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The official 500 Vegan Recipes review thread (to be updated)

Breakfast
As you like it energy bars
These didn't hold together for me. Disappointing (dannibazaar)
Banana barley bars
They are wholesome, tasty, crunchy Grape Nuts cereal bars made with no oil, flour or sugar. This simple recipe combines the cereal with banana, peanut butter, agave with touches of cinnamon. The last time I made them I used half Grape Nuts cereal and half rolled oats and they came out great. The 8"x8" pan I pressed them in fit in my toaster oven. I've made these several times. Cut them into bars and stored them in a Ziploc bag in my freezer so I can just take one to work in the morning. (saskia)
Banana fritters
These are meh. An easy, quick way to use ripened bananas, but I'd prefer a healthier version. I halved it for 2 bananas, and made 5 fritters. They taste like banana, and the texture is just...ok. They are better with the maple syrup, but probably not something I'd make again. (AC)
Banana oat morning fuel
Great-tasting smoothie that is a filling and nutritious energy boost. This delicious drink is a blend of bananas, oats, peanut butter, nondairy milk, vanilla, cocoa powder and agave or maple syrup. I used organic vanilla rice milk and left out the agave/maple because my banana was super ripe and plenty sweet. The peanut butter enhances the taste of the Banana Oat Morning Fuel without being too strong. Fast and easy to make. I also like that the recipe was for made for one person. (saskia)
Banana peanut oat breakfast biscuits

Blackberry nut butter waffles

Buttermilk biscuits and gravy
Super yum! This was a nice change of pace. I added sausage crumbles because I couldn't help myself. (intheend)
Butternut drop biscuits

Carob chip waffles

Cast iron skillet frittata, four ways
Nice! A great, basic recipe and then you can add whatever you like, that's my kind of recipe. I've tried two of the variations and both of them turned out great. When I made the tofu mixture I thought it would become too dry with 1 cup of chickpea flour, but it wasn't dry at all. Once I had given it time to set (the recipe says it takes 10 minutes, I waited longer) it held together better than any other eggless frittata I've made. (eldsjal)
Chipotle sweet potato latkes

Chocolate breakfast cake

Chocolate chocolate chip pancakes

Cinna vanilla rice

Cookie crumble granola

Crunchy carob almond granola
I used cocoa since I'm not a fan of granola and really liked this. It has been the best granola I've made at home. (intheend)
Lemon currant cornmeal waffles

Macadamia yogurt granola
This was good but I have a sweet tooth and had to add 2 Tbsp of syrup to get it where I like it. I also made it with walnuts since I didn't have macadamias. (intheend)
Maple hickory tofu strips

Mexican hot mocha
Eh, nothing special. Not bad by any means, but nothing to do any extra work for. (disneyfav)
Muffin cup quiche in phyllo crust

No bake pecan brittle bars

No fail buttermilk pancakes
Not quite a fail for me, but definitely not the best. I followed the recipe (except heating skillet to really hot-I'd never do that for pancakes, they don't get done in the middle), and they were eh. The batter is not that thick, but the pancakes are too thick. They are thick, but not fluffy. Kinda dense and tough. I did get 6 smallish pancakes. Won't make this recipe again. (AC)
I tried them again and was surprised that I even liked them the first time around. It's a bummer because I wrote a review praising them but now I'd like to delete it! I made them so long ago I don't know if I made any modifications and just didn't write them down. Oh well. (intheend)
Noggy bulgur
Good, but too sweet, next time I'll use half the sugar. (disneyfav)
Peanut butter and chips granola
This did not turn out so well for me.  After the first 8 minuntes of baking, I went to stir it all around and it was already burnt.  I have an oven thermometer so temperature was not the problem.  I tried to pick some of the middle (non-burnt) pieces out and they tasted alright.  Not the greatest recipe IMHO. (icephrosty)
I made this off of the website and it did not come out.  It just fell apart but it tasted ok. (monkey7)
I really liked this a lot. I didn't use any chocolate chips...I used peanuts instead...super good if you like peanuts! It's really good sprinkled on soygurt. (dannibazaar)
Peanut butter and jam granola

Peanut butter oat bars

Peanut butter pancakes
These are AWESOME.  The batter came out really think but I didn't add any extra liquid because I wanted them to be dense.  Great PB flavor.  Two thumbs up! (icephrosty)
These didn't have a very strong taste of peanut butter and they kicked ass with some golden syrup poured on top. (intheend)
Pull apart cinnamon sticky buns

Pumpkin chocolate barley bars

Pumpkin molasses power bars

Pumpkin spice coffee

Pumpkin tofu scramble

Pumpkin yogurt smoothie

Sweet potato ginger waffles
Pretty good, they took a long time to cook in my waffle iron though.  I did omit the ginger and the candied nuts to make them baby-friendly. (berryraw)
Wheat germ raisin pancakes

White chocolate raspberry granola

Whole wheat couscous bowl of comfort

Zucchini fritters

Sweet and savory muffins
Apple candy muffins

Banana muffin tops

Blueberry orange muffins
These are good, but not my favorite blueberry muffins. I taste something missing, but I don't know what it is! I needed 2 1/2 large oranges for 3/4 cup. I also had to bake about 7-8 minutes more, and they maybe could have used another minute. Pretty good recipe. (AC)
Caramel apple muffin tops

