But I Could Never Go Vegan!

I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years; live in a house with folks that all eat meat and LOVE all things cheese so never made the transition to Vegan - Friday nights after a long week in work are just too perfect when finished with cheese, wine and olives! So when I saw this book that not only looked fun but was written by someone who at one point professed herself as a "die hard cheese nerd" : my curiosity was piqued and I added it to my Christmas list! I loved it from the moment I opened it and read it in book form which I would never typically do with a cookbook (I was also pretty hungry as my relatively new range decided to die on Christmas day leaving my food plans a little askew; so pretty food porn was the next best thing!). Things to love: no crazy tools required -blender; check, cutting board , check; I have those ...so was happy that I did not see pages requiring dehydrators and other gadgets I will probably never buy! Food I have heard of -stuff I can buy in a regular store -yet another plus! Pretty pics full of old faves - Mac N'Cheese, Pie, Mexican dishes, Asian dishes, spiced food, and yes, even cheese! This is hearty food that one can feed the family with and yet end up with clean plates and full bellies! Today I made the broccoli chickpea soup as nutritional yeast is always on hand in my pantry, and it was delicious , warm and easy to make; the Creole Corn chowder is next on my list as well as some of the rather delicious looking desserts to serve friends and family over the holidays...only to announce after they were vegan ! This book is chock full of options! It begins with an interesting and easy to follow introduction covering basic ingredients and tools you will need to get started; followed by a basic how to guide on topics such as roasting garlic, making nut butters and cooking various grains. Then I really loved the guide to making condiments and components that can be added to dishes such as tofu sour cream and tempeh bacon. This is followed by a section built for cheese lovers full of ideas to fill that craving without dairy (have yet to try but will update when I do). The book then covers vegan options for beef lovers, pizza lowers, heck even those who adore chocolate! This book is designed to tempt the pallet of those with some big craving who as the title states "could never go vegan"! Simply love this book and will use regularly. I will update this review as I tempt my meat loving household with these dishes! Follow up: I seriously doubted I could give up cheese, or that vegan cheese would be that good but just tried making their cashew blue cheese and all I can say is why, I am a convert!

I should start by saying, I don't review a lot of cookbooks, and I have *many* (seriously -- in my new kitchen we're having a shelving unit built). I got this for my birthday a couple weeks ago (forgot I put it on my wishlist) and when I got it from my husband, I was bummed it wasn't a different book I was hoping for. I need to thank him *again* when he comes home tonight, two more incredible recipes today -- this book is truly, TRULY my new favorite! I'm not vegan (I'm vegetarian), and this cookbook is straight up, no weirdo vegan ingredients you never heard of (unless you've not heard of nutritional yeast, which you SHOULD, because it's chock full of B vitamins and has a cheesy, nutty taste, it makes everything better). I've made two of the cheeses here, both of which I love (try the tofu chevre with fig jam on crostini, holy omg). I've made cheeses before, but not like this, not that I wanted to make again and again (the chevre is in my fridge for the 2nd time). I've made 5 recipes, all of which were seriously -- life changing. The Roasted Broccoli Salad w Apples, Toasted Almonds, Tempeh Bacon and Lemon tahini dressing that I'm eating right now is unreal. Flavor explosion times a million. I've roasted my own veggies thousands of times, my broccoli has *never* tasted like this. The balance of salt & sweet & acid -- this woman knows what she's doing. The one thing I've noticed that I love, Kristy isn't afraid of spices, seasonings, alliums. When something calls for 1 clove of garlic in any of my other books, I do 5. I doubled the seasoning today for my broccoli, assuming it wasn't enough (because it never is), but it was. Love that!! And yep, you can follow her actual recipes!! Another thing I *really* appreciate is that these are whole food recipes. She makes flax eggs, uses bananas, dates, etc instead of using "Ener-G egg replacer" in her baked goods. She uses real ingredients, I didn't see one "faux meat" item in here -- she does make her own seitan, which I'm not a fan of in general, but there's plenty of legumes, tofu, tempeh and veggies kicking butt in these recipes. A lot of the recipes are comfort food dishes, but there are plenty of light items too. There are plenty of baked goods and ice cream in this book I plan to try, all the things you loved as a omnivore are in this book. Including Peanut Butter Cups and French Toast and Omelettes. Oh yeah. Sorry if I sound corny, but I want to sing from the rooftops about this book. I made my girlfriend buy it, because I couldn't bare with letting her borrow it from me. This food is on point, vegan or not -- I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to cook flavorful, healthful, beautiful, delicious food that is dinner party worthy!! Can I give this 6 stars??

