u/StainedGlassSuppers

I went to the semi-annual library book sale today and found a bunch of cookbooks I've been looking for! This was the first time we went on opening weekend, so the books were a little more expensive than I'm used to at $4.50 each, but I found some really exciting ones.

I'm looking for recommendations for your **must-make vegan recipes** from these books! If you've cooked from any of them, I'd love to know what recipes you particularly enjoyed. I'm always looking for new things to add to my cooking list!

Here's what I picked up:

1. Madhur Jaffrey's *World of the East Vegetarian Cooking*

2. *Asian Fusion: A Culinary Odyssey of Vegan Recipes*

3. *Frugal Vegan*

4. *The 30 Minute Vegan*

5. *Eat Vegan on $4 a Day*

6. *Color Me Vegan*

7. *Big Vegan*

8. *Vegan Planet*

9. *How to Cook Everything Vegetarian*

10. *Cannabis Drinks*

11. *Vegan One-Pot Wonders*

12. *Afro-Vegan*

13. *The Voluptuous Vegan*

14. *The How Not to Die Cookbook*

15. *The Great Vegan Bean Book*

16. *The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen*

17. *Eat, Drink & Be Vegan*

18. *East*

19. *Vegan Richa's Everyday Kitchen*

20. *Minimalist Baker's Everyday Cooking*

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

The last couple weeks have been really rough. Today I finally had time and energy to do something fancy for myself and I had a vision, purple cauliflower from the local farm stand roasted into an "alfredo" over orange hand made fettuccine. It would be so pretty, colorful and fall and while the noodles were great, the cauliflower roasted into this, mushroom brown if you want to be nice or poop brown if you're being honest. I sprinkled on follow your heart parm trying to save it but it was too far gone. It did, at least, taste better than it looks. The recipe is "Kate Middleton's pasta Alfredo" from Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen, I would never serve this to Kate Middleton.

I loved seeing the tracking sheet someone shared earlier, so I hope it's okay I was inspired to post mine!

Mine is definitely still a work in progress. I'm slowly adding my entire cookbook collection (300+ physical books), and this summer I've been expanding it to include things like digital books, storage locations, purchase dates, prices, and where each book came from. The new columns are mostly proof of concept right now while I work through everything.

I probably spend way too much time making spreadsheets, but I genuinely enjoy it. I have similar trackers for our books, movies, TV shows, video games, and even my craft supplies.

This spreadsheet is also meant to be connected to my recipe calculator. This sheet pulls from grocery shopping log to save what the recipe actually cost to make on that date. I'm hoping to eventually have the sheets connect so when I run a recipe for price, it updates that it was made in the cookbook sheet (and end goal each recipe will be tied to the ingredients it was made from which will be another way to search for recipes, but that is probably years away).

It's definitely a bit overkill, but organizing data is half the fun of the hobby for me. I'd love to hear if anyone else tracks anything beyond just "recipes made."

For this week, I went all in on making bao! I used the recipe from Vegan Eats World by Terry Hope Romero, which was actually three separate recipes combined into one project.

This was an all-day adventure. I made Chinese five spice seitan, bao dough, and then assembled the bao themselves. The final result was really good. The seitan and filling were flavorful, with lovely hints of Chinese five spice, and the bao were light, fluffy, and satisfying.

I did have some frustrations with the recipe itself.

The seitan was cooked four different times (steamed, baked, fried, and then steamed again inside the bao), which felt a little unnecessary and resulted in a lot of extra dishes.

The bao dough recipe and the full bao recipe also contradicted each other about resting times, how many times to rest the dough, and how to shape the buns, which made the process more confusing than it needed to be (I never did get the hang of shaping).

The filling could also have been chopped much finer, and I think each bun could have held more filling. I ended up with quite a bit leftover.

That said, I would absolutely make these again. The process was a little chaotic, but the final product was worth it, and I can’t wait to start experimenting with different bao fillings!

Sunflower bowl = cornstarch noodles.

White bowl = potato starch noodles.

This week came from an accidental success born out of necessity. I just got a bunch of new cookbooks that I was super excited to dive into, and with the help of Redditors sharing their favorite recipes to try, I ended up choosing Spiced Double Potato Noodles as my first recipe from Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon.

It sounded delicious and was something I could make immediately with my pantry staples. It was just potato starch, potatoes, and seasonings, easy! Except... I didn’t have potato starch. I did, however, have the exact amount of cornstarch I needed (I was halving the recipe), and with unusual confidence, I decided to try it anyway.

It was awesome. Everything went surprisingly well: quick, easy, and despite forgetting to halve the vinegar along with the rest of the ingredients, I ended up with what I enthusiastically called “Chinese French Fries.”

When I saw the Science Fair challenge, I immediately knew I had to try the recipe again, this time with potato starch, and see the differences for myself.

