Review of Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle

Review of Vegan Richa's Indian Kitchen by Richa Hingle

Let me just say first off that no one 'gave' me this book or was I funded to write this review, this is purely my own investment of funds to get it.

First the look: A very comfortable book, I loved the pictures and how inviting it was. I liked how each recipe was marked with a 'GF' for Gluten Free and 'E' for Easy, etc.... I of course went to the 'E' ones first on my first recipes that I tried out. It is a very comfortable and not pretentious at all.

The food: I have been looking for a Vegan Indian Cookbook for some time, but the idea of curry everything was a but much for my husband. I quickly learned that 'real' Indian cooking does NOT involve those jars of curry! The list of spices I would need are neatly found in the front of the book as well as list of other ingredients that would be good to have. Very convenient for when I went to the Indian store, walked in and handed them the page and said "I need these please". Most of those spices I dared not pronounce. Side note... 3 huge grocery bags full of spices only cost me $60!!

Mali Kofta

The recipes: I decided to try out 6 varying recipes and made sure they all were marked with a green 'E' for easy. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy they truly were! Most of the recipes in this book are just one page long for instructions and the ingredients list. Being a busy mom of 3 kids this was right up my alley, simple, delicious and healthy food for my family and in under an hour. All of the recipes I tried out came out fantastic! Her level of spices were just right, not to much and not to little. I think the true Indian spices made all the difference too. 
I liked how she suggested substitutions for ingredients too, that helped out a lot for days when I ran out of Tofu or other things. 

Indian Pot Pie

 Our family loves Indian food and eating it out all the time would make us go broke! But this book makes anyone happy to stay home and eat Indian whenever they want. If you have been looking for an Indian food cookbook and you are vegan then get this cookbook! You will be licking the Mango Curry off your lips before you know it and come back looking for more. 

Review of the Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon by Sara Forte

This book is amazing! I was unaware of the Sprouted Kitchen and their other book before I got this book for review. So I would have to say I went into this book completely open minded and with no expectations.

First the Look and feel: I love a good cookbook that gives you a taste of the food via the pictures before you even get to actually taste them in person. This book did exactly that, the feel of the book was warm and inviting. No pretense for fancy dishes or high expectations, from you, the chef. 

The types of food: Let me warn you my fellow reader this is NOT a VEGAN book. There are a lot of recipes that are vegan or can easily be changed to be vegan. But don't think this is a 100% vegan book, its not, nor do the authors claim it to be one. There are some dishes that are made with lean meats but that can be changed to tofu or your meat substitute if you wish.

The recipes: I tried a variety of them on the family, from the Spanish Chopped Salad to the Slow Roasted Veggies and Soba to the Lentil and Rice bowl to the Hippie Bowl to the Ginger Apple Crisp. Every single one I would make again! That is rare.... I chose some recipes that were a weird combo of ingredients in my book and thought "this will be interesting...." but every time the flavors won us over. Even my super picky 5yr old tried the dishes and liked most of them, that was win in my book!

Time: The time some of these dishes take was a bit more then I was thinking, but its mostly just preparing different parts of it then placing them all together. I got wise to that fact after a couple of recipes, so I would make extra brown rice for another night. Or pre-cut some veggies for the next day. But over all once I got the idea of the book the recipes didn't take that long.

The verdict: 5 out of 5 forks!!!
I can't wait to try more from the book and see what their other book has as well

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review

Review of The VB6 Cookbook by Mark Bittman

The VB6 Cookbook: More than 350 Recipes for Healthy Vegan Meals All Day and Delicious Flexitarian Dinners at Night

3 out of 5 spoons

Review:

Let me say first off that I am a sucker for free anything but, that I can and will be critical when asked my opinion of something. So here goes!!

I had never heard of the VB6 book before let alone the cookbook, so this was a totally new and fresh thing for me to read. I loved the pictures and the flexibility of this book. He lets you know how to make the dishes in there with so many variations that this book could be kept for a long time to come and never repeat the same dish twice. I really enjoyed the 28 day menu he puts in there, I think that is perfect for the 'want to be' vegan. It gives so many options, yet provides a ready to go menu for those who are busy. (Like us moms..)  I would highly recommend this book for those that want to become vegan, it provides a nice 'soft' introduction to vegan life.

Another feature I liked was in the front pages of the book where he breaks down vegetables, fruit, grains, oils etc.. and teaches you 'What They Are', 'Best Time of Year', 'How to Store', 'Best Ways to Prepare', 'Cooking Times' and 'How to Store'. I honestly learned a lot!!! That part alone had me hooked. 

The Recipes:

I did a weeks worth of items from this book and took them from all parts of it too so there was a fair review. While we liked the ideas of the food when it came down to it they had a 'Eh' taste about most of them and needed something extra for the flavor department. I had to jazz up the ones I made with either spices, tofu or salsa. I will post my favorite recipes here on the blog later on. 

The cookie recipe I made from the book: 'Decadent Oatmeal Cookies'. Were good but, a bit to much in the liquid department. More flower next time Mark... 

The biggest issue I had with the book was the lack of vegan recipes in he dinner section. Yes I know this book was all about being vegan until 6pm so you are saying "Duh!!" 
But, I liked how he tried in some recipes to make the suggestion on how to make them vegan, still it was hard when the main ingredient was muscles or salmon. "Skip that one, and that one..."
I would not have personally bought the book because of that. In this house the big meals are dinner so that whole back part of the book was useless to me. And while he had a nice little box on 'To make dinners vegan'. I need recipes people! I can't create!! That is not a strong suit of mine!! Give me step by step and I got it.

The portion sizes seemed to be a bit off too. I made dishes that said 'Serves 4' and my husband and I would eat it all and still be hungry. So not sure what was going on there...

Pros: Nice pictures, healthy recipes, great teaching tool in the front, the variety of variations
Cons: Not enough vegan recipes for dinner, the portion sizes were off

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. But the opinions were all mine.