Hi Folks, it's Teenuja from Veganlovlie. Well, today I wanted to do a review of one of my
favourite cookbooks which is Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. So, this
book is actually celebrating its 10 year anniversary this year and I already owned the previous
edition of this book which was the 2007 one. And the new edition was sent to me by the
publisher for a review. So, this book has been updated and there have been a few changes.
So, first of all there is a new foreword by Isa Chandra and then there are new updated
recipes and also what the previous editions were missing is full photos. So, there are
a lot of photos of the food in this edition.
So, the first thing that actually stuck me with the book was the whole redesign of the
book itself. From the cover to the inside, the page layout, all the graphic elements
and the choice of typography. So, probably people don't mind that as much but for me,
coming from a Graphic Design background, and I have myself worked on a few recipe cookbooks
where I have done the page layout and design for them, so I do like to have a look at these
whenever I am holding a cookbook or any book actually in my hands. So, what I like about
this one is the trendy grungy kind of feel that it has and they also used a distressed-style
font that I think gives the book a lot of personality. So, I really liked that in the
new edition.
So, concerning the content of the book itself, it's a celebration of comfort food and they
are all presented in reliable and easy recipes to follow. So, the book starts actually by
an introduction where Isa explains the changes that she has done to the recipes and her general
approach and some of them are easier recipe directions and a shorter list of ingredients.
And also her cat Fizzle gives us some nice little tips all throughout the book. So, I
found that to be very entertaining. And she also has a section on tools and kitchen stuffs
as well as some guidelines for a well-stocked vegan pantry. So, these were very useful tips
in the book.
So, the recipes in the book, they fall in different categories which are Brunch, Muffins
and Scones, Soups, Little Meals, Finger Foods and Sammiches, Sides, Pizzas and Pastas, Entrees,
Cookies and Bars and Desserts. So, I found that a lot of the recipes in the Sides and
Entrees sections could be made into Mains by just increasing the portion size.
So, what I also really liked about the recipes is the simplicity of the ingredients. So,
Isa uses mostly whole unprocessed ingredients that are also inexpensive. And she has reviewed
some of them like vegan butter which she now substitutes with coconut oil. So, I found
this really nice about this new edition.
The recipes that I have tried from the book, I have tried a few... the first one is the
Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins and I thought these were really delicious. It had the right amount
of sweetness and tartness, because sometimes the muffins can be a little too sweet but
these ones they were just right. And it had been a while since I made muffins so I really
enjoyed them.
And the next one that I made is the Seitan Portobello Stroganoff. So, I actually substituted
the seitan with tofu and I didn't have any portobello on hand so I used shiitake mushrooms
instead. But it turned out really delicious. I really loved the sauce and even though I
didn't use any wine in mine, the sauce still came out really nice. And I had that over
penne instead of fettucinne. So, I really enjoyed that, it was a delicious dinner.
And the next recipe that I made is the Brussels Sprouts Fried Rice which I am also sharing
the recipe for in the next video. So, this fried rice was really easy, it really comes
together quickly and it was very tasty. I liked the combination of flavours and the
herbs and the spices that Isa chose to use in this one. So, all the meals so far that
I've tried from the book and even from the previous version I made a few recipes mostly
the cookies from the previous version that I own, they were really nice.
So, on the whole I really loved this book and I hope you will find this review helpful.
So, if you want the recipe for the Brussels Sprouts Fried Rice, stay tuned and watch the
next video. If you've liked this review, please give it
a thumbs up and share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe! I'll see you
soon in Part 2 for the recipe.