Reddit mentions: The best cooking by ingredient books

2017 Spier Chenin Blanc

$8.99 from Total Wine in Atlanta

This was my first Chenin Blanc and it was revolutionary. At a sub-$10 price point I wasn't expecting a revelation, but most ratings and reviews I saw were overwhelmingly positive so I decided to give it a chance. Figured if it was garbage, I could always try another; but at least I'd have completed the challenge! I had never heard of the producer, but when wandering around Total Wine it seems like they make a huge variety of product.

This wine was delicious. If I had to imagine what it would taste like if little Springtime Cherubs visited South Africa to make some wine this would be it. It had a well balanced acidity and sweetness. Peach and pear flavors shine with just a whisper of lemon, without being rindy or tart. This wine had a light color and light body with a delicate, fruity finish that left me wanting more. This wine drinks easily, and was perfect for a warm spring night on the porch. It was delicious straight out of the bottle, and even more pleasant after ~15 minutes to warm a bit and open up. My husband, who usually shies away from whites unless they are bone-dry and punishingly acidic was very surprised at how much he enjoyed this wine; to the point he wants us to find more!

I paired this with America's Test Kitchen's Farfalle and Summer Squash with Lemon, Capers, and Goat Cheese from "The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook". Let me tell you - it was the perfect pairing with the tang from the goat cheese and the crunch of the fresh veggies. The salt of the capers played beautifully with the slight sweetness and it was just a really good pairing. The weather in Atlanta was perfect that day - I think Sunny with a high of 74? - and we drank it while relaxing on our screened in porch with the twinkle lights on. A great setting for a new experience and a first-tasting challenge!

Although I corked the undrank wine with my vacuum sealer, it was not as good 48 hours later. Not undrinkable, but it showed more oxidation/alcohol flavors. I would definitely recommend drinking it when you know you can finish it that day, perhaps stretching to 24 hours. This may just be a result of the price point.

Overall, I loved this wine, and plan to buy and drink it again. It's a steal for the price; and really just fun to drink casually on a warm day. I'm not entirely convinced that this wine wasn't made by little Springtime Cherubs.

>But I want to delve a little deeper to learn more and maybe even be able to "freestyle" in the future.

I'd say the very first thing you need to learn is to grasp & adopt the concept of how you really, truly learn cooking. There's a quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin that goes, "The most powerful force in the universe is compounding interest." That means that as you do little bits of work on a consistent basis, it adds up to create fluency & accomplishment. Same idea as high school...you show up every day for 4 years & suddenly you have a diploma! If you can buy into that idea, then that will serve as the 'guiding light' for how you approach cooking, i.e. as steady, consistent progress against individual recipes, techniques, and flavor combinations, rather than random shotgun blasts scattered here & there.

In cooking, you can't do all of the processes & understand all of the flavor combinations unless you've studied them & actually done them, hands-on, in-person, and that is a long-term process. Until then, you're just window shopping, you know? I have a few posts here on kind of the basics of cooking that is worth reading through:

https://www.reddit.com/r/cookingforbeginners/comments/ajrsio/what_basicgeneral_cooking_tips_and_advice_do_you_think_everybody_should_kno/eeyhpua/?context=3

And in order to do learn those processes & understand the flavor combinations & build up a personal recipe database, you need to cook - a lot! If you're really serious about it, then I would recommend cooking every single day. Not necessarily every single meal, but cook at least one thing a day. In order to do that, you need to do some meal planning, which involves picking out what to cook, going shopping, and planning out what to make & when. I have a few posts on that here as well:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mealprep/comments/afdqju/meal_prep_ideas/edyhgbu/

Here is what I would recommend:

1. Commit to a plan. I'd suggest cooking just one thing a day. It can be separate from your actual meals, if you'd like, which is how I do it - I cook one meal a day for freezer storage when I get home from work every day. And because my kitchen is organized, I've made a meal-plan for the week, I've gone shopping, I've picked what day I'm going to cook each recipe, I've created a reminder alarm on my phone, and I have the recipe...I mean, it pretty much just boils down to actually doing the work, you know? Which is pretty dang easy, because at this point of preparation, it's like shooting fish in a barrel...I know what to make, how to make it, I have all the ingredients, and I'm only doing just one single solitary little recipe at a time, just one per day.
   
2. "Cook the book" - buy one cookbook & work your way through it. Personally, I'd recommend starting off with Kenji's Food Lab book. He has great pre-vetted recipes & explains them thoroughly. If you prefer baking, then check out Stella's Bravetart book, which takes a similar approach.
   
3. Create a recipe storage locker & a notes locker. I'd recommend Evernote or OneNote. They let you search, tag, and create individual notes, so you can organize things by ingredient, cooking style, and so on. All of the raw ingredients in the world already exist. All of the known recipes that are documented are already written down. There's a tremendous amount of knowledge & resources out there in terms of flavor combinations, tools, and ingredients available at your disposable...but your database is pretty empty right now. The rest of the world doesn't matter...what matters is filling up your personal database so that you can cook & bake & create delicious things for yourself, your family, and your friends. Your job is to build up that knowledge recipe by recipe, technique by technique, ingredient by ingredient. You've tried paprika, but have you tried smoked paprika? You've tried cinnamon, but have you tried roasted cinnamon? Have you used a microplane on a cinnamon stick or a whole nutmeg? You may have used garlic powder or chopped up a clove of garlic before, but have to roasted it to the point where it spreads like butter? Have you fermented black garlic in a rice cooker? That's not stuff you learn all at once, instantly, overnight, and become a pro at...you have to learn the flavors, and the process, and experiment, and see what works & what doesn't, and equally importantly, you need to write that down, because you WILL forget, but having your notes allows you to get inspired & think up great combinations & try new things & fall back on old ones.
   
   I mean, basically that's it - create a plan that involves doing a little bit of work on a regular basis, commit to it, and create some processes & reminders that enable you to easily slip into cooking mode when you want to. It's nothing more than a simple checklist, and you can be all over the map with it - learn how to cook marshmallows, and chicken tikka masala, and how to make your own jello, and what crystals are in chocolateering & how to temper your own chocolate using sous-vide, and how to cook using an electric pressure cooker, and what a good basic kitchen toolset looks like. Imagine if you only learn one thing a day or cook one thing a day...in a year, you'll have 365 new tidbits of knowledge under your belt; in five years, you'll have nearly two thousand bits of information under your belt.
   
   Please feel free to ask questions! To me, cooking isn't about going hardcore every day by cooking lots of stuff for hours & hours, it's about specifically focusing on one individual thing at a time & mastering it so that you "own" that knowledge, you know?
   
   For example, I went through a marshmallow phase. I went to a dessert shop a few winters ago & they had this amazing ultra-premium hot chocolate that was just out of this world, then they topped it off with a giant 2" hand-made marshmallow that they skewered & finished with a torch. It was sooooo good that I HAD to learn how to make it! As it turns out, like with anything else, you can deep-dive into just those two topics alone - hot chocolate & marshmallows. Here's some good introductory reading from one of my favorite hot chocolate shops in NYC, "City Bakery": (I'm pretty sure they just melt a chocolate bar into a cup, haha!)
   
   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-4172562/Make-best-hot-chocolate-City-Bakery.html
   
   Four of my favorite NY chefs (Dominque Ansel, Jacques Torres, Maury Rubin, and Michael Klug) have some very different opinions on it:
   
   https://food52.com/blog/15460-how-to-make-the-best-hot-chocolate-according-to-the-experts
   
   part 1/2

Good for you for making that connection! It's not an easy thing to accept, but once you do, you're kinda stuck this way.

1. A non-vegan can live happily in a vegan household. My SO is non-vegan but, I do all the cooking for us so we have a vegan kitchen. I would be uncomfortable cooking and paying for animal products at this point and he knows better than to ask that of me. I would bet that you're a fantastic chef and will have no problem keeping your husband full and satisfied.
   
   
2. If you're comfortable using it then do so. But I warn you that it may desensitize you to eating/preparing animal products again or it'll make you feel disgusted. If possible, I would donate it to a local food bank or a friend.
   
   
3. Clearly, you care about your son so I don't think you will harm him. Keep a watchful eye and maybe contact your pediatrician for advice, there are plenty that are veg-friendly. I would also recommend following some vegan parent blogs.
   
   
4. Like all other weightloss or weight maintenance, if you're keeping an eye on your calories then you should be fine. You can easily keep carbs under 50%, but you may find that the volume of food you're consuming will increase quite a bit. Most people lose weight when going vegan so don't be surprised if that happens (just maybe don't add tahini to every meal like I did).
   
   
5. My best friend has IBS and it improved drastically after severely cutting down on her meat intake. I imagine that there will be an adjustment period (I had like 4 BMs a day and was cramping due to bloat for a couple weeks), but cutting out animal products could really help your IBS as well.. Only time will tell.
   
   
6. Yes, you can! I haven't frozen seitan for quite that long but it would be interesting to see how it goes. I imagine it would be fine though. Also this recipe for tofu nuggets looks really, really good. Cultured vegan cheeses will last quite a while and continually age in the fridge, Miyoko Schinner says they typically last about 100 days. But yes, you can freeze them if you don't use it in time.
   
   
7. Yess this is my jam right here. I read cookbooks like people read novels. It sounds like you would enjoy Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I absolutely love her book Isa Does It and I recommend it to everyone. Her other stuff is also wonderful (I'm sure amazon will show you the rest of her books in their recommendations)! Another one that I think you would enjoy is Miyoko Schinner's The Homemade Vegan Pantry and Artisan Vegan Cheese. After hearing her speak at VegFest it sounds like she has similar style: doing a lot of prep work beforehand so that doing the everyday meal making is simple. Lastly, I will recommend Plum Bistro's Plum: Gratifying Vegan Dishes. The restaurant is absolutely fantastic and while I haven't made anything in this book since I got it (because I am a little intimidated tbh), I have no doubt that you could get a lot of use from this with your culinary skills.
   
   I hope this was at least a tiny bit helpful! Good luck! :)

That is a broad question so my answer will be somewhat broad. Learning to hunt well is a long process but extremely rewarding. Most new hunters I've talked to and tried to help, end up stopping because it is difficult. You often come home empty handed especially in the beginning. You are very lucky to have an uncle to help. So here's my advice:

1. Get this book and read it: The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/081299406X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_3M4HzbCD358PY
   
   This as well as his following volumes are excellent starting points. Remember that you not only need to know how to find and shoot an animal, you need to know basic butchering to gut, remove meat, and pack it out which can be as challenging as anything else you do while hunting.
   
   
2. If you haven't already, find hunting shows to watch. I think Meateater is one of the best, you will find it on Netflix as well. I think his advice and philosophy on hunting is solid. But there are also a ton of other high quality shows. Solo hunter is great and he's on YouTube. So is Jim Shocky, amount others.
   
   
3. Get good equipment. A gun is just a start. I elk hunt Idaho every year and have experienced all kinds of weather and high mountain backcountry. You'll want high quality boots, layers for hot or cold wet weather, a good backpack that you could haul 100lbs of meat on at 3 am in the rain. I learned this the hard way last year hauling out 100lbs of meat with a mediocre pack in the middle of the night and it was a horrible experience. A good hunting knife, headlamp, etc are all important as well. Steve has a great review of what to have in his book.
   
   
4. Get in shape. Especially with elk hunting, you will typically cover a lot of area and hike a lot of elevation at higher altitudes than you are used to in California. If you are a drag on everyone and unprepared you might not get invited again. I was at 9000 ft last year going for Mule deer in Idaho and the altitude was tough, but I was in shape so I was able to keep up. Be ready for that, take it seriously.
   
   
5. Learn everything you can about the animals you hunt.
   
   
6. Be persistent. A hear people complain all the time about how there aren't a lot of great hunting areas in California. This is complete bull. There is a ton of public land and spots, but people take years finding them. Don't expect people to text you their best spot on a Google map. You're going to have to find them yourself or with friends, but I promise they are there. For all animals, deer, pig, turkey, duck,geese etc. if you want it easy don't waste your time, find another hobby.
   
   
7. Get to know other hunters. Other hunters are generally helpful and especially locals in an area can be helpful (not always). This is a way to get access to private land as well. Sometimes a hunter might want someone to come a long with them to private land for the help. The private hunting spots I have took years of me just getting to know people.
   
   
8. This should go unsaid but, know and follow the state laws. I think hunters have increasingly become conservationists and understand the importance of wildlife management. Know the regulations and follow them, it's good for the sport and will help ensure future generations will be able to hunt. We need the general public to be on our side.
   
   That's the best advice I can give for a beginner. As you gain experience there is so much more to learn.

Okay, you've caught me; there's beer and wine books, too. Here's what you're looking at:

I run a cocktail bar, and I've been meaning to share my library for some time, but I have a knack for lending my books out to friends and colleagues so I keep waiting for it to be complete. Then I realized my collection keeps growing and will never be complete, so I may as well just share a snapshot of it.

Top row:

Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes... and the People Behind Them by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them by Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh

The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft by Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

The World Encyclopedia of Beer by Brian Glover

How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time by John J. Palmer

Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker, Jr. (aka The Gentleman's Companion Volume II)

Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher

Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch by Michael Jackson

The Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails by Andre Domine

New Classic Cocktails by Mardee Haidin Regan and Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Book of Garnishes by June Budgen

World's Best Cocktails: 500 Signature Drinks from the World's Best Bars and Bartenders by Tom Sandham

The Complete Book of Spirits: A Guide to Their History, Production, and Enjoyment by Anthony Dias Blue

Cocktails & Amuse-Bouches for Her & For Him by Daniel Boulud and Xavier Herit

Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar by David Wondrich

Middle Row:

Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers

The New and Improved Illustrated Bartenders' Manual; or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style by Harry Johnson (Espresso Book Machine Reprint)

Michael Jackson's Bar & Cocktail Companion: The Connoisseur's Handbook by Michael Jackson

The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner & Randy Clemens

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan

Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas by Brad Thomas Parsons

A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails by R. Winston Guthrie & James F. Thompson

The Bartender's Guide to IBA Official Cocktails by Jenny Reese (Espresso Book Machine Printing)

Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl by David Wondrich

The Home Distiller's Handbook: Make Your Own Whiskey & Bourbon Blends, Infused Spirits and Cordials by Matt Teacher

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions by Hiroshi Nagashima

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Difinitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers by Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page

The American Cocktail: 50 Recipes that Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks from Coast to Coast by The Editors of Imbibe Magazine

The ABC of Cocktails by Peter Pauper Press

How to Make Your Own Drinks: Create Your Own Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drinks from Fruit Cordials to After-Dinner Liqueurs by Susy Atkins

How to Make a World of Liqueurs by Heather Kibbey & Cheryl Long

Start reading :)

• http://yourveganfallacyis.com/en
  
• http://www.godfist.com/vegansidekick/guide.php
  
• http://logicalveganism.blogspot.com/p/fallacies.html
  
• Is there such a thing as ethically acceptable milk? Eggs? Honey? Doesn't "organic" mean that the pig is "treated well"? Many times non-vegan who make these arguments will also be very unaware of how intensive factory farming works and what it is. They may be highly misled (Bite Size Vegan has >300 informational videos on veganism, and is a great place to begin learning facts about animal agriculture that you can use in your defense of veganism) by what these labels mean, if they are legally required to mean anything at all. Even if such things could be produced (according to some various definitions of "acceptable"), they are often so prohibitively expensive that no one would be able to afford them anyway.
  
  Facts on Nutrition:
  
  
• Many major world Nutrition or Dietetics organizations say that a well-planned vegan diet can be healthy.
  
• There is no essential nutrient that cannot be found from a vegan source (plant, fungi, bacteria, inorganic material): phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, histidine (amino acids of protein), alpha-linolenic acid, linoleic acid (Omega Fatty Acids), Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12, C, D, E, K (Vitamins), calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chlorine, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, copper (Minerals), as well as choline, inositol, taurine, arginine, glutamine and nucleotides in infants. You don't have to memorize this list, just know that there is nothing we know of that we need for survival that can only be found in animal sources and not plant, bacteria, fungi, or inorganic sources.
  
• Here is a more detailed introduction to vegan nutrition.
  
  Some quick memes:
  
  
• desert island
  
• canines. Individual physiological characteristics taken one at a time in isolation are not a good indication of whether we can (or should) eat meat or other animal product foods. The length of our teeth or the size of our brain or the length of our intestines don't, alone, tell us what we are capable of digesting. What we are capable of digesting, as an entire organism, tells us what we are capable of digesting. (and none of that says anything about whether something is ethical to eat).
  
• Veganism is not a cult or a religion. Not all vegans agree with each other about every aspect of veganism. It's a diverse and dynamic group with a lot of on-going discussion. You don't have to have any sort of specific politics or other beliefs to begin making vegan decisions.
  
• "Humane slaughter" is an oxymoron and fundamentally still the wrong direction of thinking about the issue
  
• A person doesn't have to be an "animal lover" to understand and support veganism. You don't have to be completely infatuated and in love with every new animal you see to know that it's wrong to kill them, just like you don't have to be completely infatuated and in love with every human stranger you walk past, to know it would be inherently wrong to kill them. Veganism is not even asking for some sort of overwhelming compassion for animals. It's asking for the bare minimum of treatment you would show anyone, even a stranger... or the bare minimum of what you would want anyone to show you.
  
• Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. For those who reject veganism because they don't accept all parts of it, or think they would have to stop their lives and change "everything at once": 1). Veganism isn't always as hard as people make it out to be, especially after the beginning when you get into the habit of it. 2). Even partial reductions in the amount of animal products people use helps animals and reduces animal suffering in the world. Eliminating 10% of the meat they eat is better than 0%. Eliminating 50% is also better than %0. Eliminating 90% is better than 0%, even if it isn't 100%. Any amount that these products are bought and used less, is better than it not happening at all.
  
  -------
  
  > like a gentlemam with smashing arguments? I don't want to lose my temper or keep discussing the matter with them and ruin the road trip because they are very stubborn on the matter.
  
  It's one thing to memorize a lot of information about a topic (like veganism), but it's a whole different thing (it's a different set of skills) to keep your composure when talking to people who are being stubborn (or even purposefully obnoxious). That's a different problem, with a different solution and set of skills required.
  
  You can handle it a couple ways. What will work best for you will depend on who you are: on what your personality is and on how you communicate best.
  
  
• Joke back. Are you someone who likes making jokes back at what other people say? Then joke back. You can use whatever humor you like (witty, dark, sarcastic, observational). They joke about you not getting enough protein, joke about them dying young from a heart attack. They start bragging about how they would totally kill an animal with their bare hands if it gave them a steak, joke about not wanting to leave your pet dog with them because they'll slit its throat while you're not looking. They joke about needing cow's milk, joke about them not being a X-year-old man who isn't weened yet or about how you didn't notice the were a baby cow all this time. Or you can use humor to divert or end the conversation if you want. If they joke about not being able to give up meat, joke about how you're not able to give up their mom (I'm so funny). But if you're aren't the type of person who likes joking, you don't have to.
  
• Stick to the facts. If you find yourself getting upset, for some people it's helpful to just stick to the most dispassionate, logical responses to whatever they say, no matter how silly or frustrating or stupid it seems, even if they're joking. You can sometimes start with just saying back to them what they said, so they can hear it, and then politely but thoroughly pick what they said apart, small piece by small piece. But again, if you don't feel like that approach, you don't have to.
  
• You can also simply excuse yourself from the conversation. It doesn't seem like they're the kind of people that this approach usually works with, but it might. You can simply say "Yes, yes, very funny, can we talk about something else, like ___, instead?". or "I don't know, if you're interested in veganism you should read about it. I don't have all the answers." (it's completely fine to admit you don't know absolutely everything about veganism, just that you know enough about it that it looked better to you than what you were doing at the time). Or you can refer them to other resources (websites, books, documentaries, etc.) that deal with the issue more comprehensively than you can or even just feel like doing on any given day.
  
