Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm starting a new topic because there is so much information on healthy cookbooks that it is hard to disseminate all of it.

I am in dire need of a cookbook that has healthy foods for someone whose taste buds never matured past the age of 8. That's me. I'm getting tired of stir fry, salads, and store bought "meats" and "cheeses".

Sadly I've been vegan for 7 years and vegetarian for many years before that and I'm just asking this question. I guess I felt I had enough recipes in my arsenal to keep me going until now, but I want something new. I also don't like curry and it seems like every healthy cookbook is mainly full of curry based recipes.

So, if anyone can offer up healthy cookbook recommendations I would greatly appreciate it!

You're right - there's a lot of info out there.

Tell us a bit more about what you do like; flavours, ingredients, styles of cooking.

tell us a little more about what you mean by healthy because my definition might be totally different than yours.

I also want to recommend Appetite for Reduction which is coming out soon. That book has some of the simplest, healthiest and tastiest recipes ever!

Oh I like chocolate and sugar. I love baking. I can't eat that for meals though. So everything is secondary and acceptable except for curry. Like most veg*ns I have no problem getting starches into my diet. I also don't love soups but am not completely against them. It seems like a lot of vegan cookbooks that I come across have A LOT of soup recipes.

Some of my staples are hummus, gardein chick'ns, vegan cheeses, nutritional yeast, flax rollups, romaine lettuce, carrots, onions, avocados, almost all fruits but especially granny smith apples (berries are my fav but I can only get good ones during the summer). I try to use as few packaged foods as possible but I do have a penchant for the gardein foods and vegan cheeses. I LOVE garlic and other favorite spices include cinnamon, rosemary, dill, thyme, sesame, and paprika (and salt, does salt count? even though I should be eating less of it).

You're absolutely right. Everyone's definition of healthy is different. I should probably be more specific. I would like to have recipes that incorporate more whole and fresh foods. I don't have the metabolism to eat anything that I want but I do consider things like olive oil and avocado to be healthy foods if eaten in moderation.

Appetite for Reduction looked interesting but it's not out yet, and I don't know how curry focused it will be.

I'm one of those annoying people who could eat Indian food constantly, but I don't recall Appetite for Reduction being heavy on the curry. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian might be an option for you. It focuses on whole foods, encourages you to play around with different ingredients and has lots of vegan recipes, as well as recipes that could easily be modified.

i consider my vegan cookbook collection pretty substantial, and i don't think i have a single book that features more than a few curry recipes. i don't think that's something you have to worry about.

Nonna's Italian Kitchen!
http://www.amazon.com/Nonnas-Italian-Ki ... 1570670552

I have about 20 vegan cookbooks, and it seems like most of the recipes in them are whole-foods based. I think only a couple of the books call for fake meat or cheeses, and it's not in every recipe.

Get Healthy, Go Vegan is a new cookbook by Neal Barnard and Robin Cook. I think the recipes are a tad bland, but you might actually like that. It is oil-free, though if you want to saute with olive oil, it's pretty obvious how to add that step in.

Some ones that tend to use whole grain flours: Yellow Rose Recipes, Get It Ripe, anything by Dreena Burton.

The book I go to the most when I have fresh garden veggies and fruit is Extraveganza by Laura Matthias, vegan chef and owner of a commerical organic farm. I like the simplicity of the recipes.

Extraveganza by Laura Matthias
The book is on Google Books preview so you can check out the recipes for free.

There are aslo some good recipes at the Gardein website, including ones by Chef Tal Ronnen:

http://www.gardein.com/index.php

Nava Atlas also has a lot of good healthy recipes from her various books on her website:

http://vegkitchen.com/

Thank you all for your recommendations. All of these books look fantastic! I will put all of them on my Amazon wishlist and pick one to buy now. How am I going to choose just one? Well that's for me to figure out. Thank you all for your advice :)

As far as Dreena's books go, I would select ED&BV first. Also I just rethumbed through Get It Ripe and am reinspired with it. Appetite for Reduction will probably be right up your alley also! Check out your library or hit up the local bookstore to page through some of these first and see which you want to bring home.