The official Vegan on the Cheap recipe review (to be updated).
Add reviews for Robin Robertson's Vegan on the Cheap here.
Cooking Basics
Creamy Mushroom Gravy
Delicious! I followed the instructions exactly except used almond milk instead of soy. Slightly thinner than I would have liked, but I think after sitting a while it will thicken up more. Loved it. (tweety)
Fantastic! I tried this first a coupe of weeks ago, and ave made it twice since! I do find it very salty though - maybe it's my broth? So I use less broth and use a bit of water and less soy sauce. Definitely a keeper. (shelloid)
Marinara Sauce
I used one can of crushed and one can of petite diced instead of two cans of crushed, since that's what I had. This was a very good basic marinara sauce and it made enouhh for the ziti and some to freeze for future use. (tweety)
Excellent basic recipe, easy to prepare. (haricot)
Oven Dried Tomatoes
Salsa in Season
Excellent recipe, slightly spicy. (haricot)
Cheapamole
This is okay as a guacamole substitute. The best I've made so far anyway. (eldsjal)
Cheezee Sauce
Made it to go with the Mexican rice and beans bake, and it was really good, too. Similar to the Bulk Uncheese recipe on this site, but it seemed easier, less expensive, and I thought it even tasted better! (andini)
I thought this sauce was very good, but I still much prefer the recipe from La Dolce Vegan (haricot)
Didn't care for this much. I halved the recipe, but still ended up wasting a portion of it. Used some for the wheatball sandwiches. It's a below average nooch sauce for me, and wasn't that flavorful on the sandwich. (AC)
Tofeta
Like every other tofu based feta I've tried I think this tastes nothing like feta and the texture was too jiggly. (aggplanta)
Faux Parm
Cheapskate Chutney
Easy Peanut Sauce
very good (lubi)
I made this to go over broccoli & seitan the other day, instead of using the VWAV peanut sauce. I prefer the VWAV one, but N didn't seem to notice the difference. This one was good and super quick to put together, but just wasn't amazing. I'd use again if I needed a super quick peanut sauce as it is really quick, but otherwise I'll stick with the VWAV one. (shelloid)
Good peanut sauce, but I thought it was way too salty. Next time, I'll sub half the tamari for water. (haricot)
Good but I agree with the reviewer that said it was too salty and I used lite soy sauce..1/3 cup is just too much. (tweety)
Make Your Own Mayo
Vegan Sour Cream
Good basic recipe. (haricot)
House Salad Dressing
Quick and easy. Tasty. It calls for a whopping 2/3 cup of olive oil. I did use 2/3rd a cup of oil but mixed 1/3 cup of olive oil with almost 2/3rd cup of flax oil and up to the 2/3rd cup line with a bit of hemp oil, to make it healthier with omegas. I don't have sherry vinegar so I used white wine vinegar instead. Very basic but saves on $$ which is the point. (tweety)
Handy Hummus
This is probably my favorite homemade hummus recipe. I add 1/3 cup more water to it. (haricot)
Basic recipe, not to unique, but nonetheless very good. I cut back slightly on the tahini to "almost 1/3 cup." (tweety)
Good flavor...I like more tahini than lemon juice, so this worked well for me. The one thing that's a little off is the consistency. It's as thick as play-doh! At one point, my food processor started rolling it into a ball as though making dough. Eating it as is currently, but I will definitely add water next time. (kristinv)
Vegetable Stock
I took her suggestion a week ago and started saving veggie scraps to make a stock with. I had collard green stems, potato peels, carrot peels, wilted celery that was not really going to be eaten, garlic and onion peels and tomato bits. I added some garlic and a chopped carrot. Turned out quite good, although I only got 4 cups of broth out of it. Great way to use up compost. (tweety)
A Pot of Beans
Rice Two Ways
Three Grain Bread
Simple Simmered Seitan
Baked Seitan Loaf
This is the best seitan recipe out of all the ones I've tried! It even beats Viva Vegan. I saw major praise for it on the blog Two Vegan Boys and Kris was right. This is the seitan I'll be using from now on. It's easy to make which is also a big plus. (intheend)
I think that this will be my new go-to seitan recipe. Easy to make, results in a firm seitan loaf, good for slicing, cubing for recipes, etc. (kindnesstoall)
I also enjoyed this recipe very much and I recommend it. (haricot)
My favorite seitan recipe. Perfect flavor and not as dense as baked seitan usually is. (eldsjal)
I recently made this & thought it turned out pretty well. It has a similar taste to Tofurky, I think. (willwolf)
Cutlets on the Cheap
Amazing... I think this might very well be my new go-to seitan recipe. It is simple, no need to wrap the seitan in tin foil or to bake it in the oven, and yet the texture is great. It doesn't have the soggy bread texture some people associate to seitan. I love to eat them with tomato sauce and a bit of Daiya like Robin suggests. (haricot)
