My vegan pals Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman have a new cookbook out called "Vegans Go Nuts" and it is totally awesome! (full disclosure: I received a copy of this book to review) I have - and love - several books from this dynamic duo. One of the things I really appreciate about these two is that their recipes are always creative and unique -- and this book is no exception. I've already made several great dishes from this book and have lots more that I am looking forward to making.
Vegans Go Nuts!
Every recipe in "Vegans Go Nuts" has at least one nut or seed in it, and many recipes have several -- whole nuts and seeds, nut and seed butters or oils, nut flour, nut milks, and so on! So many creative and delicious and ways to include these nutritious and yummy goodies in our vegan meals! The book has chapters on Breakfasts, Soups Salads & Sides, Main Dishes, Desserts, and more.
Left: Citrusy Cashew Baba Ghanoush
Middle: Pepita Pepper Hummus
Right: Pistachio Dukkah
I am usually quite a hummus traditionalist and I don't usually appreciate anyone messing with my beloved hummus. And yet, something attracted me to this recipe for Pepita Pepper Hummus -- and I'm so glad I made it. This hummus has roasted poblano, jalepeno and green bell pepper in it, along with roasted pepitas, herbs and spices... and it all adds up to a totally new and magical combo. We both loved this recipe a lot!
The Citrusy Cashew Baba Ghanoush was also a delicious and creative spin on a classic. Charred and smoky eggplant, bright lemon juice, spicy harissa, and fresh herbs... all add up to a very satisfying spread.
Of course I also had to make some Pistachio Dukkah, because I love Dukkah so much -- it's a nutty, salty, spicy mixture that is a lovely addition to hummus and baba ghanoush, but is also great on avocado toast, with olive oil & bread, and also just by the spoonful!
I had a little Baba G., Pepita Hummus, and roasted veggies left over after our dinner, so I used it all together in one glorious and delicious summer sandwhich - which I am eager to repeat and re-eat again!!
This Pea Scramble with Peanut Miso Dressing was unlike like anything I've ever made before -- it's so refreshing and exciting to find recipes that are so wholly new. Tofu and peas are scrambled together with seasoning, served over shredded cabbage, and drizzled with a lovely Peanut Miso dressing. As you can see, I also made the optional Carrot Pickles ... which I highly recommend. In fact, I made a half batch, and I liked them so much that then I made a whole batch and I have just been eating them out of the container in my fridge! They are spicey and briney and seasoned with vaguely Asian-inspired spices, and they pack a serious yum punch!
Boom! Pow! Yum!
Vietnamese Peanut Tacos
drizzled with almond-lime sauce and sriracha
Here are those magnificent carrot pickles again! This recipe for Vietnamese Peanut Tacos is one of my favorites so far from this book : I loved this dinner!!!! On the left is my taco with the sauces drizzled on top, and on the right is a still-bare taco so you can see more what's going on. This recipe takes some time because the pickles and the tempeh both need to marinate - but it's inactive time. After all the marinating is done, the whole thing comes together pretty quickly. These tacos are just bursting with flavors and textures -- some highly seasoned elements (like the carrots and tempeh) along with some very fresh and raw elements (like the cabbage, cukes, and garnishes). I can't wait to eat these again!
Sesame Za'atar Pepper Soup with Roasted Pepitas
Do you know about za'atar? It's a super delicious spice mix from the Middle East. One year I gave all my family members bottles of za'atar because I really wanted them all to love it as much as I do. So, when I saw this recipe for Sesame Za'atar Pepper Soup, I knew I was going to make it! It's a great recipe: spicy and rich with flavor. I added a can of drained chickpeas and a generous splash of almond milk too. Mmm. Mr. VE&T isn't a vegan, but he did actually go nuts for this soup, just like the book titled promises!
going nuts!
perfect late summer bowl of soup
Next I made the Cream of Pumpkin and Corn with Cashews and Lime Soup -- a thick, pureed soup topped with roasted corn kernels and chopped scallions. Such a nice combo of a rich, creamy puree with the crunch and crisp of the garnishes. I also loved how this recipe combined perfect late summer season ingredients: corn and limes which are still available at the end of summer, and winter squash which are just starting to show up.
