Book Review & Giveaway: But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan!

 This excellent cartoon by the brilliant Ms. Roz Chast, from The New Yorker, is a family favorite, because it almost literally sums up our family. My mom keeps a copy of it in her kitchen. Cooking for our family is half hilarious, and mostly just impossible. I used to try, but I gave up a long time ago. These days we tend toward more of a pot luck approach, or at least a "several dishes" approach, so everyone will find something they will eat. We've got super picky, vegan, no-oil and no-salt vegan, standard American diet, gluten-free, soy-free, generally skeptical, and at least one person who is happy to eat anything tasty (Hi Mom!). 

For all of these reasons, I absolutely love the title of my friend Kristy Turner's new book: "But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan!" Ha ha, obviously, this is the book for me! If you enjoy cooking for loved ones, but experience vegan-resistance, picky kiddos, varying tastes, difficulty planning holiday menus, this might be the book for you, too! Kristy blogs at Keepin' It Kind and has written another cookbook called "But I Could Never Go Vegan." 

a book the whole family can enjoy! 

This new book is chock full of recipes for all different occasions with a huge variety of recipes, and each recipe is clearly marked with icons to indicate things like "gluten-free" "gluten-free option" "soy free" "nut free" "plan ahead" and so on. The vast majority of the book is gluten-free, and that should be inviting and welcome for those of you who are GF or who cook for GFers. 

minestrone rules the world

There aren't many foods that I love as much as I love minestrone soup. I have my own recipe, which I am quite pleased with, but I am also always interested in other people's minestrone recipes. Kristy's recipe for Tempeh Sausage Minestrone has all sorts of excellent veggies that I don't usually include in my minestrone: broccoli florets, mushrooms, fennel, and peas! We especially loved the broccoli and mushrooms. I might have to add those to my own recipe next time. I also loved the chewy Tempeh Sausage Crumbles and the flavor, texture, and protein that they contributed to the soup. The seasoning was also quite different from my recipe - this recipe includes paprika! Paprika certainly isn't very Italian, but the end result of the soup was still delicious. Because of the paprika, Mr. VE&T nicknamed this soup "Hungarian Minestrone" - he loves Hungarian flavors, so this is definitely a compliment in his eyes. 

The recipe is from the chapter titled: 

"But this recipe has been passed down for generations! 

Classic Family Recipes (Veganized) That Even Grandma Will Approve Of! "

Hummus night for dinner!

I can be a bit of a hummus traditionalist (no red pepper hummus for me, thank you very much!), but something about this Artichoke Kale Hummus caught my eye and I had to make it. It's full of artichoke hearts and 3 cups of kale! The end result was really good - sort of a hybrid between spinach artichoke dip and hummus. It was different enough and familiar enough to be delicious and interesting! This recipe also make a metric tonne of hummus, so unless I'm making it for a party, next time I'll probably make a half-batch. One night we had a big hummus + pita bread + veggies platter. Another night we had pita pockets with this hummus mixed with some tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, parsley, and cooked quinoa. It was great! 

This recipe is from the chapter called: 

"There's no way vegan food can make everyone happy at once:

Adaptable Meals That Even The Pickiest Eaters Can Enjoy With The Rest Of You"

a great way to kick off the morning! 

I always wake up with a ready-to-eat appetite, and I especially love mornings where I have my breakfast plan all figured out ahead of time, so that I can get straight to work eating. As soon as I saw the recipe for the Savory Breakfast Casserole, my eyes lit up! This recipe is packed full with protein and flavor: tofu, chickpea flour, tempeh crumbles, excellent seasoning, bell pepper - and even hash browns! So yummy and unlike anything I've ever made before! 

As you can see, it really made a lot. I cut it into 10 pieces and had it for breakfast for 10 days. It was rad! It also reheated really well in the microwave. Mine turned out a little bit drier than I would have liked, so I had it with salsa, which was great.  I think this happened because I used my special super absorbent chickpea flour, but next time I will probably use either softer tofu or a little more milk, just to be sure.  Either way, I'll probably still enjoy it with salsa though, because that was a good combo.

This recipe is from the chapter called:

"My family demands bacon and eggs for breakfast:

Vegan Dishes to Get Everyone's Day Off To A Good Start"

Quick Bacon Crumbles

(also Quick Sausage Crumbles, by altering the seasoning)

Both the minestrone and the savory breakfast casserole called for these Quick Bacon Crumbles (in the minestrone, the seasoning is changed, and they become Quick Sausage Crumbles). This recipe really is quick, as promised, and in both cases these tempeh crumbles added a lot to the final dish. 

This recipe is from the chapter titled:

"Vegan Pantry Staples That Your Family Will Be Willing To Use" 

morning delights.

Here's my morning slice of breakfast casserole, with mandatory seasonal Fuyu persimmon, and the beauty of low, winter light and long shadows. Not pictured: morning coffee, crossword puzzle, bowl of salsa. I'm going to have to make another batch of this, because I miss having this delicious and satisfying breakfast waiting for me every morning!

enjoying my breakfast casserole very much,

complete with my sidekick Yummers

totally delicious and perfect

My fella, Mr. VE&T, has a deep and abiding love for tomato soup. I think he would be happy if I made tomato soup every night for dinner. So, whenever I find a new tomato soup recipe, I'll give it a go. Kristy's recipe for Creamy Roasted Garlic-Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons especially caught my attention because I love garlic, and the idea of grilled cheese croutons pretty much made my head explode! 

