help me get my mom a vegan bday present!
i want to get my mom a vegan cookbook for her birthday this weekend, and i'm not sure which one would be best for her. she's new to all this, but shows a real interest in cooking vegan (much to the chagrin of my dad haha), so i thought i'd help her along. a few things about her, so that maybe you can help me pick one for her:
she loves healthy food, cooking with whole grains, and making stuff from scratch.
she is busy and doesn't have time for terribly complicated and/or time consuming cooking during the week.
she lives in an area where she would have to mail order or drive 30 minutes to get specialty items like nooch... though she recently joined a co-op that is doing bulk orders, so that will help.
she's not afraid to try something she's never heard of, but isn't a fan of indian food.
also, she'll be cooking for my dad, who likes to be fooled into eating healthy sometimes.
ok, so i thought then that maybe a family type cookbook would work best, maybe one of dreena's books? i just got ED&BV and i think she would like it, but i haven't seen any of her earlier books and don't know if maybe one of them would be better. i'd like to order this via amazon.com this afternoon, so if you guys have any suggestions today before 5pm, i would LOVE it!
thanks so much :)>>>
eta: no food allergies that i know of, and she loves tofu, tempeh AND seitan, so recipes with a mix of all 3 of these would be great!
I really like The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. There aren't a whole lot of "weird" ingredients and the recipes are easy to follow, and though it says Vegetarian, just about everything lists both vegetarian and vegan options for making the recipe (I don't recall seeing one yet that didn't have a vegan option).
Word of caution though: The seitan recipe is awful. It comes out like rubber.
hmm... mom really wants to try making her own seitan, so maybe that's not the best one for her. i'd also like to get one that's fully vegan, so she can't cheat ;D
i'll take a look at it though, thanks!
I think you can cheat as well as you can in any vegan cookbook since it says things like "1 cup cheddar or soy cheddar" or "1/2 cup plain yogurt or soy yogurt" -- whereas a vegan cookbook would just say "1 cup soy cheddar" or "1/2 cup plain soy yogurt" which someone could just as easily omit the word "soy" and just use dairy.
i could be making this up but..
ok checked google :) there's a cookbook called the vegetarian meat and potatoes cookbook.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Meat-Potatoes-Cookbook/dp/1558322051
it seems pretty vegan friendly. i looked in the index on the preview thing from amazon, and it had something about egg alternatives, a recipe for tofu egg salad, and egg free cookies. i dont think it had a seitan recipe though :(
oh! you know what might be cute along with the cookbook? if she doesnt already have stuff like vital wheat gluten, you could make her a cute seitan kit! like a cutesy bag with enough vwg for a recipe, some broth in a jar or something, a cute little spatula/slotted spoon or other utensil, and the recipe on a little note card.
oh! you HAVE to get her Veganomicon!!! It's the best! Not too many special ingreadients & some recipes take a while, but there are a bunch others that are quick enough for weeknight dinners.
i could be making this up but..
ok checked google :) there's a cookbook called the vegetarian meat and potatoes cookbook.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Meat-Potatoes-Cookbook/dp/1558322051
it seems pretty vegan friendly. i looked in the index on the preview thing from amazon, and it had something about egg alternatives, a recipe for tofu egg salad, and egg free cookies. i dont think it had a seitan recipe though :(
oh! you know what might be cute along with the cookbook? if she doesnt already have stuff like vital wheat gluten, you could make her a cute seitan kit! like a cutesy bag with enough vwg for a recipe, some broth in a jar or something, a cute little spatula/slotted spoon or other utensil, and the recipe on a little note card.
I've got that one! It's great. A lot of pot pies and roasts and things. I don't recall any of the recipes being unvegan. There is definitely a seitan recipe because it has recipes for seitan roasts where you roll out raw seitan and stuff it and roll it like a jelly roll and bake it.
hmmm... i was thinking veganomicon, but she JUST got me that for MY birthday, 2 weeks ago, haha... maybe she'd see it as a compliment? i like though that books like vcon and dreena's books don't use a lot of processed stuff like soy cheese, because she would NEVER be able to find soy cheese in the first place and would most definitely use regular cheese, which would seriously be besides the point, i think. i really like the idea of the seitan kit though! if i didn't have to mail the package, i'd do that for sure. meh. maybe i will just do the vcon. she didn't seem super excited about it when she gave it to me though. i'm just. not. sure. i'm only mulling this over so much because i really want to get her a cookbook that she will USE, and i know if i got her VWAV, she'd be put off by things like 'punk points', and if i get her something that uses a lot of prepackaged processed stuff, she wouldn't be able to get it or want to use it... i'm still thinking. i guess i have the rest of the evening to decide, but the longer i wait, the later her bday present will be, haha...
eta: i just ordered her the veganomicon. i figure it's totally awesome and i can give her advice on which recipes to try first. hope she likes it...
i was gonna suggest veganomicon, mostly because of the reference section in the beginning. i got it for my mom and the first thing she said was "i like their attitude" haha. she really liked the style of the book, its different than others. anyways. another cookbook that i like thats focused on healthy eating is vegan cooking for health, its a kitchen doctor book, i think its part of a series. but also, if you havent told your mom about www.fatfreevegan.com thats my moms favorite. she said shes been using more recipes from that than veganomicon!
ooooh, bp i didn't know about that one. i think she'll like vcon though. it's more like her other cookbooks, less...edgey than some vegan cookbooks ya know? but still delicious. i wrote her a long letter to go with it that talks about the recipes i've made from it and what i liked/changed/etc.
kelsi - she loves fatfreevegankitchen. she got a yellow squash soup recipe from there and on my bday i made her the mini crustless tofu quiches and she looved them too. she's not much of an internet person, but i think a site like that is good for her. a little more grown up than some and very healthy foods, so it's right up her alley.
haha... she also goes to MY blog for recipes, woot!
I second
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Meat-Potatoes-Cookbook/dp/1558322051
I haven't had anything out of this cookbook that I don't like. And the recipes aren't too "out there."
I'm all for v'con too, but it might be weird giving something you just got for your bday... eh, who cares. :D