Glorious creation that I cannot stop eating
Now. One last recipe that I must tell you about: Cashew Butter and Sesame Tomato Jam on Toast. Gentle readers, I love this delicious concoction so much. We had a lot of tomatoes in our garden, and so this recipe caught my eye. But I was a little unsure, because who's ever heard of tomato jam... so I just made a half batch. Holy bananas!! I loved it so much that I ate it all and had to make a full batch. This recipe is totally amazing -- avocado, tomato sesame jam, cashews, cilantro... It all adds up to something so special. The tomato jam is just magical -- so much umami and such unexpected and harmonious flavors. I am IN LOVE with it. I haven't actually made the toasts yet with the suggested cashew butter, but I've made them with just the avo + fixin's, and with Kite Hill Cream Cheese + avocado and all the fixin's. This is officially one of my favorite new things to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I have literally eaten it everyday for the last week.
please feed these toasts to me on a conveyor belt!
In addition to all the great recipes I made so far,
I also have several more recipes marked to make soon:
Cheesy Almond Gravy
Tangy Almond Herb Cheese Log
Lemon Tahini Scones
Peanut Butter French Toast with Maple Pecan Sauce
Cajun Roasted Chestnuts and Potatoes
Zhoug Cashew Thin Omelets
Loaded Potatoes with Pepita Guacamole
Sweet Potato Salad with Tahini Sumac Dressing
Roasted Cabbage with Almond Lime Sauce
Nut Butter Magic Candy Ice Cream Topping
**GIVEAWAY!**
Great news! Joni has offered to send a copy of "Vegans Go Nuts" to a lucky VE&T reader - WORLDWIDE!!! Because she is awesome and generous! So, to enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post and tell me about your favorite nut, your favorite nutty friend, a good recipe with nuts that you love, or anything. Be sure to leave your email address or a blogger contact so that I can track you down if you win!
You are my favorite nutty friend, even if I don't know you in real life. I think my favorite nutty food is cashew ice cream. It tastes just like dairy ice cream and even has the same mouth feel. I'd love to win the cookbook. My email is skwriter9@gmail.com. Thanks for your blog. I've been reading it for years.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Look at all of that amazing stuff you made. I'm very intrigued with the tomato jam. That sounds awesome! I would also be all over the pistachio dukkah and Vietnamese Peanut Tacos. For eating by the handful, pistachios are my favorite. But for their magical cream sauce/cheese/dressing qualities, I couldn't live without cashews.
ReplyDeleteI love using cashews and almonds as a creamer. For instance, blending almonds (soaked in water) and use it as a sauce/creamer with garlic and lots of savoy cabbage. Served with penne :)
ReplyDeleteAlso: using walnuts on pizza. They toast really nicely, and geting a bite with the nut and a kalamata olive - yum yum yum.
lene.lundgaard@gmail.com
I love walnuts! Their flavor just can't be beat and candied walnuts in a salad with chopped apples, spinach, purple cabbage, edamame, dried cranberries and an apple cider-based dressing is my favorite "rainbow" to eat :). My nutty friend Holly put on a Sasquatch costume in the woods and we snapped a pic of her on a log doing the cobra pose. We call it "National Enquirer: Bigfoot is ALIVE....and he practices yoga!" :). beverleerichmond@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteMy husband (23 years and counting!!) is the nuttiest person I know. He makes up dances (Happy Snow Day Dance, Sad End of Vacation Dance, etc.); he puts socks on his ears, uses his arm as a trunk and makes elephant noises; and I have a picture of him wearing a diaper on his head. I could go on, but I'll end it by saying I'd love to win this so I can make my nut some yummy nut-filled food!
