Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Oooh, I think you guys just sold me. How many meal plans are in with each calorie amount per day? I don't need an exact number, I'm mainly asking if there is only one for each level (like 1800 cal, 2000 cal, etc.) or several a piece? I'm too lazy to track my meals, so if there is a week or two worth of calorie breakdowns, I'm all over it.

There's four days for each level at 1400, 1600, 1800 and 2000.

Ok, just made my first recipe out of here, the banana nut waffles. Probably a strange choice, but I just got my waffle maker and wanted to experiment. Anyway, these waffles were fantastic! They only have a little bit of sugar but plenty of sweetness from the banana, and half of the flour is whole wheat pastry flour. She writes that they don't really need maple syrup because the flavor is nice and sweet enough, and that was true for me. I wish I had chopped the pecans a little finer, but that's a noob waffle maker mistake I suspect.

Should add (if it's not obvious from the post above) that these waffles didn't taste "healthy" at all. I'm really excited to cook more out of here! Might make her seitan this weekend and then either the gyros or cheesesteaks.

I just looked through the Amazon look-inside and this book looks (surprisingly, to me anyway!) more interesting than her other books. I like that even though the recipes are low-cal, they still contain modest amounts of oil, and moderate amounts of stuff like white flour and sugar. I don't try to cook low-cal, but I'm interested enough to get this from the library and try a few things.

That's exactly why I ordered it. I made so little from the first one that I didn't get the second, but I'm quite excited about this one coming.

I don't have either of her previous cookbooks - I've looked through them both at bookstores and neither has jumped out at me as one I need to own. However, I really love cookbooks like AFR or Yellow Rose that manage to be healthy and delicious without using tons of fake stuff, and I think this cookbook is going to end up on that list.

Any updates from any of the owners? I still have it on my wish list, but wanted to see if you guys liked it first.

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway of this book! It's waiting for me with my husband in California, I'll get it next week (I am in Canada right now). I'll be sure to report back!

I'm interested in some feedback too. I have one of her books, and I'll use some of the recipes as templates, but most of them seem too simple to be interesting on their own.

I just bought this on a whim at Wegmans yesterday. I love VCF, though I haven't used it much. The chik'n fried seitan is just so good.

I haven't read it yet, but just flipping through, I found some stuff that sounds nice.

I've been trying to prepare quick, healthy meals for my mom and I so we can both eat better and lose weight.

I've been really slack about cooking from this, I meant to be cooking healthier and I bought it with good intentions and all. Although I did make the Orange Cauliflower Soup with some yellow cauliflowers my local supermarkets are stocking (they also have purple ones, maybe next time). Never seen the orange ones, and they look a slightly less tight forming from the pictures I've seen online.

I just bought a new blender and this book....er... sneaked in to my order :) I've sticky-noted a few recipes to try but honestly, I don't think there is a recipe in this book that I wouldn't try.
I just made the BBQ popcorn and it was so good: Sweet, salty, spicy, and crunchy. So, basically the perfect snack! It's ridiculously moreish though so if you make it, I suggest you portion it out quickly!

I made the Corn Flour cupcakes with raspberry buttercream frosting and the oatmeal pancakes over the weekend. Both excellent!
I switched the raspberry preserve for dark cherry since that's what I had. Thr crumbly cornmeal texture in the cupcakes was really nice. And only 178 calories per iced cupcake!
The pancakes were fluffy and light and using a blender instead of bowls saved a lot of time and clean-up.

This is exactly what I like about the book, too.

I also usually don't cook low cal, but I was a tester for Alicia and right now I am cooking and taking pictures of a few of my favourite recipes from the book again (for a review on my blog).
So far I liked:
Chickpea Cheese (one of my favourite spreads so far)
Moroccan Carrot Salad (really good if you let it sit for a while)
White Bean Cassoulet (I usually add a bit more spices and herbs, but this makes several great weeknight dinners)
Chickpea Cacciatore (very tomato-y and therefore great with pasta)

Other recipes I want to make soon: Cincinnati Chili and Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

I made the spicy kale slaw and the toasted sesame napa cabbage salad. Both were delicious. The kale slaw tasted really good the next day so if you can, I think it'd be great to make it the night before you want to eat it. The kale was softer too.

I'm planning to try the meatball soup, chipotle butternut squash bisque, and cincinnati chilli soon! I'm really enjoying this book!