OMG OMG OMG!!! So freaking good! I like to have a variety of seitan in my freezer, including a boiled, plainer variety - this will now be my go to recipe or this. The texture was amazing - not spongy and the cutlets didn't look like brains! Really really really good. Maybe a bit salty so may sub some of the soy sauce with water next time. I am so glad I made a batch and a half. Honestly I can't rave about them enough. (shelloid)
Nice. It was alright. Didn't taste of plastic. (Niall)
The rave reviews for this seitan caused me to try it. It's nothing special, not bad, but I'm not going to rave about it. I think I'll stick to my standbys in La Dolche vegan for seitan. That said, it was nice to have some variety and try something new. Despite me using a rolling pin to flatten out the patties they kept puffing up and came out very spongy. That didn't quite matter since the broth was good. I used them in the noodle soup, and I also cooked some on a grill pan and topped with gravy. (tweety)
Close to Mom's Sausage Patties
I made these into links. I inadvertently put all the olive oil into the recipe (some is supposed to be set aside for frying purposes). The result was still good. Next time will be better when I get it right! I think these are at least as good as any vegan links I'd get in the store, and much cheaper. (kindnesstoall)
Soooooo tasty! Instead of mashing the beans (Used cannellini) I just blended all of the liquids together. I had to add a bit more VWG to get the texture where I wanted it but they came out great. (intheend)
I made these into 'links' because that's what sausages are! I loved them! I have had them sliced and fried in a tiny bit of oil and they were so addictive. I have also had them sliced up in marinara with pasta. Yum! The only thing I would say is if I was wanting these as a basic sausage (say for sausage and mash) they would be a smidge to spicy with the chilli flakes, so I'd omit them for that sort of thing. Oh yeah, I steamed them as my oven was being used for other stuff and they were fine, so I'd do this next time becuase it's easier and more normal for me. And for normal sausage things - the recipe says to make into 6 links. For me that's not the right amount. Next time I'll make them into 8 links. I think I prefer these to the Vegan Brunch sausages, which I never thought I would better. A total win of a recipe. (shelloid)
Big Stick Pepperoni
Really good. I never liked 'real' pepperoni when I was still a carnivore. This I love. It's so very easy to make. (I usually have to add a little extra vital wheat gluten, though.) I always make a double batch and freeze most of it. I really enjoy it cut up and eaten on it's own for a snack, or on a cheeseless pizza with lots of veggies. (kindnesstoall)
Awesome and easy to make. Were having it on pizza tonight! I sliced it and sauteed it in some oil and it's even tastier and more pepperoni-ish this way. (L2A)
This is awesome and I love that it bakes instead of steams. It was really tasty and actually it was gone within two days because everybody kept snacking on it. (intheend)
I have tried so so many 'pepperoni' recipes I really am not sure if this is the best or not. If not the best then very very close. Instead of tapioca flour I used half the amount of cornstarch (a sub I found on the internet). I think the addition of cornstarch really improved the flavour compared to recipes without it. Quite spicy, but very good. One of these days I'm gonna make several 'pepperoni' recipes at once and do a proper 'taste off'. But otherwise, yeah I'd make this one again. (shelloid)
Wheatballs
Win, win, win, win! I loved this recipe - the flavour, the texture, everything. We made his when I was at oww's and we all thought it was a great recipe. We baked the balls, and they came out perfectly. The outside was a little crunchy and the inside was soft-ish and cooked through - unlike the Vcon beanballs which I found doughy after cooking. I will definitely make these again and will double the batch to freeze a couple of portions. I think there's also a possibility of playing around with the spices / herbs to make Indian style wheatballs. (shelloid)
nice texture. Didn't taste artificial-y. Held together well in the sauce. Would definitely take these again. (Niall)
Very, very yummy. Liked these better than the Vcon beanballs, though they are pretty similar. (eldsjal)
Pretty tasty with mushrooms, chickpeas, nooch and herbs....the texture was a bit soft and doughy, but at least they didn't fall apart. (tweety)
They're delicious! (oww)
I liked the taste of these a lot, they came together pretty quickly, and cooked up well. However, the texture stayed quite mushy inside even though I browned them, cooked them on low for a while, and baked them for a while. Were still tasty on the wheatball sandwich, but not firm enough to want again. (AC)
Smoky Tempeh Bits