  Final Thoughts on Having Contentious Conversations and Practical Change:
  
  When you go into these conversations, try to be prepared with factual information, and do you best to remain polite, and educate when you can. If you find yourself getting angry, frustrated, or sad, try to keep calm and stick to the evidence you know. Keep in mind that other people may be listening to and benefiting from your conversation, even if the person you're speaking directly to isn't. It is okay to admit you don't know something, you've been wrong about something, or that you want to stop talking about the topic.
  
  Try and maintain reasonable expectations. Not everyone is going to go vegan overnight. If it's helpful to, think about it as "planting seeds" rather than forcing immediate and total change.
  
  Finally, you may fall into the bad habit of talking only about "Why everyone should be vegan", rather than the "How", as in, "How do you go vegan?"
  
  Practical tips for how to do something are just as important or even more important as knowing why to do it.
  
  You could challenge your friends "I bet you couldn't go vegan for a week", but if you do, then be sure to also recommend some resources to help them start:
  
  
• Ingredient substitutions or good vegan brands that substitute for common animal food products (plant milk for milk, vegan butter for butter, etc.)
  
• Habits to get into, like reading ingredient labels before buying food, or material labels before buying clothes.
  
• Apps or websites like barnivore.com for alcohol or https://cronometer.com/ for tracking nutrition in the beginning
  
• Vegan cooking blogs, websites, youtube channels, or cookbooks for recipes
  
• Email them links to things like a vegan food plate, meal plan, or pics of grocery hauls, to see what kinds of things and in what proportion to aim for eating.
  
  Don't just drop all the ethical vegan information on them and expect them to know what it means to, or how to, use it in practical everyday life.

Women generally enjoy stuff that falls into any of the following categories:

• Currency
  
  
• Shiny things
  
  
• Chocolate
  
  So, obviously, chocolate dollars are the perfect gift. Wrap in a fancy box.
  
  I've given it as a birthday gift to a friend and it was very well received. Also: the women at the party spent a while pouring the chocolates over one another on her bed. All in all, I would say it was a success.
  
  You should follow the others' advice though -- take a look at our ideas, but do give some thought to what she enjoys and what would really be special.
  
  I felt idiotic one season when it failed to occur to me to make her a bracelet. She wore a bunch from her friends from all over. Stupid, stupid wasted opportunity.
  
  I made a mahogany puzzle box one Winter. It looked a little like this one. I put a hanayama puzzle in it. Does she like puzzles? They're delightful and expertly designed.
  
  I started a bookmarks folder a while ago with ideas for presents so that I wouldn't have to scramble for ideas ever again. (I suggest this, too. What are the chances of stumbling across something unique in the short portion of the year you're on the lookout for presents? Foresight, my friend!)
  
  Here are a bunch, hope something catches your eye!
  
  
• Fold a dollar into a heart
  
  
• You can get a book of these. She may enjoy that.
  
  
• Unreasonable extravagance as it pertains to soap
  
  
• These go over well. I guess you would surprise her with them afterward. Wouldn't have the same effect if she pulled them from under the tree. Also, protip: don't put rosepetals on beds. Ruins the bedding.
  
  
• If she's a lit-geek, she may find these fantastic.
  
  
• Does she enjoy cooking? Does she want to learn/improve? 1 2
  
  
• Does she enjoy beer? You could use that to find exotic beers for her, or you could get the poster and propose you two attempt to catch 'em all.
  
  
• Have you seen Trigun? Has she seen Trigun? WATCH IT. The original can be found here.
  
  
• Does she find cleverness entertaining? Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is some of the best I've ever seen. Consider "The West Wing" and "Charlie Wilson's War"
  
  
• Does she like science fiction and/or fantasy? I'm getting this poster printed out, and giving it to someone with a marker and a gift card for amazon (I know they have a kindle. Christmas morning activities -- deciding which to buy!)
  
  
• The Fall (movie)
  
  
• Is she interested in travelling? Check out Departures on OLN.
  
  
• Consider getting her one of these: Trine, Braid Trine is a beautiful toy (1 - 3 players). Braid is fun and, genuinely, perhaps the most moving piece of art I've ever experienced. Books, music, movies, plays -- Braid tops many of them.
  
  
• Has she read Calvin and Hobbes? Have you?!

I'm a very visual learner, so I got good by watching Julia Child. She regularly peppers her shows with advice about how to get good at something, and how to customise a recipe when things go wrong, or when you want to switch things up a bit. She's got a decidedly French leaning, but French food is a very good place to start anyway. The full set of DVDs of The French Chef can get had for about $50 from ebay.

There's an episode where she was featuring four recipes for potatoes. She was trying to make a potato cake type of thing. She'd added plenty of butter to the pan, and threw in the boiled lightly crushed potatoes. She didn't let it set for a very long time, but tried to flip the whole thing over in one piece. Half of it ended up on the stove. Without skipping a beat, she scooped it off the stove, threw it back in the pan, and said the iconic line "When you're alone in the kitchen, who's going to see?" She then proceeded to dump it into a dish, throw in a load of cream and a few cubes of cheese, and instructed you to let it hang out under the broiler so that it gets bubbly and crisped up. She mentioned that you shouldn't ever apologise for how something came out, and just carry on as if that new thing is what you'd intended all along.

Whenever she had the ability to do so, she'd show you how to do something from scratch, including how to filet a fish, how to separate out a whole chicken, and how to break down larger steaks into serving sized portions. And, because you're watching her do it all for you, you get an idea of what it is you're looking for, step by step.

Another great resource (although their recipes are white, and tend towards the bland) is America's Test Kitchen's TV Show cookbook. On the show itself, they don't go into technique very much, but they certainly do so in the book. There are large, colourful pictures about how each step of the cooking process should look, and hundreds of recipes to try out. They thoroughly test out each recipe repeatedly, using tools that the average home cook will have access to, and taste test the results. It's an excellent resource to have on hand. You can generally find it used for about $20.

If you're curious to try out baking your own bread, I cannot highly recommend enough Bread by Eric Treuille.

https://www.amazon.com/Bread-Eric-Treuille/dp/1409352722/

It has HUGE full colour photos of the final product, and lots of foundational advice about the art of baking bread. They discuss various flours, how to combine them into an existing recipe, and the effects they have on the final loaf. It's one that I turn to whenever I have a craving for home made bread, and it's never lead me wrong.

If you want SOLID advice about how to quickly build up your cooking repertoire, Mike Ruhlman's Ratio is your best bet.

https://www.amazon.com/Ratio-Simple-Behind-Everyday-Cooking/dp/1416571728/

He realised that most basic recipes can be broken down into ratios, so that if you need to scale up or scale down, you can do so very quickly. His technique to teach you how to get comfortable with ratios is very good.

Another EXCELLENT place to start learning to build your own recipes is Julia's Kitchen Wisdom.

https://www.amazon.com/Julias-Kitchen-Wisdom-Essential-Techniques/dp/0375711856/

She gives some basic techniques on foundational recipes, and then tells you how to tweak the recipes to work with whatever you've got on hand. It's less a by the books recipe compendium, and more of a philosophical understanding of how recipes work, and what flavours should go together.

Speaking of flavour. Get The Flavour Bible by Karen Page.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/

There are hundreds of ingredients, and the things that go well with them. Instead of giving you a recipe, it gives you ideas of things to combine together, so that they go together in delicious ways.

If you are going to get a ruler, go ahead and get a kitchen ruler:

https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Culinary-Rules-Mini/dp/B00DT1XYDM/

It's small, but it has a TON of great information on it. Very useful to gauge whether or not you're hitting your marks for whatever size you're aiming for.

One of the first veg. cookbooks I got when I was just starting out was Linda McCartney's World of Vegetarian Cooking (also known as "On Tour"): https://www.amazon.com/Linda-McCartney-Tour-Meat-Free-Dishes/dp/0821224875/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482386369&sr=1-5&keywords=linda+mccartney

It has recipes from all over the world, from North Africa to Asia, Europe to North America and everywhere in between. They're great starter recipes in that the ingredients are simple (and easy to substitute if necessary), and the instructions are clear. They're great to build on - I've adapted quite a few recipes to my own tastes over the years.

A much more recent couple of books are Ottolenghi's Plenty and Plenty More:

https://www.amazon.com/Plenty-Vibrant-Vegetable-Recipes-Ottolenghi/dp/1452101248/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482386476&sr=1-1&keywords=ottolenghi+plenty

https://www.amazon.com/Plenty-More-Vibrant-Vegetable-Ottolenghi/dp/1607746212/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3YR260YE36YRJAQVCP9G

These are books that celebrate plant-based cooking which is of course inspired by many cuisines, but is itself a wholly original cuisine. Many of the recipes are not knock-offs of popular meat dishes (e.g. lentil bolognese) or existing dishes that happen to be vegetarian (caprese salad) but rather truly original compositions. It's really refreshing for simple but beautiful meals made of creative (but not pretentious) dishes.

I bought Martha Stewart's "Meatless" cookbook last year and it has great recipes too. https://www.amazon.com/Meatless-More-Than-Vegetarian-Recipes/dp/0307954560/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482386647&sr=1-6&keywords=vegetarian+cookbook

It's Martha Stewart, so it's not going to blow your socks off with complex spices and heat, but the recipes are again a wonderful place to start. Well-balanced, visually appealing and reasonably priced to make, you can always jazz them up yourself.

Finally, one of my favourite cookbooks, vegetarian or otherwise, is Anna Thomas' Love Soup: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Soup-All-New-Vegetarian-Recipes/dp/0393332578/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482386804&sr=1-1&keywords=Love+SOup

The recipes are heavenly (and as they're soup, you can always tweak to your taste - it's the ideas that are important). But what's really special is the narrative. She really engages you with lots of personal anecdotes and context for the ingredients, recipes and meals in general. I sat down and read it like a novel when I was given it for Christmas one year! It's really lovely.

I'm not particularly strict vegetarian but i've been cooking vegetarian for the past year and a half-ish. I recommend a decent vegetarian cookbook--most random recipes you cook from the internet aren't going to work if you're not used to coaxing flavor from vegetables or balancing spices in indian food. Also, you need to reevaluate what your dietary style is: don't focus on protein + starch + veg as a way of constructing a meal, but instead, combine different types of foods--legumes, grains, leafy vegetables, starchy vegetables, pastes (i.e. hummus), breads or pastas, dairy and eggs if you still eat those, tofu/seitan/tempeh as a protein component.

Also, it takes some adjustment to get used to not eating meat--that fullness and satiety you get when you consume a lot of animal protein becomes less of an indicator of fullness when you cut them out of your diet, which is weird at first, but then you get used to it (now whenever I eat more than a little meat, i feel bloated and gross). It's an adjustment.

Some of my favorite books:

Lucky Peach's power vegetables is great for meat eaters because it focuses on making vegetables "powerful." It's got a very playful art style that belies some truly excellent techniques--it's probably the book I cook from the most these days.

America's Test Kitchen Vegetarian Cookbook will help you do everything the "correct" way. Not everything is a home run, but very little of it has been duds.

People like Ottolenghi's books, but I feel like they err too far on the side of the "bright and fresh" spectrum. Everyone's taste is different, however. I think Plenty More is the best of the bunch.

I also particularly like all of the vegetarian recipes out of Food 52's Genius recipes (Though I like pretty much everything in this book).

This brings me to another point: use this as an opportunity to flip to the veggie sections of cookbooks you might have otherwise skipped when eating a meat-centric diet.

As an addendum, people say to skip fake meat, but i actually like cooking seitan to use as a protein in bowls/stir fries/sandwiches. I scale up and use this recipe but I like to bake it to give it a firmer texture--it tastes like salty, chewier bread chunks that are pretty delicious. Instead of acid, I use whatever vinegar i have lying around, add a bit of onion powder/garlic powder/cumin and crushed black pepper.

Spices are a great way to up your cooking game, but they definitely take some learning. It's almost like learning how to read a language - there are different symbols that represent sounds, and there are grammatical rules for how you put them together.

I recommend tasting examples of spice combinations - go out to eat at places that do interesting spices, like Greek, Indian, Ethiopian, Korean, etc. Then read up online about what kinds of spices and herbs they use for their various dishes. This trains your palate and smell along with your knowledge. Indian cuisine is the hardmode for learning spices, but it's super sophisticated in how it's used. You can and do prepare spices in all sorts of ways for Indian cooking - toast whole, toast then grind, toast whole in oil, grind then bloom in oil, etc. And their different masalas are an excellent way to learn blending of spices. 660 Curries is a great encyclopedic resource for learning about spices and how they're used in Indian cooking.

Try getting a couple spice blends to try - such as Herbs de Provence (French) or a barbecue spice rub - use them in cooking and look at the ingredients. Make it almost like flash cards - you try or smell something, then look up what it is. That will help you become better at recognizing spices and herbs when you encounter them in the wild (in food) and also show you the patterns where they fit together. Generally, spices give more flavor when they're heated with oil, so make sure that your test preparations include that element somewhere to get the most out of the spices.

I assign my partner to create spice rubs for our steaks now, because it's a way for them to practice using their nose and knowledge to make a blend that not only tastes good, but that fits their idea of the flavor experience they are trying for.

Lastly, consider getting The Flavor Bible, which is a great resource for suggesting ways to pair ingredients with flavors, including spices and herbs. While you personally may not like every pairing, it's a good way to practice combining flavors that are generally seen as compatible.

I've been there - the beginning is tough. But it's great that you've made this choice and definitely possible to make lots of progress on this front. It's not one-size-fits-all, so just because you haven't liked the fruits, veggies, or quinoa you've tried before, doesn't mean there aren't other varieties or ways of preparing them that you will enjoy. Your mindset can make a big difference so be kind to yourself and stay positive - just try your best!

​

As others have mentioned cooking for yourself is far and away the best thing you can do to eat healthier - you'll be in control of exactly what you do (and do not) eat. I would highly recommend checking out Kenji Lopez-Alt's The Food Lab - it's technically a cookbook and does have lots of recipes but it's focused on the science of cooking and very technique-driven. It's size is intimidating but I promise if you read nothing more than the introduction (most of which you can preview for free \^\^) you'll learn lots.

​

A few day-to-day things that are super helpful for me:

• When you do find a healthy dish you enjoy at a restaurant, snap a photo of the menu description and have a starting point for recreating it yourself/searching for similar recipes online
  
• Make condiments like salad dressing and salsa yourself to cut down on extra calories and preservatives (they taste sooo much better, once you start you'll never want to go back)
  
• Spend a little more money on fresher/higher quality fruits and veggies if you can afford to (look for farmer's markets, grocery cooperatives, produce delivery services etc.)
  
• As many others have said: spices, spices, spices - always have your favorites on hand and experiment with those that are new to you
  
• Try to catch yourself before taking a bite and ask, "Do I want to eat this because I'm actually hungry?" I was amazed at how often I would go grab a snack just because it was something to do once I started checking myself
  
  Good luck!

I meal plan and I cook for two. Generally-I make a lunch for both people for the week, and then three dinners, with each dinner making enough leftovers for a second night, and then the 7th night we may go out or making something fun (especially on Saturday).

My guidelines with the mediterranean diet is to eat you veggies, greens and legumes on a regular basis, eat meat 1 or 2 times a week preferably chicken, eat seasonally, consume large quantities of olive oil. So my guidelines are very loose.

So my menu this week:
Dinner: Pasta with fresh tomato and basil, peach panzanella salad, taco salad (I make mine with lettuce, tomato, half an avocado, grilled corn, chiles, some cheese, and an avocado yogurt lime dressing-this is where the other half of the avocado goes).
Lunch: Fava (yellow split pea) dip with tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bread and cheese.

I've got some meal ideas on the board for next week and they include pan bagnat, blueberry feta almond salad (not sure if it will include chicken), tomato tart, vegetarian mousaka for lunch, rice and lentil salad with sun dried tomato and pistachios (also for lunch for another week), sweet potato hummus, sauteed greens with pork, lentil salad with arugala, carrots, blue cheese and chicken, zucchini fritters with yogurt dip, stuffed eggplants with yogurt bechamel, maybe a grilled meat with moroccan carrot salad, vegetarian pupusas with cabbage salad, shakshuka with tuna, and so on. In the fall, I'll start eating more squash and other fall veggies and probably way more soups and stews, and stuffed veggie pies. I'm working on creating a spreadsheet of a lot of this stuff broken down by season, so when I need inspiration it will be there.

My inspirations are a lot of Greek food, but I also like Mexican, Indian, and other mediterranean food, so I've gotten a few cookbooks, and follow a few food blogs and go with recipes that sounds good. A great resource is the OliveTomato website that has solid recipes and information on the med diet and I use that for inspiration, though the recipes lean heavy on Greek recipes but it also provides a lot of good guidance. Some of my favorite cookbooks are Kremezi's Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts, but I really like all her cookbooks, I like Madhur Jaffrey for Indian but also really like her World Vegetarian, for veggie recipes. Ottolenghi has some really great cookbooks though the seasoning can be too much but I can also find free recipe blogs by him online. I've also heard great things about ATK's Mediterranean cookbook.

What exactly do you mean by 'healthy?'

Is it about calorie reduction or getting more nutrients? Or both?

A very simple, tasty one is roasted cauliflower. Cauliflower really benefits from browning. Preferably roasting. Just wash and dry it (thoroughly), cut into equally sized pieces, whether it be bite size or "steaks," toss in olive oil, salt & pepper (and garlic if you want), spread evenly on a roasting pan, but don't crowd it too much, and roast in the oven on the middle rack or higher at about 425-450F until brown... even nearly black in a few places. It's so simple and delicious.

It makes a great soup too, just blend it with either veg or chicken stock and either some fresh parsley or thyme.

Another veg that does well with char is broccoli. Steam, blanch (heavily salt your blanching or steaming liquid) or microwave (if you must) the cut broccoli stalks until about half done, drain and dry. Toss in olive oil, salt, minced garlic and chili flakes and grill on very high heat or broil until slightly charred. You won't believe how good it is.

Some great books for veg dishes are:

Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

Tender by Nigel Slater (this one has a great chocolate beet cake)

The Art Of Simple Food II by Alice Waters (So many simple, classic veg preparations in this one.)

--

Regarding Mac & Cheese, here is page from Modernist Cuisine at Home:

http://i.imgur.com/E4dd4lQ.jpg

It involves using Sodium Citrate. Calm down! Don't be afraid. It's a type of salt derived from citrus fruits. If you like to cook with cheese this stuff will be your best friend. The only issue is you don't need very much of it, so you will need an accurate scale that can handle very small weights, but they're not that expensive and it'll pay for itself quickly in the amount you'll likely save in cheese costs, because.....

What it does is it helps emulsify the fats and solids of cheese when it melts and it can be used with just about every type of cheese that can melt, so that means you can use it to emulsify multiple types of cheeses at the same time. Why this matters for you? If you're trying to reduce calories you can mix your favorite cheeses with some lower calorie cheeses (like drained cottage cheese) and still end up with a really creamy sauce without having to add cream or butter. This stuff doesn't make Pasta & Cheese "healthy" but it does help you reduce the caloric value of a cheese dish without sacrificing texture... in fact it improves it.

Check it out: http://youtu.be/gOLgLi5ZJOY

The Vegan Activist's "Complete Guide To Vegan Food" should be really helpful. For recipes, his "Top 3 Vegan Recipe Channels" video is pretty good. TheVeganZombie, and CheapLazyVegan both have relatively simple recipes on their channels as well. It's not needed, but the cookbook "But I Could Never Go Vegan!" is definitely worth getting as well. It talks about some of the different ingredients vegans use, how to prepare things like nut butter, veggie broth, cashew cream, etc., and has 125 different recipes.

