbq tempeh and sweet potato, and a dollop of sanctuary dressing) so he doesn't have to buy lunch tomorrow!

[fondducoeur]

I made the red wine and kalamata tempeh tonight and it was delicious. I served it with a raw kale salad and fresh watermelon and it made a great, light dinner.

[Andy_T]

Wow, you really make my mouth water.

I have had the book for quite some time now, along with veganomicon. Problem is, I excel at buying cookbooks, but I suck at actually putting them to use. Whenever I feel like trying out something, I discover that I need to plan and get the ingredients first, which is a bit of a P.I.T.A.

And the few trials I made were greeted with less than enthusiasm, mainly on grounds of geographic bias (my wife is Chinese, so she often scoffs when I prepare something Indian or Thai). But I will keep trying.

Best regards,
Andy

[twinkle]

I keep making the Sanctuary dressing, with different alterations. Such a great, easy recipe! The dill went after the first time, as I've discovered I don't like it very much, and in the last batch I put half a tub of olives and some nutritional yeast in. Then I had it on some pizza. Yom yom!

[Firestorm]

I'm waiting for my copy to arrive, I just cant wait! - I just dont understand how amazon can send something on Thursday and give an ETA of Tuesday the following week

[DiaShel]

Just ordered my copy!

[fondducoeur]

I made the eggplant dengaku and the edamame sushi roll salad last night. The dengaku was an interesting way to use eggplant, and I liked it just fine, but it will probably not be put into normal rotation. The deconstructed sushi salad was great however. It was quicker than making regular sushi, tasty, and was still good the next day for lunch (wait to put the dressing on). It would go perfect with a nice cup of miso soup

[fooldramaqueen]

I don't know if anyone's already seen this: http://reductionproject.blogspot.com/

Though it's not been updated in a little while, it does have a lot of tested recipes on here....

Personally I LOVE this book big time.......everything I've tried has been majorly yummy and even my omnivore non-dieter boyfriend likes what I've made. I also think the recipes are quite 'accessible' and not too complex or offputting.

The tamarind BBQ sauce is freaking AMAZING and the hoisin mustard tofu almost changed my life. HIGHLY recommended whether you are trying to cut down on fat, etc, or not.

Also, the cajun beanballs are lovely and so easy to make.....

[Firestorm]

Thats brilliant fooldramaqueen, one of the things I find frustrating about Isa's books is the lack of photo's so this will really help me to decide what to make!

[fooldramaqueen]

Yep it's a shame it's not been updated in a while but hopefully she'll come back to updating soon

[fondducoeur]

Your blog is really awesome, fooldramaqueen. Thanks for sharing.

P.S. Did you use faux chicken broth powder for the tempeh helper? If so, what kind? I have only seen chickenless broth in jars in a kind of paste/gel form.

[missbettie]

I don't think its her blog just one that she follows.....I couldn't find a powder either! so I ended up using a boullion cube and crushing it....I was actually diapointed with the tempeh helper...I think i'll use fake ground beef next time.....

[fondducoeur]

Oh, I see, well thanks for sharing anyway! Miss Bettie, the blog didn't give it a great review either, but I am still intrigued enough to give it a try. I used to like hamburger helper as a child..