Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Working week carry over plans - you know, like what to make on a Sunday that can be repurposed into dinners and lunches over the next week.

And breads.

I'm feeling the vibe a lot of people have already mentioned. I have a baby and I'm taking care of her myself as well as working full time+. Yesterday all I had time to make was noochy toast and leftover rice. Vegan cooking can be really time consuming. If I can't make it ahead and bring it with me to work or eat throughout the week I'm pretty much living off of stuff that is pretty sad and doesn't qualify as a meal.

Brilliant!

I'd love for more meal plans. I get overwhelmed looking at all the recipes, but not knowing how to put it together. Especially when first switching from an omni diet of meat + veggie + starch I wasn't sure how to recreate that unless it was fake meat + veggie + starch. I also feel like I have a ton of side recipes, but not a lot of entrees, or not a good plan of making meals out of the "sides". One of my fav omni cookbooks was Rachel Ray's "365 days: No Repeats" because it was set up more as a meal planning guide that I could then mix and match from.

I also agree with the slow cooker section. I feel my slow cooker has very much been neglected since I stopped eating meat.

Also lots and lots of pictures, I'm sure that is more expensive to publish, but I love seeing the image of the final dishes, especially when I'm not familiar with the dish / ingredients.

Some kind of loaf (nut loaf, lentil loaf, whatever) that actually has a good texture (i.e., not crumbly or mushy). I don't know if this is even possible, but I want to believe it is!

Things I've already read in this thread that I would love to see too:
- Slow cooker recipes or ways to adapt recipes intended for the stovetop to the slow cooker
- Nutritional information
- More tempeh recipes
- Repurposing leftovers into other dishes

Other things I would love to see:
- Lower calorie breakfast breads like muffins, waffles, etc.
- Freezer-friendly or make-ahead recipes that I can put together and have hubby put in the oven while I'm still at work

I think more menus, meal plans, or even just suggestions of what to eat with a particular recipe would be great!

- salad dressings that don't require a food processor/blender (ie, can be whisked together in seconds)
- healthy whole grain quick breads
- menu suggestions with a recipe
- make ahead meals fabulous enough to serve to guests (when people come over I love having everything ready instead of cooking/entertaining at the same time)
- meals that freeze well

Well, I'm already really excited about this! Will be delicious I'm sure.

i think subs are a great idea- for when you are out of something, but also for those of us who are in far-flung places and need to get creative.

A lot of people have said what I would like to see, but just to reiterate!

- Easy lunch recipes. I love the recommendation of giving ideas for ways dinner recipes can be repurposed into lunches - that sounds really cool and helpful for busy people, students, etc. Maybe this is something the testers could come up with during that process as well. I always wish I could do this, but the most creative I've ever gotten is by stirring my beans into rice and putting it in a wrap.

- Healthy breads/muffins/sandwich breads. Your cookbooks are so good at making "complicated" recipes seem easy and approachable. I would love to see you do this with making your own bread with just hands, ingredients and an oven. I'm always overwhelmed by bread making and all of my attempts have ended in failure.

- Meals that freeze well and tips about freezing stuff. I would love a little legend like you have for soy-free, GF, etc., but for time and prep-related things. What freezes well, what can repurposed for lunch, etc. By trial and error, I can usually tell what will freeze well and what won't, but I think that will be helpful for new cooks.

- I love the notes and tips sections that are peppered throughout your books. I never feel like there are too many, because I always learn something or get an idea from those little text boxes. Maybe some of these ideas can be incorporated into those spaces.

- I love meal plans and nutrition info. We're trying to cut down on fat and sodium at our house, so I'm paying more attention to these details and love that part of AFR.

- More recommendations for substitutions. I'm becoming more comfortable with intuitive cooking, making changes based on my tastes, etc., but most people starting out don't do this when following a recipe and are really slaves to the recipe. One thing I like about Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" is that he has a lot of substitutions in the recipes. For example, if a recipe calls for a certain green he will list three other greens beside it. That's part of how he writes about cooking - that it shouldn't be complicated - but it's comforting to see it in a recipe because it reminds you that you can make these subs and then you transfer that skill/knowledge to another cooking experience. Also, since moving to a new country I'm having trouble finding a lot of the things that I used to eat. For example, if kale is out of season I'm always looking for a green to sub in a recipe, because they don't have collards here (that I've found anyway). I don't think you can be everything to everyone and I don't think you should since it can be to a fault (the recipe quality may suffer), but when possible I would love the help in figuring that out.

- An easy "snacks" section. I think of these as lunch-friendly side dishes. Not really complicated appetizers and not really salads, but snacks. I'm not sure what that means, but I like portable food that's easy and nourishing.

