Cooking With Peta: Great Vegan Recipes for a Compassionate Kitchen

Rating:
Summary: 200+ Pages of Tasty Vegan Recipes
Review: Easy-to-follow, fun recipes sorted by meal or course: breakfast, appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, main entrees, drinks, etc. Some nutritional information is provided (calories, protein, fat, carbs, calcium, fiber and sodium). I would have liked to have been given more nutritional information for each recipe. Additionally, some of the recipes are outrageously unhealthy (The "Nutty Zucchini Loaf" has 621 calories, 48 grams of fat and 449 mg of sodium per serving.) One important concern for vegans is overlooked (or perhaps intentionally not addressed to be as apolitical as possible) by this author: Some recipes call for a "greased pan." Some store-bought lards and vegetable oils are manufactured by large companies that repeatedly and unneccessarily test their products in cruel and inhumane manners on tens of thousands of animals annually. In a truly "compassionate kitchen," an informed vegan consumer probably would not purchase / use products manufactured by these companies.

Overall, the recipes themselves are excellent (5 star rating for the recipes). The book is easy-to-follow, well-organized, has a glossary of ingredients, and documents some informational resources such as web sites, other cookbooks, vegetarian groups, and more. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Yum!
Review: I bought this book four years ago, when I was fourteen years old and new to the world of veganism. I'd tried many vegan recipes and for the most part, they were really bad! It didn't help that I was an extremely picky eater and grossed out by tofu, even though I tried. I also didn't have much experience cooking and that didn't help any. I tried a few recipes from this book and thought they were good. To show how good this cookbook is, I'm no longer vegan, but this is the cookbook I use the most! I still make Wake 'Em Up Pancakes once a week or so because they're the best pancakes I've ever encountered. They're excellent made with any juice you have on hand, though they'll be pink if you use cranberry juice and purple if you use raspberry juice. I actually use this cookbook more now even though I'm not vegan anymore (though I eat little meat) because the recipes are great and I'm a much more experienced cook now and am no longer a picky eater. My copy is actually falling apart now. I definitely recommend this book to vegans as well as non-vegans and my other favorites are 150 VEGAN FAVORITES by Jay Solomon and NONNA'S ITALIAN KITCHEN by Bryanna Clark Grogan (this is vegan as well).

Rating:
Summary: Yum!
Review: I bought this book four years ago, when I was fourteen years old and new to the world of veganism. I'd tried many vegan recipes and for the most part, they were really bad! It didn't help that I was an extremely picky eater and grossed out by tofu, even though I tried. I also didn't have much experience cooking and that didn't help any. I tried a few recipes from this book and thought they were good. To show how good this cookbook is, I'm no longer vegan, but this is the cookbook I use the most! I still make Wake 'Em Up Pancakes once a week or so because they're the best pancakes I've ever encountered. They're excellent made with any juice you have on hand, though they'll be pink if you use cranberry juice and purple if you use raspberry juice. I actually use this cookbook more now even though I'm not vegan anymore (though I eat little meat) because the recipes are great and I'm a much more experienced cook now and am no longer a picky eater. My copy is actually falling apart now. I definitely recommend this book to vegans as well as non-vegans and my other favorites are 150 VEGAN FAVORITES by Jay Solomon and NONNA'S ITALIAN KITCHEN by Bryanna Clark Grogan (this is vegan as well).

Rating:
Summary: Excellent For People Wanting to Become Vegan!
Review: I recently purchased this book because I was curious about the vegan lifestyle. I had been a meat and dairy eater all of my life, but this would be a big change for me. When the cookbook came in the mail, I was quick to open it and get going.

The "Basics" section was a great way to get started. I apprecaited the fact that this book actually helps you get started in this lifestyle. I cooked-up the "beefless" stew, and found it to be wonderful. From there, I went on to the two chicken and rice dishes that are included in the basics section. Needless to say, I was confused that there was a recipe in this book that called for chicken, but I forged ahead anyway. I'm glad I did, too! The chicken dishes were outstanding!

From there, I decided to go on to entertaining. Luckily, it was close to Thanksgiving and most of my guests would be expecting a turkey dinner. Not only was there a wonderful tofu turkey meal listed in the cookbook, but a wonderful real turkey meal as well! I decided to use the recipe that called for real turkey and I was amazed! People actually like to eat meat! Thankfully, this cookbook delivers! I had also decided to cook up the beef dishes that were listed and found that, to my utter surprize, beef is in fashion now!

Thank you, PETA, for understanding that we need balance in our lives, and real meat is one way to get it.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Stay On It, Nearly Turned Me Into the Hindenburg
Review: I tried my best to follow this book and PETA's minions of hotties. I'm trying to lose weight (LOTS of weight) and figured meatless food might just be the answer to a newer, slimmer Dipper. I found a copy of this book at a garage sale (oddly enough right next to fur lined gloves) and dove into the hordes of recipes. Cream of Celery Soup, Gentle Shepard's Pie, Magnificent Lasagne, Roasted Veggie Pizza, Butterbean Pate. I must admit, I had to grimace through most of these "meals" wondering why vegetables and fruits had to be so taste-free, but was contented in knowing that this type of food was sure to help in sending the pounds a fleeing. But (pardon the pun) I, along with anyone else in the vicinity couldn't help noticing a problematic side effect of all this doesn't-have-a-mommy food: gas! Huge, loud problems with man's next best friend! I was a toot-machine wherever I went. It was funny at first, even welcome at times, but when was this foul percolation going to end? Alright, maybe something different from "Cooking With Peta: Great Vegan Recipes for a Compassionate Kitchen" would do the trick. Pine nuts, curried dip tofu, "beefless stew", Wake-'Em-Up Pancakes. No dice. If my body was making helium, I could've floated into lower Earth orbit! My alarmed neighbors began calling me the Town-Tooter, my co-workers made sure I kept my office door closed and would only contact me by phone, and I began to wonder how many cubic feet of gas it would take to lose even one pound! After three weeks of flatulence and only four lost pounds, I knew PETA wasn't soon going to be happy with it's latest convert. My bemused doctor suggested solving this 'problem' by doing what humans have always done since the dawn of time: eat meat. A toot-salute to this sage advice sealed the fate of my Vegan ways and I hopped into the new Kia for a spin over to McDonalds! Since then, my turgid tummy days are past although, the Battle of the Belly Bulge is still far from won. This book was interesting and well written, but the side effects of this particular lifestyle on my particular digestive tract were explosive! It's fruits, veggies, and tasty meat in reasonable portions for this dieter from here on out. Caveat emptor!

Rating:
Summary: Where's the beef?
Review: The recipes in the book were pretty good, but I felt they lacked something: Meat. I decided to slaughter my neighbor's cow and add its flesh to some of the soup recipes to make what was once bland, now delicious. Next edition should include more meat recipes!!!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not perfect
Review: This was one of the first vegan cookbooks I purchased. Initially, I thought it was perfect, but after preparing many of the recipes, I have learned that the book's editing could withstand some fine-tuning. In other words, I don't think these recipes were "put to the test." There are some TERRIFIC recipes here, namely the Thai "Fish" Cakes, which are outstanding, but there's an abundance of weak ones, too -- recipes that lack both flavor and creativity. VEGAN VITTLES is a much better alternative; certainly, it gets the most use in my kitchen.