Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I saw a new comment in one of the old threads of our last cookbook challenge. I loved our last cookbook challenge and it would be so fun to have another one!

Last time, the organizer, Maggie Muggins, had us vote on a variety of cookbooks and then popular vote determined which cookbook we would cook out of for a week or so. I'm down with that unless anyone has another other ideas for choosing cookbooks.

I'm also wondering if people would be open to a 2 week cookbook period rather than just 1 week.

Please provide any suggestions, comments, etc... below!

I'm interested, and a 2-week challenge period sounds OK to me.

I'm interested! I have a few new cookbooks that I need to delve into. 2 weeks sounds fine to me, I only cook about 3 times a week since I live alone. Also, this could be a double challenge to me, because I need to go back through my cookbooks and find things that the manfriend will actually eat or that we can cook together that I can keep the vegetables separate somehow (i know).

I am very interested! I really like the idea of a two week period. :)

Yes to this! I missed out the last time, so I would definitely love to start putting my ever-growing cookbook collection to use!

Yes, I want to do this! I have been in such a food rut lately, and this would be a good way to kick myself out of it.

I'd like to participate. I haven't purchased a new cookbook in a while (something I'm very proud of!), but wouldn't mind doing so for a cookbook challenge. I'm also cool with 2 weeks per book.

Sounds great!

well i'm glad there is a lot of interest! i don't mind organizing this, unless someone more experienced wants to step in. but i wonder if we should suggest some cookbook titles so we could vote in the near future and get the challenge started on april 1?

i know 'grills gone vegan' is due out in a few weeks and that might be a fun cookbook to have in the challenge since warmer weather (depending where you live) will soon be here...... but then again, i don't want to have people not be able to participate because they don't plan to buy a new cookbook.....

I would love to participate! I definitely under-use my cookbooks.

One in particular that I should use more often is Donna Klein's The Vegan Mediterranean Kitchen... I don't know if she has any recent books out, but maybe a Donna Klein 2 week period would be good? She has a lot of vegan cookbooks, so there would be much to choose from.

Also, my latest cookbook that I received was Chloe's Kitchen so I could use some more incentive to cook a new recipe or two from it. Chloe also has a new cookbook out, which I'm sure people are eager to delve into.

Don't forget that most of these cookbooks have previews available on Amazon, so even if someone doesn't want to purchase a new cookbook, they may still be able to participate!

I'd love it if Kansha and Vegan Diner were included, because I just got those!

bookwormbethie, my suggestion would be to give people a few days to make suggestions for cookbooks in this thread, then compile the suggestions from this thread into a poll. The top few winners (maybe 5 since it's a 2-week challenge this time?) get chosen as the challenge books. Also, last time there were a couple of Isa/Terry free choice weeks, and I think it would be cool to do that again since so many people on here obviously have those books. :P

Anyway, here are a few suggestions of mine:

-Vegan On The Cheap
-Vegan Soul Kitchen (or maybe The Inspired Vegan would be better?)
-The Uncheese Cookbook AND Artisan Vegan Cheese (two popular cheeze cookbooks, maybe we could combine them into one two-week session for maximum cheeziness)
-Caribbean Vegan
-Let Them Eat Vegan!

I also got Kansha recently and would be interested in trying that, though I'm not sure how many people have that book?

Only cookbook or is baking ok, too?

I'm trying to think of the English vegan ones, I got. I don't have that many.

Color Me Vegan
The 30-Minute Vegan (This would be great, as I only made 2-3 out of it and want to give it another chance)
Appetite for reduction
Vegan's Daily Companion
The Kind Diet
Vegan Lunchbox around the world
The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook


(Err, and all three Happy Herbivore books, but I doubt many others would want to do this...)

great idea, people start making cookbook suggestions in this thread! and i will compile into a poll.
vegan cooking + vegan baking cookbooks too

p.s. just noticed the PPK message only allows 10 poll options.... i assume i'll need to go out of PPK and use pollcode.com and just post the link in a new discussion thread when it is time?

my list...
vegan on the cheap
grills gone vegan (should be released beginning of april)
cookin' crunk

and definitely an isa/terry week

Oh if it's baking too than I'd add these to my list:

100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes
Sweet Vegan

I think we should include baking. If folks are into two weeks or straight baking, maybe we could include a baking book in the same week as a cookbook since we'll have two weeks?

Anyway, here are my suggestions:

-Vegan Diner
-Vegan Eats World
-Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day
-The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East (or any 30 Minute Vegan)
-Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet
-Hearty Vegan Means for Monster Appetites
-Viva Vegan
-The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen

And definitely an Isa & Terry week.

Yep, no reason you can't set up the poll outside PPK and link to it. One thing though... since we're choosing 5 cookbooks (plus a free choice Isa/Terry session), you'll maybe want a polling site that allows people to up to 5 options if such a thing is possible? Obviously if I can only choose one I'll still vote, but since we're trying to get as many people as possible per session to participate it would be cool if people had the ability to vote on as many titles as there are challenge sessions. And if there are ties I guess you'll just have to do a second poll where everybody only chooses their one favorite, haha.

http://www.pollcode.com does allow multiple answers (only up to 30, don't know if this will end up being a problem). the creator of the poll can also enable a "view" button so people can see which books are in the lead. the site only allows once vote per day, week, etc.... since it tracks each vote by IP address. i've used pollcode.com a couple of times before and was pleased.

If you're doing five two week challenges or something, it might make more sense to just do it by author rather than book. A heap of people usually end up doing this anyway. I'm probably testing too much stuff at the moment to take part, but I always like seeing what people have made and getting more inspired to use all my books, too!

maybe we could just have a 2 week period where it's nothing but baking?
or like you said, tack on a baking book with a cookbook week?

what do y'all think? if the 2nd option, i may need to create a separate poll just for the vegan baking books??

Vegan Pie in the Sky
Vegan Eats World
Q&E Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food
One of the 30 Minute Vegan Books, there are 3, so maybe we could have a choice of whichever ones we have or a combination of them?
Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day
Wild About Greens
Let Them Eat Vegan
Artisan Vegan Cheese
Grills Gone Vegan (when it comes out)

Those are my most under-utilized books...Sheesh, I need to quit buying them for awhile.

good suggestion, i'll see what other kind of feedback people leave regarding authors or specific books...... thanks!

I'll participate in some weeks! I nominate
Vegan sandwiches save the day
Dirt candy
Vegan eats world
Candle 79 cookbook
And maybe a zine week? I have a bunch that I don't use enough

Maybe you can just pull the top 30 suggestions from here if there are more than 30 separate ones.