Just got this yesterday. It also 'sneaked' into my amazon order with my blender!

I got it because it is low-cal, easy/quick, and 'comfort food'. My omni fiance is from the south, so I figured he would like it. We are going to go through it tonight.

I did promise him that I would make the butter pecan ice cream to start. He accidently bought me a vanilla silk soymilk (instead of the light) so this should be perfect (I will leave out the vanilla extract)

Think I might also do one of the salads this weekend, either the napa, cabbage or the morrocan carrot. Those seem pretty cheap and pantry friendly except for the veggies. I was impressed by her flavor profiles in the recipes, so I am pretty hopeful on this book.

I'll try out at least 2-3 in the next week and let you guys know how it goes!

I made the Cincinnati chilli and had it over wholewheat spaghetti one day and in a wrap with avocado for lunch the next day. It was tasty but not my favourite chilli. I couldn't taste the liquid smoke that much so added a bit more. It was super easy to throw together in the pot which I always appreciate!

Chipotle butternut bisque is up next I think.

That's funny. I just make the Chili last night too! It was pretty good, but yeah, I did add some more liquid smoke at the end. It was like, better the more and more we ate it. We had it with whole wheat macaroni twists.

Now, I brought some for lunch today (with the pasta) and it was 10x better than last night. Also, I added some leftover corn sauté (a recipe of mine) mixed in. WHOA. it was AMAZEBALLS. This might be one that I make on Sundays for Monday night dinner. It was really easy to make. Pantry friendly too, if you have beans and TVP. (this was my first time using TVP = success. Omni partner liked it too)

I also made the Moroccan carrot salad over the weekend. It was really good. I added some cooked chickpeas to give it some protein - highly recommended. I made it into a full salad as suggested on the next page and it was so-so. There was no extra dressing, so the lettuce was kinda dry. Next time I will make extra of the carrot dressing for the salad. Also I made the pecans, which were very easy to do, but they never really dried, they were pretty sticky. Didn't stop me from eating them tho haha. I added extra cayenne so they were nice and spicy. They were better after being refrigerated overnight.

Split pea soup this weekend. And butter-pecan ice cream (going to add some aged rum and make it butter RUM pecan ice cream I think). And burritos (with my own refried beans and enchilada sauce though)

Chicki, I thought that Moroccan carrot salad sounded good. Think I'll give that a try soon! Agreed on the chilli tasting much better the next day too! They always do though. That's the best thing about making a big pot of something when you are only feeding two or three people :)

I made the butternut squash chipotle bisque yesterday. It's simple but the chipotle really adds a lot of flavour. And heat!! To be fair I did choose the biggest chipotle I had, haha, but I wasn't anticipating that much of a firestorm in my mouth. If you can't handle spicy food you might want to think about just adding half to start with or de-seeding first!

I got this yesterday - My roommate wants to start trying vegan food + lose weight, and I want to lose weight, so this is the book I decided to use as my Julie/Julia :)

Deseeding makes a huuuge difference with chipotles. You get all that smokey flavor and just a little heat, and you can use way more of them.

Yeah, I guess I've never really thought about it since I have always de-seeded them in the past! I was actually going to use two chillies (I like to feel the burn) but decided to blend it and try it first. So glad I did, haha!

I made a couple more things from this book this week, with success!

Wet Burritos

Ok, I didnt make them wet, or really follow the recipe very much, but this (and the chilli last week) was my first time working with TVP. Why? I don't know, I have always been lazy and bought commercial fake ground beef type stuff. NEVER AGAIN. It was very easy, and the taco seasoning mix in the book was perfect. Omni partner loved it too. Made burritos with the TVP 'meat' from the book, some canned refried beans, bit of brown rice, and some pico de gallo and they were yum. and very fast/easy.

Yellow Split Pea Soup

Have never cooked with yellow split peas before. Also not sure why not. They are great. This is a really good basic recipe, can add whatever spices you want in there. Personally, I added some cumin and tarragon, and blended it up. I am sure it will freeze really well as mentioned in the book. It was a bit too smokey for my partner, so I will half the liquid smoke next time. Also, I bet I can make this in about 20 minutes in my pressure cooker.

I am liking this book so far! Still gotta try some of the desserts in the back. There are lots of them, and lots of ice cream recipes.

This sounds like a great cookbook. You all have convinced me to add it to my repertoire.