Discussion Board

Is anyone else surprised at the sophistication of the recipes? I have the McDougall iPhone app and frankly the recipes aren't anything I couldn't dream up myself as an experienced cook, so I wasn't expecting to get so many cutting edge vegan recipes in the new book. Several of the mains use nooch, silken tofu or nuts in small quantities and are very intriguing. I'm trying out the Caesar salad tonight. It's a shame that I just bought another cookbook a few days ago (let them eat vegan) which I have to take the oil out of, plus the veggie burgers use very large amounts of nuts. If I had known what was coming in the starch solution I could have saved $15!

Not really, all the recipes in all his previous books are great. Not only does his wife Mary contribute to the recipe sections of his books, but so do many of their friends, colleagues, plant based chefs and those who are living the McDougall lifestyle. I have many of his books including the two cookbooks he and Mary published. To borrow a phrase---Yummo!

p.s. I have checked out many many vegan cookbooks from the library that literally drown the food in oil. So I stopped checking them out. I highly recommend the following books for your cookbook library:

Dr. McDougall's New Cookbook (pub. 1997) if you can find it

Dr. McDougall's Quick and Easy Cookbook (order directly from Dr. McDougall on the website or Amazon or Barnes & Noble)

Forks Over Knives Cookbook: 365 days of meals (to be published in July)

Also Dr. McDougall's Maximum Weight Loss Book and The McDougall Plan--12 Days to Dynamic Health also have recipes sections.

He also has published a book on women's health and heart health that have recipes.

I also highly recommend Dr. Neal Barnard's books most of which contain great recipes.

I was also intrigued by the recipes. Its hard for me to read the rest of the book as i keep going over the recipe section. Ive marked several to try. Exciting.

The caesar salad was *WONDERFUL* in fact I loved it so much that I ended up skipping the rest of the meal which was a very nice red lentil sweet potato curry. I just could not stop eating it, it's been a long time since I had a caesar salad which used to be on of my favorite foods. You need to eat a heck of a lot of lettuce to fill you up, and I've definitely done it

Nordgirl: The No-fu loaf from Let them Eat Vegan is FAB! I just bought the Happy Herbivore and Everyday Happy Herbivore - both full of recipes that look really good and are quick and easy out of regular food. I also love the McDougalls' cookbooks!

Sharon

You're right, No-fu loaf looks good, I'm going to give it a whirl. I also love the HH cookbooks.

The caesar salad is the 1st recipe I made and totally agree! It was amazing, I skipped the rest of my dinner as well. And my husband who "hates" salad even had a pretty good helping of it.

Yes, I thought the recipes looked good too and I usually like to just make up my own simple stuff... I am wondering if you could possibly substitute the almond meal with flax meal??? Or would be horrible??? Haven't consumed either in a lonnnnng time though, so I'm not sure when I will try it... So, I'm think'n maybe I need some omegas???
Oh and I really wanna make the artichoke dip someday!!! Yummm!

I have used flax meal in the past to replace eggs in baking. It absobrs liquid and gets kind of thick so I'm thinking it probably wouldn't work.

With the almond meal, it kind of resembled grated parm in texture and didn't absorb the moisture like flax does - even sitting overnight, it still had a good consistency

I just read the book over the weekend. I agree the recipes look wonderful. I am so excited to try some of them.
Kathy

I haven't read the whole thing, but when I thumbed through the recipes, I noticed some I recognized (and have made) from the newsletters. If the recipes surprised you, I'm thinking you may have overlooked that wonderful resouce. The archives are on the main page of the website.

You are so right! The recipes all look top notch, they really stepped up their game. I am really excited by the book.

I've made some of the recipes from Forks over Knives and Starch Solution recipes look way better!

I just finished the book and I also think the recipes are wonderful. I like that they are very flavorful and something I would want to serve to company and especially carnivore friends, of which I have many. I have made Mary's tofu taco recipe, several times, with all the extras and I must say they are absolutely delicious. But don't leave off her cabbage, and tofu sour cream, etc as they make the recipe. I have used her enchilada sauce for years and have passed it onto my family and friends because it is so simple yet delicious. It makes great rancho heuvos sauce and is so simple to prepare yet adds so much to the rancho huevos. Flavorful sauces are often that "little someting extra" that turns an ordinary dish into something really special. Mary's peanut sauce is beyond wonderful and my family loves it over greens and on broccoli or broccolini.....You must try it. Because Mary and John like some spice (heat) and they also like foods with lots of spices (herbs not justheat), her recipes are very flavorful and that is something that I find lacking in alot of so called "vegan" recipes. I will prepare most all of the recipes in the Starch Solution and many, as I said, I have already tried.
I am proud to say that I developed the fat free balsamic recipe that she published in her book (and I gave it to her a few years ago) and I really think it is the closest one can come to a really good balsamic vinaigrette with out using oil. I was a huge fan of EVOO and I loved full fat dressing, so it was hard for me to find a balsamic vinegarette that I liked, would serve to company and that didn't use oil, but I think most people will like this one. I hope you all willmtry it as well and comment on how you like it. I think Mary is a wonderful, creative and tasteful cook without resorting to fake meats and other faux animal look alikes.

I agree with you, dianeb, Mary's recipes may be one of the most important reasons that I actually managed to lose weight and stick with the program as I never had been able to before!

And serenity is right--many of the recipes are from the newsletters, freely available right here in the website. I strongly suggest to anyone who is trying to prepare food this way (the McDougall way!) to check out the recipes in every newsletter in the archives!