veganmofo - old fam recipe + túrós csusza

Day Twenty of #vgnmf15! Prompt: old family recipe, veganized, of course.

This prompt will result in a flurry of childhood or family recipes being veganized, I've no doubt. Like everyone else, I, too, have one of those old family recipes hanging on the back shelf waiting to be improved.

My recipe is an old traditional Hungarian recipe that is really quick and easy. It is called Túrós CSusza which translates basically to cheese pasta.

I remember my mom or dad making this very often and the only thing preventing me from making it vegan is the Quark Cheese, which seemed exotic to me at the time. Ultimately, it is just a soft cheese curd of sorts that can be subbed with any good crumbled vegan cheese - or even tofu, when push comes to shove.

This meal consists of pasta with a sauce made of quark cheese (almost like cottage cheese), sour cream and bacon. Seasoned with salt and plenty of black pepper, this is a very fast meal to throw together, given you have vegan bacon and a few store-bought ingredients on hand.

So, after 15 or so years, I stocked up on the requisite ingredients and finally decided to make this family recipe that also happens to be in many other Hungarian family's meal rotations.

I used the crisp vegan bacon from Everyday Vegan Eats (Amazon, B&N) because it is our favorite. I made a triple batch in order to have enough bacon to make the California Club Sandwiches (also from EVE) later in the week, and then I went to work re-creating this pasta dish.

Below is the recipe and I hope you enjoy!

As an aside, over the past few days I've had a few questions regarding substitutions in the recipes in my new cookbook Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N). One was a nut replacement request because of allergies.

If you have bought the book and need substitutions for an ingredient, please contact me and I will be more than happy to help in any way I can. In addition, I will be starting a page on this blog specifically for nut substitutes as that is the only primary allergen that the book does not include substitutes for (due to lack of space).

I am hosting an International giveaway of the Kindle edition of  Vegan Bowls. Enter HERE. Contest ends Monday night, September 21.

Truros Csusza

Makes 4 servings

12 ounces pasta, rotelli, shells, etc.

8 ounces nondairy cream cheese

10 ounces nondairy sour cream 

2 to 4 tablespoons mashed tofu or vegan cheese

1 cup chopped crisp vegan bacon (Everyday Vegan Eats has a delicious vegan bacon recipe)

Sea salt and plenty of ground black pepper

1. Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and set aside. 

2. Combine the cream cheese, sour cream, tofu and ¼ cup of the bacon in a medium saucepot. Mix well and heat over medium heat until warmed through. Season with salt and black pepper. Toss half of the sauce with the pasta. Serve in bowls garnished with the rest of the sauce and bacon. Season with more cracked black pepper and serve. 

 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

veganmofo - to-go lunch + savory cream cheese

Day 19 #vgnmf15 is about lunch on the go.

I have three teenagers (one having just left for college) and a hubby and I have been around the inside of a lunch box many a time. Since we also homeschooled, there were lunches on the go for the four of us an equal amount of times.

Simple, fast and balanced is the key to lunch on the go -- and, of course, the person being packed for. I wouldn't pack the very same thing for my husband as I would for my oldest daughter; they simply have different tastes.

In addition, access to a microwave also needs to be taken into consideration. Packing leftovers that need to be reheated is possible when there is a microwave in the lunch room.

Let's take, for instance, lunch for a student without access to a microwave. Here is my daughter's lunch tomorrow:

An apple, sea vegetable, roasted almonds and a bagel with Savory Vegetable Cream Cheese with lettuce, tomato and slivers of onion.

Naturally, she won't eat all of this at once. My girls experience migraines and we've been following the advice in the "Migraine Brain" which recommends eating at a very consistent time.

For my youngest, that is every two hours (otherwise she gets very hungry and it triggers her migraine). She'll have the above lunch throughout her time away from home.

Let's focus on that cream cheese.

That cream cheese is really awesome and we have it for breakfast and snacks, as well. It really only depends on how long it lasts; not long at our house since this is a fast-moving spread. It is a store-bought tub of cream cheese with a few stir-ins that change it into something very tasty.