What I learned:

The dough was much more manageable using potato starch. The cornstarch version came together fine, but it never actually became a smooth, elastic dough. Even after kneading, it stayed cracked and brittle. Because of this, the dough was slightly harder to shape (if I rolled it too thin, the “tail” would break off).

The cornstarch noodles also never became transparent in the ice bath. They stayed solid white. The biggest difference, though, was definitely the texture.

The cornstarch noodles were toothsome, almost like traditional pasta, and they melded beautifully with the potatoes. Fresh, it was almost challenging to tell where the noodle ended and the potato began. Unfortunately, that texture didn’t hold up when reheated. The second day, the noodles were crumbly and dry. They were still edible and perfectly fine, but they had lost the exciting potato fry texture I fell in love with.

The potato starch noodles were completely different. As the recipe describes, they were “springy” and “bouncy,” with a mochi-like texture. They were super chewy and slippery. The seasoning didn’t stick quite as well, but they reheated much better than the cornstarch noodles.

The verdict:

I am honestly surprising myself by saying this, but I much prefer the cornstarch noodles! I really enjoyed the weird texture, and I loved that they used ingredients I already keep on hand. They were also cheaper and more accessible.

I would probably only make one serving at a time, keeping the extra noodles in water in the fridge to cook fresh the next day, like the cookbook suggests as a make-ahead option. That should help with the reheating issues.

I tend not to repeat recipes because I have an endless list of things I want to try, but if I do make these again (which I probably will), I think I’ll try a mix of the two starches and I will definitely keep the doubled amount of vinegar.

My husband was on Amazon looking at anime and I commented on how some of the books on my wishlist were ~50% off. Two days later, these showed up. I am so excited and can't wait to cook from them as soon as possible, like tomorrow meal prep soon. So quick, what are your favorite recipes from any of the books pictured (ATK Vegan Cooking for Two, Dal Chawal, The Vegan Chinese Kitchen, Love and Lemons Simple Feel Good Food, Tenderheart, Boustany, Big Vegan Flavor)?

Excuse the zoopal plate, I wished I picked one that enhanced the colors better but I was too hungry to care.

For our weekly picnic I had leftover homemade seitan (Steamed Chicky Seitan from Isa Does It) and figured it would be great for kabobs. I used the marinade from 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, oregano, garlic) but played with the components based on what I had in the fridge. I ended up with mushroom, peach, bell pepper,and seitan and wow, it was fantastic. My favorite things were the mushrooms (so juicy!) And the peaches which after marinating in balsamic ended up so smoky sweet I couldn't stop eating them.

This is my absolute favorite pint, it is based off the recipe from Veganomicon and tastes exactly like the matcha from Roll Roll Ice Cream (I keep thinking I'm going to try to roll it, but always eat it all first). Super simple to make and healthier than traditional ice cream. Made from just silken tofu, coconut milk, almond milk, sugar, vanilla, and of course matcha!

Had nothing to eat after being out of state visiting family for a week so I challenged myself to make a vegan fourth of July style meal from my pantry. I ended up with:

* On the Glow Pasta Salad with Creamy ACV, Shallot, Maple and Dijon Vinaigrette and Vegan Feta from Oh She Glows Salads

* BBQ Seitan Wings, made with Steamed Chicky Seitan from Isa Does It

* Mac and Cheese from Hot for Food All Day

* Cheater Baked Beans from Veganomicon

And Turkey Hill tea brought back from the homeland

After visiting family out of state for a week I came home hungry and with nothing to eat. A bunch of pantry staples and a short 2 hours later I had the following covering lunch and dinner for four days (and had finished eating and cleaning up!)

From top down:

* On the Glow Pasta Salad with Creamy ACV, Shallot, Maple and Dijon Vinaigrette and Vegan Feta Cheese from Oh She Glows Salads

Dressing: (Garlic, Shallot, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, avocado, maple syrup, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard)

• Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Salad: (red bell pepper, green onions, cherry tomatoes, dill, macaroni)

• Cook the macaroni, chop the vegetables, and toss everything together with the dressing and feta.

* Cheater Baked Beans from Veganomicon (olive oil, onions, garlic, tomato sauce, molasses, mustard powder, beans - I used kidney because thats what I had)

• Brown the onion, combine with the remaining ingredients, and bake until hot and bubbly.

* BBQ Seitan Wings from The Everything Easy Vegan Cookbook (seitan, bbq sauce)

• Coat the prepared seitan in barbecue sauce and bake until caramelized.

* Mac and Cheese from Hot for Food All Day (nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, Dijon mustard, macaroni, vegan cheddar, plant-based butter) Combine everything except Vegan cheddar and plant-based butter in a pot and cook until the pasta is tender and the sauce has thickened. Add cheddar and butter and stir until melted into sauce.

