Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer, Arsenal Pulp Press, 1999
I am sure many of us came across this book during out vegan beginnings. I found this book one day at Glebooks on Glebe Point Road in Sydney, and promptly bought it. Then I spent the afternoon back at uni reading it between lectures.
The book is a paperback, and its size and shape means it stays open easily. There are no photos of recipes. Contents include Introduction (including the stories of how the authors became vegan), Alternatives and Substitutions, Vegan Milk and Beverages, Vegan Soups and Stews, Vegan Salads and Dressing, Vegan Sauces and Spreads, Vegan Side Dishes, Vegan Entrees, Vegan Breads and Muffins, Vegan Desserts, Vegan Odds and Sods, Vegan Kids Stuff and Vegan House and Home. The appendix includes a list of non-vegan ingredients that often lurk in food.
Amusing anecdote time: In Australia, we call appetisers entrees, and then we have main courses. So when I was first looking at the contents of this book, I was confused why there weren't any main courses, and why the entrees were so large! Now, of course, I know that entrees = mains, and the world makes sense again!
Now, onto some of my favourites.
Aunt Bonnie's Lively Lentil Stew
This is one of my mother's favourite dishes of all time, and is frequently requested. It is easy to make, smells great on the stove and delivers a warming and filling dinner. Great on a cold night.
Vegetable Pasta Salad
Sometimes the simple things are the best, and this delicious pasta salad proves that. It is deliciously fresh tasting, packed with zucchini, green onion, peas (my substition for icky capsicum), tomato, snow peas and fresh herbs (but you could add whatever you wished). The salad is then tossed with faux parmesan cheese (or just use nooch), which puts you in pasta salad heaven!
Hole Moly Hummus
This is a great hummus recipe - it is packed full of flavour. Onions and loads of garlic are sauteed lightly before being blended into the mix, which really seems to add something special.
Roasted Garlic Potatoes
A fairly straight forward and simple recipe, but totally delicious.
Brilliant Baked Beans
I like this recipe, but I am including it in the superstar photo line up because my mother (who loves baked beans) loves this recipe. It was her most asked for baked bean recipe for ages (though it has since been displaced by the recipe in Vegan Planet). It is very saucy, and not sweet at all, which I like.
Parmesan Crusted Veggie Sandwiches
Hello delicious sandwich. Packed with mayo, mustard, avocado, tomato and sprouts in the inside. Then the outside is coated with a cheesy mixture and it is fried until crisp and golden.
Blue Banana Muffins
My notes for this read 'so very amazing', and that they are. I threw in some more blueberries than asked for to make it extra berry. I think just by looking you can tell that these are pretty awesome! I haven't made any banana baked goods for ages because the cost of bananas has been ridiculously high in Australia of late.
Chocolate Rice Crispy Squares
Oh my, these are fantastic. These were the first rice crispies I ever made as a vegan. The recipe is made in a 9 x 13 inch pan. Amusingly, it says it makes 6 large or 12 small bars. I don't know what sort of sugar tolerance these people have, but I cut it into 60 small bars, and nibbling on one of those was just right!
Here are a few more five star recipes that I don't have photos of:
Kieran's Favourite Rice
Ginger Bread
Zucchini Bread
Original Pepper Tofu Jerky
OK, so this book is generally pretty good. Most of the recipes I made were fine, though few were outstanding. I also found some of the recipes a bit bland. I tried making the burgers in here and they did not stick together well. I also tried making the cream cheese recipe in here and I am not sure exactly what happened, but it was fairly inedible. The baking section is pretty solid, however.
Do you like to read cookbooks like novels when you get them?
Cute Kitty Photo of the Post
This is a photo of my first every kitty Mo. She was very tolerant of young Susan.
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