We've experienced other people bringing flavored cream cheeses to outings and we weren't about to be left in the dust. This cream cheese trumps their cream cheese any day!

I am hosting an International giveaway of the Kindle edition of my new cookbook, Vegan Bowls. Enter HERE. Contest ends Monday night, September 21.

Savory Vegetable Cream Cheese
Makes 12 ounces


8 ounces nondairy cream cheese
¼ cup minced scallions (about 4 or 5)
1 small carrot, finely grated
¼ teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and black pepper

1. Soften the cream cheese in a medium bowl using a fork.
2. Stir in the scallions, carrot and paprika. Season with salt and black pepper.
3. Transfer to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator, where it will keep up to a week.



 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

veganmofo - local dish + baja tacos

Day 17 #vgnmf15: what is a traditional local dish? We're in San Diego, very close to the Mexican border; in fact, it is only a cool 30 minute drive, therefore, tacos - specifically, fish tacos - are one of the most traditional local dishes.

At the risk of featuring a second taco dish after the Sin Carne Asada Tacos, I say unto you that my local dish is fish tacos.

When I say fish tacos, a lot of people think of a tempura-ish fried fish, but the more traditional fish tacos here, most famously Baja Tacos, are marinated and grilled and served with cabbage, lime and crema, which is a thick cream, not quite as thick as sour cream.

I used tempeh and lobster mushrooms to make these tacos, but using only tempeh with a little bit of dulse seaweed is also good. Or you can use oyster mushrooms instead of lobster mushrooms and tempeh.

Preheat your grill and cook the marinated protein until lightly charred to get a nice smoky flavor and authentic grilled texture.

The vegan crema is nothing more than vegan sour cream mixed with a little lime juice and salt. You can also serve these with Guacamole, with or without the crema. After you marinate the tempeh, the dish comes together quickly and is a great option for an easy meal when you get home from wherever.

Baja Tacos
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Marinade:
4 dried ancho chiles
4 California chiles (also known as dried Anaheim peppers)
1 ½ ounces dried lobster mushrooms
8 ounces tempeh, cut into slices or wedges
½ medium onion, cut into ½-inch slices
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
Sea salt and black pepper
¼ cup water
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 onions, cut into ¾ -inch thick rings

Other:
Small (3-inch) corn tortillas, as needed
Guacamole, recipe below (optional)
Crema, recipe below
Thin slices of cabbage
Scallions, minced
Pickled jalapenos
Cilantro leaves
Lime wedges

1. Marinade: Remove the stems and most of the seeds of the chiles. Heat the chiles in a pan (or grill pan)  until soft and lightly colored. Transfer to a bowl along with the dried mushrooms and tempeh and cover with hot water. Set aside to rehydrate for 20 minutes and drain. Transfer the tempeh and mushrooms to a bowl.
2. Cook the onions and garlic in the skillet used for the chiles and cook until lightly charred. Transfer the onion to a blender. Peel the garlic and transfer to the blender. Add the drained chiles, water, olive oil, lime juice and salt and black pepper, to taste. Blend until smooth. Add the marinade to the tempeh and mushrooms, mix well and set aside to marinate, at least 20 minutes.
3. Heat your grill or grill pan. Grill the mushrooms and tempeh, basting with the sauce as needed, until lightly charred, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a work surface and coarsely chop. Heat the tortillas on the grill, about 30 seconds to 1 minutes. 
4. Place two tortillas on top of each other and fill with cabbage, protein, crema and toppings of choice. Squeeze fresh lime juice on the tacos and enjoy.

Guacamole
5 medium ripe Hass avocado, mashed 
1 small ripe tomato, diced
3/4 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 to 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno (optional)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt and black pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl using a spoon. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, black pepper and lime juice.

Crema
½ cup vegan sour cream
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon unsweetened plain vegan milk, if needed to thin
Sea salt

1. Combine the sour cream, juice and salt, to taste, in a small bowl. Taste and add more lime juice or salt as needed. Add the milk to think if needed. Transfer the crema to a squirt bottle and use as needed.



 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

"vegan bowls" is now available!

