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I made this last weekend for my husband's birthday. I followed the recipe pretty closely--I did add the heaping teaspoon of instant coffee and dissolved the cocoa powder in the water as well because I read somewhere it helps bring out the chocolatey taste. My family enjoyed the cake. However, I have to agree with the reviewer who said it had a box-mix taste. I think it is better than a box-mix cake, but it does have that same sort of spongy texture. If you are looking for a denser cakey cake with a finer crumb, then you should find a recipe that calls for creaming the sugar and fat and then adding the dry ingredients. I just didn't have the energy, which is why I chose this simple recipe. It is pretty easy to prepare and there isn't a lot of cleanup afterwards. The batter was very thin and I was worried too, but it baked up just fine. I will probably make this again.

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Mushroom Lentil Barley Stew

Reviewed: Oct. 7, 2008

I made this recipe last week and my family enjoyed it. I presoaked the lentils for a couple of hours. I also added two thinly sliced carrots. The next time I might use dried porcinis instead of shitakes since they stayed a bit rubbery even after hours of cooking. Definitely use the savory since it makes the dish. Also, I needed the longer cooking time even with presoaking the lentils and using hot broth. I have small children so I didn't use that much pepper.

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Banana Muffins II

Reviewed: Jun. 5, 2006

I have made these several times with my kids--they love making them and the recipe is so easy! (If you do it yourself you can make them in five minutes; with small kids, about 30!) They are very sweet so I usually cut the sugar to 1/2 cup and use whole wheat pastry flour, which I think works very nicely.

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Split Pea Soup with Tofu

Reviewed: May 1, 2006

I made this last week and I would have to say it is 3 1/2 to 4 stars. I made it the night before for a weeknight supper. My kids (ages 6 and 4) complained about it at first (I think because of the color) but they ate most of their big bowls on Thursday and they each had a small cup on Saturday as well. I think the flavored improved as it sat in the fridge. When I was a kid my mom made the most amazing pea soup with leftover ham bones and chunks of ham. I've been a vegetarian for many years now and I miss the full, hearty flavor of that pea soup. I've made pea soups in the past with different herbs, such as thyme and oregano and I never really thought they did the trick. I had my doubts about the basil, but it works quite well. My husband thought it was a very good soup. I will say the tofu does add a bit of a grainy appearance to the whole thing and might cut the pea taste just a little. I don't know if I prefer it over straight-up pea soup, but I would imagine the nutritional content of this soup can't be beat. I must confess I used a very good quality cold-pressed olive oil in greater quantities than called for in the recipe! I'm pretty sure I'll be making this again.

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Veggie Pot Pie

Reviewed: Oct. 7, 2003

I thought this was a good basic recipe and my family liked it. I cooked the mushrooms quite a bit with the garlic and then added the carrots and two tablespoons of nutritional yeast and cooked them more until the carrots started to carmelize. I made it in a regular pot (not nonstick) so there was a quite a bit of that flavorful brown muck on the bottom of the pan. I added the rest of the veggies as described, in addition to some peas, before adding two cups of Imagine No-Chicken Broth and cooked as described. I then added 1/2 tsp sage and 1/4 tsp thyme. Instead of the third cup of broth I added 2 tbl arrowroot to a cup of Eden Rice & Soy and stirred it in at the end. I made this the day before, and the next night after work I poured it into a pan and topped it with a cobbler/biscuit topping and it was ready in 35 minutes.

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Sweet Potato Bread II

Reviewed: Jun. 1, 2003

Used two cups sugar as previousy suggested. It's spicy and my little kids didn't care for it much but my husband thought I should quit my job and go into business making this. It is very moist and it gets better and better as the days pass if there's still any left.

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8 users found this review helpful