The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen | Donna Klein | Awesome no "meat replacers" Vegan Cookbook!!!

The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen | Donna Klein | Love this book ... I'm not vegan or vegetarian ....

books:

The Mediterranean ...

	The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Donna Klein HP Trade, 2001 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 87 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Awesome no "meat replacers" Vegan Cookbook!!!

I truly cannot say enough good things about this cookbook. It is the first vegan cookbook I've seen that doesn't use "meat replacements" in its recipes. These are true, natural flavors and textures as they were meant to be consumed, not pre-packaged artificially-created I-just-need-to-think-I'm-eating-meat textures. The recipes in this book are designed around the vegan lifestyle. There are no "veggie hotdogs" or "veggie burgers", yet every recipe I have made with this book has come out wonderful, tasty, and unique.

The recipes in this book, for the most part DO take a bit of work, but most recipes I have made are under 45 minutes, and I take my time when I cook, so I'm sure some stock-car-paced cooks could get them done in 30.

This is not like some other vegetarian cookbooks where you have breakfasts as only muesli, lunches as bland salads, entrees as grain-sauce concotions and desserts as fruit only. This is not to say that meat replacers and standard vegan cookbooks are not on my shelves and used daily, but rather sometimes I just crave CLEAN, substaintial, healthy food in my-goodness-why-didn't-I-think-of-that easy combinations.

All in all, this is one cookbook you cannot afford NOT to buy! You'd be missing out!!!

for more information click here

Love this book ... I'm not vegan or vegetarian ....

I ran across this book a few years ago at the library (where I work). I've made the minestrone recipe for years now and it is my favorite ever. I finally decided that I needed to own this book... and I'm not vegan or veggie. It's a great way to boost vegetable intake while keeping things simple. I personally hate tofu and I love it that this book has no "substitute" foods like tofu in it. It's just the veggies speaking for themselves. Highly recommended for everyone who wants some good veggie recipes with ingredients you can find even at a small town supermarket. On a side note, it's perfect for folks who practice Lent (if you give up all animal foods) ... I think I recall reading that this is how some of the recipes were inspired.

for more information click here

Not innovative, but good.

If you gleaned all the world's good Italian cookbooks for their best recipes, then omitted all animal ingredients, and then added some beans to various recipes, you would have this book.

The author cooks like a friend of mine--perfectly, but not creatively. The pesto recipe seems to be a big frustration to Donna Klein. She wrings her hands and almost apologizes for it in the introduction to the book and in the introduction to the pesto recipe and even in the recipe's title: "Poor Man's Pesto." So, of course, that was the first recipe I tried. It was worthy of some apologies. It was a typical pesto recipe, sans the cheese. I understand that the author didn't want to use any non-Mediterranean ingredients, but why not add a little lemon juice for a cheesy tang? Why not substitute walnuts for the pine nuts to increase the richness?

The other recipes I've tried in this book have turned out to be delicious, and, again, they sometimes remind me of my friend's cooking. When I visit her house, my non-vegetarian friend prepares amazing animal-free dishes--then she tosses some beans in, because, hey, isn't that how vegans get their protein? Here are some recipe titles from this book: "Ratatouille with WHITE BEANS" "Tabbouleh Salad with CHICKPEAS" "Quick Tuscan-Style Pizza with WHITE BEANS, Tomato, Basil." Do whole beans belong in these recipes?

But in general the food I've made from this cookbook is really good. My young kids eat it eagerly (they don't always eat my more "creative" foods!).

for more information click here

A what?

Great ideas. Lots of the ingredients are a little hard to find in my area and when I do find them, they're extremely expensive. If you live in a larger city or have access to specialty foods stores, you'll probably have an easier time of following the recipes exactly.

I have had to make several substitutions or just leave things out with a decent success rate.

I would recommend 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes, in addition to this book.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

products you might be interested in