Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Yes, 3 for $1 here too.

There was a lot of cornmeal in the recipe, but I thought the taste was pretty good. I just bought my yeast within the past 2 months and I have made other bread with it within the last two weeks or so. I just started keeping my flours in the fridge though, would that make a difference? I wrote the lady, and she got back fast, but couldn't think of anything other then the yeast being bad. I mean, I don't mind trying again on the wheat setting, but the brown rice flour is expensive for the little bag I could find. My kids seemed to like it, because yes, even though it was dense and half size, we still at it.

i made the comfort loaf. i forgot the beans. (it doesn't taste bad though. it's kinda like square stuffing) because of multitasking, i completely glossed over when the beans should go in. (because it says to mix the beans with the mirepoix after it's cooked and set aside, but i didn't have to set it aside, because i already finished the other steps before it was done.) oops! i was wondering why it was so difficult to mix. so you might want to write in a little reminder down at the mixing part at the end that says "don't forget your beans!!" i'll have to make it again to see which version i like better. (i also think next time i will employ my kitchenaid.)

I got this! So far I made the beans and cheesy rice burrito, which was okay, would have been better if I made the rice more fluffy but that's my own fault, should be even better next time. When Hurricane Leslie hit and the power went, I made a dip with the pinto mixture and cheese sauce and it was AWESOME.

I also made the pasta slaw, and I think its fantastic. I tried the olive oil dressing and it is good, but not filling, so I mix in Veganaise in with it. I need so little for a bowl I can make the bottle last long enough to be worth the extra cost.

the big stick pepperoni is so good!!

we got pizzas from wholefoods for their BOGO tuesdays, and i put some of the pepperoni on it, it was really tasty.

It's my favorite sausage. The texture from the tapioca/vwg combo is amazing. Even my 93 year old omni grandmother-in-law couldn't stop eating them!

I made the pasta with green beans and lemon basil creme. The sauce seemed far too thin but the pasta sucked it up pretty quickly. I'd prefer more beans and less potato, but that's an easy fix. It was super quick and tasty, though 1/2 cup of cashews is not all that cheap, at least over here.

yeah, they're not cheap here either. we're at about $12/lb.

I picked up this book a few weeks ago and I'm really digging it!

Last week I made the big stick pepperoni for a pizza and it was deeeelicious and used the leftover log crumbled up in a tofu scramble.
I also made the samosa pie but I had to add a lot more seasoning, especially coriander. After that it really did taste like the inside of a samosa but that being said it was still a bit too bland and dry to eat on its own so we had it with sweet chili sauce and yogurt on the side.

I'm making a bunch more stuff tonight to feed us through the week, so I'll report back! I'll probably be working my way through the casseroles for now, since they're less fuss.

i did a skim of the past 3 pages and i'm so glad to hear such great feedback about this book. i finally got a chance to flip through this at the bookstore and i was impressed. i guess when i heard the title "vegan on the cheap" i thought the recipes wouldn't be all that, but shame on me, i should have known better since robin is so awesome. i'm buying it online later tonight to save $

can't wait to start making stuff! there was so much that caught my eye when i was flipping through it.

p.s. has anyone made the black bean burgers? my hubby greatly misses my vegetarian black bean burger recipe.

The black bean burgers are good! This is one of my most used cookbooks, you won't regret the purchase.

oh hurray! i saw that burger recipe and i was so glad, it seemed so not fussy, something that i could whip out without thinking or having ingredients that needed me to plan ahead for leftovers (i.e. brown rice) and such.

my book is supposed to ship out today, can't wait!

So this week we had the rice island casserole, bobotee, and black bean & kale soup.

Husband thought the soup needed more flavor. I added a little soy yogurt and salsa, which really brightened it up!

I really liked the rice casserole but I think it needs to be served with something. I thought the beans would be enough protein and we also had some jerk asparagus on the side but we still didn't feel quite satisfied. Maybe some chickpea cutlets or something? But the flavor was great and it was super easy to assemble.

