Vegan Vittles: Recipes Inspired by the Critters of Farm Sanctuary

by Joanne Stepaniak

Describes the benefits to people and animals of a vegan diet and presents such recipes as rice milk, oven-roasted Tom tofu, citrus vinaigrette, macaroni & cheeze, and tempeh tacos

Genres: Cookbooks, Vegan, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Vegetarian, Animals

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Joanne Stepaniak, M.S.Ed., is a writer, an educator, a cooking instructor, and the author of several cookbooks.

Reviews

[Ami]

I bought this book on our trip to Oregon this summer, but I haven't read through all of it yet. I had to wait until I bought nutritional yeast, a prominent ingredient in many dishes, before I could entertain the idea of cooking anything. I *still* haven't read through, because I am holding off on buying tahini, another recipe superstar. So here is what I have so far:

I skipped the "propaganda" section; I already know my reasons for leaning toward veganism, and I prefer my cookbooks with just recipes (and perhaps more accessible to everyone that way). The 1984 language suggestion boxes (with animal-free remakes such as, "Instead of 'It's no use crying over spilled milk', use 'It's no use weeping over burnt toast'") I could do without. Factory farm animal cruelty is a completely different ballgame than using a cow in some centuries-old folk saying, and really? It is doing nothing to ease the stereotype of vegans as self-righteous douches. Nothing.

ANYWAY! Homemade seitan recipe works very well! I used it cubed in a stroganoff-type dish, and cut into strips in a stir fry, where it was very very awesome.

Tofu bacon has some good seasoning, but I am guessing that the degree to which this dish is reminiscent of pig bacon is directly proportionate to the length of time since you have last eaten pig bacon. For me, it's been a while, so I was pleased. I made a tBLT & I was happy.

Better burgers are great, although they tend to be more more "bready" and less "meaty". Still, easy enough to make & were fine in both a pasta & red sauce dish and in a meatball sub.

Barbecue-style braised short ribs were impressive, and the sauce is awesome. I rarely like cooked carrots, and I liked these carrots.

I guess I'll have to report back about anything that's not a mock meat.

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit that initially, I made some jokes about this book because some of the animal rights stuff comes across as a little hokey. I mean, on every page there are suggestions for how to take animal exploitation out of your language, and the stories of animals saved by Farm Sanctuary on nearly every page. I've been a vegetarian / vegan for so long, this kind of stuff just seems tiresome to me.

Fortunately, I was able to get past the hokey stuff and try a few of the recipes. Holy crap, they are good. In the soups and bisques, the true beauty of the veggie flavors shine through. The seitan ribs recipe looks extraordinary, and I've been told by some credible sources that the ribs are as good as they look. The calories and nutritional info for each recipe are already worked out for you, and presented on each page. Anyway, this is one of the vegan cookbooks I would consider owning. As it stands, I think I'll be checking this out from the library over and over.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cookbook is hit or miss. I tried four recipes with varied results --

Hot and Sour Noodles: Yum! Basic ingredients combine to make a delicious sauce for veggies and noodles. We added cabbage (delish) and chickpeas (not as great) to convert this to a main dish. Everyone enjoyed it.

Southern Fried Tofu: This recipe is a keeper! The seasonings are great and of course we love anything fried. Kiddo raced through her veggies and bulgur so that she could have the last piece. I suspect this is going to be a staple at our place.

Unstuffed Shells: Nothing spectacular about the crumbled tofu/ vegan mayo stuffing in this recipe, but I have to admit that it never occurred to me to just toss medium shell pasta with the "stuffing" and top with marinara, so I have to give this recipe credit. Steal this idea -- it saves time and tastes nearly as good as original stuffed shells.

Grilled Cheeze: OK, my expectations weren't too high on this one, since I'm not a huge fan of vegan cheese sauces, but I'd recently made Vegan Yum Yum's hurry-up alfredo not once but twice and loved it, so I decided to give this a try. The ingredients were easy enough and prep was a breeze, but despite my relatively low expectations, the end result was disappointing. You can grill avocado sandwiches, or even hummus sandwiches, with delightful results -- there's just no need for a faux cheese spread like this.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love pictures in my cookbooks so Vegan Vittles loses points for that but it has some great staple recipes in it that I find myself using over and over like buttermilk biscuits and homemade seitan. Most stuff in this book is pretty basic so it is easy to play around with and Stepaniak provides a few variations at the end of almost every one.

[Amanda Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several vegan books, all of which I did not care for but this one was different. The recipes are doable with usual pantry items. We have tried several recipes so far and they have ben surprisingly good. No one noticed I used tofu instead of cheese in the Potatoes Gruyere. I love that she uses whole wheat flour for almost everything. Worth taking a look at.

[kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made Hungarian Mushroom soup today, because I had a alot of mushrooms and an onion. I have a cold and this was a good choice because it's a little spicy. I also ate pomegranate seeds for desert and this went surprisingly well after the soup.

[Starflash · Rating 5 out of 5]

i have used this book for many many years and it's always good in a pinch to spark a new recipe - the messy mikes is a quick and delish meal - i like to chop up mushrooms and add it to my own version.

great gift for any vegetarian or vegan friend.

[Fishface · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes in here are pretty good, but I found all the attempts to rework animal-based sayings very irritating. There is no reason to erase all animal imagery from the English language, especially if you are, as the authors claim to be, animal-lovers.

[Gemini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning how to cook properly w/ all kinds of ingredients. I use this book all the time.

[Deva · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite cookbooks, her cheese sauces are the best.

[Pythagorean · Rating 5 out of 5]

every recipe in this book is delicious! it's been one of my favorites for years.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a good cookbook. Great stuff to build from in here.

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, simple, vegan comfort food. I love the soup recipes!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one, I'll probably buy a copy (this was borrowed from the library)

After borrowing this a skillion times H gave me a copy for Christmas :o)

[Ananda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite vegan cookbook. Very practical recipes for tasty dishes.

[matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good finds in here