The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat

First off let me state that I am not vegitarian or vegan. I bought this book to because I was tired of the same bland vegetables as sides and needed a tastier way to incorporate them into my family of five's diet. I would only reccomend this book if you really enjoy cooking and have enough skill to improvise on the fly.My eldest son and I are the only ones who will eat asparagus. I made the soup on page 97 (first time I ever made soup from scratch!) with the cashew cream and my entire family liked it. I could not find cheap vegetable bouillon so I bought Better Than Bouillon brand chicken bouillon (real chicken, there was no vegetable) and substituted 1 tablespoon of bacon grease for 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I could not find any microgreens to garnish the soup. Not only is it amazing that my entire family likes it but it was very creamy. The cashew cream exceeded my expectations. The book says this makes 6 servings but it's more like 15.I will be making the chicken scaloppini on page 155 next. Several issues with the recipe so far without even having made it. I can not find packaged cooked Udon noodles anywhere (can't find a good asian market) so I have to make them myself from dried noodles and worry they won't be packed tight enough for this recipe. I found gardein "chicken" at fresh and easy (whole foods is a drive) but it is very expensive for a family of five and they were all preseasoned (wet). If they sell plain faux chicken I haven't seen any. None of the seasonings would be a match for this recipe but since I eat chicken I'll just use the real thing. The recipe calls for 1 pound of shiitake mushrooms, this is for four servings and each entree of chicken has about 5 mushroom pieces on it so it is more like 4-6 ounces not 16 for the entire recipe. I could not find pea shoots so I will be substituting spinach.Again, if you already have some skills in the kitchen you can deal with the errors and lack of access to the ingrediants, if you are a novice you will be wondering why you are putting 4 ounces of mushrooms on top of 7 ounces of "chicken".I can't wait to try the cashew cheese!**EDIT**I just went to the gardein website and they reccomend two different types of "chicken" to use. One of which is "chicken" scaloppini in the frozen food area. I did not check the frozen foods, I thought all gardein products were fresh for some reason. The chicken appears to be 2.5 ounces (the noodles are 7 ounces before cutting) and everywhere you see his recipe it asks for 1 pound of shiitake mushrooms, that seems way too much but I'll confirm after I cook it with the 6 ounces I bought. 6.5 ounces total (4 ounces mushrooms and 2.5 ounces "chicken") does seem to be a good amount for the "meat" course but it sure looks like more "chicken" than mushrooms in the pictures I wasn't going to spend $18 + on mushrooms.

Very beautiful book- love the recipes, but, I’m not a chef nor do I live in an area where there are the ingredients needed to complete the list of ingredients in many of the recipes. That said, I’ve cooked the agave- lime grilled tofu w Asian slaw & mashed sweet potatoes - flavors were way too strong for my palate & I am cooking for 1 so, I found it very difficult to ratchet down that particular recipe lists… I will try a different tactic the next time. The garden chicken piccata turned out excellent !!! Kudos !!! Praise for the chef & all he has done for vegan cuisine. On to the soups next!!! Love a challenge !!!