I personally don't usually go too crazy with recipes, most of the stuff I eat is super simple.

For breakfast, I always have some sort of nutrient shake. I'm currently trying naturade's vanilla VeganSmart powder, it tastes like a bannana milk shake when blended with a banana and almond milk (I dilute the almond milk with water to save $). Sometimes I'll also eat hash browns, oat meal, or cereal as well.

My go-to dinner is just a bag of mixed vegetables that comes with sauce packets, and a box of new orleans-style long grain & wild rice. Rice goes in a rice cooker with water, veggies are steamed in a pan with water and the sauce packet. If I'm feeling a little crazy, I'll add some more mushrooms, siracha, and soy sauce. Rice and veggies are done in about 20 mins, low effort, and tastes great. The rice takes longer to cook than the veggies, so start cooking the rice sooner if you want them done at the same time. Also feel free to cook the rice on the stove if you don't have a rice cooker, there really isn't too much of a difference.

I also typically eat a lot of gardein products, you can find their stuff everywhere. it's relatively cheap, and tastes great. Other than their gravy, I've loved everything I've tried from them. Their beefless ground/meatballs taste almost exactly like real beef, and their chick'n tastes spot on when cooked right. I'll literally just fry up their Crispy Chick'n in oil, use the sauce it comes with for dipping, and call it a meal. Unhealthy, simple, and tasty :).

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck. Stick around and ask any questions if you need help, I know it isn't easy being vegan in a non-vegan world, especially when you're new.

Note: I'm a happy omnivore, but have a lot of friends that range from mild veggie to strict vegan.

I'd say there are several good reasons to take it on, even if you don't share the same perspective on the morals of eating meat. One of the biggest is that young veggie folks left cluelessly making food for themselves tend towards the morning star brand style garbage food. You don't want that.

You also can approach it as a purely intellectual challenge. How can I convert some of my favorite dishes into a meatless version that hits the same concept, even if it's substantially different. You'll stand to learn a lot about how to use stuff you already know in new ways. You also can start thinking about how to take a whole meal menu and split it into separate everyone, meat eaters, special vegetarian treat options for everyone.

That last one can be a big deal, especially for young folks. While I may not share the particular belief, I've seen young people whose families just reject their view out of hand alienated pretty hard by always being relegated to just eating the side items they find least objectionable. Making something *just* for the veggie folks as a unique treat, even as an omnivore, makes me happy.

Madhur Jaffrey's encyclopedia of veggie recipes (https://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-World-Vegetarian-Meatless/dp/0609809237) is a great resource if you just wanna get one book with a ton of options. I'm pretty sure your whole family will find some new favorites in there.

Good question. I always have cinnamon on hand because it works great in both savory and sweet dishes. Also a great way to cut back on sugar, which I have been doing recently. Smoked paprika is amazing because you it works great in barbecue, and with tomato or lemon. Whole cumin because they can be used either way, and it is an irreplaceable flavor in many dishes. Basil and rosemary because they seem to work in a lot of things. Garlic powder because you can throw it on just about anything and it will be good. If you tend not to keep dijon mustard on hand, mustard powder is always good. Whole nutmeg because those things last forever. Thyme is really good; try lemon thyme. Ginger is a lot of fun. Allspice is really good too with both meats and pastries. Fresh lemons or limes are really good. Onions and peppercorns are a must in every kitchen. Don't buy ground pepper. Taste is lost completely.

Best thing to do is pick spices and herbs that span a couple of different types of cuisine that way you aren't having to buy a lot of specialty herbs and spices for nights you want something inspired by Spanish cuisine or Middle Eastern. If you have an extra 20 or 30 bucks, I suggest buying The Flavor Bible. You will learn a lot about flavors and which ones play well in a lot of different dishes.

Some additions to the Japanese section:

• Dashi Stock Granules (or you could make your own with bonito flakes and some big sheets of konbu). This stuff is the base of almost everything in Japanese cooking.
  
• Sake. The brand I get is Gekeikan. Comes in a green glass bottle. Not just for drinking.
  
• Rice Wine Vinegar. Used in sushi rice, dressings, sauces, and marinades.
  
  As an aspiring cook of Chinese foods, I got a book called "stir-frying to the sky's edge" and most of the recipes in it call for at least 3 of the following ingredients. I had one hell of a time tracking them all down at my local H-mart, but they were all there. It just took a very thorough inspection of the sauce and liquid ingredient isles.
  
  Chinese:
  
  
• Oyster sauce (Okay, just remembered you are vegetarian, but I'm gonna leave this up for the benefit of others.)
  
• Black Bean Sauce (Tenmen Jiang)
  
• Chili Bean Sauce (Douban Jiang)
  
• XiaoXing Cooking Wine (You might find different spellings... along with all of these Chinese ingredients now that I think about it.)
  
• Black Vinegar (ChianKiang Vinegar)
  
• Light and Dark Soy Sauce
  
• Sesame Oil (You can find this anywhere... Just mentioning because I use it all the time)
  
• Hoisin
  
• Red Fermented Bean Curd (Only if you want to make your own char siu. As a westerner I've never read about any other uses for it. This is what you're supposed to use instead of red food coloring).
  
  Don't know shit about Korean cooking (except that it requires good micro).
  
  Thai:
  
  
• I once followed a recipe for a very authentic tasting red curry paste that came out great. The only thing it called for that you haven't listed is shrimp paste. It's pretty foul stuff--smells horrible, tastes bad by itself, overpowering if you add too much. But, I added it anyway and, like I said, it tasted very authentic and I was very happy with it. I might just omit it next time to not have to deal with it, but I thought you'd like to know about it for the sake of authenticity. Gah, I just remembered you were vegetarian AGAIN. Sorry. Anyway, the recipe is here and they give vegetarian substitutes for all the ingredients.
  
  
• Also, if you want to cook Pad Thai, you need Tamarind Paste.
  
  Some posts in here have covered Indian starter spices really well so I wont repeat them, but I will tell you some of my experiences:
  
  
• Buy a coffee grinder to grind spices yourself.
  
• Even after buying tons of spices for indian cooking, it seems like no matter what, whenever I come onto a new recipe I really want to try, it calls for one spice I don't have. Be prepared to either plan your curries out well in advance or settle for omitting one spice from the recipe every now and then.
  
• Buy a cook book. After scouring the internet, all I could find were recipes by non-indians that called for "curry powder". if it calls for curry powder, chances are it's not authentic. I got a book called 660 Curries which is authentic and beginner friendly.
  
• I bought my spices online from Savory Spice Shop They are A+ would shop again. Not sure if they ship outside the US, though. Make sure you know how much an ounce of each spices is just so you don't do what I did... "Hmm, Coriander seeds... 1oz doesn't seem like much at all. Better go with six. OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE."
  
  Anyway, took me about two years to figure all this shit out and I'm still going, so hopefully you wont have to take that long. I find that after the initial cost of investing in these asian pantry items, you can just pretty much buy only meat, veggies, and grains and make nearly anything since you've got all the flavors on hand. Have fun shopping.
  

6-year vegan here. /u/57001 has a good list. I'd add Oh She Glows to the blog list for healthy reasonably tasty things that don't take a lot of weird vegan ingredients. Also, Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction was my first vegan cookbook and is still my favorite. It's written as a diet cookbook but the macronutrient breakdown makes it really good for a runner's diet. It's written with a dietician gives you nutrition information on every page. Everything is super easy for weeknight cooking, budget-friendly, and delicious.

Hummus is your best friend. It's a good source of protein and carbs and you can find it everywhere. Very useful when you're traveling some place that's vegan hell. Although, probably pick a less greasy one than Sabra.

And yes, take your B12. A good proportion of omnivores tend to be deficient in it as well so it's not just a vegan thing. You can technically get it through fortified foods, but I would not rely on this. And sublingual or spray is better absorbed by your body than pills.

Happy to answer any other questions you might have.

Websites worth reading: BBQ Brethren Probably the best and and most noob friendly bbq forum on the net.

any off the current offset smokers sold for less than $600 of so are total shit. Yes youcan buy them and mod them to hell to make them work well but that would be expensive. Here is what i suggest get on craigslist and search for smokers buy a used Smokin Pit Pro (SnP) or New Brauffels Black Diamond (NBBD) for $70 and have a pit that is 10 times what you would buy at lowes or home depot. The problem with the current crop of offset smokers is how thin they are. Smoking meat is all about temp control and the mass (and there for ability to hold heat) of of your smoker comes into play quite a bit. My NBBD uses steel that is probably 1/8th inch thick (pro pits are 1/4th inch at the minimum with some using 1/2 inch) and i still need to load up the chamber with bricks to add mass the stuff they are selling now are much closer to 1/16th thick. Sadly the time for pretty good quality back yard smokers for cheap has gone.

If you MUST get something new your best bet is going to be a Weber Smokey MOuntain (WSM) it has a HUGE FOLLOWING and turns out some great product,

Alternatively you could make an Ugly Drum Smoker (UDS) on the cheap provided you can get ex food metal 55gal drums for cheap/free. there is a HUGE thread on BBQ Brethren dedicated to the UDS.

Also i hightly suggest you pick up Smoke and Spice is an EXCELLENT resource full of techniques and recipes for real wood burning bbq.

if you are interested in sausage making Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman is the book you want it is by far one of the best entry level sausage/curing book out there.

If you have any questions i am currently bored silly here at work so feel free to ask away and i will do my best to answer them

Food addiction is mostly just sugar addiction. Fast food and other refined carbs convert to glucose almost as quickly as a donut, it doesn't matter if you think it's sweet or not. What's happening is that your brain is looking for its energy from the extreme sugar rush that you have accustomed it to. It can't function without high-octane rocket fuel because that is what it runs on now. You need to set time aside to endure the suffering of withdrawal, and your system will naturally start to seek other energy sources such as the 150 extra pounds of stored energy that you're carrying around everywhere.


In my experience, turning it around takes a real moment of clarity and acceptance that you're going to have to suffer for a while and get tough with yourself to get things back into balance. You need to be able to look at yourself and say: cut the shit, enough treating myself. I've banked up extra enjoyment for years, giving myself treats and rewards for no particular reason. Now it's time to pay back that big borrowed pleasure debt that I've accumulated by treating myself. And the only way to do that is by suffering and understanding that I owe back that suffering to bring things into balance again. If you can make a week with no added sugar or white refined carbs, a carrot will literally sound like a sweet treat. But before you get there, you need to suffer brutal withdrawal like you're the guy in Trainspotting. Maybe you need to lay in the dark with a cold cloth on your head, or curl into a ball and sob. The physical awfulness of getting off the sugar/carb train is not to be underestimated.


I don't know what Soylent is, but you should be eating real food rather than anything with a product name. Food was never meant to be particularly fast or easy. Real food takes some pre-planning and time to prepare. The hardest thing can be adjusting expectations about how quick or easy it is to obtain a meal, especially when the rest of society expects you to deal with eating in 15 minutes. But if you're not chopping something on the cutting board and turning the stove on, then chances are you're eating dog shit. It takes a complete readjustment of your schedule to start doing things properly. Anyone who loves food should love cooking, and happily learn to understand raw ingredients and spices and flavors. You should never be staring down a plate of something you don't want to eat. A proper meal that you've made yourself with fresh ingredients with the help of a good cookbook will be more enjoyable than any heroin fix from mcdonalds.


There are a couple great books I've used to help understand how things work, and figure out what I want to be cooking.


Most useful source of information:


http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Live-Amazing-Nutrient-Rich-Sustained/dp/031612091X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426010343&sr=8-1&keywords=eat+to+live


My favourite cookbook:


http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-World-Vegetarian-Meatless/dp/0609809237/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426010362&sr=1-1&keywords=madhur+jaffrey+world+vegetarian

I cook a lot - and have for a very long time, so I thought about the things that I reach for essentially every meal and will describe what I think is most satisfying for starting out.

When I go to the kitchen to start dinner, I pull out my chopping board, my paring knife, my chef's knife and my over the sink strainer (for washing produce as well as draining stuff) (link is an example only, I got mine at Aldi's for $5 US years ago. Those items are essential for every meal. If she does not have these - or the quality is frustrating, I would look for an upgrade for her. The over the sink strainer is replaced by a colander by a lot of folks, though I find the strainer more versatile.

I work with a mise en place, so I next pull out some metal 1 ounce and glass 4 ounce containers for the ingredients I will be pre measuring. For chopped veg type mise, I like a metal sheet - because nothing really damages it - think cookie sheet or even pizza pan depending on the quantity she is cooking. The small containers are ridiculously cheap and infinitely helpful; they stack, so they do not take up much kitchen space.

The cooking vessels she will need depend on what food she likes to cook. I could not make it a week without a Dutch Oven of highest quality, a wok that is willing to sit over propane in the back yard, a 4 gallon stock pot and a killingly heavy 16" cast iron skillet, but the right answer on cookware depends on what she likes to cook and how many she is feeding - I could live the rest of my life without a springform for cheesecake - her preferences may differ. I always have a cheap non stick skillet in the kitchen for folks who eat breakfast and like eggs - replace it every 2 years with another cheap one

On the subject of tools, silicone spatulas and the Thermopen are my must haves. Wooden spoons are third on the list, because you can use them in any pan.

Folks who love to cook also love cookbooks. The Food Lab is a great "encourager" cookbook, because it shows respect for the skills she has, while giving a great opportunity for real growth to any cook.

Pick and choose, tailor to what you have already, ask follow up questions!

Don't frown. Here's a cookbook for you!

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041

>Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cookbook!

If you ever feel adventurous try this book for cheese otherwise the Daiya blocks are tasty. Cashew cheese is easy to make and super tasty

Quick foods:

Rice, beans, potatoes. These things can be eaten cold even, and are super easy to prep in bulk.I'm cooking 2 cups of brown rice as I type this, and when I leave for work I'll start a crock pot of black beans. I regularly bring potatoes with salt on long bike rides, and eat them cold. You can put anything inside a tortilla and it'll taste good. Beans, seitan, tofu, rice avocado, spinach, etc.

Peanut butter and banana sandwiches, agave, jelly, really whatever.

Green veggie and fruit smoothies are an easy portable, and nutritious breakfast.

Fruit, carrots, nuts are all easy snacks.

Chickpea "tuna" is delicious and easy to prep.

Oatmeal is filling, cheap and easy.

Pasta is easy. Start with whole grain, or a hardy gluten free pasta. I have some chickpea protein pasta right now for instance. Red sauce, maybe throw some textured vegetable protein in there.

Frozen vegetables are easy to prep.

The cheapest, dry shelf stable foods are generally vegan. They are also normally available anywhere.

If there's a specialty vegan item that you want there's always amazon. I bought chickpea flour there awhile ago.
Peas and franks red hot is actually pretty delicious.

I like The Flavor Bible. It lists pretty much any ingredient you can think of and all the flavors that pair well with them.

I love it because if you know a few basic techniques and recipes, then you can greatly enrich your experience by knowing what flavors pair well. Like if you're making a rub for some ribs or whatever you're throwing on the grill but you want to change it up a little bit, you can get some great ideas that way and just try new and interesting flavor combinations. It will also tell you when there are combinations of like 3 or 4 flavors that work really well together.

And as you're trying new combinations, you start to get more of a taste for things. Like a made this rub for chicken thighs with brown sugar, cardamum, ginger, salt and pepper that was awesome. The chicken came out fantastic until I put the terrible barbecue sauce I made that I should have thought through more (I got cocky).

Anyway, because of The Flavor Bible, I made some basil and strawberry brownies because of this that turned out really well. Some orange, ginger, whiskey brownies that were pretty good. I made cayenne, lime, and paprika brownies that were mind-blowing. I made a blue berry tart with cardamum that was damn good. I like desserts... desserts and barbecue.

What's more nomalicious than Chocolate??? This is seriously the best dutch process cocoa powder known to mankind. No really! That much might last you until your next bulkish order...maybe. Being a carnivore, I use this to make an awesome rub for pork and poultry along with ancho chile, a bit of chipoltle chile for heat, and a dash of Mexican oregano. It is available in smaller amounts but costs more per pound then. And on to that most excellent of spices Cinnamon! Once again, this is the most nomalicious Cinnamon known to mankind. I make an unbelievable rhubarb coffee cake and amazing monkey bread with this stuff. It seriously takes any recipe with cinnamon to the next level. It can also be used to add heat to savory recipes. And for my last suggestion I give you Powdered White Cheddar!?!? Nomalicious on popcorn, for making sauces, adding to bread, and sprinkling on vegetables. It does look like recent reviews aren't as stellar as they could be but my experience with this stuff has been all good. Were I to win I'd appreciate The Flavor Bible from my wish list which I'd point you to in a PM ;)

Enjoy! =D

This is one of my favorite salads, and something I eat regularly. It's delicious, and we can call it high-class if you want. It's a combination that presents beautifully, and one I frequently serve.

But IMO, I wouldn't qualify it as sophisticated for two reasons

1.) The flavor combination is not particularly complex. By definition, sophisticated is "highly developed; complex." (Or, if you want to go with dictionary.com's definition, "developed to a high degree of complexity.")

To me, complexity in food is a combination of flavors that will interest my mouth in a multitude of novel ways, where there is either a) an unexpected progression of flavor, or b) a certain je ne sais quoi that I JUST CAN'T PUT MY FINGER ON NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY. This is what can elevate the simplest dish, like mac & cheese, to the highest levels of "sophisitcation" and innovation.

This flavor combination (and the wings recipe above) are both very basic (although delicious) balancing of flavors and textures. So basic, in fact, that I can now go into my local Panera and order that salad ...

2.) Which brings me to point #2. There are movements in food, as in fashion and architecture and every other form of art. And while things may be at the height of innovation one year (I'm talking to you, duck fat and rosemary potatoes. And you, salted caramel. And yes, you, fruit and goat cheese salad.) the cruel machine that is capitalism will eventually get their filthy claws into these delightful things.

And when they do, said flavor combinations cease to be interesting. A well-executed salted caramel brownie can be one of the most amazing things in the world - it has a rich, oaky nuttiness; a slightly burnt warmth. It's layered and complex and slightly bitter, not overly sweetened, covered in icing, and turned ^into^a^cake^pop.

So I see where u/adremeaux is coming from. It's frustrating for those who are looking for new ideas to see the same few over-done and passe flavor combinations mentioned and touted again and again and again as the very height of complexity and sophistication.

That said, I think a lot of redditors that make it to this subreddit aren't chefs. They don't read The Flavor Bible for fun, their idea of a celebrity encounter isn't meeting Grant Achatz, and they're just learning to branch out from spaghetti and sauce out of the jar. They get excited about things that, to some, seem boring or commonplace, and they want to pass that excitement on to others.

You could call this the blind leading the blind, but I'd rather look at it as something beautiful - for every person in this thread getting excited about a little goat cheese salad today, perhaps we'll see another hot potato, cold potato.

Also, for OP:

Honey & Black Pepper Duck Breast

Roasted Chestnuts with Black Pepper Honey

Baked Apples with Blue Cheese, Black Pepper, and Honey

Honey-Black Pepper Mayonnaise - perhaps on Fall 2011's dearly beloved cranberry, brie, and turkey sandwich?

I'm also going to throw out the ideas, sans recipe, of:

Earl grey tea cookies with a honey-pepper glaze

[Insert fruit of choice] shrub soda with honey and black pepper (I think peach would be quite nice!)

Cocktail - I'd suggest rye and a splash of lemon, but I'm no mixologist.

Hope i was helpful! Enjoy your culinary journey :D

Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cookbook!

Natural Harvest: A Collection of Semen-Based Recipes

Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cook book!

I'll just leave this here.

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041
>Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cookbook!

Hooray! I love cookbooks!

