Cooking with Peta: Great Vegetarian Recipes for a Compassionate Kitchen

I have a whole shelf-full of vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, but this is the one I turn to most often. Recipes range from simple stand-bys to fancy "just for company" dishes.

I bought this book four years ago, when I was fourteen years old and new to the world of veganism. I'd tried many vegan recipes and for the most part, they were really bad! It didn't help that I was an extremely picky eater and grossed out by tofu, even though I tried. I also didn't have much experience cooking and that didn't help any. I tried a few recipes from this book and thought they were good. To show how good this cookbook is, I'm no longer vegan, but this is the cookbook I use the most! I still make Wake 'Em Up Pancakes once a week or so because they're the best pancakes I've ever encountered. They're excellent made with any juice you have on hand, though they'll be pink if you use cranberry juice and purple if you use raspberry juice. I actually use this cookbook more now even though I'm not vegan anymore (though I eat little meat) because the recipes are great and I'm a much more experienced cook now and am no longer a picky eater. My copy is actually falling apart now. I definitely recommend this book to vegans as well as non-vegans and my other favorites are 150 VEGAN FAVORITES by Jay Solomon and NONNA'S ITALIAN KITCHEN by Bryanna Clark Grogan (this is vegan as well).

I tried my best to follow this book and PETA's minions of hotties. I'm trying to lose weight (LOTS of weight) and figured meatless food might just be the answer to a newer, slimmer Dipper. I found a copy of this book at a garage sale (oddly enough right next to fur lined gloves) and dove into the hordes of recipes. Cream of Celery Soup, Gentle Shepard's Pie, Magnificent Lasagne, Roasted Veggie Pizza, Butterbean Pate. I must admit, I had to grimace through most of these "meals" wondering why vegetables and fruits had to be so taste-free, but was contented in knowing that this type of food was sure to help in sending the pounds a fleeing. But (pardon the pun) I, along with anyone else in the vicinity couldn't help noticing a problematic side effect of all this doesn't-have-a-mommy food: gas! Huge, loud problems with man's next best friend! I was a toot-machine wherever I went. It was funny at first, even welcome at times, but when was this foul percolation going to end? Alright, maybe something different from "Cooking With Peta: Great Vegan Recipes for a Compassionate Kitchen" would do the trick. Pine nuts, curried dip tofu, "beefless stew", Wake-'Em-Up Pancakes. No dice. If my body was making helium, I could've floated into lower Earth orbit! My alarmed neighbors began calling me the Town-Tooter, my co-workers made sure I kept my office door closed and would only contact me by phone, and I began to wonder how many cubic feet of gas it would take to lose even one pound! After three weeks of flatulence and only four lost pounds, I knew PETA wasn't soon going to be happy with it's latest convert. My bemused doctor suggested solving this 'problem' by doing what humans have always done since the dawn of time: eat meat. A toot-salute to this sage advice sealed the fate of my Vegan ways and I hopped into the new Kia for a spin over to McDonalds! Since then, my turgid tummy days are past although, the Battle of the Belly Bulge is still far from won. This book was interesting and well written, but the side effects of this particular lifestyle on my particular digestive tract were explosive! It's fruits, veggies, and tasty meat in reasonable portions for this dieter from here on out. Caveat emptor!

Easy-to-follow, fun recipes sorted by meal or course: breakfast, appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, main entrees, drinks, etc. Some nutritional information is provided (calories, protein, fat, carbs, calcium, fiber and sodium). I would have liked to have been given more nutritional information for each recipe. Additionally, some of the recipes are outrageously unhealthy (The "Nutty Zucchini Loaf" has 621 calories, 48 grams of fat and 449 mg of sodium per serving.) One important concern for vegans is overlooked (or perhaps intentionally not addressed to be as apolitical as possible) by this author: Some recipes call for a "greased pan." Some store-bought lards and vegetable oils are manufactured by large companies that repeatedly and unneccessarily test their products in cruel and inhumane manners on tens of thousands of animals annually. In a truly "compassionate kitchen," an informed vegan consumer probably would not purchase / use products manufactured by these companies.Overall, the recipes themselves are excellent (5 star rating for the recipes). The book is easy-to-follow, well-organized, has a glossary of ingredients, and documents some informational resources such as web sites, other cookbooks, vegetarian groups, and more. Recommended.

This was our first vegan cookbook and we had a field day testing the recipes! My daughter loves the knishes and the vegan lasagne, and the recipes are easy to follow as well as delicious. Throughout the text are cute stories and tidbits of info for new vegans, and the introduction is a good explanation of the "basics." (Like what to do with that jiggling tofu cube, etc.) Enjoy!!