Cherry pistachio scoffins
I had such high hopes for these but unfortunately, they were just hopes. After being baked, these are extremely dry and bland. They ended up being thrown out. (intheend)
Chocolate orange marmalade muffins

Coffee toffee muffins

Double chocolate muffins
Just meh. I've had better muffins made with just applesauce as a fat replacement. (dannibazaar)
Ginger cranberry muffins

Jam filled soda rolls
These were pretty bland. They might have been better had there been something added in the dough like nuts or something. I've had many a better muffin. (dannibazaar)
Lemon poppy seed muffins

Matcha almond muffins

Peanut butter muffins
Another winner.  I used chunky PB and the texture was great.  DH wolfed these down in one day!  I halved the recipe and then used the batter to make 4 big muffins instead of 6 regular ones.  Will definitely make again! (icephrosty)
Pumpkin carob muffins
I substituted the carob for cocoa powder and chocolate chips in this recipe. I ate one warm right out of the oven and wasn't totally wowed by them, wishing I had baked the pumpkin muffins in Vegan with a Vengeance instead. But then I had one the next morning and was pleasantly surprised by the marriage of chocolate and pumpkin flavors in this moist muffin! The recipe is also low fat(only 1/4 cup oil for a dozen muffins), low salt and calls for agave instead of dry sweetener. I used part agave, part date syrup. Great muffin. (saskia)
These tasted weird. I like the taste of both pumpkin and carob individually, but together...bleck. I tried letting them sit for a day to see if the flavours would meld or something but no...still bad. (dannibazaar)
Quinoa raisin muffins
Not your traditional muffin but very, very good. This meal muffin is packed with protein and peanut buttery goodness. Tastes like a chai-spiced peanut butter cookie in muffin form. Dense, sweet, moist with touches of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and sweet plump raisins. Batter is thick. I scooped it evenly into muffin tins with an ice cream scooper. Muffins only rose a little. Only problem with this recipe is that I don't know why the author didn't put "peanut butter" in the title since it's the dominant ingredient. Overwhelms the quinoa. But I'm not complaining though because I just really love peanut butter.  (saskia)
Savory tomato olive muffins

Speculaas muffins with chocolate ganache

Spicy chick wheat savory muffins

Zucchini poppy seed muffins

Independence day wieners - A half cup of oil is some serious shit. I wonder if you actually need to put that much since when you're mixing it it's just soooo oily. Either way, these are really good and have the perfect texture. The taste is subtle which is great so that it doesn't overwhelm the toppings.

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Independence day wieners - A half cup of oil is some serious shit. I wonder if you actually need to put that much since when you're mixing it it's just soooo oily. Either way, these are really good and have the perfect texture. The taste is subtle which is great so that it doesn't overwhelm the toppings.

I had the same trouble with the **extreme** oiliness. I think I'm going to try to make these with less oil and see what becomes of them.

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Let me know if you do. I was thinking 1/4 c would be enough.

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Let me know if you do. I was thinking 1/4 c would be enough.

That's what I'm going to reduce to and then I'll probably go from there. Now I need to go buy some tinfoil...

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I just stumbled across the author's blog and I must say, I'M IMPRESSED. Is this book as awesome as the recipes on her blog look??

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I think that it is a great book to have around. The recipes that she posts on her blog are definitely some of her better ones (they're from both of the books that she's authored - 500 VR and The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions). There are quite a few recipes in the book that could use some adjusting, but that can be said for almost any cookbook. I think that it is definitely worth having, I use it quite often.

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I just stumbled across the author's blog and I must say, I'M IMPRESSED. Is this book as awesome as the recipes on her blog look??

I've never seen the blog (I'll go look), but I'm not impressed with the book. I think it's pretty boring, and not one I use really at all. The things I've made have been ok, but I don't remember anything too memorable. I also hate the index. Bad indices bother me!

eta: Dang! She should have put some of those pictures in the book!!! The book has 0 pictures!

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If you bake, like carbs and sweets this one might be for you.  The last 200 pages are devoted to this.  I don't use this part of the book as well as a chapter on muffins and another chapter on breakfast.  So there's a large portion of this book I ignore.  I really haven't devled into all that much as I'm distracted by better books, but it's not too bad.  Cookbook addicts like myself have to have it.

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If you bake, like carbs and sweets this one might be for you.  The last 200 pages are devoted to this.  I don't use this part of the book as well as a chapter on muffins and another chapter on breakfast.  So there's a large portion of this book I ignore.  I really haven't devled into all that much as I'm distracted by better books, but it's not too bad.  Cookbook addicts like myself have to have it.

Honestly, I do not think that the dessert section is worth it at all. I've had only a few successful recipes, and they were nothing to truly rave about. I have only one or two recipes (the oatmeal cookie apple crumble and maybe some cookie recipe) that I make "often." I've had much more success in the meal-type recipes.