I am so excited!! My new cookbook,  Vegan Bowls  (Amazon, B&N)- all about flavor harmony in cozy one-bowl meals - is NOW Available! Get your your own copy and start making delicious, complete meals today.

Making bowl meals is definitely the best way to get a complete, delicious and nutritious meal on the table fast. 

Breakfast is easy with such Breakfast Bowls as this Quinoa Breakfast Bowl.

Lunch is ready just as fast when you make a complete Soup Bowl, Salad Bowl or Sauteed Bowl, such as this Thai Panang Curry Bowl.

A more indulgent and flavorful dish is just waiting for you at the end of your day, whether it's a Grilled Bowl, a Grains Bowl or a Pasta Bowl, such as this Lemongrass, Bok Choy and Tofu Bowl.

All your meals - complete, delicious and fast - can be as easy as opening Vegan Bowls. With over 90 complete bowl recipes, you will be able to satisfy any craving for any meal.

Vegan Bowls is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or wherever fine books are sold.

veganmofo - late summer + sin carne asada

Day 16 #vgnmf15 - what is your favorite late summer food? A cookout, of course! And our favorite cookout is Sin Carne Asada tacos, made with Seitan SteaK.

So, yeah, a cookout is our favorite late summer "food." Especially this cookout below.

The first step is to make a robust seitan that stands up well to grilling. Then marinate the seitan in a mojo-garlic mixture.

Next, throw those seitan steaks onto the grill with plenty of onions. Make your Arbol Salsa and Guacamole and warm your tortillas. Prepare your garnishes: lime, cilantro, crumbled vegan  cheese, vegan sour cream, jalapenos, etc.

Finally, slice the seitan, and stuff them into those warmed tortillas with all the condiments your heart desires.

You can also grill some corn on the cob, make a potato salad or a Mexican Pasta Salad (the recipe in Everyday Vegan Eats is phenomenal) and just scarf the tacos down while they last.

I usually make 2 to 3 pounds of seitan for this; our family of five will literally fight over the last few tacos, so it's always best to err on the side of leftovers. Tip: serve your tacos in small corn tortillas but double them up to help hold the tacos together.

#truthtalk  We are having this next week, too, to get one more cookout in before the summer ends.

{Kindle edition of Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N)  is up for grabs in this week's giveaway. Enter HERE. Both international and domestic contest!}

Sin Carne Asada Tacos
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Marinade:
3 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari
4 scallions, coarsely chopped
10 garlic cloves
2 serrano or jalapeno chiles
½ teaspoon sea salt
Ground black pepper
2 pounds SteaK Seitan

2 onions, cut into ¾ -inch thick rings
Oil for the grill, as needed

Other:
Small (3-inch) corn tortillas, as needed
Arbol Salsa, recipe below
Guacamole, recipe below
Vegan cheese, crumbled
Vegan sour cream
Pickled jalapenos
Cilantro leaves
Lime wedges

1. Marinade: Combine the oil, juices, tamari, scallions, garlic, chiles, salt and black pepper in a blender. Blend well and transfer to a large baking dish. Add the seitan and mix well to coat. Set aside to marinate overnight.
2. Heat your grill or grill pan. Oil the grates or pan. Grill the seitan, basting with the sauce as needed, and onions until lightly charred, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a work surface and cut into slices. Heat the tortillas on the grill, about 30 seconds to 1 minutes. 
3. Place two tortillas on top of each other and fill with seitan, onions and choice of toppings. Enjoy!

Arbol Salsa
2 to 6 dried arbol chiles
2 California chiles (also known as dried Anaheim peppers)
2 medium ripe plum tomatoes, cut into 6 wedges
½ medium onion, cut into ½-inch slices
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
Sea salt and black pepper
2 to 3 splashes sherry vinegar

1. Remove the stems and most of the seeds of the chiles. Heat the chiles in a pan (or grill pan)  until soft and lightly colored. Transfer to a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside to rehydrate for 20 minute. Drain the chiles and transfer the chiles to a blender. 
2. Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Grill the tomatoes, onion and garlic until lightly charred. Transfer the tomatoes and onion to a blender. Peel the garlic and transfer to the blender. 
3. Blend the mixture until smooth. Season with salt, black pepper and vinegar. Blend again and adjust seasoning. 
4. Salsa will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month. 