Pretty good although 3 tbs of soy sauce made it a tad on the salty side. Used it in the caldo verde so the saltiness wasn't an issue. (tweety)
Double Pie Crust
Soup and Stew Savvy
Red Bean Gazpacho Anytime
Almost Instant Chickpea Tomato Soup
Pasta e Fagioli
Really good! This was a nice hearty, tomatoey stewy type dish that my whole family really enjoyed. I think everyone came back for seconds. I would like to try this again and make it with less pasta, more tomatoey-broth part to be like a soup. (aggplanta)
Easy to make and tastes pretty good. It was like a stew when I made it, but the leftovers soaked up all the broth, so it was more like a regular pasta dish. Nothing special...wasn't as flavorful as I would have liked. Probably won't make it again, since I'd rather just have pasta with marinara. (kristinv)
Mom’s Bread and Cabbage Soup
Minestrone Soup with Tiny Meatballs
Very tasty take on minestrone soup that uses "meatballs" instead of pasta, but otherwise it's a good basic recipe. I used one less cup of broth for a thicker soup and added some crushed red pepper. I used the wheatballs above and they became very mushy but maintained their flavor. (tweety)
Caldo Verde
Nice soup that wasn't spectacular but good. I used the veggie stock and smoky tempeh bits and it also had potatoes, navy beans, and kale. (tweety)
Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Chowder
I made this yesterday and let it sit in the fridge overnight (because homemade soup is always better the next day). I am having it for lunch now and it is so good, just enough spice for my taste. I will definitely be making this soup again! (vgnwitch)
Summer Garden Soup
Asian Noodle Soup
I wasn't expecting much, but boy was this good. Tastes pretty close to Vietnamese pho. I used rice noodles and instead of siracha I used fresh Thai chilies. I used a little bit of "Better Than Bouillon" veggie base for the broth but not a lot so as not to overpower it. She calls for cooking the sietan separately which I ignored and cooked the seitan for a few minutes and then added the onions, etc. Very tasty! (tweety)
Peanutty Pumpkin Stew
This was nice for an autumn soup and went well with rice. I felt like there was something missing, though, but I couldn't say what it was. I have previously made a similar recipe and liked that one better. (andini)
Vegetable Lentil Stew
Nothing spectacular, but it gets the job of cheap, hearty, healthy stew done in a pinch. (andini)
Call it Cassoulet
Southern New Year's Stew
Very good. It's southern I suppose because of the collard greens, and New Years because it calls for black eyed peas. I used red beans instead. I added a jalapeno. Nice mix of rice, beans, potatoes and greens. I tried a new veggie broth with this, "Savory Choice" reduced sodium. It comes as a liquid concentrate in individual packets. I liked it allright. (tweety)
Sweet Potato Succotash Stew
This was great! I usually bring soup for lunch everyday, and my coworker got excited at the smell of this one every time I re-heated it. (andini)
Black and White Bean Chili
Pretty basic chili similar to her chili's in her other books, but very good. I didn't have enough black beans and added pink beans too for a three-bean chili. She calls for a cup of tomato juice or water and I used a can of petite diced tomatoes instead. (tweety)
French Lentil Chili
Cincinnati Suburb Chili
Couple of changes I made - didn't serve the onions on the top and didn't serv over spaghetti - that's just weird. Also, didn't use kidney beans but a mix of black and white beans. Good recipe - reminds me of the VWAV mole chili recipe, but not as rich. Everything came together well and both N and I enjoyed this. Nothing super amazing but if I remember I would make it again. (shelloid)
Satisfying Salads
Garden Rotini and Chickpea Salad with Inner Goddess Dressing
I made only the dressing. This dressing is quick to make, but has quite a few ingredients, raw cashews, green onions (it calls for two and I used only one for my personal taste preference), parsley, soy milk (I used unsweetened almond), tahini, cider vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, olive oil and salt. This found it extremely tasty after letting it sit over an hour in the fridge where it thickened up and the flavors blended together very well. I did have chickpeas in my salad and this paired up real well. (tweety)
Curried Vegetable Salad
Orange Chipotle Dressed Salad with Black Bean Salsa
Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with French Lentils and Walnuts
Bean and Barley Salad with Creamy Dijon Dressing
Pasta Slaw
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Cashews and Kidney Beans
I used roasted almonds instead of cashews and chick peas instead of green peas. The dressing was quite good. I liked the combo of ginger, Dijon with a touch of cayenne. I left out salt and sugar. (tweety)
Nacho Taco Salad
my guilty pleasure! To placate my shame, I use the leftover bean mixture over brown rice. It's a yummy combo! (woobaby)