• Forest Feast is great for those veggies & entertaining
  
  
• A subscription to Cook's Illustrated
  
  
• A solid cookbook - Smitten Kitchen
  
  
• Anything by Yotam Ottolenghi but I particularly LOVE Plenty.
  
  
• The god of pastry Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery
  
  
• David Chang's momofuku, his pastry chef Christina Tosi's milk bar,or a subscription to his magazine Lucky Peach
  
  I don't know if they're into making ice cream, but it's really easy and fun:
  Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, The Perfect Scoop, and Ample Hills are all great.

This one takes the cake for me. It is a collection of semen based recipes. Yeah. That exists. The description is killer:
> Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that. Once you overcome any initial hesitation, you will be surprised to learn how wonderful semen is in the kitchen. Semen is an exciting ingredient that can give every dish you make an interesting twist. If you are a passionate cook and are not afraid to experiment with new ingredients - you will love this cookbook!

I worked at a grocery store, cleaning the meat department. It was gross as hell, and I was the best cleaner there, which meant that overall, meat departments are awful awful places. So I stopped eating meat. These days, I think we don't need to kill things to eat, so in general we shouldn't if we don't have to. I try not to be strident or to push vegn eating on other people (I'll still go to lunch with people who eat meat, for example) because it's really annoying.

This was 1992, and I haven't eaten meat, fish, chicken, or anything like that since. I still eat eggs and dairy a little, but lately dairy makes me ill so I am cutting out the milk as well. I eat a ton of soy because it's useful and versatile.

Free-range meat and eggs are just to make people feel a little better about eating them. Same with "happy meat." It's nice that it's not factory farming, but you're still raising an animal for the sake of killing and eating it. It seems hypocritical to me.

Let me see... Favorite meals? I like to make burritos with various forms of TVP and fake meaty things. I make a damn fine dry-fried sake-miso-marinated tofu with udon. I've made a bourbon reduction sauce with spice-rubbed dry-fried fake chicken strips. I've made breaded and pan-fried tofu "wings" in buffalo sauce. I could go on, but you get the idea-- I don't eat brown rice and plain tofu every night, or, really, ever.

Your last question-- tofu shouldn't be lumped in with fake meats. It's not really an attempt to emulate meat in any way-- it's a totally different kind of thing. It does take some thought to cook it-- you need to figure out marinades and different frying techniques, and you can't just throw it in a pan and know it'll come out tasting great without you having to do much with it. On its own it's a flavorless lump, but it soaks up marinades and spices like crazy, and you can cook it a bunch of different ways for different effects. Generally you'll want to cook with extra-firm tofu, and you'll want to press the liquid out of it before cooking it (I put it between paper towels on a plate and put another plate and some books on top for half an hour or so).

Fake meats are useful for converting recipes (like the bourbon reduction I mentioned before) since you can usually drop in a package of fake chicken strips from Trader Joe's in place of chicken in most things. (And you can always get a package of Tofurky and make a sandwich.) Some of them are really expensive; some are not very good. Some are better for cooking in different ways. You may have to try them, or get advice from people who have already done a lot of cooking...

Beware of tempeh. It's a weird sort of fermented grain thing, and it's very difficult to make it totally palatable. I still don't cook with it much since it's easy to do poorly and it's super gross if you aren't careful with it. Consider that an advanced vegetarian protein and get used to cooking with tofu first. 8)

If you're curious, Veganomicon is a FANTASTIC cookbook. You could eat from it for years without getting bored:

http://www.amazon.com/Veganomicon-The-Ultimate-Vegan-Cookbook/dp/156924264X

If you want to cook various ethnic foods, I've had a good time with Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian cookbook:

http://www.amazon.com/Madhur-Jaffreys-World-Vegetarian-Meatless/dp/0609809237

It has all kinds of stuff to try out, and goes into detail on methods and techniques of cooking different vegetarian proteins.

There are also vegan and vegetarian message boards around if you want to ask people who do more cooking and have tried a lot of things.

The biggest problem when starting out vegetarian will be going out to eat. You may find that your favorite restaurants are no longer good places for you to eat, or that going out with friends involves more negotiation. It also depends on where you live. Most largish cities will have at least a few vegetarian or vegan restaurants, or will have restaurants with veg options on the menus. Be prepared for some disappointing or annoying experiences while you figure it out. Finding local vegns to hang out with will help that, but you may have to be firm with your friends and convince them that it's not just a phase and that you're not just trying it out for a while. (This assumes, of course, that it's not just a phase and that you aren't just trying it out for a while.)

Be prepared for people to give you a hard time. Don't be afraid to tell them that it's your decision and if they have a problem with it they can go to hell (or perhaps something more polite). Lots of people will think it's clever to start asking you things like "what about plants? aren't plants alive too?" and "Chickens have a brain the size of a peanut-- they're not intelligent or anything!" and "clams are so simple they're hardly animals at all!" and so on and so forth. A million stupid and time-worn jokes. Just be ready.

People also like to argue with vegetarians about things because they think you're judging them. Ideally, you aren't judging them-- if you are, I'd suggest hiding it unless you really want to get into a fight, since people take it very personally. I usually tell people that it's my decision and I don't really care what they do.

Anyway, it's a great decision to make, although it's not always easy. There are lots of groups of supportive people out there, and it's a lot easier to go veg these days than it was back in 1992 (or earlier! Imagine eating vegetarian in the US in the 70's!). Good luck! Ask questions, and don't be afraid to try stuff!

I've only seen one part (which I thought was sort of bullshit) but I've heard it's for the most part a good advocate for a plant-based diet. Have you seen either Cowspiracy or Earthlings? The former covers the environmental impacts of the livestock industry, and the latter covers the ethics. I would whole-heartedly recommend both, with a warning attached to Earthlings because it can be genuinely shocking and/or traumatizing to watch. Cowspiracy can be found on Netflix, and Earthlings is free to watch here. If you want some ideas for how to execute the actual transition, I found this page to be a useful resource. IMO a whole foods diet is the way to go, it's made me feel so much better physically. But always remember there's plenty of junk food like chips, frozen veggie nuggets, and ice cream you can buy at the store if you want to have an unhealthy day. If you want a crap-ton of fancier, more complex recipes and good guides on substitutes and such, try a cookbook like this one or this one. Both are great resources, and if you want to make the switch I would definitely recommend getting one of them. Lastly, check out www.happycow.net! You can find what restaurants in your area are either fully vegan or have vegan options. Makes it a lot easier to eat out with friends and such. Anyway, hope I haven't rambled on too long or overwhelmed you with information! Hopefully some of that helps you come to a decision on this. It really is up to you, but like I said, make sure to watch those documentaries! And don't shy away from researching them afterwards to learn more about how destructive the livestock industry is.

1. Cardomom can come in purple too, apparently. That would probably be black cardomom, the green pods on the right are green cardomom. That whole picture shows the ingredients for chai.
   
   
2. Green chilis will give you similar heat to chili powder, but I'd just recommend picking up some dried red chilis and making your own powder. You can get large bags for cheap at an indian grocer. You can make your own chili flakes from this too. Cloves and cinnamon together can substitute allspice.
   
   
3. Yes, some indian spices are very close to morrocan / thai spices, and there are plenty of spices used in other kinds of savory dishes (italian and oregano, mexican and cumin) or sweet dishes (cinnamon, cardamom) and so on. You've got a much better stock than most people do when they start cooking.
   
   
4. There are plenty of online resources for subbing spices. Just read up when you have to.
   
   
5. Just start with what you have, and if you are missing something, grab it. I have over 100 spices at home and probably use 30 of them frequently. Just figure out what you like and run out of by learning new dishes. You might want to either grow an herb garden, or stock up on leaf spices (thyme, rosemary, sage, parsley, basil, savory, majorum and so on). These are generally better fresh but dried can still impart flavor. I also enjoy different table salts (black lava salt, pink salt) for different flavors.
   
   
6. You really learn this by making dishes. The more you cook, the better you will be able to remember how spices go together. Also, there's "Culinary Artistry" or "The Flavor Bible" for most spices you will encounter. This book lists all different foods and spice and what is traditionally mixed with what.
   
   
   
7. Just have fun with spice! It really is a learning process, but once you get the hang of it, it really makes all the difference in cooking. You can make wonderful dishes very easily if you master the use of spice. Good luck!
   
   Edit : 8. Wear gloves, and just try not to be careless. You will probably injure yourself cooking in one way or another, but you can take precautions to minimize the injury. I have about 8 cuts on my hands from my chefs knife, but they all happened because I was either drinking or was half awake. I've burned myself from pans, but again, it's because I was being careless.

I don't take any supplements, but I really, really, really should be taking b12. Like other's said, b12 is only really available from animal products.
I eat a LOT of spinach. Like, half a bag a day. I've not found it too hard to substitute meat in my meals. One pot meals like curries, stir fries, chilli, etc are really easy to veganise. You can swap the meat for chickpeas, other beans, lentils, soya mince, soya chunks etc, and still get a great tasting meal. The key is to use the right herbs and spices.
Tofu is delicious, but only if you cook it properly, otherwise it can be like...pannacota type texture. Make sure you press it!

I bought myself this book: Appetite for Reduction and it was a massive help.

Good luck! And don't give yourself too much grief if you slip up every so often. Give yourself a grace period to ease into it.

Just a couple of links to help you out.
The stonesoup has great (mostly) 5 ingredient recipes and can be easily made vegetarian.
I highly recommend How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Appetite for Reduction for simple, basic recipes.
Also, quesadillas are a great, quick meal on a stove. If you're looking for a good vegan recipe, these Smoky White Bean Quesadillas are awesome and can be made easily without a food processor.
And this Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce (scroll down) is delicious, cheap and easy with pasta or steamed veggies. I had a kitchen this size when I studied abroad in France a couple years ago and it can be done. You just have to learn to be creative. :) Good luck!

Okay, I suck at responding, but here's some stuff I do!

I recently kicked my butt into gear and what helped me:

1. Cooking for myself and eating a primarily plant-based diet.
   
   I looove cooking. Making vegan food has helped me tremendously. My favorite vegan blog is Oh She Glows. She makes my favorite kind of vegan food which is the kind that doesn't have non-vegan substitutes (the food just happens to be vegan, no faux meat or fake cheese etc) and it has reasonable ingredients that I can find in the grocery store by my house. Everything I've made from that site was delicious. I own this book and it is fabulous.
   
   
2. Drink a shit ton of water
   
   I bought a water bottle like this and it makes it easier to drink than wide-mouth ones. I have an app on my phone, Water My Body, so I know how much I have left to drink that day.
   
   
3. Green Smoothies. All the time.
   
   Green smoothies are fucking delicious. I feel better every time I have one. The most basic is Almond Milk + Banana + Spinach but you can make all kinds. The 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge starts July 1, so sign up for free! There are a lot of other great recipes at Green Monster Movement.
   
   
4. Getting enough sleep
   
   I am a horrible person with no sleep. Coffee helps, but only so much. I had to start changing my habits so I could sleep on time. I set an alarm to tell me to stop doing what I was doing and start getting ready for bed. I got f.lux so my bright screen wouldn't keep me up (they have it for Android and jailbroken iPhones too!). I started reading before bed and taking melatonin. You gotta do what you gotta do.
   
   
5. Meditation
   
   Meditation has helped tremendously. It isn't exercise, but it makes me feel better. Even if I do it for five mins a day.
   
   
6. Exercise
   
   I am going to be honest. I've been lazy lately with exercise. But my favorite places to get the job done (since I don't have a gym membership at the moment)
   
   Hang Tight - MarC will kick your ass. Her southern drawl will make it hard to hate her, though.
   
   Blogilates - My favorite YT exercise guru. I love her workout calendars, because it makes planning exercise super easy.
   
   Let me know if you need me to explain or elaborate on anything!

I've been experimenting with vegan cheeses for awhile and I've found that to really get a good cheese-like substance, you need to have some lactic acid and fermentation going on. Here is the recipe I use from Miyoko's Homemade Vegan Pantry. I love this book for so many homemade staples, it is my go to for many recipes, but Miyoko is like the queen of vegan cheese.

Yield: one pound

Ingredients:
1 cup cashews (raw)
1 Cup Rejuvelac (I use sauerkraut juice because I am often making krauts; but you can also find recipes online and make rejuvelac pretty quick and easy with quinoa--just search for a recipe online)
*1 1/2 tsp sea salt (def. sea salt and don't substitute coarse...I tried once haha)

• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
  1 tsp white, yellow, or chickpea miso
  1/2 tsp onion powder
  *1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP water
  1 TBSP agar powder
  2 TBSP tapioca starch
  
  Directions
  
  Place the cashews, rejuvelac, salt, nooch, miso, and onion powder in a blender and puree until smooth. Transfer to a clean container or jar, cover with a lid, and let sit at room temperature for 1-2 days, until the mixture has thickened, risen, and formed air pockets. It will also taste tangy. You'l notice the texture change to something somewhat gooey and thick. I usually use a spoon and test it.
  
  Put the 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan with the agar and whisk it well so the agar is nicely distributed. Cover the pot with a lid and bring it to a simmer over low heat--it'll take a few minutes (3-4ish). It'll look like it solidified after the first 2 minutes or so but let it keep bubbling until the after is dissolved. When the agar is fully dissolved, pour the cultured cashew mixture you made a day or two ago into the pot. Whisk vigorously and while the mixture heats, dissolve the tapioca starch in the remaining two TBSP of water and add it to the pot. COntinue cooking until the mixture is stretchy and shiny. Cook it until you get just about the desired texture--don't overcook it as it will continue to solidify once you put it in the fridge. Pour the mixture into a glass container and refrigerate until set, at least 4-5 hours (I usually let it go overnight). Wrap the cheese in wax paper or cheese cloth. It will last in the fridge for 2-3 weeks (I often don't mind it at a month to be honest, but it kind of depends how fresh my kraut juice is).
  
  Enjoy!

I wouldn't call myself a vegetarian but I don't eat red meat and tend to eat plant-based meals 4-5x a week. I also hate salads unless they're greek-style (feta + cucumbers + tomatoes, that whole deal).

I'm not a creative person in the cooking department so the best thing for me was to buy a few reference books. I use this, this, and a book I can't remember that I found at a used bookstore haha. The Complete Vegetarian one is an amazing resource but very dense and many recipes take longer than 45 min. so I mostly use it as a reference for how to prep vegetables. Also don't discount vegan cookbooks! Vegans get a lot of flak on the internet but a lot of the recipes are really good. I also frequent /r/1200isplenty and /r/vegan1200isplenty where lots of easy, low-calorie high veggie dishes are posted.

Lately I'm big on little variety platters (like a plate with a mix of vegetables, cheese, and crackers lol) but I make a lot of soups too. Couscous is amazing. One of my favorite summer dishes is a penne pasta mixed with oven-baked corn, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes. A lot of people like to use spaghetti squash or a spiralizer to make fake noodles which can be used as a substitute for regular noodles in stir-fry or bakes. I've also turned around and fallen in love with tofu. I really love this crispy tofu recipe. The key to crispy tofu is to use firm or extra firm and let it drain for an adequate amount of time (impatient me wants it NOW so it used to end up soggy lol). Hope that helps a bit!

for nutrition, head on over to your Health Care Provider's website. They should have many helpful articles on eating right. Failing that, check out WebMD's suggestions.

I'm gonna presume it's just you (for now at least). One of the things you'll notice about a lot of recipes out there is that the serving sizes. Check out r/CookingForOne.

Also look over r/AskCulinary. It has a great FAQ (covers books, equipment and ingredients for beginners and experts alike) and Index.

Watch some Julia Child and Alton Brown videos.

for books, head over to your used bookstore and get yourself a copy of The Joy Of Cooking, Ratio and The Flavor Bible. This last one will help you a LOT with your spices.

Yes, I'm suggesting that you spend money. But the equipment (knives, cast iron, etc) and books are an investment. And you don't have to get them all at once.

Finally, it's great when you find items on sale in the produce section of your local market. But if it spoils before you use it all, it's wasted money and food. This is when your local salad bar can be a great help.

Good luck.

Edit: get yourself a rice cooker/steamer. a simple one-button model is all you really need. Always perfect rice and you can steam your veggies in the basket as well. Much healthier. Also, once you get more confident, you can look up some copycat recipes for your favorite fast food restaurant items.

Since everyone else is touching on the other stuff, Appetite for Reduction is one of my favorite vegan cookbooks. Unfortunately it's not loaded with pictures (and the pictures it has are kind of... funky...), but the food is good.

The Post Punk Kitchen is also worth checking out. This black bean and quinoa soup is one of my favorites that I don't make often enough.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. My SO's mother has several conditions including fibro, rheumatoid arthritis, and some super fun neurological disorders that the doctors haven't been able to pinpoint. She doesn't have CP, but I know her arms and hands are very, very weak as well. She has good days and bad days. I've known her for about five years now, and her best days seem to pile up when she's drinking plenty of water and she gives herself a break physically. Her doctors have recommended trying yoga over the years, though I don't think she's ever followed through. Swimming seems to help get her going, and I know for a while she was saying she was using very light weights (1 and 3 lb) to do some basic arm and shoulder exercises.

You are totally welcome to PM me if you want to, I'd be happy to pass along anything from my SO about his mom's routines. They've been dealing with this for about 25 years now, so I know there's a boatload of information I don't have.

I think it depends on what kind of person you are. If you think you'll be happier doing it yourself, knowing how it was done and learning while you go then you should take the leap and give it a shot. It's really not that hard to mess up and the learning experience will be invaluable. I'm by no means a professional but I always do it myself and like it that way. I know exactly how it was taken care of, I've done it how I want to and I've been in control of the whole process. It can be daunting, no doubt but the best way to learn, like most things, is to jump in. And in the end, if you found that it's just not for you then, then at least you know what it involves and can move forward with that knowledge next time.

If your worried you don't know enough or don't know anyone to help you through it then there are now lots of places to pick up good information. If you have netflix, throw on Meateater, season 6, episode 6. Steve Renilla is a great example of how to do things right and I wish he was around when I started hunting. You could also pick up Renilla's book (link below) which is great for many reasons besides being well worth the cheap price.

One note, I know Renilla doesn't like vacuum sealers for big game but I found it works fine if you don't bang them around. His method is most likely more durable (and probably cheaper) but if you want to vacuum it, that will work too.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Hunting-Butchering-Cooking/dp/081299406X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503768517&sr=8-2&keywords=hunting+and+butchering+wild+game

You might want to buy Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. Its a book about cooking techniques that I think is precisely the book you are looking for.

Also honorable mention for The Food Lab and The New Best Recipe books as well, those are more recipe based, but they have great info on techniques and ingredients. Both get into the science behind cooking and explain why they picked a specific recipe which helped me learn how to cook without recipes and be able to know when certain things are done(I now judge if something I am baking is done more by smell than time now) and how to save emulsions when to add salt and acids etc. The author of the food lab is also pretty active on the Serious Eats subreddit and will answer questions about his recipes.

Salt Fat Acid and Heat is also pretty good as well, I have not read this one personally though as the first part is waaaaaayyy too much personal narrative from the author for me and I turned off the audiobook after listening to her life story for 10 minutes, so get the print book so you can skip right to the cooking parts.

The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner: http://www.amazon.com/The-Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Staples/dp/1607746778

Vegan, not vegetarian, but there are some amazing recipes for really basic staples in there, like condiments, cheese, milk, stocks and broths, meat substitutes, pasta, breads, crackers, and a few simple desserts. There are also some recipes that build on others, like certain soups and stews, or using leftovers and scraps of one recipe to make something new. It's a beautiful book and everything I've made from it so far has been pretty simple and has tasted wonderful. And it's under $15 on Amazon for the hardcover physical version! I highly recommend it!

