JL Fields
August 27, 2019
Rockridge Press
Blurb: Versatile vegan recipes for quick and easy meals.
Whether you’re a full-time vegan or just interested in eating more plant-based foods, variety will spice up your life. The Fast & Easy Vegan Cookbook brings a new selection of fresh meals to your table, pronto! From one-pot to pressure cooker, choose your favorite cooking method―without being held hostage for hours in your kitchen.
This flavorful vegan cookbook doesn’t require a long list of ingredients or a huge time commitment. The preparation techniques are simple―there’s even a chapter devoted to not cooking at all (Gazpacho, anyone?). Every recipe lists nutritional information, and most include tips for ingredient substitution, adding more protein, or other easy customizations.
The Fast & Easy Vegan Cookbook includes:
- 100 tasty recipes―Whip up meals full of personality and variety like Artichoke Heart Salad, Spicy Pinto Bean Skillet, Mushroom Stroganoff Bake, and more.
- Fast, easy, or both―Choose from chapters on 30-minute recipes, sheet pan and casserole meals, 5-ingredient dishes―or even recipes with no cooking required!
- Dietary options―This vegan cookbook lets you adapt menus to your needs with handy labels for gluten-free, nut-free, oil-free, or soy-free diets.
Eat easily, healthfully, and deliciously with the Fast & Easy Vegan Cookbook.
Buy Links:
Please note that the ebook is currently available but the paperback is not available until August 27, 2019.
Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository
I love to see new vegan and vegetarian cookbooks come on the market. It not only means that there’s lots of interest, but that I also get the opportunity to discover and try some new recipes or learn some new things.
My major discovery from Fast & Easy Vegan Cookbook by JL Fields was soy curls. Soy curls! Do you use soy curls? I am so going to try soy curls!
In her attempt to provide some fast recipes, some of which have no more than 5 ingredients, I’m afraid Fields has created some really bland dishes, or ones that would be for me at any rate. I cannot conceive of a chili without spice. And, no, canned tomatoes with onion and garlic don’t cut it for me. (I do use canned tomatoes but typically the ones with jalapenos or milder chilies.) She claims that during the week she doesn’t want to measure things out. Erm. Me either! So I dump chili powder, cumin, and oregano in and taste. Oh, and then there would be cocoa and vinegar. Does this mean that it’s no longer quick and easy? Not to me. If you’ve cooked long enough, you know how much spice to add by rote. I’ve gone off on a tangent. Mea culpa. 😉
That said, there are some interesting dishes to try. The breakfast scramble is probably one of them for me as well as the mushroom stroganoff bake, in which I would change out the portobello caps for baby bellas sliced; a small change but a big one for picky me.
I wasn’t crazy about the shepherd’s pie recipe with its substitution of green beans for carrots. Shepherd’s pie without carrots? No, no, no!
If you are a beginning vegan or one who is extremely short on time, I would suggest giving this cookbook a try. The recipes are straightforward and nutritious and if you’re a beginning cook that is so very important. Some have complained about the lack of pictures. This never bothers me because I am reading the recipes and not cooking by looking at the pictures (you know, except if they’re there…I look…because…you know…pictures!).
Also, note, if you are dying to try that jambalaya, I’d suggest forgetting about the jackfruit, unless you’re already an aficionado, because I’ve found the spicy Beyond Meat Italian sausage is great in vegan jambalaya and it makes the recipe just that much quicker. And, well, jackfruit can frequently be hit or miss for some people.
So, Fast & Easy Vegan Cookbook is a definite thumbs up for newbie vegan cooks or newbie vegans. Also, it may be a curiosity for veteran vegans who are looking for some quickie recipes to add to your rotation.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
rating:
3 butterflies and a ladybug out of 5 butterflies
I’m the kind of cookbook user that REALLY wants the pictures. Something about the visual is more likely to get me to try a new recipe than just a list of ingredients.
I completely understand–I see that on a lot of cookbook reviews. And I really can’t say why it doesn’t bother me so much. 🙂
I think that a lot of people have their taste buds tied into the visual of food. Almost as much as their sense of smell. This is why the concept of presentation is so huge in the cooking world. If something doesn’t look appealing, you are less likely to want to eat it. The lack of image to go with a recipe drops you in this sort of no-man’s land and removes that sense of initial appeal. It is kind of like how important a book cover is to a novel.
Shepherd’s pie with carrots? Green beans? I always make it with peas! So how do you feel about using “beyond meat?” I’m torn.
I have used beyond meat for a while. For chili, I love the feisty crumbles. I even eat the beyond burgers and have had them at restaurants.
The traditional uses carrots and peas, I believe. (And we do use carrots and peas; EVERYTHING in this house has peas in it lol). Of course, they say that there’s a shepherd’s pie for every cook. I have never seen it done with green beans though. 🙂
Great post!
Thank you! 🙂