Need recommendation...
Posted by 5webs on Dec 12, 2009 · Member since Oct 2009 · 38 posts
...for a vegan cookbook that has recipes for large family dishes/cassoroles/crock pot meals, etc. There are five of us in my family, and we are all big eaters, so I am looking for filling, hearty fare. Also, it would be better if the recipes featured were not ones that required "fancy" ingredients...I am sure that truffle oil is tasty, but when one is trying to feed a family of five on one salary, those little extras get expensive. Any ideas?
Hmm...
Of the books I have, I'd suggest Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes by Robin Robertson and also Fresh from the Vegetarian Slowcooker by the same person. Everything has pretty reasonable ingredients, and the recipes are pretty "hearty." A lot of people seem to like Veganomicon as a general vegan cookbook, but it has some odd ingredients that probably wouldn't be at every grocery store - quinoa for instance. However, in that book they do have a shopping cart symbol next to the name of the recipe if it's grocery-store friendly or something like that.
I also like Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, but that is probably better if you're in an area where you can get those types of ingredients fresh and cheap (tomatoes especially). I've liked everything I've made from that book, and a lot of the recipes aren't too labor intensive, so it would be easy to make a lot or make a lot of different things.
I'd second faunablues' recommendation of Fresh From the Vegetarian Slowcooker by Robin Robertson. It has lots of recipes using ordinary ingredients and of course slowcooker recipes are really easy to either increase the serving sizes or number, substitute less expensive ingredients or add more of the heartier ingredients to make a recipe more filling.
Does anyone here have Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food: 65 Everyday Meal Ideas for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with Over 150 Great-tasting, Down-home Recipes by Alicia C. Simpson? I'm wondering if this one might be good. The recipes mentioned in its description though are vegan makeovers of things that have meat and cheese, so they may require the more pricey meat and cheese substitutes. It also mentions that vegan eating can be less expensive than you might think, so maybe that's not the case. Anyone care to comment?
Thanks for the ideas--I will definitiely check out those titles. I think my library might have one of them.
The Vegan Table has recipes for entertaining, but if you have a large families some of the servings are appropriate.