The 30-Minute Vegetarian Cookbook: 100 Healthy, Delicious Meals for Busy People

This is a vegetarian cookbook, but many of the recipes are vegan.. which make the recipes (and shopping) unnecessarily complex. For example, two recipes.. one with Alfredo sauce and a cream of tomato soup that could just use cream (or whole milk) uses raw cashews and coconut milk. I bought this book for my vegetarian college daughter living in a college town without a Whole Foods (or gourmet market). I want easy-to-follow uncomplicated vegetarian recipes. She is a beginning cook, so I wanted a simple cookbook that she doesn’t need to figure out substitutions (ie: using a cream or a basic roux instead of raw cashews and coconut milk) If I wanted a vegan cookbook I would have bought a vegan cookbook:

TERRIBLE
Absolutely no photos to go w/ recipes

I knew there would be problems when I read one of their reasons for becoming a vegetarian. I wouldn't have to pay $50 for a pound of meat. I have never paid $50 for a pound of meat and I live in an expensive part of the nation. Too many of the recipes use green or red pepper or both. A repetition of ingredients does not excite. And I don't cook with peppers because I don't like them.

The book was a waste of money. I'll throw it out because I find it a poor source of information.

There are some recipe books that have you drooling as you imagine the taste of the interesting flavor combinations or the beautiful presentation. This is not one of those books. The virtues of this book are the simplicity and speed of the preparation of some basic and also some very good vegetarian recipes. The book starts with some very basic kitchen advice, perhaps helpful for a novice cook, but generally familiar to anyone with experience. There follows recipes divided by categories. There were some interesting breakfast options: the lemon curd and ricotta pancakes sounded good, and I liked a number of the salad and pasta recipes. There are chapters on stir-fries and curries (several involve cauliflower) and on soups and stews (beans, sweet potatoes and lentils tend to show up in these recipes). The chapter on pizza and flatbreads does not contain traditional kinds of pizzas, but rather things like mediterranean or Mexican takes. The remaining chapters are on handhelds and desserts. Some ingredients that tend to show up in many recipes include goat cheese, mushrooms, cauliflower and chickpeas. There are few recipes that call for anything that cannot be found in the average grocery store. Alternatives are offered for the few more exotic ingredients that are used.
This is a good introduction to vegetarian cooking. The recipes offer healthy, nutritious, meatless meals that can be prepared fairly quickly with basic tools and skills. It is a good way to get started on meatless cooking, or for those who already experienced with vegetarian cuisine, it provides a file of quick and easy recipes suitable for everyday meals.

I love this cookbook! Just ordered a second one as a gift. As a vegetarian newbie, this cookbook is a blessing. Simple ingredients, easy to make, and really takes no time at all to prepare these dishes. I’ve made several so far and haven’t been disappointed in any. And yes, I love pictures in cookbooks, but have to say this is a great read without the pictures. Absolutely becoming my go-to cookbook. The dishes are delicious and flavorful.

I have to say that based on the title, the recipes in the book are the ones that can be made in 30min or less. There are no photos on this book! So no clue about how each recipe should look like. I prefer to see photos of each recipe and see more variety. Many of the salad recipes were with feta cheese (which I don't eat). Too many recipes with cheese. Another thing is that too many recipes are with cans and I don't think it's too healthy eating can food so much. Once in a while it's fine but not for too many of these recipes. I guess it's because it helps you cook them a lot faster. It's not bad. I prefer less quantity but more variety than too many recipes and repetitive ingredients over and over. I also prefer a hardcover book for a cookbook with more resistant paper since when you cook, you may spill some ingredient on the page ;-)

My first impression of the book was its clean, organized and inviting presentation. There is not only skill in design here though. The recipes are comprehensive, clear and promising. The author clearly knows not only the science needed in a vegetarian diet but shows the wisdom of experience and the love of a well prepared and visually interesting presentation and the importance of flavor and zest. What a treasure this book is as it presents enticing and delicious recipes created by an experienced and wise cook. Thank you.

The recipes in this book are quick—and light. So light that they are appropriate only for lunch, or combined with one or two of the other recipes for dinner. Combining them negates the 30-minute idea. The dishes are not distinctive; many people will have seen most of them before in not only vegetarian cookbooks, but regular cookbooks. Mostly, they are either salads and such that are already easy to make, or they use prepared ingredients such as canned beans, frozen pizza dough, or packaged tortilla chips. I’ve found five recipes that interest me and that are not identical to ones I already make. Overall, I think the result would have been better if the author had given up the 30-minute idea and focused on more interesting—and solid—vegetarian cooking.

The recipes look interesting, but I am very disappointed that there are NO pictures of the finished dishes. None. Not one. The only pictures are on the cover, across from the title page, across from the table of contents, and there is one picture at the beginning of each section. Since the food world seems to agree that we eat with our eye first it is terribly disappointing to not see a single dish in the cookbook. Heck, even amazon in their review instructions says "shoppers find images...more helpful than text alone." Had I known no dishes were illustrated I would have passed this book by in favor of one with images.

If you want to eat more plant-based vegetarian meals, this 30-Minute Vegetarian Cookbook is a truly excellent resource full of great ideas. As an omnivore myself, I’ve been very satisfied by the meals I’ve made from this cookbook (see photos of food), and they really did take little time to prepare. Sometimes longer than 30 minutes, but no longer than an hour. The book has an especially fantastic variety of foods and cuisines - you will never be short for choice. Overall, I found the recipes to be genuinely tasty and definitely recommend this cookbook for easy vegetarian dishes.

The book is structured well, though there are not many pictures – only one per section (typical of cookbooks from this publisher). The introduction is brief and not particularly notable. What is great about this cookbook is the variety of recipe categories and cuisine types. There is a tendency towards Indian food/flavors, but there are recipes for other cuisines as well. You won’t feel limited by food choice just because there’s no meat. Ingredients are simple and easy to find at most grocery stores. Of note is that many of the recipes are vegan rather than just vegetarian, with many dairy subs (you could sub in animal dairy, though). Also, a great number of the recipes feature legumes as a main ingredient (beans, lentils, etc.). If you are sensitive to legumes like some of my family members, this cookbook leaves you with few options.

Now for the food: out of the 6 recipes I’ve tried from multiple sections of the book, I found them all tasty and easy to make. The recipes use healthy whole foods, and plenty of plant-based ingredients. Spicing is spot on and I found all of the meals to be well-flavored. Favorites were Tex-Mex Chili and Spicy Lentils with Spinach, though all the recipes were good and satisfying. Portioning is kind of off, though. A recipe may say “serves 6” when really it’s more like 3-4 if that’s the only part of your meal (photos show my portion sizes).

Though most of the recipes were quick to prepare, I do have a few issues with the 30 minute concept. Often, I spent much longer on prep time than what was specified in the recipe, and I am a relatively experienced cook. This meant the recipes often took longer than 30 minutes total, though not by much. Also, a lot of the recipes would make incomplete meals without additional side dishes, which require more time to prepare. So bear in mind that you may need up to an hour to make a complete meal using this cookbook.

All considered, I highly recommend this cookbook to anyone looking for vegetarian food ideas. Everything was easy to make and relatively fast/low-stress. And, of course, very tasty.