Guacamole
5 medium ripe Hass avocado, mashed 
1 small ripe tomato, diced
3/4 cup minced red onion
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 to 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno (optional)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt and black pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl using a spoon. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, black pepper and lime juice.


 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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veganmofo - obama + paella bowl

Today is the big day for me! Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N) is being released today!  Yikes!  *-*

The release of a cookbook is exciting and apprehensive and all other kinds of emotions all at once! How will it be received? Will people like the recipes? Like the format of the book? The ingredients chosen? So many things to wonder and worry about!

I really loved making this book and was trying to create a variety of bowl recipes that are all complete meals. I was also trying to make them a bit familiar and worked on basing the recipes on some well-established and honed flavor profiles. I wanted to create recipes that had some root in traditional meals, but made into complete meals that were convenient to serve and eat.

The original bowl recipes began simply with a grain (rice), vegetables (steamed), protein (tofu or beans) and a sauce. Simple bowls such as the Budha Bowl, quinoa bowls, Mexican bowls and other Asian-inspired bowls are the natural evolution of the original bowl, but I wanted to go beyond that.

I wanted to take "traditional," and therefore oft-tested dishes, and make them into bowl meals. Hence, there are three kinds of bowls in this book:

1. traditionally bowl meals
2. almost bowl meals - just a few additions or tweaks make them into bowls
3. original bowls - perhaps inspired by flavorful dishes that have no business being bowl meals, or off-the-cuff bowls of ingredients that play well because of flavor harmony

So there it is - my impetus for writing this book: fast, complete meals that are flavorful, healthy and nutritious. My goal was to bring you recipes that in turn bring you complete meals quickly. No brainers, no need to supplement with other dishes - just grabbing ingredients, following the recipes and sitting down to eat. Period.

Now for the #vgnmf15 part of the post. The prompt today is to make a meal for the POTUS - Obama. During yesterday's post, I shared with you the (assumed) fact that President Obama enjoys Chicago THIN-crust pizza, topped with tomatoes, basil, cheese, olives and red onion slices. Basically, that's a Margherita Pizza plus olives and onions.

All fine and dandy, but let's serve the Prez something that is usually made with meat because there is not even any question that the man is nowhere near a vegetarian, let alone a vegan.

I decided to serve something pretty and still delicious, but something that typically uses lots of seafood - his favorite animals to eat, it seems.

I share with you my Paella Bowl recipe, in honor of Vegan Bowls' book release. Which calls for another peak into a chapter of the book - this time the Sauteed Chapter:

One more thing before the recipe: Last week's giveaway of Vegan Bowls was nice but I noticed that there were some international folks missing out on the deal.

This week I will give away two copies of the Kindle edition of Vegan Bowls, one international and one US. Please enter only the contest that represents your location and not both.  To be eligible to win you must be following this blog via email or RSS feed (link). Contest ends next Monday night at midnight, September 21. Good luck!

Paella Bowl
SERVES 4 TO 6
The saffron threads are responsible for the beautiful orange-yellow color of this dish. Once the rice and broth are added, the dish is no longer stirred. It cooks uncovered while the rice absorbs the broth. As the rice cooks, it develops a flavorful crust on the bottom of the pan called socarrat – a welcome result of not stirring the rice. Using a nonstick pan will prevent the socarrat from forming, but the dish will still taste great. (Recipe from Vegan Bowls, copyright © 2015 by Zsu Dever. Used by permission from Vegan Heritage Press, LLC.)

BROTH
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

SAUTÉ
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 artichoke hearts, quartered
1 medium yellow squash or zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 small red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 small Roma tomato, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups frozen lima beans or edamame, thawed
1 cup paella or Arborio rice

GARNISH
1/2 cup green peas, thawed if frozen
1 jarred roasted red pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips
1/4 cup minced parsley
Lemon slices

BROTH: Heat the broth, paprika, salt, and saffron in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Cover and keep warm over low heat.

