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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Low-Cal Comfort Food

I had the pleasure of meeting fellow Southern vegan cookbook author Alicia Simpson at Atlanta VegFest. Alicia gave a talk about how to make comfort food low-cal, which is pretty much my life goal. I count calories. And I only really eat comfort fare.

Alicia's latest book, Quick & East Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food, is perfect for me! Every recipe has fewer than 350 calories! I had to grab a copy at VegFest and have it signed by Ms. Alicia herself.



Flipping through the book, I found so many dishes that I couldn't wait to try. But for some reason, I was drawn to these Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce:


The seitan steaks are homemade using Alicia's Savory Seitan recipe. It's made using the boiling method, which is my personal fave. And the broth is super savory and very flavorful.

Now let's talk about that tzatziki sauce. I've only made tzatziki a few times and always on the fly without a recipe. So what I've had hasn't been that great, but Alicia's recipe will now be my go-to tzatziki sauce. It's made with grated cucumbers and plain vegan yogurt, as would be expected, but it also has fun additions such as flax oil and oregano. So delicious! And the whole sandwich — seitan, sauce, and all — was only 288 calories.

Now that I've tried Alicia's seitan, I can't wait to make her Seitan Cheesesteak (pictured on the book's cover), her BBQ Popcorn (what? what?!), Meatball Soup, Chili Cheese Fries (low-cal!!), and her Ballpark Hot Dogs (made from scratch). I'm ever-so-curious about the Wet Burritos because that sounds kinda gross, but the ingredients look delicious (TVP, onion, peppers, refried beans, and enchilada sauce).

As for desserts, well, lemme just tell you that she has a recipe for low-cal Glazed Donuts and Butter Pecan Ice Cream, so ....

9 comments:

  1. Uh the cover cheezesteak looks SO GOOD. Please let us know how the low-cal desserts are! Sometimes they're hard to pull off.

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  2. I said I would not buy any more cookbooks for the next 6 months. I lied.

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  3. i make a really easy and delicious vegan tzatziki-style cucumber dip that is also great as a ranch dressing sub. it's just equal parts plain vegan yogurt (i like farmsoy for this), plain tofutti cream cheese, and grated or minced cucumber (use the juice for liquid!). Add plenty of freshly chopped dill, a scant bit of fresh mint and parsley, and a tsp each per part of onion and garlic powders and nutritional yeast. season with s&p to taste. (thin with nondairy milk for salad dressing). It's divine and even my 2 year old niece can't get enough

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  4. oh, i forgot the lemon! add about half a medium lemon's juice per cup of sauce. And it's best when kirbys are available, but still good regardless

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  5. This is a great idea for a book! I don't ever deliberately eat low-cal (I can pack back 2 - 2,300 calories per day), but the nice thing about it is it means more food! There's nothing more sad than a tiny bowl of food.

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  6. I bought this book when it came out and picked it up recently and started cooking from it. I like her books a lot!

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  8. I love this book! The BBQ popcorn is really good and super easy. My recommendation? The Caesar Salad. It's so awesome I make it every week.

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  9. Oh man, this is amazing. I neeeeed this.

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