Speed Vegan?
Posted by bellybellygood on Apr 12, 2010 · Member since Sep 2008 · 37 posts
Has anyone checked out Speed Vegan? I'm wondering if it's any good. I'm really excited for Viva Vegan! and Veganopolis which are coming out pretty soon. I'm debating if Speed Vegan is something to add to my collection or just wait for the two I'm planning on getting already. Thoughts?
i saw viva vegan at barnes&noble today!! but i didnt get a chance to look through it. :/
I couldn't find it, but I found Viva Vegan! I didn't think it was going to be out yet.
the recipe list for Viva Vegan looks awesome. I want to hear how the food is!
I ordered Speed Vegan yesterday.
The review in VegNews says that it's good for beginners, college students, etc. But living alone, I'd like of like to have some quick meal ideas. Spending and hour or two making a meal for one is therapeutic because I love to cook, but sometimes, especially after a 12-hour shift, I want to cook something quicker.
Got my book. Speed Vegan looks good. I recommended it to one of my newly vegetarian friends based on the review that it was good for beginners and I'm a bit sorry I did. Some of the ingredients are a bit ususal for the new vegan, like flax oil, "curly endive", lotus roots, etc. There are a lot of salad recipes which I'm going to like.
I had some chard to make so the first recipe I tried is the "Navy bean and Swiss chard" soup. It was fantastic. I didn't have "smoked paprika" so I added about 1/4 teaspoon of liquid smoke to the soup and that's what made it good. Kind of reminds of "bean and bacon" soup.
True to the books name it was quick to make.
Potato salad with salsa verde - Delisih. It used beet greens in it, which I usually let wither before I decide what I'm going to do with them, because I usually buy them just for the beet root. I also like that it used flax oil which is healthy. I might use just a tad more djon mustard to spice it up just a bit, but really no complaints about this one.
Nappa slaw - I didn't have nappa, but the other cabbage whose name escapes me that looks like a cross between nappa and regular cabbage, and it worked out just fine. It called for 1/3 cup of hemp seeds which I left out since I don't buy those. It was just fine without the hemp and very very good.
I really digging this book for the salads.
Cucumber salad with pomegranate vinegarette - Fantastic. It called for crushed toasted cumin seeds which added a great flavor. I made my own pomegranate molassis since I couldn't find it anywhere and it was too thick, so I added extra pomegranate juice at whisking time. I used a 50/50 mix of flax and olive, rather than either/or separately. That way I got the healthfulness of flax oil without the icky taste. I used only two cukes so I was sure to have some extra dressing for a salad later this weekend.
I ordered Speed Vegan yesterday.
The review in VegNews says that it's good for beginners, college students, etc. But living alone, I'd like of like to have some quick meal ideas. Spending and hour or two making a meal for one is therapeutic because I love to cook, but sometimes, especially after a 12-hour shift, I want to cook something quicker.
I've never heard of this before, but you can bet - as a lazy bachelor - I will be checking it out. I loved Nava Atlas Vegetarian 5 Ingredient Gourmet, and would love to see a Vegan equivalent.
Right now I just purchased "Supermarket Vegan" so we'll see how that one goes.
- Bill
this sounds good, guess I'll be going to the book store today
Crunchy Vegan Goodness Salad - meh....I wasn't wild about this. Not bad, but just o.k. I didn't have fresh tarragon and use some dry, but that didn't seem to bother me. I used baby spring mix salad instead of the iceburg lettece (shudder) it called for. I'm not sure I liked so much yogurt in the mix. I think the problem is that it brings me back to a mayo type salad my mother used to make and hers was better.
Blazing Pinto Beans - very good. I loved this. I didn't have a 25 oz. can of pintos so I used two 15 oz. cans, one pinto and one black bean. At the last minute while I was cooking I read that it required the liquid from the beans and I had drained them. Instead I threw in a can of petite diced tomatoes. I think the adding the tomatoes made it so much better than it would have been with the bean liquid. Since I added the tomatoes, I threw in a dash or two more of smoked paprika.
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Cool-and-Spicy Salad - Fantastic. I never realized flax oil would taste so good in salad dressings, otherwise I'd been making it all along. The minced shallots with the Srirach sauce seemed to be key flavor ingredients that I loved. It called for 1 to 2 tbls of Sriracha and naturally I used the full two. I used it on a regular salad rather than just the cukes and lettuce it called for. Had enough left over for another big salad another day.
Broccoli Stem and Garbanzo Curry - Fantastic. I had stems leftover from a dish made last week that used only the florets. I'm happy not to have wasted them. This is a very clever way to use them. I also like that he made use of cilantro stems which was purred in the coconut milk.
He calls for "thick coconut milk" and around here there's coconut milk, lite coconut milk or coconut cream, so I used coconut milk and it was good. I cut down the water amount to 3/4th a cup instead of one cup because I wanted the broccoli crunchy and wasn't going to simmer it as long as he recommended. I used peanut oil instead of almond oil which I never use. I added several diced red Thai chilis for heat. I enjoyed this very much.
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Garbanzo and grape tomato salad - Fair to good, just beyond meh but not quite meh.....it called for balsamic vinegar but no oil, which seemed odd, I really wanted some olive oil in it and might add it to the leftovers, but then again a lighter dish is good. Kind of works without oil because of the garbanzos, but you really have to like balsamic. I thought a cup of red onion was too much and used about 2/3rds a cup. I used a high quality balsamic, so I might cut back on it if I make it again.
Greta's Cannellini Salad With Mint - Quite good. This recipe lives up to the title as it took only minutes to make. Again, I cut back on the red onions. This guy loves red onions, but I don't want onion breath all day. I loved the fresh mint and the olive oil and lemon juice is a good combo with the mint. I imagine you can stretch it out with cukes, grape tomatoes and other things, but it's fine as it is. I served it over a bed of fresh baby spinach.
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Hot Eggplant and Seitan Open-Face Sandwiches - this is really good. i don't normally care much for sesame oil flavor, but it was perfect in this paired with the eggplant and hoisin sauce. i really liked how the grilled sesame oil eggplant tasted even before adding the sauce. i used the red steamed seitan from viva vegan and I used maple syrup for the agave. It was a bit sweet, which was good, but I think it could have used some heat too, so next time I will add either rooster sauce or crushed red pepper flakes. will make again.
for those interested, this recipe and several others are posted on the author's website.
(Hard to believe it's been a longer than a year since I've used this cookbook).
Dandelion and red onion salad with basil vinaigrette - Delicious! This is a salad of dandelion greens, red onion (he calls for one red onion and used maybe 1/4th), tomatoes, and a blended vinaigrette of basil leaves, balsamic, flax oil (I used grapeseed oil since I didn't have flax), olive oil (I omitted this as being too much oil), 4 cloves of garlic (I used one...four fresh raw garlics was too much), and dijon mustard. Very basic but good.
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