First, I admit that I had this book for a few weeks before trying any of the recipes, I felt a little intimidated. There was no need for that, I found the directions were clear, easy to follow, and if there were a lot of ingredients, well the finished product justified all of it. I have only been a Vegan for 6 months, but a self-taught home cook for 30 years. I have had to learn to "cook" all over again. It has gotten easier and easier, so books like this one that raise the bar to restaurant quality meals are a welcome challenge. In one week I made the CALIFORNIA GARDEIN "CHICKEN" SALAD with great success, then the CASHEW CREAM in both regular and thick versions to have on hand. (I have a VitaMix blender, I am not sure a food processor would make this as well.) We needed a dessert and since I had everything on hand I made the CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER CAKE. I increased the ingredients to 1.5X to be able to use a 9X13 baking pan. It took another 10 minutes to bake and worked very well. It was devoured, enough said. Christmas Eve dinner was a shortcut version of FREE-FORM RAVIOLI WITH TOFU RICOTTA AND ARUGULA PESTO. I make mass quantities of basil pesto puree each summer to freeze, so I subbed that for Tal Ronnen's arugula version, and there wasn't time to make homemade pasta sheets, so I bought fresh ones at a gourmet store here in NY. The tofu ricotta was easily made ahead of time and refrigerated, so the meal came together in 10 minutes. Everyone loved it, even the teens. Christmas dinner was not so successful, which was entirely my fault. I disobeyed Rule 1 of Good Cooks Everywhere: I didn't read through the recipe I'd chosen before beginning-- PEPPERCORN ENCRUSTED PORTOBELLO FILLETS WITH YELLOW TOMATO BÉARNAISE. There was a 1 hour marinating step that would have had us eating by 10 PM! Oops. So it became the dinner for the next night and I started at 5:30pm. Another big hit, the marinating step was the key to the tenderness and fabulous taste of the portobellos. The MASHED POTATOES on the side were a revelation, we never thought they could be made properly without all the butter and sour cream we used in the past. Didn't miss any of it. No leftovers, must double next time! New Years Eve inspired my husband to try the CORN CHOWDER recipe. I reminded him that we live in NY and there was snow outside and no fresh corn for a thousand miles or more, but he soldiered on using organic frozen sweet corn. The chipotle gave it a nice flavor kick, it was a another big success. Have to double THAT recipe next time, also. This cookbook has never gotten a rest on the the shelf with the others. My plan is to hand it to a family member to pick out what they want for dinner and jump right in. My only issue with this and some other cookbooks by chefs are the weights and measures of ingredients. The corn chowder calls for 6 ears of fresh corn, we had to guess at the equivalent in frozen. Exactly what is a large potato? It's all relative, I'd need 3 in a row to pick the large one. I would prefer ounces or pounds as a measure for veggies. It's not a huge deal, just a pet peeve!

It only lost one star because some of the ingredients were difficult to source, namely quality seitan for the chik'n substitute. I've been making my own seitan, but to get a beautiful recipe book only to discover that the chef doesn't show you how to make your own seitan (the powder is available in the UK and even organic), was disappointing because many internet recipes just aren't up to it. (Tip: wrap in foil and steam the seitan, don't ever boil it!). This is beautifully illustrated, has some good pages on herbs and other ingredients but it is US-centric, which makes sourcing one or two ingredients problematic, expensive or impossible. You can use alternatives though, like quorn and vegetable proteins for things like the wrap recipe until you've mastered your seitan! This cook book is still refreshing, inspiring and a welcome addition to my cook book collection. Would recommend.

A very inspiring and beautifully illustrated Vegan cookbook.This is for making something special, not throwing together a quick meal.Not all of the American ingredients are described adequately so you may have to phone a friend eg Earth Balance is a vegan margarine whereas in the UK I know it as a brand of several nut butters. Some of the ingredients may not be available in the UK but you could substitute.He includes several guest chefs who provide a lot of the recipes.Lots of info as well as the recipes. A nice book to receive as a gift or buy it cheap as I did on Amazon Marketplace

This book is beautifully presented and packed with interesting, tasty and nutritionally sound meals. You don't have to be a vegan to appreciate this book. All you have to have is a love for good fresh, seasonal vegetables...and cooking - these meals are not 2 minute dishes. Some of the dishes are reasonably time consuming and some do require specialist ingredients which are not always easy to find in Europe. This book is not for the uninitiated who want to try veganism, there are technically easier books out there but as a part of a vegan cookbook collection, it is a welcome addition.

Really exciting and innovative recipes, great introductions and inspiring combinations of flavours. Highly recommended to everyone to read and master

This book is like an promotional tool for a range of products called Gardein (the author is involved with this company as far as I can make out). I expext my cook books to allow me to cook from scratch and not to just assemble a range of processed products that are not even available outside the U.S. I won't find this book useful, as a competant cook I found it uninspiring.