SAUTÉ: Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the artichoke and squash and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the bell pepper, tomato, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down, about 5 minutes. Add the green beans and lima beans. Add the rice, spreading it evenly over the vegetables. Add the broth, taking care not to disturb the rice too much, but ensuring that the rice is submerged in the broth. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the rice is al dente, about 14 minutes. Arrange the squash and artichoke hearts on the paella and continue to cook until the rice is tender and the broth is absorbed, about 4 minutes longer.

GARNISH: Scatter the peas over the paella, arrange the strips of pepper on top of the paella and sprinkle with the parsley. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside for 5 minutes before serving. Serve in bowls with lemon slices.


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veganmofo - sharing is caring + thin-crust obama pizza

Day 14 #vgnmf15 begs us to share food with non-vegan friends. We are getting all friendly up in this year's mofo!

As much as I'd love to really dig in and invite people over for meals (and believe me, I've had really good intentions on doing just that!), my kids always trump me. I suppose that's just the way I want it for right now; one is out of the house away at college, another is in community college and the third is right behind her. It is definitely their time to get out, make friends and show just how normal vegan young people are. 

So, instead of me sharing some vegan food, it was my daughter who shared. Very coincidentally, the young lady that shared our meal last week was a vegetarian, looking into becoming vegan. 

My knowledge base of what young ladies at that age like to eat is vast and I knew that the mysterious foods of that age are pizza, pasta, nuggets and burgers. 

Seeing as she was thinking of going vegan (and I only found out after my food plans were deeply rooted), the most natural choice was to make pizza. After all,  pizza (at any age, really) and cheese are one food group, no? Hit them where it counts! 

My girls and I were searching for foods that Obama likes (for tomorrow's post) and we discovered that the POTUS digs his thin crust pizza (not deep dish?!?) topped with veggies. As sweet as that is, he should really be cutting his other meat-eating habits by a ton, but that's a post for another day, like the morrow. 

Back to the sharing story (I do go off on tangents quite a bit), we had great thin-crust vegan pizza topped with all of Obama's faves. She loved it and asked me for more vegan info. I handed her my cookbook, Everyday Vegan Eats (I keep a few copies around for just such emergencies!) and told her that all she’ll need for now is right in there.

The young lady obviously has a great head on her shoulders and compassion in her heart. Like most of you out there doing your very best to do all you can for the animals, I’ll be here to help her when she needs it. A lifelong vegan in the making, for sure!

A note about making vegan cheese pizzas, and I say this every single time – the best cheese to use is a mixture of brands. Each brand has its own advantage – some melt better, others taste better – and when you mix them you are capitalizing on all the different positive aspects. 

We use Follow Your Heart mozzarella and Daiya mozzarella. We finely grate the FYH because it has a higher melting point and we use it to cut the sharp flavor of the Daiya. Cook your pizza on a high temp on a pizza stone (the cost ($20) was worth it for us because we have pizza night twice a month).

Form your pizza on a cutting board on top of a parchment paper, then slide the parchment with the pizza onto the stone. Cook for 4 minutes and then pull out the parchment, which will have detached from the pizza. Continue to cook until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is crisp.

Last call for entering to win Vegan Bowls! Contest ends midnight tonight, September 14. Enter HERE.

Margherita Thin Crust Pizza
Makes 3 large pizzas


Crust:
¾ cup warm water
2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour (you can use up to half spelt flour)
¾ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl

Toppings:
Pizza Sauce
Shredded vegan cheese (mixture of brands is best)
Black olives
Thin slices red onion
Basil

1. Crust: Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside 5 minutes to bloom. 
2. Combine the flour, salt and oil in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the yeast mixture and process until dough comes together in a ball. Oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl and set aside to rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour and a half. 
3. Preheat the oven to 475-degrees F with a pizza stone. Deflate the dough and divide into 3 pieces. Press the dough into a thin disk (as thin as you can without puncturing the dough) on a parchment paper set on a board.
4.  Add your sauce and toppings (except the basil). Slide the parchment and pizza onto the stone and bake for 4 minutes. Slide the parchment out from under the pizza and continue to bake until the cheese is bubbly, about 6 to 7 more minutes. Remove the pizza, add the basil, slice and serve.