ReplyDeleteOh--and email me at stagwoman@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteMy official favorite nut (yes, I have an official one) is the pecan. But the nut I eat most often is the walnut - especially rosemary toasted walnuts. Oh yum. (Email address is in my profile).
ReplyDeleteFor me it's a toss up for my favorite nut, either cashew or peanut!
ReplyDeleteI cannot get enough of peanut butter, peanut butter everything!
ReplyDeleteI don't tend to eat whole nuts on their own, but if I did it would be cashews.
Yay for worldwide!
I love macadamia nuts, and I love recreating and veganizing the white chocolate chip & macadamia nut cookies from subway!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite nuts are walnuts and pecans. But I like cashews for nut milks. karengdelaney (at) yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteHazelnuts are by far my favorite nut! As good as some vegan nutella is, I just love straight, unadulterated hazelnut butter.
ReplyDeletehazelnut butter is the best!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to start my day - reading my nutty friend Amey's blog. You never fail to make me laugh when I read your posts. You are so funny and the recipes in this book look amazing!
ReplyDeleteI love smoked almonds and macadamias. But I think I haven't met a nut I don't like yet ... maybe except my collegue, who sits right in front of me, teeheehee.
ReplyDeletebellana@gmx.net
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ReplyDeleteI love Mexican cashew queso. I grew up in the southwest and it reminds me of home and makes Mexican meals so creamy and delicious. blainewilkes@yahoo.com.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite nutty recipe of late is the peanut sauce in the Moosewood Cookbook. It goes on everything Thai peanut burgers, gado gado, soba noodles, summer rolls, the options are endless! Yum!
ReplyDeleteAlways a fan of these two, and of all nuts in general- Sounds like a match made in heaven! Tough to pick a favorite, but if pressed, I would probably go with pistachios for straight up snacking.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite nut is pecans.But I pretty much love all the nuts!
ReplyDeleteGaia at cinci dot rr dot com
Peanut butter is my favorite because it is so versatile: peanut butter overnight oats, PB&J, ants on a log, peanut sauce over noodles, peanut butter with chocolate, peanut butter frosting on top of chocolate cupcakes, GORP, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter cookies . . . .
ReplyDeleteYay, thank you for the giveaway! I pretty much love all nuts: cashew, pistachios, almonds, pecans, Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, etc. I sprinkle them on my salads, eat them raw for breakfast, make cashew cheese, the list goes on and on.
ReplyDeleteI love nuts, but I think my favorite nut is probably cashews. I love how they can be blended into a creamy sauce, used for nice cream, and so many other things. I also add them to stir fries or just eat them by the handful. :)
ReplyDeleteaimeesavon@hotmail.com
my fave nut is def almonds! I can do anything with them and they're not so expensive!
ReplyDeleteDon't include me in the giveaway (I got a review copy too), but I just wanted to say that I love this book so much! I especially loved the cashew miso oats! :-) I must try that dukkah on avo toast!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI love using cashews in lasagna! Great cheese alternative :)
ReplyDeleteablackm2@hotmail.com
My two favorite "nut" recipes are Caponata with Pine Nuts and Hot Fruit Bake around the holidays. The latter includes all kinds of goodies, including walnuts!
ReplyDeleteDigicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net
I could (and sometimes do) drink tahini sauce and peanut butter sauce. Diana at veggie next door dot com.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite nut is the cashew and my favorite nutty people are my family. =)
ReplyDeleteMy favourite nuts are definitely pecans, eaten by the handful. Very closely followed by almonds, largely in nut butter or cookie form.
ReplyDeleteThis book looks amazing. loulfh@gmail.com
I love to make a simple lemon ball with almonds, dates, fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest. Grind in a food processor. Chill. Roll into balls and coat in coconut. The perfect dessert bite. elsaweber4@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI love the Spanish marcona almond - fried in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt like it's being served as an appetizer in parts of Spain!
