Vegan With a Vengeance: Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal -Free Recipes That Rock

With this book, Isa Chandra Moskowitz has done the impossible. She made Jim enjoy seitan, Jerk Seitan to be precise. This has never happened before. We're all quite confused and delighted by it. Jim went so far as to volunteer to take the leftovers for lunch. That says it all.

I first heard about this cookbook in November from someone who was taking my Going Vegetarian continuing ed class. I never really got around to checking it out until I discovered it at my local library the other day.

I've already read it from cover to cover. How often can you say that about a cookbook? Aside from great recipes, she's got some great cooking tips (thanks to her cat Fizzle) and a wicked sense of humor. All of her recipes rely on unprocessed ingredients, which really appeals to me.

The texture and taste of her basic seitan recipe is like nothing I've ever made before. This is probably why Jim liked it so much. In the past my work with seitan usually resulted in a somewhat rubbery product. I do have to confess, I tinkered with the recipe but only because I was missing two ingredients. I used ketchup instead of tomato paste and lemon juice instead of lemon zest but it still was tender, delicious and blatantly non-rubbery. Her combination of spices for the Jerk sauce was heaven. Last night, my five year old asked for a snack before bed. When we asked what he wanted, he said, "that stuff we had for dinner, not the vegetables just the stuff." That's a pretty high compliment around here.

I've added this cookbook to my "please buy it for me if you're looking for a gift for me" list. Although, I like this one so much I might actually break down and buy it for myself.