Red Bean and Corn Salad
Tabbouleh Chickpea Salad
Thai Style Pineapple Rice Salad
Skordalia Potato and Green Bean Salad
Tempeh Lettuce Cups
Peanut Noodle Salad
Quite good. Used the easy peanut sauce and cut back on the onions a little bit. The baked tofu was a good addition, but mine burned. The tofu should be turned halfway or maybe shouldn't use the bottom shelf like I did, but she doesn't instruct you do so. (tweety)
This peanut sauce was easy and delicious. I used Vegenaise instead making my own mayo, but otherwise followed the recipe. I subbed baked tempeh for tofu and steamed some purple kale along with the other veggies. I served it hot instead of waiting for it to cool. Delicious! (lotus)
Korean Cabbage Salad with Tofu
I LOVE this recipe! It's delicious and easy to make. The baked tofu is a nice touch and adds a different texture to the salad. I prefer to stir the tofu cubes in with the salad so they absorb some of the vinaigrette, instead of just serving them on top. (kristinv)
Better Than Takeout Tofu Stir Fry
I wasn't expecting too much from this....thought maybe it'd be similar to VW General Tao's or something.......so I was extremely happy to find that this was quite different and IMHO much better. Not too sweet like other recipes I've tried. I didn't use tofu, just threw in some seitan which was fine in it. I liked the method for steaming the broccoli first and then putting in cold water to keep it ok until throwing it into the sauce. Like l2a, I loved the fact that there was actually enough sauce for this recipe...although I did add a bit more cornstach to get it as thick as I wanted. Definite keeper.
Savory Vegetable Cobbler
Yep this was good. Nice comfort food. I was pleasantly surprised with how flavourful it was. I was tempted to add garlic (*gasp* a recipe with no garlic in!), but stuck with the recipe as is and it was fine without garlic...but I may ad some next time. I found the recipe nice and simple to make and this will be going into my regular rotation this winter. The only problem I had was that the biscuit topping was too thick, so next time I'd make less of this and spread it thinner. Oh, and I also forgot to add the sage - next time I'll add it and I'm sure that will be a good addition. (shelloid)
wheatballs
Win, win, win, win! I loved this recipe - the flavour, the texture, everything. We made his when I was at oww's and we all thought it was a great recipe. We baked the balls, and they came out perfectly. The outside was a little crunchy and the inside was soft-ish and cooked through - unlike the Vcon beanballs which I found doughy after cooking. I will definitely make these again and will double the batch to freeze a couple of portions. I think there's also a possibility of playing around with the spices / herbs to make Indian style wheatballs. (shelloid)
Walnut Dusted Fettuccine with Caramelized Vegetables
Really very good. I used pumpkin instead of butternut squash and omitted the green bell pepper (N doesn't like them). I'm glad I left out the pepper as I really don't think it would have gone taste-wise. Overall, this dish was easy to make, fairly quick (40mins from start to finish) and really yummy. I ground up walnuts that I toasted in the oven and just mixed them in with the pasta and veggies in the pan before dishing up. N really like this too and has said i can make it again. Not sure if this is what I would class as a particularly cheap meal compared to other stuff I make, but it's not expensive either. Will make again. (shelloid)
Curried Yellow Split Pea Soup
Another really good recipe - I loved it. Quite basic, but I've never cooked with yellow split peas before so it was really useful for me. I loved the flavour and it was super easy to make. I blended the final result as I don't like lumpy soup. It is also suggested that this could be served over rice as a more complete meal, and if I hadn't blended it it would have been perfect for serving over rice. This will definitely be made again and will go into my regular soup rotation. (shelloid)
Stovetop Cheezee Mac
easy enough to make but the end result was nothing special. It was also quite spicy due to the cayenne in it - not sure if this really worked. Probably won't bother making again as i have another preferred mac n cheeze recipe. (shelloid)
Bean and cheezee rice burritos- Given the meh review on the cheezee sauce above, I just went with Daiya. I used her recipe more for inspiration rather than following exactly. I cooked the rice, added the salsa, beans and chili powder and cheese and mixed and heated in the microwave. I left out the green chiles as I didn't have any and thought the salsa would be fine without it. For toppings I used tomatoes and onions as she suggested and added avacodo. The end result was fantastic. I think the Daiya cheese here was brilliant and finally made something with the stuff that I'm gaga about.
