Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food: 150 Down-Home Recipes Packed with Flavor, Not Calories

Ok, so I did a nice little trial of this cookbook today! This morning I made the Naked Tofu Scramble and loved it! I added some nutritional yeast and fresh garlic because I add those 2 ingredients to just about everything but it was great without it, too. THEN, I whipped up a batch of Savory Seitan which was easy to make and smelled glorious while cooking. I used that to make the Cheesesteak and Fries that are on the cover. This was really, really, awesome!!! The cheese sauce is amazing and the baked fries were scored rave reviews. Ispooned the cheese sauce over my fries, thus I also made the 'Cheese Fries'. My husbandand brother really enjoyed this meal and I wasover the moon about it. Alicia Simpson is very, very talented. There are recipes in thiscookbook that you won't find in other vegancookbooks. (i.e. Chili cheese Fries and a recipe for HOMEMADE vegan hot dogs!!) This is nota diet book, although I suppose you could useit as such if you follow serving sizes and countcalories. These recipes are not low-fat and Ilove that about it. Alicia's philosophy is to enjoy real food MINDFULLY in an effort to achieveor maintain ideal weight. Many recipes require 'other' recipes from the book because Aliciabelieves in making delicious, homemadesauces and faux-meats as opposed to buyingthem. This may be a turn off for some people but I love it. The savory seitan was so cheap and easy to make that I will never buy it again. One small note is that sometimes I need to add more salt to recipes than Alicia calls for butI'm not subtracting a star for salt-- that is avery personal choice that is added to taste. Iam delighted by this book and lool forward tomaking more from it. The only downside is thatthe food is so good that it may be difficultsticking to recommended serving sizes!Update: Still cooking and enjoying!!! I made the Hoppin John, Ballpark Hotdogs, and the Meatball Soup. Oh, the Meatball Soup was a huge hit with my omnivore husband. This book is fun to cook with. Everything I've made I feel compelled to make again, especially the soup and the Cheesesteaks. Oh and I've made the Naked Tofu Scramble several times already. I wish that the Ballpark Hotdogs came out more moist. I may have overcooked them so I will tweak that recipe next time. They are still 100 times better than those wiggly tofu dogs sold everywhere. I recommend this book for those who enjoyed 'Appetite for Reduction.' That book is great but this one is scoring even higher marks with my tastebuds.

Let me start by saying: most of my family lives in Texas, and my in-laws live in a very rural area. When I told my family I wanted to follow a vegetarian diet 12 years ago, they rolled their eyes and offered me some steak. Some relatives still think it is the height of hilarity to pretend to cut me a piece of turkey at Thanksgiving. So, yeah. I like to cook, and to bring dishes to share with them, and in the past those dishes have been met with wildly varying levels of enthusiasm. ("quin-what?") This book offers a way to work with familiar, comforting flavors in an animal-friendly way, and I LOVE IT!The Jambalaya recipe alone is worth the price of admission here. My great-grandmother was Cajun, (yes really) and the flavors here are so evocative of her version I could not believe it. the 'sausage' that goes into this dish is really impressive, by itself I haven't tried everything in this book (yet), but all the recipes i've tried have come out great so far.If you have friends or family who are unconvinced about the potential yumminess lurking in vegan fare, or heck- if you miss good comfort food yourself- this book is a treat. The fact that these recipes are low-cal is a bonus.The only reason i gave this book 4 instead of 5 stars is that the ingredient lists can get lengthy, and thus, pricey. And sometimes there are several steps of prep for one recipe, but really, that's not rare for a cookbook. (and it's no problem if you love to cook and have the time.)All in all, highly recommended.

Man! These recipes are off the chain! I think I might have reviewed this book already, so I apologize if this is a duplicate review, but this book deserves it! Moist Banana Bread, fluffy Oatmeal Flapjacks, savory BBQ Sammich, crispy Oven Baked Hashbrowns... I could go on, and on, and on.I am really enjoying eating my way through this cookbook! Everything has really been delicious. I always enjoy Ms. Simpson's books and this one is no different. If you love FLAVOR, EASE, AND SPEED, you will love this one too!UPDATE 1/1/2015You know, I was in the middle of sopping up her delicious Minestrone Soup with one of those decadent Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits, when I thought WOW I've gotta review this book (not realizing that I did that 2 years ago!!! LOL!). It's really that good. A kitchen staple that has helped me maintain my fitness goals while enjoying filling, comforting, quick and easy vegan dishes. If I could give this book 10 stars I would. She could take this book and open her own high-priced vegan restaurant and I'd be right there gobbling up all the food.Shucks, I might come back in the next 2 years and rave about it again... :)

This cookbook is a winner for me. Several of its recipes have become family favorites. The Kung Pao Tofu has the best stir fry sauce I've ever made, and my husband says it's better than restaurant food. It calls for a few more ingredients than most stir-fry sauces but that's the reason for the wonderfully complex flavor. The Andouille sausages are a staple for me now. I double the recipe and make them once a month, then make the One-Pot Jambalaya (easy and delicious) and freeze the rest to use as quick lunches wrapped in a pita bread. The only failure I've had so far is the Roasted Tofu. I couldn't stand the taste of the herbs in the marinade and ended up throwing the batch out. Simpson obviously likes strong, bold flavors. That's a plus for me...I don't have to like every recipe in a cookbook. I would rather love some and hate others than be lukewarm on them. If you don't like strong flavoring, though, this may not be the cookbook for you.

Great recipes! Simple, low calorie ingredientsNo weird ingredients to look for. Recipes anyone can make regardless of culinary skills. I highly recommend this book.

I was looking forward to getting this book but was disappointed when I looked through it in detail. It is more suitable to the American market and contains ingredients that are hard to source in Ireland/UK. While the book gives guidance on where to source some of the frequent ingredients it is only applicable to USA residents e.g. a number of recipes, particularly main courses have liquid smoke as an ingredient (different flavour liquid smoke depending on recipe). Others have Bragg Liquid Aminos, Gumbo File, ancho chile powder!!!!! in the "sinful sweets " section all of the ice cream recipe instructions call for the use of an ice cream maker (according to the author if you don't have one you should satisfy your cool treat craving with a sorbet instead)! In addition a number of the recipes are for really large servings e.g. Sweet Potato Souffle makes 8 servings, Andouille Gumbo makes 10 servings, Plantain and Black bean Tamales is for 24 Tamales. For those who may like pictures of the book only contains 8 pages of pictures. It does indeed contain some recipes that I can use but for the price I do not think this book is worth it.