I'm vegan and limiting caloric intake, but I can manage it with protein shakes! This awesome mix with 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk and a banana is about 300 calories and keeps me full for hours, while giving me nearly 1/2 of my daily protein!

My second favorite safety net is using Isa Chandra's Appetite for Reduction recipes (she's my favorite chef of all time!), especially chickpea and quinoa salad - it's so versatile and super high in protein.

If you cut out the dairy, you'll probably have an easier time reducing your overall calories, so look for vegan alternatives if necessary. If you have any questions, feel free to PM!

Yotam Ottolenghi came out with a followup on his Plenty cookbook a few months ago, its called Plenty More. Used to see vegetables as only a side dish but he really changed my mind and enabled me to see that they can really be the star of the table. There are many interesting combinations. And as a man who is an omnivore himself, he often makes his dishes hearty enough that many of us wont even miss the meat.

Another book which you should look into is Thug Kitchen. If you haven't seen their blog, you should really check it out.

You should also look into Deborah Madison's books. This one is practically the Bible among vegetarians due to how comprehensive it is. Ironically, she also is an omnivore.

Theres also the Moosewood Cookbook which is great for weeknight meals as many of the recipes are simple and quick.

If you like Indian, I would really recommend 660 Curries which has some of the best Indian food I've ever tasted. I often compare food I get in Indian restaurants to what I've cooked from this book. Yes, its not completely vegetarian but the vast majority of Indian cuisine is vegetarian so it should still be a valuable resource for you.

Speaking of Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey (who is known for her Indian cookbooks) has a great cookbook dedicated to vegetarian cooking.

Your post inspired me to put up this awesome five ingredient tofu recipe over on r/veganrecipes. I'm calling it LPT: Life Pro Tofu as it's the best tofu recipe I've ever seen. The recipe comes from Miyoko Schinner's book and combines tofu with flax seed gel. The results are amazing; for me, truly mind-blowing. Thinking back, it's amazing how far I've come with good tools and recipes. Here's hoping you might gain some inspiration!

Moosewood Restaurant Favorites is a great vegetarian cookbook. I'm not even a vegetarian but I do try to eat as many veggies, greens, and fruits as possible. They make other Moosewood cookbooks I just dont have any of the others (yet), but it is a vegetarian restaurant so all their other books are veggie friendly

ATK's The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook - I love all the ATK books. I use cook books on a daily basis (am young, dont really have much cooking experience beyond basics, so I rely heavily on cook books to learn) and theirs are always the best. I have never had a recipe from any of their books turn out bland. They are also generally very simple recipes. And I havent come across any that require uncommon appliances or hard to find ingredients ..there are so many other cook books that do this and I hate it when I find a recipe that requires an immersion blender and then all sorts of uncommon /hard to find speciality food items and it's like well, guess I'm not making that any time soon. If you cant tell, I have a lot of praise for ATK books lol.

Rice milk is generally low in fat (and calories), but it's a little too sweet for me. Your mileage may vary. I like almond and cashew milk, but that may be a little too high in fat for you.


Daiya is a soy-free cheese alternative, but I haven't tried it. I've heard good things about it, though, and it's supposed to melt like "real" cheese.


As for yogurt, I've only had soy and coconut, so not a lot of recommendations there. So Delicious is a good brand.


Edited to add: Appetite for Reduction has some good low-fat vegan recipes that you could easily incorporate meat into if you'd like.

Hey, glad to help. I had the same epiphany a few months ago. The food really is designed for it. If you live somewhere with any sort of international market, go there and grab some Indian spices in bulk. I drive half an hour to closest one for black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, turmeric, green cardamom pods, and garam masala. It's so so cheap and totally worth it. Also brown rice and whatever special lentils they have like unsplit black lentils. Oh man are those foods cheaper and better than I imagined.

I also have this great book about instant pots by Roger Ebert. I'm also a U of I alum, and just found it fascinating. It's a great read and it's really interesting to read a short book by someone that is so incredibly passionate and funny about a subject like this.

I recently made some really fabulous Chili-Lime Rubbed Tofu (from Appetite for Reduction ) the other day. Here's the basic recipe for it. It calls for 1tsp of oil, which is all you'd need for the recipe. If you wanted to omit it, you probably could do so without too much trouble.

I served this with sauteed spinach (in garlic and a little lemon juice + water for sautee-- just a smidge), corn kernels, and slices of bell pepper all over some warm brown rice. You could also make it over quinoa and it would be delicious! The marinade in the tofu makes a bit extra after cooking, so you can probably pour it over the bowl and have it be a bit extra flavor. Or, you could top it off with Salsa Fresca (which should naturally have none of the things you're looking to avoid).

Now, that does make for a 1-bowl-per-person meal. I love it, but if you're looking to do something fancier, you certainly can.

These Raspberry Truffle Brownies have no fat. They also can be made using sucanat or another sweetener that isn't sugar. I'm familiar with an eating plan similar to your mom's, and generally the issue is added sugar (with the recognition that special events are special, and you can have an occasional treat).

If she can't have any added sugar, you may want to make some quick banana soft serve, since most "dessert" recipes-- even vegan ones, have generally some oil or some added sugar (maple syrup, agave, etc.). So if you can't do any sweeteners or any added oil, peel and freeze a few bananas. When you're ready to have your dessert, break them into pieces and toss them into the food processor with a bit of non-dairy milk, and a touch of vanilla extract. If you're feeling fancy, you might add peanut butter or cocoa powder. Whiz it together til you get a decent consistency. You may need to scrape the sides down a few times.

Good luck, and enjoy!

I am by no means an expert, but I recommend baby steps. Instead of trying to make up a whole new recipe from scratch, why not try modifying some recipes you are already comfortable with? You can try substituting ingredients, modifying your seasoning, changing the cooking method for a recipe using the same or similar ingredients, or even combining two different but compatible recipes into something new. I would also maybe try to stick to one culinary tradition at first, like French or Japanese cooking, which use a few key ingredients to create lots of different dishes. I learned a lot from cooking from Harumi Kurihara's cookbooks. Stick with what you know until you become more comfortable imagining flavor profiles and methods of cooking in your head and then you can worry about taking on something completely new.

I've also heard from friends who cook that this book, The Flavor Bible, is good at describing how flavors work. I haven't read it myself (still on my Amazon wishlist until I have more $$), but you may want to check it out. Good luck!

edit: added some stuff

Hi! I would suggest finding a cookbook you like the looks of and getting into it. I usually really like Ottolenghi's recipes, for instance.

I also started my own personal cookbook/collection, too. I started with family recipes, and would take other people's recipes and add to it. It's huge now, but I still have a couple of great standalone books.

Some dishes that have kept me alive over the years:

Risotto. This took me through university. (I don't add butter, and I sometimes add mushrooms.)

Curry. I live off of curry. This recipe is an OK starter (but use chili pepper, not cayenne). There are a lot of bad curry recipes out there. It took me a lot of years to get the recipes right, so I might suggest finding someone who is good at curries and learning from them.

Peanut sauce. You can steam green vegetables, make some rice/soba noodles, and throw this sauce on top. Add a bit of tempeh for protein. Easy peasy.

If you can get into a cooking class and food is something you want to brush up on, I would highly recommend it. I took a bunch of classes, and even the most basic ones helped me learn tricks and tips that I still use.

Good luck!

Find an experienced shooter to take you to the range... Practice some marksmanship fundamentals with them on a small round (.22lr would be ideal) and then transfer that to the .308. Stepping up through a couple intermediate calibers while practicing (like .223 which lots of shooters will have for plinking or .243) would help.

The .308, as others have said, is NOT a 'small' gun. But, I think you're absolutely right that it is a "One Gun to Do Them All" chambering. You can take any huntable game with a proper .308 load.

Putting aside the gun whargarbl for a minute, here's some stuff on your more foundational question:

1. You should find and enroll in a hunter safety class first. Period. Hands down. You _need_ the training, really, and it's a great way to meet new hunters to go into the woods with or more experienced hunters who will be willing to be mentoring resources for you.
   
2. I'd point you to Steve Rinella's _Complete Guides_ if you're looking for a generalist resource to get started. There's two books focused on different classes of game (small/large), and a lot of helpful information for the hunter entering the sport. I am/was that guy. I quickly found myself wanting to move on to other, more in-depth resources on the specific things I was interested in, but these are no-brainers for 'first books'.
   
3. Rinella's podcasts and Netflix show (MeatEater) is excellent, too.
   
4. Get out in the field NOW. Start going to the woods or marshes (I'm a waterfowler) or fields and just walk. Get your body in shape for walking/hiking long distances. Start walking around and REALLY looking at what's around you. Begin training your eye to just 'see stuff'. You might not know what you're seeing, but snap a pic of it and google stuff when you're back home. Learning to navigate and observe in the field is the most important thing a hunter can do, based on my own experience. So, get out there now. If you can find someone more seasoned to go with you, all the better.
   
   ​
   
   Hope that helps. I'm 4 years into learning myself. Happy to chat more!

The herbs and spices you get will depend on your tastes, but the windowsill herb garden is a great idea, especially for certain staples that just aren't the same when dried (basil, oregano and rosemary jump to mind).

Different herbs will stay fresh different periods of time in the fridge, its really hard to tell, but most will last at least 2-3 weeks, especially if they have some water in the base of a container.

most of the time I find that toasted\heated spices taste better not worse, so I'm not sure what's going on.

In terms of learning the fundamentals and flavors I am a big fan of the "Flavor Bible" It covers a lot of different combinations, spices, and how to use the flavors contained therein. It doesn't have a lot on how to preserve them, but if you're looking for ideas of things to keep around and how to use them, its a great choice.

Hopefully those are helpful to you.

Smoking can really be broken down into a couple different things.

• Building/maintaining a fire to provide a consistent temperature
  
• Butchery, removing silverskin and unnecessary fat from your product
  
• Seasoning - a great place to start is as simple as it gets, Salt and Pepper. A great cut of meat can stand on it's own without adding 30k different spices. I'm a huge fan of the dry brine method, which is where you salt whatever cut you're doing 12-18 hours prior (obviously excluding products that don't require being salted, like sausage), and allowing it to dry age in the fridge. This provides a dry exterior which lends to creating a nicer crust.
  
  I would highly recommend starting off with a small/inexpensive cut of meat, and working up. Top Round is a great choice. Pork Chops, Polish Sausage... get those down and move up to a rack of ribs, or a pork shoulder. Once you're confident with those, move on to a Brisket.
  
  
  Once you're happy with those results then try different things like injections, various spice rubs.
  
  
  My preferred books are:
  
  
  Franklin BBQ - A Meat Smoker's Manifesto & Meathead: Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

Hello! SO I personally am a vegetarian, but my significant other is a vegan and I eat and cook only vegan at the house, alongside that I work at a 4.8 star restaurant in my town and am inches away from getting soux after climbing up the ranks. The official fine dining training helped me exponentially in refining and learning basic and advanced culinary skills that I can implement at home with a plant based diet. As far as references I would consult a large number of gourmet vegan cookbooks and learn the skills at home yourself, after purchasing books like 'Artisinal vegan cheese'
https://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830

and my all time favorite cook book, the vegetarian flavor bible
https://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Vegetables/dp/031624418X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505111621&sr=1-1&keywords=vegetarian+flavor+bible

and learn enough skills in cooking things like seitans and fake cheeses, you can start looking at more contemporary cookbooks about vegetarian cuisine and just sub out the non vegan items with a vegan substitute
I absolutely agree that seeking out a vegan chef and working in their kitchen is the best way to learn good cooking, but in the town I live in, the only vegan restaurant is ran by an asshole so I had to aloft to a omnivorous restaurant, and yes I do have to taste dishes made with meat, but I aspire to veg/vegan place further down the line that could trick any omnivore!

Video series or anything? I really learned a ton reading The Professional Chef, which is a textbook in a lot of culinary schools I hear. I have the eTextbook version that has a lot of video links and interactivity.

If you're into the science behind cooking I'd also really recommend The Food Lab, I have the hard back version and it's also just a beautiful book.

I also have Cooking and Sauces by Peterson, also textbook quality books.

And of course, the ever popular Better Homes & Gardens Ring-Bound Cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and The Joy of Cooking are staples on my bookshelf as well. Great for reference or a quick look to find a particular recipe just to see how others do it.

I also browse a lot of websites and watch a lot on YouTube. I'll save recipes I find online using the Evernote Web Clipper and tag them so I can find them easily in the future. This works great because I can pull them up on my iPad while I'm cooking.

When a recipe calls for a method, tool, or ingredient I'm not very familiar with I'll usually just search it on YouTube and get some ideas about how to use it. That's worked really well for me so far.

I made a vegan gift basket for a friend and her boyfriend this last Christmas and it contained:

• The Homemade Vegan Pantry cookbook Essential.
  
  
• Dickinson’s Purely Fruit spread The blackberry one is my favorite.
  
  
• Bee Free Honee So good in a mug of hot green tea.
  
  
• Carrington Farms coconut oil Good for cooking, body care, or a silky and sexy massage!
  
  
• Some pretzels, fresh sourdough bread, and a banana loaf made with this recipe.
  
  
• Also some mason jars filled with chia seeds, hemp seeds, and flax meal.
  
  
• A few cute little strawberry shaped reusable bags.
  
  

I have a few ice cream cookbooks that I love - you can probably find a handful of recipes from them via Google and food blogs.

David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. A lot of his recipes use an egg custard ice cream base - the recipes I've tried were delicious and really rich. He also has a lot of non-egg recipes and sorbets, plus recipes and suggestions for mix-ins. It's a good mix of more traditional flavors and some interesting/gourmet ones.

Jeni's book is another one that I've seen highly recommended. I've had it for awhile but just tried one of the recipes recently, and I loved it. Her recipes uses cornstarch instead of eggs, plus a few other tricks, and the recipe I made was REALLY good - perfect texture for scooping, and really tasty. Her recipes veer a little more towards the unusual, but there are some classics in there also and some sorbets, frozen yogurts, etc.

If he has a particular team he supports for football, maybe some gear to wear or tickets to a game (I realize the season is almost over but long shot here.)

You mentioned cooking/grilling... along those lines, if he has room for it and enjoys bbq type good, you might consider a smoker
If you do opt for this route, there is a great book that you could get to go with it.

Just trying to help think outside the box. Good luck!

That’s awesome. Glad you have a good solution, sounds like a rad store! Sort of related- If you haven’t ever made your own yogurt, I strongly recommend it, it blows the store bought stuff away. I usually use Westsoy Original soy milk, normally I like unsweetened but the fermentation cultures like the sugar so I get the original. One of these days very soon, I will try the feta recipe from that book...

You may eventually want to check out Miyoko’s “Homemade Vegan Pantry” cookbook. it came out pretty recently and the recipes seem a little updated, not as many in depth recipes on specific types of cheese but the recipes I’ve used out of there have been stellar and I find that I reach for it more often than the Artisan Cheese book. It really depends on what you’re into making. She includes the recipe for her cultured butter and the ice cream recipe is also perfect.

Mine is slow smoked brisket.

Early in my marriage, I bought a small smoker and cooked some ribs. The recipe called for them to be smoked at 225 for 4 hours. While I was out on the small balcony of our Chicago apartment, my wife completely left me alone. I had 4 glorious hours of solitude while I tended the ribs in the smoker. And they came out tender and juicy and delicious. My wife was very proud of my new found skill.

20 years later, we live out in the country and I have a full sized smoker on my deck, and my wife still gives me the temporary solitude that I enjoy.

Now, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I wake up at 4AM and get the smoker going. I will smoke the biggest brisket I can find, usually north of 15 pounds. I will smoke it at 190-200 ALL DAY LONG. From 5AM til 11PM, usually. If it is still not cooked to perfection, I will finish it in the oven overnight.

I use mesquite usually, but sometimes oak or a mix of oak and mesquite. I am a huge fan of this cookbook, and use their recipe for the brisket. If you like smoked meat, I highly recommend it (the hot smoked salmon and martini leg of lamb recipes are also amazing, but all of the recipes in are good. There is even one for 'smoked butter', and that is something you need to try.)

Maybe you need to put the part about it being a gift in bold, because people are posting links to blogs...

I agree with 5A704C1N on Veganomicon -- I don't own it, but it's very highly regarded. I also really like the Moosewood cookbooks for homestyle comfort food.

But if your pal has good cooking skills, maybe something for a specific cuisine or with a generally more worldly view would present a challenge and give them something to learn. Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is supposed to be really good.

Edit: I've seen some people say Jaffrrey's World of the East is actually better.

OK, second edit: you might try searching on chowhound.com's forums -- they are always my last word on anything food-related online.

It might help to ease into it. That can help you find recipes you like and foods that make you feel great -- it's a lot less pressure if you mess up a meal or don't like something when you're doing one or two vegetarian days per week. You can then do it more and more as you feel more comfortable and it will let you move out of your comfort zone a bit and try new things.

Don't shy away from meat substitutes (as sometimes you just want a "burger"!) but don't rely on them 100% either. Look for meals that highlight vegetables rather than try to hide the fact that there's no meat.

Also, not all vegetarian cookbooks are created equal. The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook is amazing though, and Thug Kitchen is a lot of fun.

Finally, don't beat yourself up if you slip. If you eat meat, forgive yourself and move on. Nobody is perfect but seeing a slip as a huge disaster just makes it harder to get back on track if you do.

Good luck!

Food can be healthy, easy, or cheap, but for any given meal you have to pick two. If you want healthy, you might need to give a little on the easy part, at least compared to take out.

When I first was on my own and responsible for cooking for myself, my mom got me this cookbook that has super simple, easy to make, small portioned vegetarian food. I would highly recommend it for a lazy vegetarian looking to get healthier, but I don't know anything about meat cravings and it will take a little effort to make some of these (although it also has things like yogurt parfair or sandwich filling suggestions

I gained 60 pounds being a junk food vegan and now I've lost all of it by trying to eat whole foods and count calories. I still love fries, cookies, bread, pasta, chocolate, etc. I just try to eat healthy most of the time and occasionally indulge. I would suggest using myfitnesspal or a similar app to keep track of calories and macro nutrients.

If you just cut out meat, dairy, eggs, animal products, sugar, processed carbs and soy... Oh Boy! That's a lot all at once and most people who go vegan for health reasons don't stick to the diet because they see it as... well a diet. It's a lifestyle change that involves making an ethical choice at every meal.

Having said that, going vegan was one of the best decisions I've ever made and I've never looked back. Check out Appetite for Reduction . It's full of healthy vegan meals and it lists the nutrition info for each recipe! Good luck :)

I'm a picky eater too and a new vegan. I feel like 90% of my diet is soy at the moment haha. I find that making alternatives of the foods I liked helps a lot. This book has been amazing the past few weeks. I like it because it shows you how to make staples to use in your diet instead of these crazy recipes that are overwhelming. I made the nuggets in the book the other day and they're super nice and I'm making some of my own mozzarella now!

Also train your taste buds and try new things. We are picky normally because of a mental block that causes us to be repulsed by certain foods and it helps to slowly break it down as much as possible. I personally have made a lot of progress with new foods in the last couple of years.

I hope this helps a little :)

>misc books from my amazon wish list

This is exactly what i'm doing since I'm flying back home for the holiday and seeing a lot of family that I haven't seen in nearly a decade. I figure most of the books are around $5-28, so it's not breaking anyone's bank and I get some old texts I haven't felt like truly spending money on. ...and then The Flavor Bible for both work and fun is the one book I'm really hoping someone picks up before I do.

There was a thought of getting a kindle which drops a lot of the prices for said books but I prefer hard copies too much =\

Oh, and from myself I'm picking up these chukka since my boots have started to fall apart and I don't know enough about having them resoled.