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db, I'll have to trust you on that review because I'm not a desert maker...just a desert eater.  LOL

Thumbing through it today, I decided to try the Sesame bean spread - which is a simple chickpea and sesame oil spread.  Loved it.  I used a low sodium can of chickpeas, so I added some Maggi Sauce which was genious and made it awesome.  I ate the whole recipe alone in one sitting for my main course alongside the soup.  It screams for the addition of something like Maggi, Braggs or soy sauce in my opinion.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/229322_1813311851389_1197836956_31641840_2650987_n.jpg

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I've never seen the blog (I'll go look), but I'm not impressed with the book. I think it's pretty boring, and not one I use really at all. The things I've made have been ok, but I don't remember anything too memorable. I also hate the index. Bad indices bother me!

eta: Dang! She should have put some of those pictures in the book!!! The book has 0 pictures!

Have you tried any of the lasagnas? They rock.  :)>>>

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I've never seen the blog (I'll go look), but I'm not impressed with the book. I think it's pretty boring, and not one I use really at all. The things I've made have been ok, but I don't remember anything too memorable. I also hate the index. Bad indices bother me!

eta: Dang! She should have put some of those pictures in the book!!! The book has 0 pictures!

Have you tried any of the lasagnas? They rock.  :)>>>

I will do that next!!! I don't make a ton of lasagna.

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Cilantro Cucumber Salad
Simple, refreshing side salad. Served it chilled with pad thai.

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Cast iron skillet frittata, four ways: Nice! A great, basic recipe and then you can add whatever you like, that's my kind of recipe. I've tried two of the variations and both of them turned out great. When I made the tofu mixture I thought it would become too dry with 1 cup of chickpea flour, but it wasn't dry at all. Once I had given it time to set (the recipe says it takes 10 minutes, I waited longer) it held together better than any other eggless frittata I've made.

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Blueberry Cornmeal Bread
I make this every other week.  It's my favorite quickbread recipe, though I replace a little of the oil with applesauce.  I would marry this quickbread if it was legal.  The only problem is that other than this recipe, I haven't liked anything else in this book nearly as much.

March of the Figs Bread
I really wanted to like this bread, but it was lacking something.  Maybe another 1/2 teaspoon of salt or a touch more sweetener.  The bread just felt like it lacked punch.

Parsley Pesto
I had high hopes for this.  I love chickpeas.  I love sunflower seeds.  And one of my favorite dishes uses a walnut parsley pesto.  However, I don't like this.  I think it was the blended chickpeas.  I know this makes me a bad vegan, but I don't like hummus.

Carrot Cumin Soup
I think this soup was too sweet for my soup preferences.  It also looked reminiscent of baby food.  If you don't mind a slightly sweet soup, this would be a good soup.  The flavors were interesting, just not to my preference.

Parsely Pesto Rolls
These were dry and rock hard even after I added an extra 1/2 cup of water.

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Coconut peanut sauce: Amazing sauce! It tasted best when it wasn't too hot, like room temperature. I had it over soba noodles one day, and with pasta and broccoli the other. Both days I licked my plate. I'm sure it would be great wth spring rolls or with baked tofu and rice! Or anything! I used full-fat coconut milk instead of light and it was really creamy. The spices were perfect. Can't wait to make it again!

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I made the butterscotch pecan cookies... ehh. I cant remember if I made any substitutions, which I dont think I would have because I was taking them to friends, but the recipes says they are "chewy" and they were not.  Probably won't make them again.

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Millet salad - Very good.  I followed the recipe except instead of pecans I added raw walnuts and cashews.  The apricots are an ingenious addition to something like this. 

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/320252_2193490955629_1197836956_32014181_121885848_n.jpg

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Easy garlic spread for bread
This was not my favorite garlic bread. Something in the mix didn't combine well with the other flavors. It was still kind of enjoyable, but I much prefer other garlic bread.

Kale pesto pasta
Not a huge fan. I love basil and pesto, but I do not love raw kale or fresh parsley that much. I thought maybe they would be disguised enough, but not so. P very much disliked it. I don't think the cream cheese adds anything. Enough said!

Kale pesto
As I said in the pasta review, we didn't like this. The flavor of raw kale and parsley are still prominent. I love basil and pesto, so it was saddening that it didn't work out. Adding spinach to pesto works well for me, but not raw kale. She does suggest that you can steam the kale (but that it shouldn't be necessary), but I don't want to try this again.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/317719_10150861206860533_507120532_21327428_1229685983_n.jpg

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Rosemary white wine roasted potatoes
I agree with berryraw. These did take forever to bake..even longer than stated (55 minutes). I wasn't expecting to be that impressed, but the flavor is very good. The rosemary is not prominent, but everything is balanced.

Green bean almondine (with a twist)
I don't think there's anything special or twisty about this recipe. Pretty basic, really. Easy, tasty, and healthy, though. I did add some lemon juice.

Cilantro cucumber salad
I'm not sure about this as written (just cucumber and vinegar). I think it would still be ok and refreshing, but I added some tomato, splash olive oil, and agave. Light and tasty! P even commented how he liked it despite not liking cucumber.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/317128_10150868071185533_507120532_21380971_213679020_n.jpg

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