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Cutlets on the cheap
Amazing... I think this might very well be my new go-to seitan recipe. It is simple, no need to wrap the seitan in tin foil or to bake it in the oven, and yet the texture is great. It doesn't have the soggy bread texture some people associate to seitan. I love to eat them with tomato sauce and a bit of Daiya like Robin suggests.
Cutlets on the Cheap
OMG OMG OMG!!! So freaking good! I like to have a variety of seitan in my freezer, including a boiled, plainer variety - this will now be my go to recipe or this. The texture was amazing - not spongy and the cutlets didn't look like brains! Really really really good. Maybe a bit salty so may sub some of the soy sauce with water next time. I am so glad I made a batch and a half. Honestly I can't rave about them enough. (shelloid)
wheatballs
nice texture. Didn't taste artificial-y. Held together well in the sauce. Would definitely take these again. (Niall)
Cutlets on the Cheap
Nice. It was alright. Didn't taste of plastic. (Niall)
I made the peanut sauce last week-very good
spaghetti and wheatballs-great!
Tofu Fried Rice
It was pretty good, but nothing amazing. I really really loved the addition of tofu to the fried rice and really don't know why I haven't tried this before. I may make this recipe again if I remember, but it may be one of those recipes I just forget about because it wasn't anything outstanding. (shelloid)
[ Cutlets on the Cheap
Nice. It was alright. Didn't taste of plastic. (Niall)
Tell Niall, this is the most awesome review of all time. Love when seitan doesn't taste like plastic. LOL...
I made the seiten pot roast last week in the crock pot. It was my second attempt at seiten, it wasn't great, but it is pretty good. I'm gonna chop up some of the seiten to use in other recipes.
Easy Peanut Sauce
I made this to go over broccoli & seitan the other day, ,instead of using the VWAV peanut sauce. I prefer the VWAV one, but N didn't seem to notice the difference. This one was good and super quick to put together, but just wasn't amazing. I'd use again if I needed a super quick peanut sauce as it is really quick, but otherwise I'll stick with the VWAV one. (shelloid)
Lemony garlic chickpea patties:
they seemed really dry so I added tahini, more oil and lots more spices. Turned out good
Ziti with Green Olives, white beans and oven-dried tomatoes - When I decided to make this I swore I had green olives and white beans in my pantry but did not. I had made a bean salad, so I didn't mind leaving out the beans and just used the recipe then as a basis for a pasta sauce. I used her suggestion and added capers and used bottled sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. I left out the beans and used kalamata olives. I didn't use ziti but whole grain bow ties. This was very very very very good.
Roasted sweet potato salad with cashews and kidney beans - Good. I used roasted almonds instead of cashews and chick peas instead of green peas. The dressing was quite good. I liked the combo of ginger, Dijon with a touch of cayenne. I left out salt and sugar.
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Cincinnati Suburb Chili
Couple of changes I made - didn't serve the onions on the top and didn't serv over spaghetti - that's just weird. Also, didn't use kidney beans but a mix of black and white beans. Good recipe - reminds me of the VWAV mole chili recipe, but not as rich. Everything came together well and both N and I enjoyed this. Nothing super amazing but if I remember I would make it again. (shelloid)
Cincinnati Suburb Chili
Couple of changes I made - didn't serve the onions on the top and didn't serv over spaghetti - that's just weird.
I thought it was weird too and I asked a friend from Cincinnati and he they do indeed eat their chili over spaghetti. There's a restaurant near here in Clearwater (I live in FL where there are a lot of transplants from Ohio). that serves it "Cincinnati style" over spaghetti. Weird.
Eh? So that's for real!? It IS weird.
Yeah, I think what's makes it "Cincinnati" style is the spices like cinnamon, allspice, cloves, cocoa etc. as well as the serving it over the spaghetti...and they smother it with cheddar cheese. I'd never heard of it until I saw it in this cookbook, but remember Googling it and learning about after my friend said that's how they eat it. To me cinnamon in chili is totally weird.
we call it chili mac!
but isn't there another recipe in VOTC called chili mac that is basically chili added to mac n cheeze? CONFUSED!!
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