Easy Vegetarian Recipes

I’ve been reading through Vegan with a Vengeance for a while now, trying to get a feel for the book and trying also to decide if I like it or not. I still don’t know. There are things I really like about it, and there are things I don’t. I guess I’ll just run through my personal pros and cons regarding this vegan cookbook, and let you decide.

Good - No recipes with prepackaged food. Moskowitz really wants her fellow vegans to experience the joys of cooking with fresh ingredients.
Good - The pictures of the food look really yummy! I’ve mentioned before that pictures of food often inspire me to want to cook them.
Bad - There are only 4 pages of pictures.
Good - The book is organized well. Chapters are: Introduction, Brunch, Muffins and Scones, Soups, Little Meals Sammiches and Finger Foods, Sides, Pizzas and Pastas, Entrées, Cookies and Bars, Desserts
Bad - One-third of the chapters are devoted to sweets. I personally, am not a big dessert or cookie person. I don’t bake. And I definitely, definitely don’t bake from scratch. That makes all those chapters useless to me.
Bad - Moskowotz finds any excuse to remind the reader that she was/is totally punk rock. That’s an annoying trait in a teenager. In a 30-something (maybe 40-something), it’s just outright ridiculous.
Good - Many of the recipes have little pointers, tips, and suggestions for substitutions of certain ingredients.
Bad - These tips are called “Punk Points.” Seriously. Grow up.

I guess that’s it for now. I’m still undecided about how I feel about this book. I don’t think I would suggest it to someone new to vegetarianism or veganism, though. There are plenty of ingredients that have to be purchased in specialty stores. On the other hand, though, there are also very many recipes that use veggies and grains, and those can be found at any supermarket.

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