For the fifth review of the year, we’ve got another vegan cookbook, Isa Does It. It’s packed with over 200 recipes using a variety of ingredients so that you can put together a satisfying meal any day of the week. I bounced back from the epic mistake I made in the previous cookbook,, and it’s probably pretty obvious from the rating that this was a huge win for our household.
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Background of the Book & Author
Isa Chandra Moskowitz is no stranger to vegan cookbooks. She is the author or coauthor of quite a few other titles. She also runs the website, Post Punk Kitchen. Growing up, she ate a lot of hamburger helper and mashed potatoes until she decided to go vegetarian. Her mom and sister joined her on the mission and they started with a small collection of vegetarian cookbooks.
The experimentation that took place when Isa made meals for her mom and sister (and even her carnivorous brother) in her Brooklyn kitchen helped her develop her love for cooking. When she worked full-time in the city as a young adult, she knew the challenge of making decent food in a small kitchen with little time (and literally every take out option you could think of.) This cookbook is created with that time period in mind.
What Grabbed My Attention
I spotted this book in a friend’s kitchen and spent a few minutes paging through it. There were so many recipes I wanted to try, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the cookbook. I love that there’s an entire section for pasta/risotto and a separate section for bowls. You’ll probably notice that I stuck to those for my review.
Overall Cookbook Rating for Isa Does It
Ease of recipes – 8/10
Knowledge of methods & ingredients – 8/10
Fits the theme – 10/10
Taste overall of test recipes – 10/10
Quantity of recipes that generated excitement – 10/10
Overall rating – 9.2/10
Feedback from a lazy cook who hates a dish pile up and making dinner decisions:
The recipes we made came with heaping portions and plenty for leftovers, so it helped balance the amount of prep and clean up were required. It definitely wasn’t the most extensive ingredient list which was nice. So many great recipes in the book did make the decision making a little tricky (but in the best way.)
Feedback from an aspiring cook who wants to impress herself and learn how to do more:
I loved the tips and tricks that she includes on almost every recipe. I learned some new tricks and new flavor combinations and feel more confident with the vegan options we can make at home.
Recipes I Cooked from the Isa Does It Cookbook:
Dish 1 – Roasted Red Pepper Mac
This was the best vegan mac we’ve ever had. It’s the perfect way to use our giant Costco jar of Lil Ma’s roasted red peppers. This fed us for three meals and was just perfection. The flavors are so good, and I didn’t miss cheese in this recipe. If you have a vegan in your family or just want to make some simple plant-based swaps, this would be a great place to start. She shared a video of this recipe on her website so you can try it.
Changes made – Instead of her pizza seasoning suggestion, I used the Spicy Italian seasoning from Trader Joe’s, which was perfect.
Suggestions for next time – it was perfect, but she does have a suggestion to
Dish 2 – Mango Fried Rice and Curried Peanut Sauce Bowl
These are two different recipes that we made on the same night. It was a bit of an undertaking, but a friend was coming for dinner, and this made enough for all of us to have a huge dinner and leftovers for the next day. The sauce was so fantastic. I’m glad I bought the exact curry powder that Isa suggested, which is S&B Oriental Curry Powder.
I also have to say that I’ve never purchased a mango before, and I didn’t even know there was a pit. I buy it frozen all the time for smoothies, but never fresh. So, I followed the instructions to use a vegetable peeler and slice as close to the pit as possible. It was really easy and tasted so good.
Changes made – Mixing them together was fun and allowed me not to make additional rice
Suggestions for next time – I would just make these separately unless I feed a bigger group because it makes a lot of food.
Dish 3 – Goddess Noodles
This noodle dish was incredibly easy to make and so good. Whenever I’m not interested in making anything but hungry, I tend to make buttered noodles with parmesan cheese. This would be an incredible swap to that because it’s easy to make and could easily fall into a comfort food category. The tahini sauce had exactly the right texture, even though Isa warns in the recipe that the consistency can be wildly different between brands. I used the generic Whole Foods brand and copied the recipe exactly.
Changes made – I forgot the chives (even though they were in the fridge)
Suggestions for next time – no notes, would make over and over
Lessons Learned from Isa Does It
- Chopped my first mango, and Isa recommends using a vegetable peeler. It worked great.
- Tahini is a pretty versatile condiment. I didn’t really know much about it until using it on the goddess noodles and now I’ve got some to experiment with.
- I can bake tofu and make it taste perfect. I used to always order a baked tofu salad at a restaurant in Minneapolis and never got brave enough to duplicate that at home. I know that sounds crazy, but I don’t want to hate tofu so I’m always scared to mess it up.
Who Should Buy This Cookbook
If you want to add more vegan meals to your rotation, this cookbook is fantastic. There is something for every mood and nothing that is too outrageous. She doesn’t try to replace meat, but just provide a well-balanced meal that will fill you up and satisfy your taste buds.
Final Thoughts on Isa Does It
We’ve already purchased a copy of Isa Does It from our local bookstore to add to our kitchen shelf. There were just too many recipes that we were excited about, and we knew we’d use them over and over again. I highly recommend checking it out or browsing her website to try a recipe or two for yourself.
Grab a copy of the cookbook for yourself (or on Amazon here)
Check out Best of Vegan for another fantastic vegan cookbook that we reviewed.
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