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Tuesday 15 April 2014

Cookbooks

Yes, I've changed my blog name from Herbivorous Carnivore to The Boltonian Vegan.  It's something I've meaning to do for a while, the name Herbivorous Carnivore seemed outdated and to be honest, a bit meaningless.

I've changed the style of the blog too, and added a fake FAQ section (I hope you enjoy it- it would be nice to add some real FAQs at some point so ask away).  Over time I hope to refine the blog further and want to try and design my own blog background, if anyone has any tips on how to do this, please let me know!

Anyway, back to the theme of the post, which is cookbooks.  I've always been a bit of a cookbook hoarder, and at the moment I'm trying to get into the habit of creating my own recipes, instead of just following other recipes exactly- something I blame my scientific background/slight OCD for!

Anyway, here a couple cookbooks I love:

Appetite For Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowski 

This is the first Isa book I have owned, and I definitely want to get hold of her others.  The only downsides to her books are that there isn't a picture for each recipe, which is something I look for in a recipe book, and as it's American the book is full of American terms and measurements.  This is something you get use to over time, google is a godsend for finding out what strange American terms actually mean in English, and the set of cup measures I got in Mozzers (aka Morrisons) has made following American recipes a lot easier.  The recipe I make most out of this book is mac and trees- I'm always glad when The Boy is out for tea and I can whip this up for tea!

New Complete Vegetarian- Rose Elliott

Not actually a vegan cookbook, but a lot of the recipes are vegan or can be made vegan.  The book comes with a handy section on soaking and cooking dried pulses which I have bookmarked as I try to cook my own pulses instead of buying tins.  I love the carrot and ginger soup and the butter bean curry.

Abel and Cole- The Veg Box Companion

I got this free with my first veg box from them and I've found the book so useful for finding out how to use veg that is a bit out of the ordinary and it's great for simple recipes, however it's not an exclusively meat free book, so I doubt I would have bought it myself.  You can still get quite a few of the recipes from their website in the recipes section, you can even search by vegetable and filter just to show vegan recipes.  My all time favorite is the Roots Manoeuvre Curry which is constantly bookmarked!

Easy Vegan

I very nearly didn't put this on here, just because it's not one of my favorite cookbooks as I find a lot of the recipes uninspiring. However it's a good starter book, and the spicy bean burritos make a lovely packed lunch.

Ms Cupcake The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town

I had to put this on, even though I've not got round to doing many of the recipes yet.  Even if you never use this book, it's worth having for two reasons: the first is it helps to demystify lots of the American terms, brands and has both cup and proper measurements and the second is it doubles so well as a coffee table book and I can spend ages just marvelling at the pictures.  A word of warning- the icing recipes use up half a box of icing sugar, which I just find irritating as I have to buy icing sugar every time I go shopping, so you may wish to scale it down a tad.  I became a bit obsessed with the blueberry and lemon loaf last Summer (hell, I was just blueberry obsessed!!) and this Summer I can't wait for Strawberry season so that I can make her Neapolitan triple layer cake. 

You may think this is a short list for a self confessed cookbook hoarder, but I tend to buy all these cookbook and then just use the internet anyway- daft I know. So coming up next time is my guide to vegan recipes on the t'internet :-) 

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