 © 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

veganmofo - kitchen tour

#vgnmf15 Day 13 is all about touring our kitchen.

Here goes! And since this is a tour, I will let the pics speak. I introduce you to the kitchen that created, wrote, tested and edited two vegan cookbooks:

Back of my kitchen:

Front of my kitchen:

Side view of the kitchen:

My kitchen cookbook library is not part of the kitchen, but I do need to do research, right? Of the 300 cookbooks shown, 250 are vegan and the rest are non-vegan, for research. The small tabs on the bottom of the books is my system of categorization.

Note that this did not happen overnight. It has been in the making over the past 15 years.

Please understand, I feel it is my moral obligation to support vegan cookbook authors. That is exactly what I tell my husband. #truthtalk

The left side of the shelves:

The right side of the shelves:

If you haven't entered the contest to win Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N) yet, head over to Tuesday's post HERE. Good luck!

veganmofo - fave cookbook

Day 12 #vgnmf15 asks us the question: "What is your favorite cookbook?"

Let's see...that could be Tamasin Noyes' Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day or American Vegan Kitchen?

or perhaps, Isa's Vegan Brunch or Isa Does It?

maybe, it's Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet or More Quick Fix Vegan?

While all the above named books will be on many mofo lists, I tell you truthfully that the one that I turn to almost day in and day out is Everyday Vegan Eats (Amazon, B&N), by moia. And now that Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N) is finally in my grubby little hands, I actually have TWO faves:

Let me show you why Everyday Vegan Eats is such a daily-used book in our house.

The night before last we enjoyed this recipe from EVE, Lima Bean Bake (page 184). We served it with the Garlicky Greens (page 196) - this time made of kale and watercress, and crusty bread to sop up the delicious gravy.

This is a quick-to-assemble dish that bakes in the oven for a few hours. Yeah, I know, we fired up the oven in the summer for this dish...and it was so worth it!

And then there's this pasta dish, Coco Loco with Dulse and Kale (page 146). I would start with about one tablespoon of dulse if you've never had sea vegetables before, but our family is up to about a quarter cup of dulse in this really tasty dish.

This dish marked the first time my kids asked for dark, leafy greens and it was thanks to this recipe, oh, about eight or nine years ago. We still love this really quick-to-make meal.

This next particular dish is one of my absolute favorites! It is Tandoori Tofu and Vegetables (page 124) and is served with naan (page 126) and raita (page 126). A complete Indian feast, all in this cookbook!

Of course, the bakery section is not anything to sneeze at; it has the recipe that produces the tallest vegan biscuits you've ever made, the softest chocolate chip cookies, the fudgiest brownies, the flakiest scone, and the crispiest Apricot and Raisin Rugelach (page 228), plus a whole lot more in this one chapter alone.

There are hidden gems in this seemingly only transitional cookbook, so you should really check it out. Not only are the recipes delicious, but they are also as authentic as it gets in the vegan realm. Really good vegan versions of old favorites, as well as creative original dishes.

As for Vegan Bowls, which just arrived this Friday evening, in addition to the previously mentioned reasons (#1, #2, and #3) I offer up reason #4 why I love this book: it is versatile.

Out of the 97 recipes in the book (87 are bowl meals, 10 are basic recipes), 83 are gluten free or have gluten free options and 91 are soy free or have soy free options. You can also easily substitute store-bought commercial vegan protein choices (such as Beyond Meat or Tofurkey) in many of the recipes.

** 23 recipes are both GF and SF without any substitutions
*** this is NOT a nut free cookbook as nuts are used in sauces, used as extra nutrition or used for texture in many recipes


How about a peak at the contents of the Grilled Chapter?

Here are a few highlights from Vegan Bowls.:

There you have it. My two favorite cookbooks to date!

If you haven't entered the contest to win Vegan Bowls (Amazon, B&N) yet, head over to Tuesday's post HERE. Good luck!