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Happy Vegan

Customer Rating:
I am so thankful I purchased this cookbook. I am a vegan mom of a one year old son and needed good healthy vegan recipes that were easy and quick to make. We both love the foods made from the recipes. Another bonus is that the recipes do not call for an over abundance of ingredients. I would highly recommend this cookbook.

excellent!

Customer Rating:
This book is great. Many delicious vegan recipes! Also, much easier than most recipes, simple. Delicious.

I've got a hand blender and I'm not afraid to use it!

Customer Rating:
I received ED&BV for my birthday last month. It wasn't even on my wish list but it caught my stepdaughter's attention and I'm thrilled that it did! I've made about 7 or 8 of the recipes so far and they've all ranged from "Huh, that's pretty darn good" to "HOLY SMOKES! That's the most insanely delicious thing I've ever tasted!!!" (If you want an example of the latter, make the Rawesome Dip. It will blow your mind. You've been warned.) A BIG bonus for me: I also got an immersion blender for my birthday, and ED&BV provides a ton of opportunities for me to use it.

Pros:
--The notes in the margin are extremely helpful and detailed, and offer great ideas for variations, serving suggestions, etc.
--The recipes are all user-friendly enough for a less-experienced home cook
--A lot of the recipes will freeze and reheat well, which is great for moms who work full-time or anyone who's just short on time
--Many of the recipes are downright surprising (Cocoa Coconut Chili??? Yes. Really.) and genuinely unique, which is fun for any cookbook junkie who's gotten to the "Been there, cooked that" stage. Flipping through the pages of ED&BV, I lost track of the number of times I thought "Wow, I've never seen anything quite like that before ..."

Cons:
--No nutritional info.
--A significant amount of obscure ingredients that you will probably only find in specialty ethnic shops. I already had fenugreek seeds in my pantry, but that's only because I'm lucky enough to have an Indian grocery store near my job. But neither my favorite well-stocked supermarket nor the local health food store carries these. (There are other authors, however, who are far worse in this regard.)
--Poor index. If you look up "chickpeas," for example, you'll get a list of the page numbers where chickpea recipes can be found, but not a list of the specific recipe names and their page numbers.

Overall, a definite must-have for anybody who loves veg or vegan cooking, or even an adventurous non-veg who just wants ideas for easy-to-make dishes that are as delicious as they are different. I am extremely impressed with this book, and I'm putting Dreena Burton's other books at the very top of my wish list right away.

My Favorite Cookbook

Customer Rating:
This is my go-to cookbook when I want something I know I will enjoy. I feel like this book was meant just for me. This book uses limited wheat, refined sweetners and plenty of sweet potatoes, tempeh, quickpeas, chocolate - all my favorite foods wrapped in a cute, colorful and modern looking little book. I have never made anything I didn't enjoy from this book but here are my favorites with recommendations:

Hemp-anola: This is way better and healthier than any granola you could buy at Whole Foods. I use quinoa flakes instead of barley flakes and a little extra blackstrap molasses and leave the nuts out (I feel like the hemp seed nuts are a lot) and serve with lots of blueberries or bananas and vanilla hemp or soymilk!

Kids Dynamo Hummus: I'm 20 but the title appealed to me. The addition of cashews really adds creamyness. My only recommendation is to add more garlic. I also use Vega oil instead of flax oil.

Balsamic Maple Sauce & Back to Basics Balsamic Vinaigrette: Dreena knows her balsamic vinegar. I use these all the time. I recommend using maple syrup with the dressing and I use extra virgin olive oil.

Thick n Rich Gravy: This is just delicious. Its a cross between gravy and a "cheezy" sauce. I add a little extra nutritional yeast and use sweet white miso. My only problem is the thickness doesn't hold when I added it to hot pasta. It worked better the next day after refridgerating and drizzling over tofu and rice.

Beats a BLT Sandwich!: My favorite sandwich. Period. I use basil, veganaise, romaine and big slices of Whole Wheat.

Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes: I love how healthy this sweet and sour sauce is. Sweet potatoes and tempeh go well together and it tastes even better cold the next day.

Seared Portobello Mushrooms: Basic but really impressive. Its worth using a little extra oil (I fry in coconut oil)

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie: 2 of my favorites foods combined and so easy to make. It might be a little spicy or "different" tasting for some.

"Nicer" Krispie Squares: You could shock someone with the ingredients of these but they taste so authentic. Macadamia nut butter and agar powder (seaweed)?!

Super-Charge Me! Cookies: No sugar, healthy, easy to mix-and match ingredients.

I also make the Acai Antioxidant & Drink Your Greens Smoothie (tastes way better than it sounds trust me) often.

I'm really thankful for books like these that make being vegan that much easier.

Just what we've searched for!

Customer Rating:
Since our family has egg, milk and other food allergies, we have searched for a very long time for a cookbook of this caliber. Although we are not vegan, we were thrilled to see the many recipes that would allow us a wide
variety of yummy foods without knocking ourselves silly to find the ingredients!

I would recommend this book to anyone who is searching for TRULY healthy recipes and/or who wants to cook & bake without using eggs!


Joyce S.