- Slow cookers. I have the Vegan Slowcooker Cookbook from Robin Robertson and my problem with most of the recipes was that they just weren't flavorful. I found myself having to add so much more to the recipes just to get them to have enough flavor. They all seemed like they would be good and they were edible and fairly healthy, but not amazing. If you can improve the vegan slowcooker stuff, that would be welcomed!

Your cookbooks are wonderful and I recommend them whenever anyone is veg-curious. I just did the other day on Facebook. The food is awesome, of course, but your writing style is very approachable and encouraging and I think that's what draws a lot of people to them. I have no doubt this book will be rad. Can't wait to see it!

I would love to see meal plans for cheap ingredients. I think people get overwhelmed with leftovers or having to cook every day. So for example you could have a chickpea week, featuring recipes such as hummus, channa masala, chickpea burgers/patties, salad, quiche, etc.
Also I vote for freezer recipes, and nutritional info, plus tonnes of baked goods (including muffins and quick breads, gluten free if possible).

I agree with the more veggies suggestion. Also, make sure you continue to put silly intro/comments to each recipe.

I'm thirding the nutrition info for each recipes, and also love the idea of recipes that can be tweaked slightly to be dinners and lunches over the week.

Yes. I made two loaves of the v'con focaccia after an INSANE day at work yesterday and though the kneading sounded like torture, I remembered how totally easy it is with all the downtime. Bread-making is so much more approachable than I often think, as are muffins (I adore savoury muffins!) and biscuits and stuff.

AFR is by far my favorite and most used cookbook so I can't help but chime in. I think you have a way of writing and explaining things that makes the recipes seem less intimidating and helps me learn what exactly I'm doing, both of which have been invaluable to me as a fairly new cook. I also love that the recipes in AFR use lots of veggies and are mostly made of whole foods. It's great to have a cookbook I can look through knowing that every recipe is nutritious and satisfying (and delicious!). That being said, I'd love to see more quick bread recipes that are healthier, like your blogged chocolate-cherry loaves and chocolate pumpkin loaf. I also really appreciate the suggestions for what other dishes compliment a given recipe. So excited already!

I was wondering when your next book is coming out- I love them all. I am still working on going vegan and your books are by far my favorite of ANY that I have to cook from! I would like to see some quick lunch recipes and creative sandwiches! Your desserts rock! More, please.

This. If a recipe calls for something that I know I'll never get my hands on, I tend to just skip the recipe and forget about, even if it sounds good. Which is sad.

Yeah, it's a real bummer and I wish I just knew more about what would work and what wouldn't in a recipe so I could improvise. I'm in The Netherlands and every now and then I know an ingredient is here or I don't know where to find it, so I skip the recipe.

I would love to see more lunch-type recipes or things that could be repurposed into creative lunches too! And lots of veggie-heavy dishes would be good. Veggie side dishes are nice, but it's awesome when the entree contains more vegetables in the first place. Especially if you are strapped for time (ie kids, work, etc) - it can be hard to dirty yet another pot to make a separate vegetable dish in. Maybe more salad recipes, but the kind that is super hearty and filling with lots of grains and proteins included with the veggies - and not necessarily only greens, but all sorts of vegetables. Looking forward to it! (And if you ever need more testers, I'd be all over it!)

+1 please!

Slow cooker and/or pressure cooker recipes and/or any recipes that can be on the table fast!

YAY for a new Isa cookbook!!! Thanks Isa!

me again - can we have some quick breakfasts as well? that's fruit/veggie (but not necessarily, tofu/seitain/tempeh based)?

*I am totally in agreement with the previous commenters who mentioned crockpot and freezer meal recipes. This would be super useful for me especially because I'm big into doing "plannedover" meals anyway to have in the freezer for when I don't have time to cook a meal but we still need to eat.

*Veggie burger recipes that don't involve mushrooms.

*Creative and tasty zucchini recipes, because my husband insists on planting multiple zucchini plants and we're always overrun.

*Main dish recipes that are soy AND nut free (my father-in-law is allergic to both and it's terribly hard to cook vegan for him).

A few more things that could work as "main dish" type things for dinner with omnis who think a meal means meat, potato, and vegetable. And definitely, stuff that works as leftovers for lunch.

Savory breakfasts (with veggies or greens maybe?) that are quick to put together. Breakfast recipes tend to be overwhelmingly sweet- I'm not a fan of oatmeal, don't really buy cereal, and I don't want to eat muffins/pancakes/etc on a regular basis. I never know what to eat in the morning!

Yes to recipes that freeze well, crock pot recipes, and nutrition info!