Do you guys feel weird making holiday lists as adults? On one hand I feel it helps family and friends who do enjoy the holiday and spirit of giving rather than them possibly wasting money on something you have no use or really don't like, such as cologne or that wicked flame watch I got years ago.

On the other hand ... The things I want, the few, I feel I should be capable of purchasing myself anyhow.

Sometimes I check out Supercook and throw a few ingredients at it to see what comes up, then maybe consult my Flavor Bible and kind of cobble something together. It usually turns out pretty good, or least something I'm interested in improving on, and it's always fun. Sadly, my culinary partner is on the other side of the continent. We share a lot of trial and errors over the phone and by email but it's not the same as cooking and eating together like you and your bff. That's an awesome thing to have with a friend.

I read both /r/smoking and r/bbq, and /r/bbq in general has better traffic and is more suited to "can someone tell me about this model smoker"?

Anyhoo, it's a little hard to tell the quality from the picture. Brinkmann is a good name. I liken them to Toyota. Not the best on the market, also not the worst. I have a Brinkmann SnP and while it has drawbacks, it's not something that I'm unhappy with. It's a good name to start with. That said, some things are unclear. I have two major issues. The first is heat movement. If the meat is sitting directly over the coals, you need some sort of a deflector to prevent the meat from grilling (smoking is more like cooking with an oven). I also can't see vents. A fire needs a good supply of oxygen to burn; this requires good vents. If you have shitty vents, you'll get shitty food. With barbecue, there really is a link between how much a smoker costs and how good it is. A smoker that's $100 or less will either make shitty food or fall apart within a year. If not both. This is a mistake everyone of us has learned the hard way.

I wouldn't focus so strongly on a brisket at first. We all have our favorite things to smoke, but I strongly advocate doing your first smoke with a pack of bratwursts as well as a turkey or pork shoulder. Turkey and pork shoulder are delicious smoked, they're cheap, and they're hard to eff up. Brisket is tricky to get right. If you have tons of money and wouldn't be upset to destroy a $30+ cut of beef in maiden smoke, that's one thing. But your maiden smoke is hard. Believe me- my first time, I literally took three hours to get my rig up to temperature. I actually wondered if there was a risk that my pork shoulder spoiled on the way to being cooked (it didn't, but I'm sure I'd get a ticky mark from a health inspector). The bratwursts are there to keep you fed during the 10 hours your pork shoulder (or whatever) takes to cook.

As for chips/charcoal ratio, I would suggest you read up a bit about BBQ before starting. You really want to use hardwood lump charcoal, and you should avoid chips if at all possible. The reason is that when you buy a nice bag of hickory or cherry chips, it's probably 50-80% cut with oak. Think: how often do you drive past a stand of hickory trees? How often do you drive past a stand of oak trees? This tip and lots, lots more will be covered in any good BBQ book. I recommend two:

1. Smoke & Spice
   
2. Peace, Love, and Barbecue
   
   If you hate books : ( then there's a fantastic online resource called Amazing Ribs (which discusses all types of BBQ, including I'm sure your coveted Texas-style brisket).
   
   As I said before, don't buy wood chips. Buy chunks or logs. You'll find a few types at your local Home Depot or Lowes, and any type of wood you can't find there is available at Barbecue Wood. They're a bit pricey, but they ship anywhere in the lower 48 free. And when I say any kind of wood, I mean any. I've been itching to try some of their pecan wood; just haven't gotten around to it because I'm sitting on a big pile of hickory I don't want to get moldy.
   
   Hope that helps! Feel free to send me a PM if you want (though I'm a bit slow these days as I'm moving), and remember that at /r/BBQ you'll probably get more responses to your equipment inquiries.

The sausage food is a hard seitan, which is a vegan protein made out of wheat gluten. It was fantastic, but one of the harder seitan recipes I've made, so I wouldn't start with this one if you don't have experience. The cheeses are cultured cashew cheeses from this cookbook, and I've posted some recipes above.

If you want any help with your transition, feel free to reach out! I've helped a lot of my friends and even a few internet strangers with their transition to veganism, and am happy to answer questions; tailor shopping and recipe lists to your budget, tastes, and cooking experience; provide resources; or just shat about anything related to veganism and animal rights. Letting go of those last few things is easier than you think!

Here is what I do/did for simple quick semi healthy meals : First buy a nonstick wok, for like $25 at target. Buy a cheap beef or pork roast the morning of your day off and cut it up into thin slices like you get at a chinese restaurant (chicken breasts a good too). Portion it out into about 1lb per ziplok bag and freeze. Buy some frozen stirfry veggies. Buy some teriyaki or other asian bottled sauce ( I am partial to House of Tsang).

When you get home heat the wok with just a little vegetable or sesame oil (careful with sesame because it has a low smoking point) pour in some of the frozen veg and cook til warm (about 4 minutes) drain excess water. add the meat that you thawed out in the fridge from the night before and just enough sauce to coat the ingredients. Turn the heat to high and cook til the meat is just cooked through (5 minutes or less. Eat what you want and take the leftovers to work for lunch tommorow.

you can do this with fresh veg but them you have to cut it all up yourself. Also there are lots of different veggie combos and sauce options.

A quick few essentials to always have on hand: Potatoes, fresh garlic, salt, pepper. a bag of yellow onions, soy sauce, sriracha if you like heat, 2 different small blocks of cheese, 2 boxes of pasta in what ever shape you like, just not the store brand which is almost always subpar, 2 jars of pasta sauce (you get what you pay for so no Prego or Ragu they are filled with sugar) and lastly, atleast for me, a couple of frozen pizzas.

these days I cook from scratch much of the time and the 2 cookbooks I would recommend are How to Cook Everything and The Flavor Bible. With these two books you can make a great meal with just about anything.

tl;dr: just read it I actually put some effort into helping.

Cashews have been quite popular the last couple years :) They do a really, really great job of adding fatty, creaminess. If you have a high powered blender you can play with them a good deal- making your own "cheese" (see the Vegan Artisan Cheese Cookbook).

When it comes to something lasagna, a tofu ricotta can be a good substitute.

For creamy soups or cream sauces, honestly a good unsweetened soy milk can go a long way, especially with a roux. I'd probably recommend Silk or the Whole Foods brand unsweetened soy milk.

For a butter substitute, your best bet is probably going to be Earth Balance, though depending, oils can work just fine.

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of nutritional yeast. But! this is a good queso recipe.

DO NOT think that you can use purchased plain soy/coconut/almond milk yogurt in savory recipes. I mean, well, you can. But "plain" still means "sort of vanilla-y" and it'll probably be gross. In the event you ever want to venture into yogurt good for savory recipes, I recommend trying this recipe.

I will recommend Vegan Dad, Fat Free Vegan, Post Punk Kitchen, and Oh She Glows for general recipes. Now, they are all vegan, but! you can certainly use chicken instead of tofu or what have you. I find them all to be dependable when it comes to recipes.

I match with this woman who is slightly older than me, in her early 30's. Very hot body, not really my type face-wise but undeniably cute; she seems to have A LOT of personality from her profile, and I have never been on a date with a woman 4 years older than me, so why the hell not? We chat a bit and move on to whatsapp. The pics she starts sending are out of this world: wearing exotic wigs, homemade costumes, zombie makeup... Keep in mind I have not asked for pics at all.

She makes up an insane story as she goes: how she was a peasant rice farmer (and sure enough, she provides a pic of her dressed as if she was a rice farmer, in what looks like a field...), how one day she was abducted by jacuzzi aliens (and sure enough, she sends a pic of her glowing green in the dark in a swimming pool...), how the leader of the aliens was a dark lord (and sure enough, she sends me a pic of her ex to illustrate, with edits and filters to make him look evil), and so on... You get the idea. Let's just say I am extremely confused, so I decide to double down on the insanity and send completely outrageous pics of myself in various costumes, before suggesting we meet up to make a recipe from this book Natural Harvest, as a cooking activity. She seems to love the idea and finds it really funny. We keep chatting. It all culminates with her sending me a closeup pic of her nipple with a piece of salmon in front of it. This is Harley Quinn level of crazy, but it's also a good opportunity to express my Joker side, something I don't do enough these days. She tells me she works as a nurse surrounded by many dying older people, so she's seen some shit. I think this explains at least some of her behavior. The conversation becomes more "normal" as we get to text more. Turns out she lives a few blocks away from my place, next to the BEST tapas place in the city. She apparently went once, but has no real memory of it. Hard to tell at this point if it's because she was completely stoned when she last went, or because she physically can't remember events longer than 24 hours in time. After a few more casual texts, we agree to meet the next day for tapas, midweek.

We have good food and good wine. And to my surprise, very down to Earth conversations. I expected her to show up dressed as David Bowie or something, but not at all. Almost as if she came from Planet Earth after all... She finds the food delicious, and confesses she never eats out, because what's the point, the only thing she ever eats is Soylent. After a quick google search, I am horrified. Who in their RIGHT MIND can survive on soylent, let alone LOVE IT?! She offers to have a smoke and drink at her place, so I oblige, because against all odds, we are having a pretty good time.

We make it to her place and sure enough, it does feel like the lair of a serial killer: there are random props and costumes everywhere, and the fridge is filled with tens of Soylent bottles. She asks me to try one, I do, I immediately feel like throwing up, and then we smoke. As she puts on some music, I wander around the apartment completely high, thinking about where my life is going, why am I in this place on a Wednesday night... See HERE for an existential moment of reflection about the nature of things and wtf am I doing on Tinder. Yes, these props are all hers...

We sit down, she smokes more weed (a LOT more), and then we make out and transition to the bed, where we fuck for a while. It's hot and all, and the weed makes it really smooth, to the point where it's actually pretty hard for me to orgasm. She does not seem to mind, and asks where I get my stamina from, not realizing it's the weed at work. I tell her it's because I drink a lot of green tea in the morning. We cuddle for a while, and have more down to Earth conversations. She is a really sweet girl after all. I proceed to Uber of shame at 4am and make it back to my place. I am still high as fuck.

We chat and text a bit more, but I have no intention to see her again, because soylent? Really?

The dextrose is just what I use as a primer for the yeast and the 1/4tsp is per the label instructions. I'm not sure how much if any flavor is imparted from it but this has been my method for every batch I've made so far and I haven't had a bad batch yet out of the five batches I've done.

Edit: As for the vanilla extract: it had a more prominent flavor at first but then I decided to go in a completely different direction with this one so I didn't add any more. I guess it's not necessary to add any then haha.

Edit 2: I love experimenting with flavor combinations! A good book for anyone into flavor profiles is The Flavor Bible. I actually had a watermelon basil salad at a potluck and it was really good. The idea to add chili powder came from the Flavor Bible.

Edit 3: lawlz hyperlinks

I absolutely love to cook, especially for others. There seems to be a natural INTJ inclination for "check out this thing I learned!" and there's few better ways to do that than blowing people away with an amazing meal.

To anyone interested in learning better cooking techniques and recipes, I highly recommend checking out The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alt. It completely reframes cooking through a scientific lense, and Kenji goes to extreme lengths to make sure his recipes are optimized based on provable results through the scientific method. It's the INTJ's cookbook bible for this reason, he is so thorough and leaves no stone unturned and nothing left unexplained.

I'm looking at the same thing. I'm tempted by the cheaper course but was hoping to hear that the $35 course would get more actual hunting information through to me.

I may just go that route and hope for the best since it's pay only when you pass and it is a once in a lifetime thing.

Edit: I'm in Texas as well.

Thought I'd mention that I picked up This book based on recommendations from this sub and it's good. I'm thinking I'll get what I was hoping for from the hunters education course but just through this book.

My go to place for Indian recipes has become Manjula's Kitchen. That lady is like the Indian grandmother I never had. Here's a few noteworth recipes:

Paneer, this homemade cheese is really, realy easy to make and used for a lot of stuff.

Palak Paneer: Very quick and easy diesh that is very good.

Achari Paneer, I know, more paneer, but it is good stuff.

The spices in most of Manjulla's recipes are pretty basic, too. With the exception of asafetida you can find everything else easily at a local big box store.

If you would prefer a cook book, 660 Curries is also a great way to get started.

I know it sounds simple compared to all these other great ideas, but you might check out the [Student's Vegetarian Cookbook, Revised: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes] (http://amzn.com/0761511709) As the title suggests it has a lot of simple, easy to make recipes that might inspire you. I wish you luck and btw 1st post.

Above all, keep it simple and focus more on finding deer than lugging around gear. Time to hit the range with your rifle and practice, and not just with the rifle sitting on the bench too. Reduced recoil rounds are great so you can get in more trigger time without developing a flinch, though be aware you'll need to re-sight the scope when/if you switch to full power loads. .22 rifles are excellent for practice too.

I have a couple Hunter Quick-fire slings and really like them, they adjust quickly and look/feel good.

I got [one of these gas mask bags] (https://swisslink.com/british-dpm-gas-mask-bag.html?language=en&currency=USD&gclid=Cj0KCQjwv_fKBRCGARIsAL6R6ehradc0oDfyXVdpTtaD2rJOVAEydJs4MUsEwJjUMvYdvIf8HMoeGmUaAsLvEALw_wcB) for $5 at a Mill's Fleet Farm and it is the perfect size to hold my gear for the day (knife, water, food, calls, gloves/hat, rope, etc). Goes over the shoulder and sits nicely on your side. I prefer hunting on the ground over sitting in stands and carry a camo foam canoe pad with me that I clip to the bag strap with a carabiner so it hangs out behind me while I'm fudding around.

Visit and read /r/hunting for advice on finding deer. Also [get this book] (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Hunting-Butchering-Cooking/dp/081299406X), it is an excellent read for beginners and experienced hunters.

This recipe comes from the EXCELLENT (and very large!) cookbook, "660 Curries" by Raghavan Iyer. I got it this past Christmas and have been trying new recipes out almost every week. It's not a vegetarian/vegan cookbook, and has plenty of non-veg recipes... but wow, there are a TON of veggie ones. Like hundreds of pages. It's been a really great resource, and tons of fun/very instructive to work through. This recipe has become a regular in our rotation, because it's such a delicious way to pack in the veggies. We've been using sweet potato/cabbage/carrot (and we use vegetable oil instead of ghee), but I'm looking to switch it up for spring next time we make it.

Edit: Sorry, I don't think I'll be able to put up a recipe format before it's removed. I have tendinitis in both my hands atm and it hurt a ton to type up the above paragraph - I will edit it tomorrow morning after they've had a day to rest.

trying adding more salt. sometimes stuff is just under seasoned. i'm no expert at all, but i do like to cook. here some cool books i have gotten that i have liked. i know they look expensive but they are awesome starter books.

​

this book is used in culinary schools that have base recipes for stuff you can expand on.

https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Chef-Culinary-Institute-America-ebook/dp/B076DMFJR6/ref=pd_sim_351_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B076DMFJR6&pd_rd_r=5f939938-cb0a-11e8-9abb-7d2cd28fbd32&pd_rd_w=NqA2i&pd_rd_wg=nSx0t&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=KE3361D1T1JE1EPGF841&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=KE3361D1T1JE1EPGF841

​

and here is one to help do the expanding.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative-ebook/dp/B001FA0P86/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1539010578&sr=8-9&keywords=cooking+books

I had the same problem when I became a vegan a few years ago so I went searching for vegan cheese recipes. I was actually surprised by how easy many soy and nut based vegan cheeses are to make, and I ended up putting together three ebooks with recipes from vegan cheese dips and sauces, to spreadables, cheesballs, to hard vegan cheeses for melting and slicing. I recommend people start with a cheddar dipping sauce - super quick and easy to make and delish over veggies or with pasta. You can find the collection at Plateaterbooks.com and I just went ahead and created a coupon code that will get Reddit readers a 20% discount. Just use the code "GetItReddit123" at check out, and do let me know your favorite recipe if you do. (You can also find them at Amazon, but no discount there).

I would also highly recommend Miyoko Schinner's Artisan Vegan Cheese cookbook. Her recipes are more on the gourmet side of cooking, more advanced cooking/complicated, but she has some amazing recipes!: http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830
Enjoy!

Seconding /u/ManicBrklyDreamGrl on Food52 and Alton Brown's awesomeness. (Good Eats is fantastic. It covers mostly basic stuff and gets super nerdy.) And Ina Garten almost never fails me.

If you're interested in cookbooks as well, My Paris Kitchen is one of my favorites, as is pretty much anything by Yotam Ottolenghi. And if you're building recipes yourself or you like to experiment, I highly recommend both The Flavor Bible and The Vegetarian Flavor Bible.

I have a number of cookbooks (99% of which were hand-me-downs from random family members) that I don't really use because I prefer the internet, but the two physical books I've gotten the most use out of are these:

How to Cook Everything
-Especially if you're just starting out this book is excellent. It doesn't list tons of complicated recipes sprinkled with cooking jargon. It holds your hand through the simplest versions of many, many recipes and then tells you why you're doing what youer' doing.

The Flavor Bible
-Because while it's better to have experience to be able to just know which flavors work well together, this is just easier. The book has some explanatory stuff in the front, but most of the book is basically a huge index of different ingredients and all of the other things that go well with them. Especially if you're a broke student, spices are going to be the big thing that keeps you from eating bland-ass ramen all of the time (though this book doesn't just cover spices).

There's definitely lots of ideas and recipes on the web, but I still highly recommend the Student Vegetarian Cookbook. It's exactly what you're looking for - yummy, cheap, quick veggie meals. It's a good mix of meals, and are things that meat-eating friends will like to eat with you too.

Vegetarian here! Morningstar stuff often contains more protein than actual meat, and is really easy to use!

Beef crumbles, red sauce, and pasta

Shepherd's pie (without the cheese)

The brand gardein has orange chicken that's really good with rice.

I'll have to do some searching and send you some simple meals he could eat plus a few of my personal recipes. If you don't cook often it can be difficult to have a vegetarian diet, but most meals will last for days (the Shepherd's pie has about 8 servings) so you won't have to constantly be cooking. I also really recommend [this book] (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Vegetarian-Cookbook-Americas-Kitchen/dp/1936493969)
by America's Test Kitchen, there are so many great recipes and they mark which ones are vegan, which are quick to make, etc. And they also do a great job of breaking down the basics like how to use different types of proteins, prep ingredients, etc.

I know it's probably daunting but you got this! It looks harder than it is, give it a couple of months and you'll be a MasterChef (well, maybe not but you will probably have quite a few favorites you'll be able to make from memory!)

I'm new to hunting as well, just started duck hunting last season and still haven't gone after any big game. First mammal I got was some cottontail.

I found Steven Rinella's books to be extremely helpful, he has two volumes: The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game and The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 2: Small Game and Fowl

Very reasonable prices and packed full of knowledge. In my opinion one of the best starting places to start learning hunting before you dive into more detailed books on specific species. That being said, if you can find a mentor that's really one of the best ways to start but educating yourself through books, videos, etc will help you understand the tactics much better. Like any endeavor you'll probably have disappointment your first few times out but that's just part of the experience and learning. Good luck!

Here’s a productive and nutritional solution for proper disposal.

>Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties. Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food.

Lactose intolerant vegetarian here. The best cheese subs are the ones you make at home, the stuff in the bag isn't good. I make dairy free ricotta from tofu and cashews that is pretty good (there are several recipes for it, tweak until you find what you like) as well as cheeze sauces and "mozzarella" made from cashews

If you want to expand your nut cheezes, this book is very good: https://smile.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830/ Miyoko's cheezes are the few I will buy at the store.

Nutritional yeast does work well, I would also consider mellow miso paste. It gives a that cheesy flavor and also adds some umami.

Yeah 100%, i'm at work now but i'll scan in a bunch of recipes from the book tonight.

