2 Quick Book Reviews

I'd like to thank Book Publishing Company again for sending me some of these books.

The first book here is The 4 Ingredient Vegan by Maribeth Abrams and Anne Dinshah.

Actually, I wasn't planning on reviewing this book, but they sent it anyway. At first I skimmed through it, just browsing the recipes. And most have maybe 5 or 6 ingredients. The only downfall here, for me, is that a lot of the recipes use prepackaged foods, like packaged pierogies, frozen pizza, hummus, spaghetti sauce, and soups. I wish there had been some easy recipes for these instead. Even the hummus can be a 4 ingredient recipe!! I've been so busy, I really only got around to making one of the recipes, but I will definitely make some more of them when I have the time.

Harvest Mash:

Before

After

This was really delicious and so easy to make! Lots of healthy vegetables, seasoned with broth....and I had lots of leftover broth left to use for something else. Of course I spiced it up a little with my Creole Seasoning :)

The author does list all sorts of foods you should stock your kitchen with, but alas, it includes premade soups, vegan meats, vegan sour cream/cream cheese, and canned foods. I suppose if you're in a real hurry, perhaps you should have some of these on hand, but I try to minimize them. I do have vegan cream cheese and sometimes sour cream in the fridge, but I use them very sparingly. Just because it's vegan, doesn't mean it's healthy!

So if you're the kind of person that's always in a hurry and keeps lots of canned tomatoes, beans, etc, stocked in your pantry, you'll get a lot of use out of this book.

Sproutman's Kitchen Garden by Steve Meyerowitz

I'd been looking at this book for a while, so I was excited to get it. Yes, it's a bit old, in that it was published in 1999. But....I really wanted a sprouting book. This one has a lot of various recipes for things, from breads, to pies and snacks. I wish it had a little more info on the actual sprouting process. It does dedicate a small section in the back to sprouting beans, seeds, and grains, but I wish it had explained it a little more in detail.

I tried (and failed) to make the Sprout Bread. I'd always wanted to make sprouted grain bread. Well, this one didn't seem to work for me. It was more like a thick cracker. Although it had a nice sourish flavor. I think perhaps it was my food processor.....I need a bigger, more robust one. This recipe also only called for sprouted wheat. No yeast, no nothing else. So my next try will be the kind with yeast. If you really want pictures of my failure.....here it is:

The nice sprouted wheat (did I sprout them too long perhaps??):

On the pans, before baking:

After baking:

The bottom fell out:

FAIL.

Next recipe, with success: Party Sprouts

The sprouted lentils:

The baked:

These were really delicious! Although they didn't totally dry out in the oven....they did keep well in a container for quite a while. I'll make these again. Great snack!

And lastly, the Hotcha Zucchini

I baked these instead of using the dehydrator, as I don't have one. But they were pretty good too, albeit a bit salty for my taste. S liked them! And he hates zucchini!

The book has recipes using all sorts of sprouts and soon, I will learn to sprout more than lentils and alfalfa. If you're a sprout fan, you should check out this book!

Have you ever made 100% sprouted grain bread? With or without yeast? In the oven, or bread machine?

If you still want to help me out with trip suggestions, you can here.

If you're in the New Orleans area, don't forget to check out the NOLA VeggieFest 2011!!! I'll be there!

Eat smart,
T.