Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I need this thread at the moment. I have a ton of awesome cookbooks that haven't been used well enough, and over the weekend I even went through some and marked a heap of recipes I really want to try. But come payday yesterday, I still found myself on Book Depository adding new things to my cart. I'm making a deal with myself- I can't have Hearty Vegan Meals until I've made all the stuff I marked from Vegan Celebrations. Which isn't difficult, because there's a lot in there that sounds awesome. But still. My life is SO HARD.

i'm totally a cookbook addict. i like to tell myself that i can't buy a new cookbook (or sewing book or whatever) until i reach some goal that i set. that makes the months of looking at books and picking out which one i get really fun and i'm even more excited about the book when i get it.

Go read whatever book's one star amazon reviews and get yourself worked up into a indignant tizzy about how you almost bought that horrible book, but thankgod you read that review that said all the ingredients were expensive and hard to find and no pictures?! What are they thinking!?

Amazon reviews can be dumb, but some of them have really talked me down from buying a book before. Especially ones that list the ingredients that are common in the recipes that I know I won't be able to find. Or if it's heavy on some processed thing I don't like or whatever.

Thanks to this thread I just put 3 books on hold at the library instead of buying anything! (errrrr but I did buy 'Live Raw' cos that's not at the library)

Yes, do this! I haven't done a ton from VV either, but it's amazing. If you haven't done it yet, get harina pan for arepas (I think you use it for pupusas too). Just make sure it's not regular harina masa. It's a pre-cooked cornmeal. There are lots of options in the book for fillings, but I also cut open arepas and use as thin burger buns and use them as sandwich pockets for just about anything. Also good with just tomato and avocado stuffed in there. And the green onion salsa is inexpensive to make and delicious.

Seriously. Those arepas...I have such a crush on them. The sexy avocado tempeh filling is pretty forking fantastic, too.

I was just longingly looking at the picture of those avocado-tempeh arepas last night. I need to get to the mexican market for some corn flour.

I've found both Harina Pan brand and Donarepa brand at the El Mandado on Capital and the International Foods on Brentwood. I like IF better. They often have limes 10 for $1! And their produce in general is just better. My friend tells me there's an even better small market near the Walmart on New Hope, but I haven't been there yet.

I've made that avocado-tempeh filling subbing portabellas for the tempeh. It's fabulous. It was Kitteh's idea.

I also have a cookbook buying problem. I am horrible about shopping lists, meal planning, etc. and i'm fairly good at making shiitake up so I don't really use them. I buy the books mostly to read through, admire, and to support my vegan peeps. I enjoy reading them (and when I do think, I would like to make something with x ingredient, I usually remember seeing recipes in the books and then I will pull it out for that) and having them, but I don't NEED them by any stretch. And like Jess said, there's always the internet if you really need a recipe.

Even with being picky, there are still more books coming out than I can keep up with and i'm almost out of space on my cookbook shelf. So I just put the books I want on my wishlist and maybe someone will get me one ofr my birthday. I often have my money earmarked for other things, but if there's a week where I don't need to buy a lot of necessities, I might buy a book or two.

I'm so glad you said this about the produce section! I've been there a few times but never looked at the produce for some reason. I just stopped in there on my way home from work and got:
- 3 big jalapenos
- a bunch of baby bananas
- 7 limes
- 5 tomatillos
- 2 plantains
- 2 kinds of corn flour
- tortillas
for twelve dollars. TWELVE. I'm in awe. My brain is used to Whole Foods prices.

There is a big Latin market near where my surgeons office was. I wasn't in a position to ever go check it out, but I'll try to find it next week.

Right now, I'm trying to work through some recipes in AVK since I've underused it, then I'll move on to VV.

I think my biggest cookbook buying problem is when ordering things I NEED from Amazon. I either get stuck in the old mindset of needing to add $10 to avoid paying $5 in shipping when I got free shipping for $25. Now with prime, I don't need to worry about it, but I still seem to fall into the trap.

Or, worse, when I'm spending $360, it seems like adding $10 for something fun doesn't matter because I'm already spending a forking fortune on stuff (textbooks).

I was at the supermercado yesterday and as always found great stuff. I love VV because it gets me in the door and then I make awesome food from it and discover all these neat new products. And yeah, basic ingredients are so cheap there!!

Made Arroz con Seitan yesterday. It was yummy! Today I'll be making either more empanadas (I lazied-out and got the frozen dough rounds this time) or tamales to freeze for when the baby's here. And man do I love those peeled tomatillos. So easy!

I'm putting a moratorium on my cookbook purchases too - except for the pie book. What I would like to do is go through my books and cook everything unless is something I know that I will absolutely hate. Then I would feel better about all the cookbooks I have.

Thank you! I do this and will even realize I'm being irrational, yet I do it anyway. And then when I sell those books back (because I would prefer amazon credit over cash, plus they pay more than bookstores around here) I think I deserve a treat for a semester well done. This essentially means that each textbook order costs me at least two cookbooks.

I really do feel like I don't need to order anymore; I just read through the threads here and at vegweb to get ideas what to make from the books I have. . Well, except the pie book, because it feels wrong not to complete the trilogy. Oh, and there was that pie porn post a while back that sold me.

I have also been requesting books at the library instead of buying. If there are several recipes in a book I will make and like, then I will buy it or wish list it for later. I have so many books already I barely get time to use...

I did preorder the pie book, and it's the only book I have bought in a few months. It's pie! I love pie. I also love that there is an entire book dedicated to vegan (cup)cake, cookies and soon pie. Dessert books were my favorite omni cookbooks. Anyway..

I am making tamales today. They scared me until I saw this video-she makes it look easy! I love viva vegan!

http://tofuguru.net/show/%C2%A1vegan-tamales

I can't wait for the pie book!

Haha. Not helping. I can't do anything except enable people to buy the pie book though. I've been testing for it, and it's a must have.

So, now this is the support thread for not buying cookbooks except vegan Pie in the Sky.

If it's any help, I'm probably not going to get the pie book either. At least not for a while. It will probably be an awesome cookbook, but I just don't have time for making pies that often, and when I do I already have tried and true recipes for a few kinds of pies.

In an attempt to resist buying more books, I made a new dish from a neglected cookbook, Nonna's Italian Kitchen, and I'm so glad I did. I should have made the scallopini cacciatore years ago!

With Borders liquidating, I had to come to this thread for support...although at only 10% off, I am not really tempted quite yet.

When the Borders near here closed, there weren't really any great deals. Amazon was still cheaper.

Hide the ones you want behind other stuff and hope they are still there when everything is 70% off? (I caved and bought some books at my borders when they got to 30% off though).

Ahh, I was going to check out Borders today, but anything less than 40% isn't really a draw, considering they sent out 40% coupons almost every week (I'll miss you, Borders!).

I haven't bought any cookbooks in a while, because I have a TON, but I am continually tempted. There are ones I feel like I need to own at some point, and others I'm anticipating coming out. Sometimes I go to Amazon, search "vegan" in books, then sort by publication date (newest first). I just put some February 2012 books on my wishlist.

But no! I will check the library first. And use the books I have.

I have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks and my collection is ever growing, however I rarely actually follow a recipe, I'm always adding more of something or leaving something out according to my own tastes, or more often than not, using a recipe just purely as inspiration, in putting flavours together that I might not have thought of and then making something up myself. I can't remember when I last followed a recipe to the letter, I just like to read cookbooks.

I have a severe problem. Luckily, I don't care for pie and the thought of making pies makes me cringe so a pie book isn't tempting. There are a lot of cookbooks out there though!