ReplyDeleteEvery one of the recipes you've tried looks amazing! The tomato jam is totally the kind of super creative recipes that we can count on finding in Celine and Joni's books. I, too, have (and love) many of their previous books, and I clearly need to get my hands on this one too!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite nut varies depending on what use I'm thinking about (a pie? pecans are the best! making sauce? cashews, no question about it! etc.), but for eating straight, I have to say that the fresh pistachios I've enjoyed in Iran have earned the top spot in my personal nut palmares - both for their exquisite taste and for the sweet memories that are attached to them…
My favorite nut (to eat) is the cashew...so versatile, but my favorite nut is my mom!
ReplyDeletelockesdaydreams@aol.com
I love black sesame seeds. I always get the black sesame paste from asian food markets and like making smoothies, lattes, and desserts with it.
ReplyDeleteCashews for sure! Vegan cheese sure has come a long way in the years since I went vegan. Coconuts are my favorite, maybe its a nut maybe its not, nuts.
ReplyDeletePeanut butter obviously! This book looks great, I would love to have it.
ReplyDeleteI'm loving cashews because they make such a good creamy sauce! As for nutty friends, I think it would probably be my family's dog Ruby. She's very hyperactive. Every time I go to visit she runs up, does what we call her 'tummy dance' (this is her dropping to her tummy and wriggling around) then runs away, skids around and does this on repeat for 5 minutes. A canine nutter!
ReplyDeleteI love cooking with cashews now. I love cashew milk. Cashews seem to give me that cheesy taste I miss. My bf is crazy for nuts. He eats jars of peanut butter. I have to buy it all the time. My email is zula154@yahoo.com.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say my favourite is the cashew. Since getting a high-speed blender I use them all the time for cashew cream, in soups, curry sauces, cheezes, quiches, and I also love them roasted for snacking. I would love to win a copy of this book - thank you and Joni for accepting world wide entries :)
ReplyDeletemiafaletti at gmail dot com
my favorite nut for versatility has to be the cashew, it's a vegan's best friend. the thing i make most often is probably alfredo sauce with cashews, heaps of garlic, lemon juice and nootch. i'd like to get more inventive with nuts though! thanks for the great giveaway: lydia_webster@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteLove pecans in any form. But cashews are a close second since I make so many delicious things with cashews as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great review! I have loved the sound of this book since I first saw the hashtags on Instagram, I don't cook with nuts nearly as much as I would like to (though I have recently rediscovered peanut sauce - I love marinating rehydrated dried shredded oyster mushrooms in it before adding them to a stir-fry for a super "meaty" umami boost) and I love all the twists they have put into this book!
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, a good friend of mine was over the other day and we pulled out our old yearbook (from 2007) and the little blurb about me refers to me as a "nut and seed eater" haha - I guess the nutty love goes way back! Also, I once had a tub of peanut butter confiscated from my carry-on on an airplane when the liquids ban first came in - I had to choke back tears!
That's all my nut stories ;)
This book looks great! I love nuts but my favorite has to be the pistachio. I'd love to see how this duo incorporates them into some recipes.
ReplyDeleteLove cashews, they are so great for cooking and baking.
ReplyDeleteI just can't get enough almond butter. I put it on everything from simple bagels to pizza
ReplyDeleteto baked sweet potatoes. So delicious!
I'd have to go with smoked almonds.I make a smoked almond gravy that's fantastic. Mss50099@yahoo.com
ReplyDeletePecans are my favorite nuts. Although I eat plenty of cashews and almonds. Pecans really add something to salads.
ReplyDeleteSalted, roasted pistachios in the shell are the only nuts I really like. I'm trying to learn to like them. Perhaps this book is the answer?
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds SO GREAT! I'm not surprised given that it's a Celine and Joni book but I never thought a nut book would hold my attention. If I win I'll be making the Vietnamese Peanut Taco's asap closely followed by the yumtastic looking pea scramble.
ReplyDeleteI love joni's books! the are always so awesome. I think I might have to skip straight to the Vietnamese peanut tacos though because I mean, well tacos.
ReplyDelete