This soup uses 4 pounds of fresh tomatoes (I LOVE a recipe that actually calls for fresh tomatoes!!!!), and a whole head of roasted garlic. Mmm. This recipe results in a rich, simple, classic tomato soup that leaves nothing to be desired. I appreciate all the creative spins on tomato soup over the years, but I also appreciate a solid, reliable recipe, and this is just that. For the grilled cheese croutons, there is a recipe for homemade cashew cheese, but I had some Field Roast Chao Cheese open in the fridge, so I used that in the interest of weeknight laziness. I loved this dinner, and I loved the joy of grilled cheese croutons as much as I thought I would. Seriously, who thinks of that? What a good idea.

This recipe is from a chapter called:

"There's no way vegan food can make everyone happy at once:

Adaptable Meals That Even The Pickiest Eaters Can Enjoy With The Rest Of You"

spicy balls of yum

I don't mean to be a complainer, but these days it seems like a lot of vegan cookbooks include a lot of very similar recipes. It's always fun to find recipes for flavors or combinations that look new or like something I don't eat very often. These Jalepeño Popper Bites (with leftover tomato soup in the background!) were just like that - definitely felt like something new and interesting to make and to eat! Instead of these jalepeno peppers having filling stuffed into a jalepeno pepper, Kristy's recipe calls for all the ingredients to be mixed together into a hush-puppy-like popper! They've got quinoa, corn flour, minced jalepeno, spices, vegan cream cheese... all mixed up and baked or fried in little balls. I chose to bake mine, which was easy and the results were great. The recipe calls for 3-4 jalepenos, and I went the conservative route... but next time I will go big and use 4 for extra jalepeno flavor and heat! They were especially good served with a generous dollop of salsa! She says they are best the day they're made, but I enjoyed mine leftover the next day just fine! 

This recipe is from a chapter titled:

 "What can I serve at the big game day party that won't get pushed to the side? 

Decadent Snackage That Nobody Will Guess is Vegan"

sparkly holiday cookies 

 Did you really think that I was going to review this book and not cook something from the desserts chapter? Not a chance! I made the Gingerbread Cookies for our recent Friendsgiving gathering. They are so good: great flavor and great chewy texture. You can't tell from this picture, but they are also rolled in a little bowl of cinnamon sugar before getting pressed and baked. It's such a nice touch! 

They're made with oat flour, almond flour, molasses, coconut oil, great spices, fresh and dried ginger, and coconut sugar. I have a wonderful gingerbread cookie recipe that I love to make, which isn't GF, and I've been wanting a GF recipe to make alongside it - I've finally found my recipe! 

This recipe is from the chapter titled:

 "It's just not the holidays without Aunt Betty's pumpkin pie: 

Vegan Dishes That Will Start New Holiday Traditions" 

golden bars of yumtown

I also made the Salted Vanilla Maple Blondies! I made these for my good friend who came over and spent the day with our pets so that Mr VE&T and I could go up to San Francisco for the evening. These treats are gluten-free, moist but not dense, have a lovely fluffy crumb without being crumbly, and have a great light vanilla flavor! Such a delicious treat and yet another great GF treat to have up my sleeve. I also really appreciate the relatively healthy approach of these cookies: sweetened with less-processed coconut sugar and maple syrup, the fat comes almost entirely from cashew butter (and she tells you how to turn your cashews into cashew butter!), and the flours are oat flour and sweet white rice flour. So delicious and not heavy or post-sweetie-crash-inducing either! 

This recipe is from the chapter called:

"My sister things vegan baking is something only hippies do: 

Vegan Baked Goods That You Don't Have To Be A Hippie To Love"

This book also has some of the best chapter titles ever. They are accurate, fun, and funny. In addition to the ones I've already shared, here are a few more good ones - just to give you a sense of how many things Kristy has taken into account with this book:

* "My teenagers just want to 'fit in' with their friends when it comes to what they eat: 

Vegan Food Cool Enough for Sports Games, Sleepovers, and Just Hanging Out." 

* "What will I bring to potlucks and summer barbecues? 

Vegan Recipes Big Enough to Feed A Crowd"

* "The In-Laws will just add this to their list of my faults:

Impressive Meals That Will Leave Them With Only Good Things To Say About You"

In addition to the great things I've already made, 

here are a handful of other recipes that caught my eye: 

Cauliflower Parmigiana

Cabbage Casserole 

Lasagna Soup

Pumpkin Chai Scones

Grandma's Famous Date Nut Bread

Mushroom and Lentil Soup Mix

(from the Homemade Edible Gifts chapter -!! )

**GIVEAWAY**

Kristy and her publishers at The Experiment (have you noticed that they publish such great and beautiful vegan cookbooks?!) are letting me offer a copy of BMFWNEV to one lucky reader (US & Canada only). To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me about your best success feeding vegan food to your family, or your biggest disaster! ha ha. Please make sure to include your email or an easy way for me to contact you, or I will just pick a different winner. Good luck! 

*

** GoMacro Thrive Bar Giveaway Winner! **

Congratulations to Karen Hardin (randomly chosen, comment #3) 

for winning a case of assorted Thrive bars by GoMacro!

Karen, send me your mailing info and I will arrange to have the bars sent to you!

ameyfm at yahoo dot com