LOVED the vegan sausage & tempeh bacon, no comparison found yet! And oh so many other recipes like the biscuits & gravy, Mediterranean tofu scramble (which is now on regular rotation!) AND even the salad section!

Viele leckere Rezepte, die auch jeden Nicht-Veganer überzeugen können. Viel Comfort Food, aber generell für jeden Geschmack und jeden Anlass gute Rezepte. Ich musste häufiger nachsalzen oder nachwürzen, aber das ist für mich kein Problem.

I am not a vegan but have decided that I would like to incorporate more plant based food into my diet. I first discovered Kristy when searching vegan food blogs. I decided to take a look at her book and then purchased it after reading some of her blog recipes. I like her fresh outlook and upbeat approach to vegan cooking. The book has some really good recipes ideas to expand my vegan repertoire recipe collection. The foreword has lots of useful tips and ideas to help you along the way. I initially looked at eating more vegetarian food but quickly turned to vegan options as I found that a lot of vegetarian food relies heavily on cheese/cream for flavour which is very high in saturated fat. I already follow a low saturated fat diet so this was not an acceptable option for me to help me cut down on meat, fish and poultry. I am a 'foodie' and cooking has always played a major part in my life. I love cooking and own a lot of cookery books. I daren't confess to how many!! I therefore research cookbooks thoroughly before I decide if I want to add any more to my collection. My friends and family describe me as much more than a competent home cook. I suppose as cooking is my hobby I have increased and expanded my skills over the years. I am glad that everyone reaps and enjoys the benefits of my efforts. I love bringing family/friends together with healthy home cooked food. I like new challenges and this is my next one to cook more tasty, healthy meat/dairy free meals. I purchased this book for two reasons the first to help me develop my vegan cooking skills and the second to give me ideas on how to adapt some of my existing recipes to dairy free. I have not had the book for very long and therefore not made a lot of recipes from it yet. To date I have made the 'Cashew Crema' brilliant recipe. You would never know that it was not double cream! I have used this in lots of my existing recipes i.e., to coat pasta, vegetarian mushroom stroganoff and other sauces. The 'Falafel Tacos with Spiracha-Tahini Sauce' were amazing. I have marked with post it notes many more recipes that I am going to try. It is an American publication and there are some ingredients that will need to be sourced outside the normal supermarket/health food shops but there is nothing that I have not been able to source yet online either through Amazon or Ocado. I am about to make an existing potato salad recipe that I have, but this time I am going to use the Herb Tahini dressing from the book. I really like this book and it will 'sit' very nicely with my expanding vegan cook book collection. If you are looking at Vegan cookbooks in general I also have found some inspirational ideas from Isa Moskowitz and have purchased a couple of her books too. I hope you have found my review of this cookbook helpful and thanks to Kristy Turner for writing such a splendid book! For me it's back to the kitchen!!

Je l'ai reçu la semaine dernière et j'ai déjà testé 3 recettes : - roasted broccoli & apple salad with lemon-tahini dressing - carrot cashew paté - chips ans peasamole la salade broccoli et pomme était l'une des meilleures que j'ai jamais mangé, le pâté de carottes auquel j'ai rajouté 4 gouttes d'huile essentielle d'orange sanguine était très fin. Le peasamole est vraiment bon. Il y a pleins d'autres recettes que j'ai envie d'essayer comme le sunflower sausage, les Gnnochi alla vodka, le BBQ jackfruit fajitas with guacamole ou encore les Thai seitan satay with spicy peanut dipping sauce. Tous les ingrédients peuvent être trouvé sur internet, donc à bons entendeurs... J'aime aussi l'humour et la manière dont les chapitres sont répartis : - where's the beef? - I'd miss pizza - It's all rabbit food - But i scream for ice cream! etc... j'espère que ce livre sera traduit en français car c'est de la très bonne cuisine, pour les vegans comme pour les non-vegans désireux d'ouvrir leur horizon gustatif.

Es uno de los libros de cocina vegana más divertidos y mejor explicados que tengo. He hecho ya varias recetas y me encanta. No hay ingredientes raros (salvo el jackfruit que aquí no encontramos, al menos en Extremadura) y está dividido no por "entrantes", "platos principales" y etc. sino por apartados como "Voy a echar de menos el queso", "Odio esta clase de verdura" y así. Muy bonito, sinceramente.