Post Punk Kitchen Forum

It arrived today! I skipped to the Last Call! chapter to start with, once a booze hound always a booze hound. :)

I'm sad because people I receive gifts from aren't cooks, sadly I can't press copies of the book on people at an attempt at a big hint. :( Guess I'll just have to cook my way through the book for myself.
The canning chapter is going to be a bit of a learning curve, I've made jams and sauces in the past but it uses a very basic jarring method, no water bath involved.

I have to do a secret santa come December for some veg friendly omnis, I'm excited to make some things for that.

Chapters for anyone interested..

Cut Along the Dotted Line: Easy Peasy Packaging Ideas and Basics
Ready to Gift: Delicious Gifts Ready for Immediate Enjoyment
Just Add Water: Make-at-Home Gift Mixes for Anytime Assembly
A Tisket, a Tasket, a Yummy Vegan Basket: Themed Gift Baskets
Jars Full of Goodness: Jams, Jellies, Sauces, and Other Yummy Stuff in Jars
Last Call!: Homemade Liqueurs, Infusions, Mixers, and More

My copy is on its way and I can't wait! I've just started learning to can things this year and it's a bit daunting at first but it soon becomes really fun. It's super satisfying to hear the pop of jar lids sealing shut! The Last Call chapter sounds interesting, I've never tried to make liqueurs before but I'm really keen to try it.

I pretty much only give food gifts anymore so I need to know more about this book! There's no see inside feature on Amazon... :(

I guess my question is, how vegan is this? Because most preserves, sauces, and boozey items are already vegan so I could use my existing books. How necessary is this book to my collection?

The "Just Add Water" and "Jars" section sound interesting to me!

I've ordered it because I like Joni's other books, and wanted recipes for this sort of stuff from an author that I know is creative and who I like. But there is a photo of one page inside the book on the Herbivore website that shows a vegan instant mac and cheese mix!

OK, FINE, I bought it!! Twist my arm...!

Why do there have to be so many amazing vegan cookbooks? I can't keep up.

Looking at the pictures of the canning process it reminds me of my grandparents preserving fruit in the Fowlers jars, what kind of jars do you use for your canning? Did you buy them locally or order online?

i've seen the "ball" brand canning stuff at my grocery store all the time. although it may be cheaper to buy your canning stuff from a big box store like target or walmart.

i know! i have boughten a handful that i love and use all the time. i just checked out a huge stack from my library (i am so fortunate that my state particpates in an inter-library loan program) and hope to find one or two gems in there, you know the ones that i don't want to return because i want to make everything in them!

ack! i *need* that recipe. do let us know if there are any ground nuts in it (i'm allergic to all nuts)

It looks like it contains cashews, sorry! :(

I've used Kilner jars from Target, which are really cute but it's tricker to tell if you've got a good seal with those. For jams lately I've been using these guys from Wheel and Barrow, and this brand is available in most kitchen stores I've looked at. They're good too, but the ones I have are bigger sizes so they'll be better for when I get around to making salsas or something. I haven't had any trouble finding stuff locally.

Celine posted a little write up about the book on her blog here, for those who are awaiting their copy like me. It made me even more excited for mine to arrive!

It is so crazy that this year there has been such an explosion of vegan food books!
my copy is on its way to me. (It is funny. I don't think i've made ONE thing from Joni yet.... but I own everything she's put out).

bummer, thanks for letting me know.

My copy finally arrived last night! I was kind of in a mad rush making marmalade (not the one from the book, this one was already underway!), packing to go out of town and doing MoFo stuff so I didn't get a chance to read it properly yet, but I had a flick through and I really love it! It's so cute and I'm definitely taking ideas for Christmas presents from it. The first thing I try might be the hot sauce, we're totally hot sauce hoarders in my house and I love the idea of making my own!

So I totally posted this in the duplicate thread first 'cause I didn't see this one. But I got my copy in last week. It is beautiful!!!!!! I can't wait until Christmas season, so I can start infusing some liquers from the booze section. So far, I've only made the Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread, but it is DIVINE! I gifted one loaf and kept the other for myself since the recipe makes two loafs.

I got mine yesterday! Really cute book with great ideas that mostly anyone can do!

i just ordered this!

I got this last week, and I loooove it. It bothers me a bit, though, that the recipes (or most of them?) don't tell you how long the product stays fresh. Also, I've always been intimidated by canning, but I really want to get into it. I can't really go out and buy a whole bunch of jars and things right now, though. What would happen if I would just re-use normal screw-top jars, rather than the 2-piece lid ones or the clip-on lid ones? Wouldn't the hot bath still seal them?

i've been intimidated by canning too and have no canning equipment and am not sure i have the budget right now to purchase a canning rack insert for our big pot and all the jars and stuff. besides the "jars full of goodness" chapter, do a lot of the other recipes call for canning or processing stuff in a water bath?

p.s. to poesie pie, from the little bit i know about canning, i really think you need "un-popped" lids for the hot bath to work, plus it's a food safety issue, you really want that jar to seal tight and properly.

I've never tried it (although I have used one-piece, screw-on lids that I bought new), but it seems to be pretty common. Or at least, that's the impression I've gotten from people on Pinterest who always seem to be using really cute, repurposed jars from like, Trader Joe's.

For the mocha mix it asks for powdered rice milk...would powdered soy milk work? I know in the hot chocolate recipe it says not to replace the rice with soy...

I don't see why not. Especially if you know your soy milk powder tastes fine.

I've made a couple of things now! I made the red wine chocolate fudge sauce during MoFo. It tastes super fancy, and was great over ice cream. It's thickened to a ganache consistency in the fridge so I think I might use it as a filling for sandwich cookies or something. I also bottled some in an old sauce bottle, which sealed fine and everything, so that answers that question!

Speaking of sandwich cookies, I also made the orange-chocolate Linzers. Boyfriend hosted a bake sale for Movember at his work yesterday, so I cut out little moustaches instead of the usual shapes. These were really tasty and I think they turned out pretty cute. People seem to be really impressed by them so I think they'll be great gifts. I might make these again (with more appropriate shapes) for Christmas!

those look adorable!

I am making for my best friend a batch of Smore Brownies. (with Isa's graham crackers). but there willl be more made, I can guarantee you.