* Vegan Feta from Oh She Glows Salads - 1/4 used for the pasta salad, the rest to be frozen (tofu, coconut oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar)

• Blend all ingredients until smooth, then refrigerate until firm.

* Ciabatta Rolls from Easy Vegan Baking (yeast, flour, olive oil, sugar)

• Combine the ingredients into a dough, let rise, shape, let rise again, and bake until golden.

* Steamed Chicky Seitan from Isa Does It - half used for the wings, the other half made as "cutlets" in the foil for the freezer (Chickpeas, vegetable broth, olive oil, soy sauce, Vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic)

• Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process into a dough. Shape and steam until cooked through.

I spent hours making all the components for this vegan reuben, even though I've never had a reuben before. It was easily the most work I've ever put into making a sandwich and one of the best ones I've ever eaten.

Components:

Homemade German beer rye bread

Homemade vegan Thousand Island dressing

Marinated tempeh

Avocado

Homemade red cabbage coleslaw

Sudden move incoming, and my vegan cookbook collection is officially on the chopping block. Which of these books have recipes so good they're worth keeping for?

I have been vegan for almost 9 years and somehow accumulated... all of this.

I'm not really looking for cookbook recommendations (unless they're truly amazing). I'm trying to figure out which books are actually worth the shelf space (and being moved, again). What books in these pictures do you still cook from regularly? Are there any recipes that are so good they justify keeping an entire cookbook?

I much prefer cooking from vegan-specific books rather than veganizing recipes myself, and I actually use my ethnic, baking, themed, and specialty cookbooks. It's the giant stack of general vegan cookbooks that I'm struggling to sort through.

Help me save some books from the donation pile. Or ease my conscience for not keeping them all. Any and all opinions welcome!

I apologize for the bad picture. I haven't meal prepped in weeks and have been so far behind. Just getting this much done took over three hours, so I wasn't taking extra time to get the perfect shot, but I still wanted to post for the accountability.

As always, everything is vegan, with a huge emphasis on being cheap, easy, and helping me work through my too-many cookbooks.

From top left, going across:

Blackberry Orange Cold Brew Tea - Snarky Tea

Oat Almond Milk - Almond Cow (oats, almonds, water)

German Beer Rye Bread - Bread Machine Collection Cookbook (Busch Light Apple beer, plant-based butter, molasses, bread flour, rye flour, salt, yeast)

Ube Mochi Waffle Batter - Trader Joe's mix (Ener-G egg replacer, oil, water)

Thousand Island Dressing - Vegan with a Vengeance (vegan mayo, ketchup, lemon juice, onion, capers, sweet relish, cayenne)

Granny's Apple Pie Overnight Oats - PlantYou (oats, almond milk, chia seeds, apple, cinnamon, agave)

Coleslaw - 1,000 Vegan Recipes (red cabbage, vegan mayo, soy milk, apple cider vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, celery seed, salt)

Tempeh for Reubens - Vegan with a Vengeance (tempeh, white wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic)

Midnight Chocolate Cherry Overnight Oats (x2) - PlantYou (oats, almond milk, chia seeds, cocoa powder, cherries, chocolate chips, agave)

Baby Carrots (x5)

Caribbean Coconut Ice Sticks - Party Pops (coconut milk, simple syrup, pineapple juice, orange juice, rum)

Red Pepper Hummus (x5) - 1,000 Vegan Recipes (chickpeas, garlic, roasted red peppers, lime juice, salt, cayenne, tahini)

Blueberry Peach Cobblers (x6) - 1,000 Vegan Recipes (blueberries, plumcots instead of peaches, cornstarch, sugar, lemon juice, flour, oats, margarine)

Corn Chowder (x5) - Hot for Food All Day (cashews, corn, onion, oil, carrot, celery, garlic, potato, thyme, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, vegetable stock, spinach)

This covers breakfasts, lunches, snacks, desserts, drinks, and most of the prep work for Reubens later. The only thing I have left to do is making a curry and more overnight oats on Wednesday. Feels good to finally have a fridge full of food again.

I love seeing everyone's cookbook collections and thought I'd share mine in its entirety because not only did it force me to put it all in one place for the pictures, but we may also be moving suddenly and I have some hard choices to make.

Growing up, I collected cookbooks. When I became vegan, I donated pretty much all of them and started over. "This will be fine," I thought. "How many vegan cookbooks can there be?" I made rules. First, I wouldn't buy anything new. Then I wouldn't spend more than $5. I still kept finding them. People gift them to me. I need certain ones to complete my collection. And here we are.

This is too many. They are no longer organized how they started, and I really don't want to move this many books. I already donated over 2,000 nonfiction books this month (long story), and now the cookbooks are on the chopping block.

