The Frugal Vegan cookbook’s subtitle is “Affordable, Easy & Delicious Vegan Cooking.” It lives up to that claim. I don’t eat vegan food all of the time, but I often make vegan meals. If you are vegan, if you practice “meatless Mondays” or you simply want healthy recipes for some of your weekday meals, this cookbook is full of recipes to meet your dining needs.

A while ago I shared the Seared Polenta with Cherry Tomatoes recipe from Frugal Vegan with you (it’s the dish on the cover of the cookbook). My sister, Diana, made it for me when I was visiting her in Oregon and I loved it. The crispy edged polenta slices were delicious topped with wilted spinach and warm tomatoes. She also made the Ratatouille Bowl with Creamy Polenta and it was very good.

When I returned home, I looked up the book on Amazon. In the book preview I saw the Spicy Broccoli and White Bean Pasta recipe. I gave it a try and it got a thumbs up. It’s flavorful and satisfying. I shared the recipe on the blog, and other people made it and loved it.

I also made the Thai Peanut Noodles recipe. The combination of creamy peanut and sesame sauce with crunchy vegetables is addictive! I liked it so much, I made a cold version for a party and it was a huge hit. Everyone took home leftovers.

One of the things that I like about the recipes in Frugal Vegan is that you can easily tweak them. For example, you can add or change vegetables, substitute beans for tofu (or tofu for beans). I believe that a tweakable recipe is a good recipe. The recipe doesn’t fail you when you get creative with ingredients. (You can’t apply my rule to all recipes, such as those for baking that rely on chemistry and exact measurements.)

There are several more recipes in the Frugal Vegan that I am looking forward to trying. Some of these recipes use frozen or canned ingredients, making it easy to throw together a meal when you are really pressed for time. Whenever possible, I prefer to substitute fresh ingredients.

Bowls

There’s a whole section on bowls. I enjoy a good bowl. Here are a few that caught my eye.

• Burrito Bowl with Cilantro Tahini
  This sounds satisfying with kale, brown rice, black beans and avocado, topped with a tangy cilantro tahini sauce. Mmmm.
• Warm Fall Harvest Bowl
  I love sweet and savory combinations and this one sounds delicious. It includes farro, kale, carrots, onions, butternut squash and apples, mixed with balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper.
• Falafel Bowl with Israeli Couscous and Cucumber Tzatziki
  Falafel is one of my favorite things. The authors suggest making extra falafel and freezing some for later (a good idea since this is one of the more time consuming recipes).

Pasta and Risotto

I’ve already shared some of the polenta and pasta recipes on this blog, but here are a couple more that I want to sample.

• Lemon and Pea Risotto
  Lemon and peas are such a great combination. The authors suggest trying this recipe with other vegetables and herbs. I think that most green vegetables pair well with lemon (think broccoli or asparagus).
• Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil
  I make variations of this recipe all of the time. I don’t think that you can go wrong with roasted tomatoes, pasta and basil. The addition of walnuts sounds great.
• Penne with Pumpkin Cream Sauce
  I love pumpkin and I love coconut, so I might need to try this.

Salads

I’m giving these salads a try soon.

• Grilled Romaine and Beet Salad
  This recipe calls for their Orange Chia Salad Dressing. I also think it would be great with their Simple Vinaigrette or the Cilantro Tahini dressing.
• Warm Wild Rice Salad with Mushrooms and Arugula
  Imagine the chewy, earthy goodness of wild rice with raisins, arugula, mushrooms, toasted pecans and roasted butternut squash, herbs, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
• Crunchy Thai Salad
  Oh yes! Their delicious Thai Peanut Sauce with sugar snap peas, shredded carrots and purple cabbage, edamame and other goodies.

Soup

Here are some interesting soup offerings.

• Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup
  This reminds me of a favorite Moosewood cookbook version of tomato soup, pureed to a smooth garlicky tomatoey goodness. I love that one and think this would be equally good.
• Lentil Soup with Greens
  This sounds like a hearty version of a tomato-based vegetable soup, with chard, onions, celery and green lentils. This could easily be adapted to include other vegetables, such as carrots, green beans or broccoli.
• Watermelon Gazpacho
  I’ve made watermelon gazpacho before, but never with tomato. With a touch of jalapeño pepper, garlic, balsamic vinegar and lime juice, this sounds like a flavor-packed chilled soup.

Breakfast

Let’s not forget breakfast.

• Pancakes with Roasted Bananas
• Sweet Potato Breakfast Boats
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Granola

Snacks and Sides

For snacks and sides, these sound appealing.

• Salted Peanut Butter Popcorn
• Baked Oven Fries with Rosemary and Sea Salt
• Sun-Dried Tomato and White Bean Hummus
• Spicy Chipotle Corn and Zucchini
• Cilantro Lime Rice

This is a very affordable cookbook and a worthwhile investment. If you’re like me, you’ll keep returning to the recipes.

Related Posts

Here are some of my other cookbook reviews:

New Cookbooks for 2017 Summer Entertaining

New Cookbooks for Fall and Winter 2017