It's this book, which on kindle or paperback is super cheap and super worth it. All the recipes I have tried have been amazing and it does everything.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/But-Could-Never-Go-Vegan/dp/1615192107/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526462459&sr=8-1&keywords=but+i+could+never+go+vegan

I like this cookbook a lot - it's got a healthy/low-calorie focus and everything I've cooked out of it has been great (AND no/minimal "specialty" foods - some good quinoa recipes though)! Yes, it's vegan, but adding meat would be easy if you and your family prefer. I am personally not vegan, but I like vegan cookbooks a lot because they tend to showcase creativity with vegetables and whole grains.

Also, I'm going to stress this from forgot_my_password99 again:
>Cannot stress this enough, vegetables and more vegetables.

There are tons of ways to prepare vegetables other than just steaming them (though that's great too!), and maybe adding a bit of butter/pork/etc is a good way to 'baby step' into eating more vegetables!

Also: if your family is open to it, explore different ethnic cuisines! For example, Thai style curries or stir fries (easy with frozen stir fry vegetable mix, Thai curry paste, optional coconut milk, and tofu or chicken) are easy and vegetables are an integral part of the dish.

Congratulations! Learn to cook at home, and start paying your bills through your bank's online bill pay. If your bank's online bill pay service is any good, you can have the bills sent electronically right to your bill pay, and get an email reminder. Then you look at the bill, find out when your next payday is, and set the bill to be paid then. It keeps you from losing bills, and if you move a lot at first, you won't have to worry quite so much about being late due to forwarding your mail and changing addresses and such.

Put a little table close to your door where you can dump your stuff when you come in. Purse/wallet/keys etc so you don't have to chase them down when it's time to leave in the morning.

Use your deadbolt and security chain.

Scan your birth certificate, drivers license, Social Security card, passport, college diploma, and any other ID, and keep the scans on a thumb drive in a safe location. Will make it easier to replace if lost or stolen.

Open a Google Doc and list out all the places you've ever lived, and the dates you lived there. Keep updating it as you move, because if you ever apply for a job that needs a security clearance, you'll need that. I got a Coast Guard application back in the day, then pitched it because my family moved A LOT when I was a kid. No way I'd ever be able to remember them all.

Hit thrift stores for kitchen essentials like dishes, glasses, silverware, spatula, colander, etc and then upgrade the ones you use a lot at some point down the road. When you go to the grocery store, pick up a pack of disposable plastic storage bowls for leftovers. Don't buy a hundred at once, just every now and again buy a new set for a few bucks. And it'll be easier to store if you get all round ones, or all rectangles.

Have a "fridge party" where people can come and bring you a bottle or jar of their favorite condiment, salsa, olive oil, Sriracha, or whatever. That stuff can get expensive, and it's a fun party idea.

Put a rice cooker on your Amazon wish list. Those fuckers can be used for SO MUCH.

> based on what do you even start to mix stuff up

Well, a lot of times I'll make a recipe once, and then if I like it, I'll think about what I can do to alter it. This stuffing has dried cranberries in it... can I use dried cherries? This glaze calls for a 1/2 ounce of whisky... what would it be like if I used brandy? And if I added some ground cinnamon, how would that taste? That sort of thing.

Sometimes I'll do smaller test batches of things. Like if I want to try a new BBQ rub, I'll cut a rack of ribs in two and see which I like better. Or I'll make two smaller pots of the same stew, one altered and one from the recipe.

> how do you personally expand your ingredients that you cook with ?

Here's a very good place to start: http://www.amazon.com/The-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

> Say you want to try out something new that adds alot of acidity into your food, how do you go on about this ?

Well, you try what seems like it makes sense. Say you want to add acid to a beef stew. Do you just put vinegar in there, or use red wine instead? How about red wine along with some diced tomato?

for eggs, unless you just would miss the taste, depends what you use them for. baking is easy to replace with flax eggs or egg substitutes which i haven't really tried. for scrambles, that's easy - http://minimalistbaker.com/southwest-tofu-scramble/

lots of people like chao cheese, but it's got that processed taste in my opinion. miyoko's vegan cheese is great - http://shop.miyokoskitchen.com/

miyoko actually has a book with all sorts of stuff you can make yourself, along with cheese - https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Making-Staples/dp/1607746778

there's a whole awesome vegan food world out there :)

Advanced? That's easy. Not a cookbook, but something far more useful. A comprehensive overview of how flavors work together.

[The Flavor Bible:] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Flavor-Bible-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410311129&sr=8-1&keywords=flavor+bible) The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs Hardcover – September 16, 2008, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

Some are very obvious. And some are not. I have yet to try the salmon-and-liquorish combination, but one day...

Highly recommended.

Not OP, but interesting blurb in the Franklin Barbeque book about different woods for smoking (an amazing book for anyone who's ever spared a thought for how real bbq is made).

>Pecan - Actually a member of the hickory family, pecan is also plentiful throughout East and Central Texas. It doesn't burn as hot as oak, but its gentle, sweet flavor is delicious. Nor does it burn as long as oak, so I like to use it for short cooks. Fish, chicken, and especially pork take to its mildness.

He also mentions that most of the firewood sold in stores nowadays isn't fit for barbecuing because it's kiln dried. Kiln drying makes it incredibly easy to light, but also that the wood will burn quickly with little to no smoke.

It's very regional right now. If you're in the states you have the most options.


Daiya is good for melty things, but you wouldn't serve it on a cracker. For that you want a cultured nut cheese. I can't recommend from experience because I can't buy the major ones where I live.

I make my own though and it's amazing. 1000x better and cheesier than anything I've tasted before. It's a bit of a process, but if you like kitchen projects it's very rewarding.


http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830

Two books I recommend:

1. The Cook's Book, a compilation by ~20 world famous chefs of techniques, styles, and recipes. The pictures and instructions are gorgeous and very concise. I particularly recommend the fish and shellfish chapter by Charlie Trotter.
   
   
2. The Flavor Bible is great for inspiration and help in becoming more than a simple cook. It lists unique flavor combinations that you would've never thought of alone.

I'm a vegetarian that is always craving variety too! Some of my favorite websites for inspiration are:

https://smittenkitchen.com/ (one of the originals, she is GREAT)

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

http://www.veganricha.com/ (a lot of Indian and international cuisine)

http://www.isachandra.com/recipes/

http://cookieandkate.com/

Finally, I recommend Plenty and Plenty More - two cookbooks celebrating vegetables from the famed Ottolenghi. His cooking is fantastic (ignore the pomegranate seeds on the front cover, I promise it's so much more than that, he just happens to be middle eastern!)

https://smile.amazon.com/Plenty-Vibrant-Vegetable-Recipes-Ottolenghi/dp/1452101248/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=J1TA1NT14PVDZVX7G173

https://smile.amazon.com/Plenty-More-Vibrant-Vegetable-Ottolenghi/dp/1607746212/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1607746212&pd_rd_r=J63PHF1F8H0ZEMPVJTSR&pd_rd_w=PCmMs&pd_rd_wg=dsz8A&psc=1&refRID=J63PHF1F8H0ZEMPVJTSR

there are many vegan cheeses that are fantastic - see Miyoko brand and follow your heart. Nut based ones are better in that they are less oily and processed. You can easily make gourmet vegan cheeses that will impress any omnivore w/ her book.

https://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830

There is a product called Vegg - they have an egg replacer and one that is a yolk replacer. Both are excellent. You can make french toast that is insanely egg-like w/ the yolk product.

Being vegan doesn't have to mean cooking. There are plenty of ready made meals out there for your convenience. Vegan Burritos; Vegan pasta; vegan sandwiches; vegan soups. However, it is healthier to cook for yourself vegan and omni alike. Cooking for many people is very intimidating... It's a lot of fear of the unknown and fear of messing up.

For you boiling a hot dog, throwing on some mustard and ketchup...maybe some relish and onion. Is easy. A no brainer, even. And that's because you know how. You know those things taste good together and it takes 15 minutes or less to get it together.
But the truth is... so many other things take as much or less time as boiling and chopping.

Vegetables steamed or sauteed or boiled are as easy as making that hot dog. But you say, what sauce? What flavor? What vegetables go with which? And then you get overwhelmed. But that is simply an ability to understand flavor profiles. What goes well together and what makes something taste chinese or thai or italian.

Vegan recipes of your favorite omni dishes are a great addition to your meal plan. But you have a great advantage that you can steam some broccoli, chop up a salad or grill some eggplant...without having to get ornate about it.
BUT if you want to get ornate you can. Here is a book, that not only takes the guess work out of combinations but also helps you to look into the produce isle and see food. To open your fridge and see options.

You don't have to worry about recipes unless you want to. Although if you miss mac and cheese, then challenge yourself to expand your creativity... or just eat this

What you do is go to an interview and take a bottle of hair conditioner with you. Shortly before going into the room, put some conditioner along the edge of the web area between your index finger and thumb. Shake the interviewers hand as if you had no idea you had jizz on your hand, then have a super awkward interview.

You can also do this with friends. A great "it's just a prank bro" is to get some custard and some cookies from a bakery, then put a little bit of custard on the edge of the cookie and hand it to your friend. They'll think it is custard ... then hand them this book after they eat the cookie. (By reading this comment, CockGobblin cannot be held responsible for any ruined friendships caused by this prank.)

Thanks for the book tip, I'll check it out. I started with Alton Brown's recipe (since, well, he's Alton Brown), and most of my messing around from there has been in trying different flavors. I started with different liqueurs in place of the brandy, but I found that juice reductions gave me more flavor. Sometimes you want the subtlety a liqueur provides, and sometimes you want to highlight the flavor a little more against the chocolate - or you want to use a flavor that isn't available in a liqueur, like the red wine or a beer.

For a beer truffle, in addition to using a beer reduction I would also try adding a few other flavors to try to punch it up. For instance - and this is just an example, because I don't know how well chocolate would work with a beer this light - for Blue Moon I would definitely steep orange zest in the cream. Figure out what beer you want to use, taste it and describe it the way you might a wine, and try to highlight and exaggerate the big tastes.

I poked around Google a bit and there are a few candied ginger chocolate bars, so there's clearly a flavor synergy there. I also just checked the Flavor Bible and they indicate it's a solid match, so I think it's worth trying.

There are amazing directions on how to assemble the perfect "bowl" combos (1 grain, 1 bean, 1 veg + sauce) and lots of recipes and examples in this book, which I can only recommend. (The "Reduction" in the title is not just about losing weight; this doesn't have to be read as a dieting book, although it's possible to use it that way.) I love Isa's books because they don't use expensive, hard to find ingredients and the recipes always come out perfect.

You'll want to mix tofu with vital wheat gluten for the best results, IME.

There's a good recipe in Miyoko Schinner's The Homemade Vegan Pantry. This book is well worth the cost of purchase. The recipes for all of the fake meats, cheeses, etc. are outstanding.

Alternatively, as others mentioned, buffalo cauliflower is a good bet. My favorite recipe for it is from serious eats

So a few off the top of my head:

1. The Professional Chef. Geared towards professional chefs but a great resource.
   
   
2. On Food and Cooking. A classic. Not really a 'cookbook' per se but rather a book that discusses history and food science.
   
   
3. The now out-of-print Williams and Sonoma Mastering Series. Specifically, their book on sauces - the others are solid but not quite as good. Those books were how I personally learned to cook. (still can find used)
   
   
4. The Flavor Bible. Obligatory. Eventually you grow out of it a bit, but it's still a great resource to have around.
   
   
5. Flour Water Salt Yeast. I just got this book recently this last Christmas, and I've been enjoying it quite a bit.

I have an artisan vegan cheesemaking book by a woman named Miyoko Schinner. She has a good line of vegan cheeses in stores. She actually cultures her cheeses and has several aged cheese recipes as well.

I bring this up since you mentioned cheese making is a passion of yours. It might be fun for you to play with artisan vegan cheese making, and your background would allow you to easily tweak recipes to make cheeses you actually enjoy.

Miyoko has published 2 books with cheese recipes in them. I bought both books and got them signed AND tried many of the cheeses at her book signing party in NYC a couple months ago.

Artisan Vegan Cheese

The Homemade Vegan Pantry

Many/most of the cheese recipes are made from cashews and other nuts, and require some ingredients most of us have never heard of. I went through and found the recipes I want to try (all of them!) and rounded up all the ingredients (amazon for the obscure stuff).

In the cheese book there are 2 different Mozz recipes, one is meant to be for a fresh mozz type cheese (tried this one at the party, was just like the original and so delicious), and the other is more for melting like on pizza.

So far from the pantry book I have made Squeeze Bottle Yellow Mustard (perfect, but strong!) and the Oil Free Eggless Vegan Mayo. 2/2 both are great.

I had to change my plan about trying one of the mozz recipes today; still have some store bought cheezes I'm trying to use up, also have too much other stuff to do.

Got a slew of books, but as has already been mentioned, Amazing Ribs is my primary source for pertinent BBQ data. There is simply no better resource out there, print, binary or otherwise. It's my go-to for technique.

For recipes, I have a decent library. Here's just a few of my books: [Smoke and Spice by Cheryl and Bill Jamison](http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Spice-Cooking-Real-Barbecue/dp/1558322620/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343976826&sr=1-1&keywords=smoke+and+spice0, Peace, Love and BBQ by Mike Mills, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book by Chris Lilly, Low and Slow by Gary Wiviott, Championship Barbecue by Paul Kirk, Real Grilling by Jamie Purviance, and few specialty books like Asian Grilling by Su-Mei. All excellent resources for recipes.

The ability to improvise comes with time, observation and willingness to experiment. Onions can add different texture and flavor to a dish depending on preparation. From crunchy, sulfurous, raw onions to sweet, soft, caramelized onions the spectrum of possibilities is quite broad. Use them raw, gently sautéed in oil, caramelized, fried, dried, pickled; cut lengthwise, crosswise, diced; etc. and build up a mental library of the results. I love reading about food, food history, preparation and food science but nothing beats actually getting hands-on with food.

That said, there are some books about flavor combinations and it might help if the concern is wasting food due to impractical experimentation. I own and enjoy Niki Segnit's The Flavor Thesaurus. It's not a mathematical table of A+B=C, but it gives classic and inventive combinations of various flavors. I can't vouch for these, but maybe read through the reviews and see if they sound interesting to you: one and two. I follow the blog of the latter two authors and it's quite interesting even if it is sometimes beyond the scope of home cookery.

We usually source all of our hydrocolloids from Chef Rubber since our school gets a discount, since we order in bulk for a lot of the pastry specialty students. Fairly decently priced for first time experimenters. They don't get into very specific hydrocolloids (like the three different types of Carrageenan, or two types of Methylcellulose) but they give you enough to work with.

Willpowder is a good source to find some more specific hydrocolloids, and a few recipes. However, they don't supply some of the tools you'd need, as Chef Rubber does.

L'Epicerie is another source for the VERY specific needs in mind, at the highest quality, and price.

As for literature, Khymos is still our first stop to shop on knowledge. They do a very good job on this blog of finding, and sharing information from professionals using MG methods, as well as point you to printed literature on the subject. If anything, we like to take ideas from the blog, and then tinker with them to make something else using the same process they show.

One thing I can't stress enough in playing with MG, is know and understand flavour. Every single member of our club has a copy of the Flavor Bible and usually the second thing looked at after we get an idea bouncing around.

Haha, the presentation is nothing. Ive worked in a kitchens for a total of about 3 or 4 years so I guess I kinda just learned. The combination of ingredients is nothing. At one of the places I worked we had a couscous salad which had sultanas, grilled egg-plant and pumpkin, along with some orange juice. I didnt have egg plant so I just left it out and skipped the orange juice. So that part is easy. The salad...having lived in a wine region for 10 years I quickly learned that the locals like marinated olives/mushrooms/sundried tomatos...just put them on some greens and you have a tasty looking salad. Then just do the lamb cutlets and you have an awesome meal :) If you really want to learn about combining some more ingredients and maybe move away from conventional cooking, i highly recommend THIS book. I often try and buy something ive never worked with (like a herb or spice, or some vegetable etc) and then look it up in this book and make a meal from that.

Yeah, I'm really quite disheartened. They aren't pretty (I guess just like real ribs) but they are really tasty. They are from Miyoko Schinner's Homemade Vegan Pantry, but if you can't get the cookbook it is pretty much just a complicated seitan recipe. Make seitan, slice it into steak sized pieces and sear them on each side. Bake them like you normally would for seitan covered with watered down BBQ sauce. Cut into rib-sized pieces, sear on each side again, then toss with more BBQ sauce! The cookbook also notes that they get even better if you let them sit in the sauce for a day or two in the fridge, and thats whats happening in the photo.

I should note that this is one of my all time favourite cookbooks and I really recommend it :)

One of the best "reference" sites is Meathead Goldwyn's amazingribs.com. He also just released a book -- more technique than recipes, although there are a bunch.

Another really great smoking book is Franklin Barbecue. This one is much more about the technique and has only a few recipes. But reading it helped my understanding of the process and really ramped up my game. (and I'd already been smoking for several years.)

And of course anything by Steven Raichlen - http://www.projectsmoke.org

Meathead's Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/054401846X

Franklin book: https://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Barbecue-Meat-Smoking-Manifesto-Aaron/dp/1607747200

Good luck -- smoking is a lot of fun and you never quite "get there" -- you are always learning something new...

Can't recommend that book enough, it's pretty great even just to read various techniques and handling. He extensively covers eggs because it's insane how much you can do with that one ingredient.

Also making your own mayo is super easy. Well, until you want to add olive oil, then it's a workout but well worth it

Here's the book for any interested, I'd recommend the hard cover

We use the America’s test kitchen recipe and we usually add some garam masala or adobo peppers in during the food processing stage for added flavor. Also olive oil is a great healthy option ( the recipe calls for this but a lot of people use canola). Serves with fresh celery. Oh man its so good.

I cant message a photo here but I’m sure its on google. I really recommend that cookbook https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Vegetarian-Cookbook-Foolproof-Recipes/dp/1936493969/ref=nodl_

Also we make a ten times batch and freeze it in a muffin tin. Pull it out at breakfast time and it’s fully thawed but still cold by lunch. Enjoy

Lately, I've very much been enjoying Kenji's The Food Lab. I think it's worth the (ebook) price just for the chapter on fried foods.

I also keep coming back to The Flavor Bible, which has lists of how to combine ingredients for different cuisines.

If you want a valuable collection of recipes and have $50 to spend, get Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe. It's supplanted The Joy of Cooking on my shelf.

Write a polite letter to the manager of your grocery store and ask if they'll order some Daiya blocks (NOT shreds... the shreds are weird) and Chao slices. Daiya flavors I've tried are cheddar and smoked gouda... both very good. Also, check out Miyoko Schinner's online cheese store. She also has some great cookbooks every vegan should have... The Homemade Vegan Pantry: The Art of Making Your Own Staples and Artisan Vegan Cheese. I know you specifically mentioned store bought but here is a great recipe for vegan parmesan I make all the time. Making some today as a matter of fact. Helpful hint: make your own coconut cream (way cheaper) and use a rotary or electric grater on the finished product instead of grating it by hand... otherwise the coconut oil/cream will make it melt from the warmth of your hands.

The Student's Vegetarian Cookbook is great. Its one of the one's I got my vegetarian sister when she wanted to learn to cook. Also got her this book. She liked both so much that I ended up getting myself copies and I love them too. My sister went from not knowing much more than how to make easy mac to actually enjoying cooking and being able to make some really decent things with these books.

Summary

I got the dough making technique from a book called The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner (https://www.amazon.com/Homemade-Vegan-Pantry-Making-Staples/dp/1607746778)

If you are interested in some hardcore vegan cooking, I STRONGLY recommend that book. It's worth the $15. I also used it to culture my own cheddar, and sweet Jesus... just... just trust me on this one.

You do need a pizza stone and a pizza peel for this recipe to work.