So, cookbook lovers of Reddit, help.

For fun, what does this collection say about me? And which books do you think are not worth the shelf space?

A couple things I've realized as I've collected and cooked from these books:

• I am vegan (surprise!), and I am lazy. That is to say, it's been 9 years, so I don't think that's going to change. I don't like putting in the effort to veganize things, I'd much rather just pick a recipe and cook (obviously there are enough options).

• I have found authors I trust and will always prefer, and I will not leave them behind (Robin Robertson, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero).

• I do theme weeks and actually cook from ethnic and themed cookbooks (looking at you Pokémon, I will cook/bake them all).

• I rely heavily on "specialty" books. Every week I know I need a muffin recipe, a slow cooker recipe, a popsicle/ice cream recipe, a soda/beer recipe, etc.

• And there are some books I simply enjoy owning/collecting (Moosewood Kitchen).

With all that in mind, I think the general vegan cookbooks are going to be the ones to go. Which ones have you tried? Are there any amazing recipes I absolutely need to make that could save some of these poor books?

A really weird week for prepping but I hope it's okay I post what my actual Sunday Meal Prep was. It’s a four day work week, it’s supposed to be in the high 80s here, and it’s also my birthday week, so I needed things that were cool, flexible, and lighter than usual.

I also wanted an excuse to cook from as many of my new cookbooks as possible, so here’s what I ended up with.

From top left going across:

Pineapple Tepache, recipe from PlantYou Scrappy Kitchen (pineapple peel, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, water)

Cold Brew Tea, Banana Cherry Split from Snarky Tea

Ninja Creami Pints, chocolate, vanilla, matcha, and peanut butter, all recipes from Veganomicon (Silken tofu, almond/oat milk, sugar, plant based cream, vanilla, and chocolate/peanut butter/matcha)

Black beans, made in instant pot (dried black beans, bay leaf, water)

Pineapple

Roasted brussel sprouts with red pepper jelly and Trader Joe's vegan Italian sausage

Hummus, recipe from PlantYou Scrappy Kitchen (Chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, salt, garlic)

Carrots, Celery, Broccoli

Peanut Butter Chickpea Blondies, recipe from PlantYou Scrappy Kitchen (oats, oat pulp from homemade oat/almond milk, chickpeas, peanut butter, agave, ground flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, agave, salt)

Not pictured are the blueberry bagels I pulled out of the freezer, the homemade oat/almond milk, and the rest of the fruit for the week (cherries, red kiwis, oranges, and strawberries).

The stack on the left (Party Vegan, Vegan's Daily Companion, The Unofficial Harry Potter Vegan Cookbook, The Indian Vegan Kitchen, Vegan Soul Kitchen, Quick-Fix Vegan, Cafe Flora Cookbook, Thug Kitchen Party Grub, Vegan Party Planning, and Still Life with Menu) were from the library booksale that my husband takes me to for my birthday every year. We went opening weekend this time, so there were more options than I've ever seen.

I was good and limited myself to one box (for everything, not just cookbooks, though they took up almost all the room) and only got things that were already on my list, books that finished a collection, or books by trusted authors. The only exception I made was Cafe Flora since it was signed. We paid $4.50 each for these.

The second stack is my birthday gifts to myself. We went on a trip to the city while visiting my mother-in-law for Mother's Day, and we always have to stop at 2nd & Charles. I behaved again and only picked five books from my list (Plant Based on a Budget, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Thug Kitchen 101, PlantYou, and PlantYou Scrappy Kitchen).

The last book (Oh She Glows Salads) was what I bought with the B&N gift card my mother-in-law gave me. This is only the fourth brand new cookbook I've ever owned. Why are they so expensive? It hurt my soul a little to pay full price, but I'm happy to support the author and was specifically told to buy "the expensive cookbook you've wanted," like there was only one lol.

First impressions: I am SO happy I got PlantYou and PlantYou Scrappy Kitchen. They were immediately flagged, and I've already made 5 recipes from Scrappy Kitchen in the three days I've had it. All keepers so far.

The Indian Vegan Kitchen has a whole month of menus to cook through, which I am very excited about because I love when cookbooks plan meals for me. Anything by Robin Robertson is usually a huge win for me too.

Vegan's Daily Companion isn't really a cookbook, but I love Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and have really enjoyed the daily readings and weekly recipes.

The Unofficial Harry Potter Vegan Cookbook is absolutely magical and makes me want to do a themed movie marathon with all the treats, though some of these recipes are definitely a project. Whether they're fantasy-only recipes or not remains to be seen.

Surprisingly, I am having trouble getting excited about Vegan Soul Kitchen. Any favorite recipes from that one (or any of the others)?