Soy of Cooking

I'm a busy bachelor and have rarely cooked for myself. A friend recommended "Soy of Cooking" to me and it rocks! The food is simply delicious, the recipies are even easy for the kitchen-challenged, and it calls for the very best in Earth's good food. (I read the review of the woman who says it calls for artificial ingredients -- I think she posted her review to the wrong book: I couldn't find any synthetic ingredients in the "Soy of Cooking".) I'm not vegetarian but now I think it may not be such a bad idea. I'm glad some chefs love food and health enough to write a cook book that keeps my palette happy and heart beating...

After Marie Oser on HGTV I tried her famous Tofu Brownies and have been hooked since. By using silken soy with pastas and tofu with vegetables I have been able to easily and affordably bring the benefits of soy to my diet. Her recipes are easy and pretty fast. I have made several of these dishes for friends and they have been none the wiser. The best is listening to a dinner guest go on about how much they hate tofu...while they are eating it! Ha! The best part of this book is her glossary of soy products and alternatives for things like sugar and butter. Such a great bit to include for the novice. I think the only bad thing I can say is that she says Westsoy is the best tasting soy milk - I insist that Edensoy is much better!

I am quite fond of this book. The layout is easy to read. The recipes are original and creative, but also include a number of better known foods. Each one contains a complete nutritional analysis. There are, however, no estimated preparation times and about half of the reipes call for a long list of ingredients. For those of you who've wandered through health food stores saying, "what would you do with THAT?" this is a great book. It incorporates some imitation meat flavors and textures and the foods are all hearty. The book contains color photos (always a plus) and is neaty arranged into categories such as apetizers, main courses and desserts. I noticed that no one else made mention of the recipes themselves, so let me do that. . . Colorful guacamole; Especially onion dip; Grilled, marinated portabellos; Spinach balls; Sweet and sour "meatballs"; Veggie nachos; "beef" stew; Split pea curry; 3 Miso soups; Raspberry Walnut dressing; Honey wheat bread; Peanut butter banana squares; Potato casserole; Shepherd's Pie; Jasmine "chicken" TVP; Moussaka; Quiche Lorraine; South-of-the-border scrambler; Tofu in Burgundy Sauce; Cranberry Surprise; Dilly Broccoli Rice; Fettuccine with sun-dried tomato/basil cream sauce; Hawaiian pizza; Pumpkin ravioli; Black forest cake; Cherry Truffles; Fudgy Chocolate Walnut ring and Orange Blosson Pecan cake. Altogether, close to 200 recipes.

As a strict new Vegan, I found I was sacrificing flavor for health until I attended a cooking class of Marie Oser's, author of "The Soy of Cooking". I was so grateful to have stumbled upon a marvelous new world of Vegan feasting and promptly bought both of her books, which I now use to the exclusion of all my other cookbooks. There is no need to test any of her recipes before trying them on company - they are each perfection. Even my mainstream friends ask for my recipes and a friend who had never bought tofu came to my house to learn how to make Marie's exquisite pumpkin pie, so smitten was she by mine. Marie has bridged the gap between Vegan ingredients and elegant, rich, marvelously delicious creations.

Soy of Cooking, by Marie Oser Reviewed by Mimi Clark, "Veggie Gourmet" Soy of Cooking, by Marie Oser, is for all intents and purposes, a textbook in my vegetarian cooking classes. In addition to the wide variety of delectable soy recipes, it is also an excellent reference book; a primer not JUST for the tofu-impaired, but also for health-conscious individuals who recognize the importance of incorporating soyfoods into their daily diet in an effort to protect against disease. Ms. Oser's creative use of tofu, tempeh, TVP, miso and soymilk satisfies even the most sophisticated palate. And her section on desserts proves that one needn't feel deprived when egg and dairy products are omitted from recipes. This point was originally illustrated in her first book, Luscious Low Fat Desserts. Ms. Oser was one of the first authors to successfully replace butter/margarine with tofu. A perfect example of this concept is illustrated in "Marie's Incredible Chocolate Brownies," on page 233 of Soy of Cooking; my students' favorite!