The pizza on the right used a sauce I improvised with two cans of tomatoes, two tablespoons of tomato paste, 7 cloves of garlic, half a white onion, a few splashes of balsamic vinegar, a tsp of salt, and a tbps of raw sugar. I just put them in a food processor.

I got the pesto on the left from this recipe here: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/artichoke-and-spinach-pesto-pizza/

Toppings included sliced white mushrooms, marinated artichoke, vegan sausage, fresh basil, and Daiya mozzarella (not much, just a sprinkle). The pesto is so rich, it doesn't need the cheese IMO.

The trick is not to let the dough rise until it hits the oven. What you need to do is put a pizza stone in, and let it warm up with the oven at 500F. After an hour, you can transfer the pizza onto the stone with a pizza peel and leave it in the oven for just 10 minutes.

Nothing particularly good in this bundle.

If you want take up cooking and treat yourself, I would give my highest personal recommendation to The Food Lab and Bravetart. They are great because they go over technique and fundamentals and provide a good base that you can build from once you get more comfortable in the kitchen. Once you hit that point The Flavor Bible is also a great resource for experimentation.

So, grilling food imparts heat from a constant fuel source to a food product via 3 important methods: convection, conduction, and radiation. Grilling is unique in that it uses 3 methods, whereas other cooking methods typically use 1 or 2.

1. The food is placed on the grill and the lid is put on. This is convection: the literal transfer of heat from the charcoal to the food, due to air molecules being heated around the food. An oven uses this process as well.
   
   
2. The food touches a hot metal grill grate. This is conduction: the literal transfer of heat from a hot surface to the food. Your stove and a hot frying pan will use this method.
   
   
3. The heat literally strikes the food constantly due to the excessive release of energy generated by charcoal. This is radiation: the emitted transfer of energy molecules from coal to food due to close proximity. Your microwave uses this to heat food at higher (but safer) radiation levels, but feeling the heat from a bonfire on a cold day would also be an example of this method.
   
   (Sources: Web 1,2,3, also Book)
   
   The above picture is spinning the meat fast enough that you can see flames rising from the charcoals. That's... not a good thing. The meat isn't sitting above the heat long enough to receive any radiation before being moved and is moving so fast that it is generating wind. Ever run past a bonfire? Did it make you feel a lasting warmth when you did? No. The air around the fire is being lowered in temperature by this contraption, making food take longer to cook. Like a lot longer. So that's radiation gone.
   
   Moving that fast and generating enough heat to make the grill frame hot enough for conduction would require it sitting there a long, long time. But the gyroscope effect of the grill grate causes all the heat to be concentrated towards the center while all the other meat is rotated around. So any meat in the middle will be cooked much more thoroughly than the rest. So conduction is possible in the middle, but the fringe won't get as much heat, and some parts of the edge could be more cooked than others, depending on (I'm assuming) the random movements of the gyroscope.
   
   That leaves convection. Now, convection is possible for any appropriate length of time and heat... on a flat surface. This gizmo is spinning the shit out of that meat and the food isn't always a close distance to the heat source. When you set up a grill in your backyard, you set the food on a flat surface and it gets some quality time really close to the heat- literally, like inches. Good grillmasters have more than one heat source in their grills by pushing the charcoals to one side and switching their food between the two heat zones whenever they need to change the temperature. It's called the two-zone method and it'll change the game in your backyard grilling. Anyway that's a massive temperature change and we're talking inches here, and this device puts the food a solid foot or two away from the heat at random times.
   
   Chicken needs an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be considered safe for consumption. On a standard grill this is easily and efficiently achieved without sacrificing any specific desires by the grillmaster to have it cook slower or faster, or to have it be more or less tender due to the time taken to cook it.
   
   This device would fail to be more efficient, would fail to use the advantages that a charcoal grill offers in the first place, and would fail to offer a consistent, manageable temperature for all parts of the food placed in it.
   
   tl;dr, The chicken is probably raw on the inside.

There are actually two cookbooks I've found great recipes in (granted my husband and I happily eat mostly vegan...) that might be an easy starting point. We love the maple miso tempeh, and while that may be too hard of a sell for your family they might like the broccoli 'cheese' soup- it's made creamy with blended chickpeas 👍🏽

Not Kamado specific, but super useful:

Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling https://www.amazon.com/dp/054401846X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Hj4IDb1ZBC3AV

Plenty (or any of the Ottolenghi) books sounds like a good fit based on her previous dishes. It's vegetable focused, healthy, not too complicated, and will definitely make her a better cook by introducing new techniques.

Not a blog, but if you want to dive right in to the technical aspects of ice cream formulation, the Ice Cream E-Book is a good place to start. If you want a good source for reliable recipes, you won't go wrong with Jeni's or The Perfect Scoop.

I am not a huge Roger Ebert fan ("video games aren't art", etc.), but I have to admit that he sells the benefits of owning a rice cooker best:
http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/the-pot-and-how-to-use-it

I have made soups and stews, rice (of course) with various flavors, oatmeal, etc. Slow cookers are nice, too... but if I only had room for one or the other, I would choose a rice cooker.

PS: Plus he did a whole friggin cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/The-Pot-How-Use-It/dp/0740791427

The Flavor Bible gets thrown around a lot, but for good reason. It's a great resource when trying to formulate your own recipe. It focuses on things like which foods have affinities for other foods, seasonality, and sensations different foods have. It's a great thing to page through when you have whatever the equivalent of writer's block is for cooks.

There are two books I highly recommend you check out. One is called "The Flavor Bible" ( https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative-ebook/dp/B001FA0P86/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+flavor+bible&qid=1565833128&s=gateway&sr=8-1 ) and the other is "Herbs and Spices -- The Cook's Reference" ( https://www.amazon.com/Herbs-Spices-Recipes-Marinades-Spice/dp/1465435980/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=herbs+and+spices%2C+the+cook%27s+reference&qid=1565833243&s=gateway&sr=8-3 )

They'll help you learn how all the senses and flavors work together to extract the maximum enjoyment of food.

Also, try recipes from other people! As you become proficient with cooking in general and learn more about flavor combinations, you'll be able to try a recipe and think of ways to improve it and make it your own. Try different and unusual cooking methods. Ignore convention (I made a coconut cream pie on a barbecue smoker recently. It was awesome!) Don't be afraid to mess up, just don't experiment when you're having people over. :)

The main thing is to get in the kitchen and keep the beginning sentence "I wonder how it would taste if I..." in your head.

Have fun!

I am going to echo sentiments here and advice you to get a small rice cooker. It makes life really easy. Also; Roger Ebert wrote a book of Rice cooker recipes:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pot-How-Use-It/dp/0740791427

The main thing to remember about Rice Cookers is to use the cup that comes with it. If you lose it the equivalent is 6 oz. NOT 8 oz. This is why a lot of people screw up by using the regular 8oz. measure in the Rice Cooker.

The last advice I have is to use different kinds of broth instead of water to make the rice. I personally use the Better then Bouillon brand Mushroom broth as my base and the rice is really umami tasty errytime. Also, Miso paste is a good base for making dashi to cook the rice.

Experiment. Rice is a really good carbohydrate that absorbs a great variety of flavors.

But the main thing is to get yourselves a Rice Cooker. It will make your life really easy.

Oh yes, it was amazing, I must say. I get all my recipes from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams cookbook, and the bases lend themselves really easily to adaptation. She even has a recipe for sweet potato with torched marshmallow ice cream!

I agree with the ATK book posted here by /u/PM_ME_A_FACT, but would also like to add the book "Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi." The ATK book is more of a begginers book than Plenty, but both are great resources.

Plenty on Amazon

XD. You should read about people who put all of their semen into a 2 liter bottle and cultivate it. It's a 1 and a half year process, they mix like sugar and stuff and add yeast and let it ferment and then drink it as alcohol or add it to vodka. By the way.
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041
The best part is that there are used books. :D. Happy cooking.
P.S More treats from the same author.
http://www.amazon.com/Semenology-The-Semen-Bartenders-Handbook/dp/1482605228/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

There's no better time to be vegan than now. There are so many products easily available that weren't even five years ago. The transition will get even easier the longer you stick with it. Really, it seems like you need something to get you fully committed. Watch some vegan documentaries like Cowspiracy and Earthlings. It'll give you the willpower you need to move on from your old diet. Eventually it won't matter what others think or say.

If you're looking for a cheese replacement, try this https://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=miyoko+cheese&qid=1566034413&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I've had the store bought cheese Miyoko's makes and it's incredible.

For half and half, do you use it for coffee? I recommend Silk creamer, the others I've tried aren't as creamy.

Earthlings is what made me go vegan, too. (Linked it for others who might be interested in watching it.)

Congrats on the weight loss! I highly recommend Isa Chandra Moskowitz's "Appetite for Reduction," which is a vegan cookbook aimed at weight loss. Her website is great, too.

Good luck with everything!

We use the ice-cream maker all the time. Best gift ever.

For recipes, my wife loves Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home. They're just the right volume for the KitchnAid maker.

I was vegetarian in college and the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook was basically my Bible. So many great recipes in there that don't require any fake meat or anything like that. They're all super easy too.

One of my favorites was a flatbread recipe that involves sauteeing sliced red onions, spinach, and diced apples in olive oil, then mixing in just a bit of dijon mustard, and spreading it on a pita or flatbread. If you do dairy, add a few crumbles of feta or gorgonzola and bake for a couple minutes on high heat (400 or so) to just soften the cheese and warm everything.

You can buy the book Natural Harvest
It’s a full collection of semen based recipes available for the kindle and on Amazon

I gifted it to a dirtycumslut of a friend and she found it enlightening and entertaining.

Not sure if I can put this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-Harvest-collection-semen-based-recipes/dp/1481227041

Sorry mods if it’s not allowed- I’ve no financial interest in the publication or the selling company

Couple other things: Start by taking a hunter safety course, preferably with range/field time included. Buy decent binoculars and look for game with your glass, not your boots. Speaking of boots, buy a good pair and make sure they're broken in before you go out too far. Squirrel or doves are a good place to start. In California, you could probably start with deer hunting on a National Forest. Wyoming doe antelope or javelina in Arizona would be a good first out-of-state big game hunt. The tags are cheap, easy to draw, and the animals are found on public land. A good resource/introduction to hunting:

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Hunting-Butchering-Cooking/dp/081299406X

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Hunting-Butchering-Cooking/dp/0812987055

From The Flavor Bible, these are the flavors that go particularly well with coffee & espresso:

• almonds
  
• amaretto
  
• anise
  
• bananas
  
• barbecue sauce
  
• beverages (What the… ? —Ed.)
  
• bourbon
  
• brandy
  
• caramel
  
• cardamom
  
• cheese, ricotta
  
• cherries
  
• chicken
  
• chicory
  
• CHOCOLATE, ESP. DARK
  
• chocolate, white
  
• cinnamon
  
• cloves
  
• COCOA
  
• coconut
  
• cognac
  
• CREAM
  
• curry
  
• custards
  
• dates
  
• fennel seeds
  
• figs
  
• game birds
  
• gravy
  
• ham (e.g., with red-eye gravy)
  
• hazelnuts
  
• honey
  
• ice cream, vanilla
  
• Irish whiskey
  
• lamb
  
• lemon
  
• lime
  
• liqueurs, coffee (e.g., Kahlúa, Tia Maria)
  
• macadamia nuts
  
• maple syrup
  
• milk, including sweetened, condensed
  
• nutmeg
  
• NUTS
  
• oats
  
• orange
  
• pears
  
• pecans
  
• persimmons
  
• pork
  
• prunes
  
• raisins
  
• rum
  
• star anise
  
• SUGAR: brown, white
  
• VANILLA
  
• vinegar, balsamic
  
  avoid: lavender
  
  recommended flavor affinities:
  
  
• coffee + bourbon + cream
  
• coffee + caramel + chocolate
  
• coffee + cinnamon + cream + lemon + sugar
  
• coffee + mascarpone + rum + sugar + vanilla
  
  Hopefully, you find some inspiration in here. (Maybe a signature latte with mascarpone, BBQ sauce and chicken?)
  
  If you're comfortable in the kitchen, I highly recommend this book. It's not a cookbook — you look up an ingredient and it suggests complementary flavors.
  

The only one that I own and have read is Aaron Franklin's book. It's kind of a mashup of a cook book and a biography. It really does a good job of discussing his thoughts and methods on the BBQ process (which he has a lot to say about) while intertwining into that his life story, how he started, and how he has reached the level of success that he has. Tons of good visual imagery as well. If you're at all interested in BBQ, it's a must read without a doubt.

Sounds like you're pretty new to hunting as well as bow hunting given some of the questions in the thread about more than stalking like licenses etc... Just thought I'd throw this out there for you to check out, it's a good book with lots of good information for you. [Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering and Cooking] (https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Hunting-Butchering-Cooking/dp/081299406X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499369249&sr=8-1&keywords=steve+rinella+the+complete+guide+to+hunting)

All sorts of herbal stuff will work. Various mints, catnip, lemon balm, lavander, chamomile, rose, hibiscus are all great. You can also use (or make your own) syrup for added flavoring. A light maple syrup is my favorite.


I found The Flavour Bible to be a good resource for mixing blends of teas. I can pick an herb that interests me and look up other complimentary flavours to blend with it.

By far the best resource:

http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Vegan-Cheese-Miyoko-Schinner/dp/1570672830

The author's company sells vegan cheeses commercially and they are considered, along with Kite Hill, the best available.

It is easier to make a vegan cheese sauce than vegan cheese per se. Most are based on cashews. This one also uses the fact that potatoes get gluey when blended (usually a negative) to improve the texture.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/02/gooey-vegan-nacho-cheese-sauce-recipe-food-lab.html

As an avid cook and collector of cookbooks, I have three recommendations -

1. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
   
2. The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez Alt
   
3. The Flavor Bible
   
   The first two will teach you the essentials of cooking. How salt, fat, acid, and heat work together to make delicious food. J Kenji Lopez Alt has a popular serious eats blog and his book will teach you everything you need to know about cooking perfect meat, eggs, burgers, etc.
   
   Once you learn all of the basics from those books, use the Flavor Bible to be creative.

I would recommend to anyone looking for food pairings to buy the book The Food Bible. It is a great reference that list an ingredient and then list all the other foods that go well with it. It even emphasizes certain pairings over others by either italic or bold font. I love it.

For Indian, I love Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries. (Ugly mobile link: http://www.amazon.com/660-Curries-Raghavan-Iyer/dp/0761137874/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449666007&sr=8-1&keywords=660+curries+raghavan+iyer ).

It has an almost ludicrous number of recipes from across India, including much more than just curries. He has how-to guides for naan, paneer, ghee, a ton of spice mixes; all the hard to source ingredients that are simple to make. It also has nice explanations of techniques that are not common in European cuisine, an awesome glossary of food, tools, and tech, and a substitutions guide to replace ingredients you might have a tough time finding. I've used it to cook for several Indian friends, who have all been complimentary of the authenticity (and deliciousness) of the recipes.

One of my favorites that I just acquired is a cookbook called Plenty. It's filled with lots of really vibrant photographs and tasty, often Indian- or Middle Eastern-inspired recipes that always get my mouth watering. I'll sometimes find myself flipping through it for no good reason, just to admire the delicious food.

I love it. I make ice cream fairly regularly and this one has been so incredibly easy to use. I am even thinking about getting a second bowl to go with it for those times where I want to have two flavor options for when guests are over.

If you are looking for some new recipes, I really love Jeni's recipes. They all follow the same method, so once you have it down it's fairly easy to quickly whip up a batch and to even create some of your own flavors. Here's a link to her book.

Leave a copy of this book - Natural Harvest cooking with semen - YUMMY! out on the side in a place where she will see it when she goes in the bathroom.

When you come home, tell her you've just gotten a great new cooking book and are looking forward to trying out the recipes and ask if she wants to come over for dinner.

Adult baby play giant diapers are always good.

Find out her favorite TV show and find a kinky version of the main character's signature clothing (if applicable), then hang it on a coathanger in the bathroom.

See if you can get a male friend to pose in bed with you and your husband... and put the pictures up on the bathroom mirror, next to the tube of half empty, sticky finger print covered lube.

If you are interested in another book that really gets into the science and art of BBQ, I highly recommend Aaron Franklins book. I cooked a brisket after reading his book and right off the bat it was the best brisket I ever made by a mile and some of the best I've had period.

http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Barbecue-A-Meat-Smoking-Manifesto/dp/1607747200

So you've made a bunch of recipes, you should be familiar with basic knife skills, slice, chop, dice, batons. Everything else is a variation on those.

You probably are familiar with some dry heat cooking methods, sautée, pan fry, roasting, broiling.

You should also be familiar with wet cooking methods, simmering, steaming, boiling, braising perhaps. If not look them up.

Use these methods together with a flavor profile you're looking for, think regionally, then about what kind of flavors you really want, like garlic and rosemary, fresh tomato and basil, ginger and scallions.

If you think you've got the basic techniques down, pick up , The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316118400/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_xyfywbD9B71BM

And go from there. It's a really good book

The first to come to mind are:

• Avocado and Balsamic
  
• Arugula and Blue Cheese
  
  You might check out The Flavor Bible. It's a great reference. Look up the ingredient you're interested in and it tells you complimentary ingredients. Great book.

Ah, so you'll probably mostly have to focus on vegetables and fruits:

this is a great guide for roasting vegetables. I imagine simple roasted vegetables being one of the easier things to feed a child of that age.

Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty is a good resource for a lot of amazing vegetable recipes. A number of the recipes contain eggs, dairy, and/or grains, which you can probably substitute, reduce, or leave out.

Two suggestions:

1. Check out Budget Bytes. I find that her vegetarian section tends to lean on the more carb-dense side, but it's a good place to start.
   
   
2. I haven't seen anyone recommend the Student's Vegetarian Cookbook before, but it's a great place to start for good vegetarian meals with the absolute basic ingredients, since it's aimed at students.

This recipe is from Smoke and Spice by Bill and Cheryl Jamison. This is a tried and true cookbook for me, I have tried many recipes and all of them have been smash hits. This recipe is no different. It is a mix of 1 lb ground pork, 1 lb ground beef, 1/2 c chopped peppers, 1/2 c chopped onions, 1.5 c bread crumb, 1 egg yolk, cumin, salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. I combined all of the ingredients and put it in a loaf pan. Once in the loaf pan I added cajun seasoning to the top. Once the smoker was ready I smoked it on 250 for 45 minutes. At the end of the 45 minutes I took the loaf out of the pan and set it directly on the rack for 1.5 hours. In the second picture you can see I did have to cook it to finish it in the oven before dinner time for 15 minutes to get it up to temp. I was happy with the final product and even got a nice smoke ring! We are glad we will be having this for dinner a couple of times this week.

Check out The Foodlab from Seriouseats. It wont really teach you the basics, but their recipes explain HOW and WHY certain things work and certain things dont.

Also check out /r/cookingforbeginners

And if you wanna know what flavors go well together, check this out. Great book.

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

This is far and away my favorite vegetarian cook book. It has a good broad sampling of food from all around the world with a slight emphasis on India (which I appreciate). It is well written and easy to follow. I have a wonderful index by ingredients and country. I've had it for years and it still is my go to cookbook when I'm not making things from memory or making it up.

First off, if you haven't heard of the flavor bible yet it sounds like something you would get a lot of value out of. Very useful when coming with a new meal/recipe as well as seeing what interesting combos out of whatever is left in the pantry and the book as a guide.

https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

Second, I don't think what you have experienced is a problem at all. You've simply developed higher standards than our current society. This is not a bad thing. Societal standards in all areas need to be brought back up, IMO.

Oddly, enough it's my birthday today and instead of having my parents pay the bill at an expensive restaurant I decided I would rather stay in and cook a meal I really want to enjoy with my family.