The bobotee was delicious, but again, we didn't really know what to eat with it. Maybe because it was listed as a casserole I thought it could stand on its own? We ended up eating the island rice on the side, so all's well!

black bean burgers are awesome. i like that you add different seasonings (if you want) and make it your own. hubby loved the texture and declared them better than the vegetarian bean burgers i used to make.

as others have said, the big pepperoni stick is awesome. that one recipe is worth the cost of the book alone! my omni hubby loved it on top of our pizza with fake cheeze!

I want to try making the Three Grain Bread in my breadmaker, but I have another question. Do you use a regular bread setting or a quickbread setting? I'm thinking regular, though I really like making the "under one hour" quick breads.

one the previous page (page 2) both vgnwitch and annak left comments about the 3 grain bread

I know annak said she would use the whole wheat setting. However, the only whole grain flour is the cornmeal. Rice flour and bread flour are both very fine flours. I guess I'm just afraid of wasting rice flour since it is so expensive. I'm considering using a tablespoon of yeast and using the fast bake setting. I wonder if anyone has done this.

Ohh yess. The big stick pepperoni is awesome! I made it for pull apart pizza monkey bread. Has anyone tried any of the desserts yet? I've wanted to try the black bean brownies but i'm afraid.

if you still have concerns about the bread machine stuff, i would e-mail robin directly through her website. i have done that before and she usually replies within 24 hours :)

i am afraid too. when i saw that recipe i was like, oh no, she went there, i can't believe she did that!

i will never make or eat vegan brownies with beans in them. beans in vegan brownies is exactly what scares me about veganism.

nut sure if this was mentioned earlier in this thread, i'm too lazy to go back and read everything, but i made the fake sour cream today, and to my palette, it did not taste all that great.

when i was mixing it up it and giving it a taste, it was so overpowering with lemon flavor that i added an extra tsp of sugar to try to counteract the acidity. after sitting in the fridge for 4 or 5 hours, the super strong lemon taste was somewhat lessened but still nothing i would want to use :( i'm bummed, i think this might be the first "robin recipe" that i really haven't liked all that much.

So, I got this book out from the library this week. I've currently got the Sunday Supper Frittata in the oven.

I have a question, though: anyone else confused by the cost per serving calculations? Maybe things are more expensive where I am than where the author is, but most of the recipes, I couldn't imagine making them for the prices as they're marked in the book. Factor in the fact that my boyfriend and I will both eat at LEAST two servings at a time, and sadly, it seems that a lot of the recipes aren't really any cheaper than any other vegan recipe.

Am I missing something? Is there a section on how to shop so that you get the low cost/serving that the author gets?

Well, she tends to use cheaper vegetables and lots of beans/rice. But the prices obviously aren't for, say, Eden Organic Canned Platinum Beans (now without healthcare!).

I haven't added up how much the recipes cost with my own shopping habits, though. It's headache-inducingly tricky to figure out how much I spent for staples way back when and how much I used in a recipe. Agreed, though, on servings in cookbooks generally being off - my husband and I can typically polish off a recipe for 4. The assumption is, I think, that you're making it with a couple of sides (but who's got time for that?).

Regardless, she tends to use cheaper ingredients in this book than other vegan recipes do, and in any case it's cheaper than convenience foods or going out to eat because cooking is too complicated and time consuming. So it saves me money...

i don't really pay attention to the cost per serving stuff......
the cookbook is great, my hubby loves the black bean burgers. and that pepperoni stick, omg, little slices of fake pepperoni heaven!

and yes, in the beginning of the book, robin mentions she just shops at her regular grocery store and rarely goes to whole foods and similar stores like that. she tends to stock up or buy things on sale, like a big ol bag of potatoes, so maybe the sale prices were what was used when she was pricing cost per serving?

i've really enjoyed this book. not that i broke the grocery budget doing this, but i rarely put random food stuff in my cart anymore unless i know exactly what i'm going to do with it.