Review

The Asian Vegan Kitchen

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Click to view on Amazon

 

If you didn’t already know my husband and I are huge fans of Asian food. Thai, Chinese, Malaysia, Indian, Korean, Japanese….you name it we pretty much love it, so I was excited when I was given the opportunity to try out The Asian Vegan Kitchen, a great cookbook filled with a variety Asian recipes. 

This cookbook is set up into sections based on cuisine which include Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Burmese, Indonesian and Malaysian.  Many of the recipes take a bit of planning to make as some of the ingredients are more difficult to find in North America.  Some ingredients you can find in the international foods aisle at your local market however there will be some that you will have to go to your local Asian market (sometimes even a few different ones).

I have made a few recipes from this book (with plans to make many more) but so far my favorite has been the Vietnamese Fried Rice and the Spicy Tofu (Chinese).  The both had a ton of flavor and were fairly easy to make.

Spicy Tofu with Vietnamese Rice (also sauteed napa cabbage and eggplant with hoisin)

 

This is a great cookbook for those who are interested in Asian cooking that has been adapted for vegans.  One of the best features is the glossary in the back of the book where you can learn more about ingredients that may be less familiar and some even have suggest substitutions if you can not find that specific ingredient.  As well these recipes may at first seem complex but the great instructions make this book great for any cooking level.

Dr McDougall's Ready to Serve Soups

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Dr. McDougall’s sent me samples of their 7 new Ready to Serve Soups.  Over the past few weeks my hubby and I have been trying them out and have really enjoyed most of them. The seven flavors are:

  1. Lentil- I loved this one I thought the flavor was great and it was thick but still brothy
  2. Minestrone- I honestly hated this one.  I thought that the flavor was bland and there was way too much basil for my taste
  3. Split Pea- this was okay the flavor was good but it was definitely much thinner than the pea soups that I prefer
  4. Vegetable- this was my husbands favorite- I thought it was pretty good too- lots of nice chunky vegetables
  5. Black Bean- This one was alright not my favorite but it was good
  6. Roasted Red Pepper Tomato- I didn’t get to try this one since my  hubz took it to work for his lunch- he says that it was yummy though
  7. Chunky Tomato (not included in the photo above)- this one was great we had it with grilled cheeze and just so yummy

Overall we loved these soups and I would buy them for sure.  They are great to have on hand for lunches and are low in calories (most abour 150-200 in the entire box) and are filled with great non-chemical/preservative ingredients.  They are also low in sugar and fat which are two additional bonuses!

Great Chefs Cook Vegan

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Last night after weeks of debating what I would make I finally cooked up a recipe from Great Chefs Cook Vegan.  This cookbook is filled with great recipes from some of the top chefs such as Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert and Jose Andres, among many others.  It was great to see what these amazing chefs had come up with for their vegan dishes. 

 All of the dishes were really intriguing however definitely not for the amateur cook. Most of the recipes required expensive ingredients or ingredients that are not readily available at your local supermarket, co-op or famers market.  This was one of the biggest challenges I came across when trying to decide which dish I would try out.  I would have loved to have made Potato Leek “Risotto” with Chanterelles and Spinach, but Chanterelles are not easy to come by and cost more than my budget would allow.

 I settled on making the Grilled Polenta with Fresh Shell Bean Ragout by Suzanne Goin.  I had to adapt it a bit using what I could find; I used frozen beans for the fresh and green beans for haricots vert.  I also didn’t grill my polenta since the foot of snow outside did not make easy access to our grill so I popped it under the broiler instead.  This dish turned out great and the flavor was amazing! It was light, fresh and the polenta was nice and creamy- a great contrast to the crisp green beans. 

Slightly adapted Grilled Polenta with Fresh Shell Bean Ragout

Overall this is an interesting cookbook and a great resource for making more sophisticated vegan dishes, however it is definitely not one I will be using regularly.  The dishes are more complex and expensive to make than what I do in my everyday life but I will be sure to pick it up to make great “WOW” dishes for friends and family.

 If you’d like to pick up your own copy or take a peak into the book check out Amazon.com Here.

Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For a Vegan Lover received this product free from Gibbs Smith Publisher.

ChocAlive! Raw Chocolate

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ChocAlive! chocolate truffles are one of the best chocolates I have ever had and they are raw vegan which makes them even more exciting.  I tired the Dark Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Crunch and Coconut Truffles which were all delicious but I think my favorite was the Dark Chocolate Crunch, the crunch was a great addition.  The truffles are creamy and delicious just like the non-vegan ones I remember.  My husband was surprised that these creamy truffles could be raw, he didn’t believe me until I showed him the packaging.

Julie Glick the owner/president of ChocAlive! says it best “ChocAlive! Truffles make people so happy.  They are so undeniably healthy and incredibly delicious too.  That’s why I say that they are too good AND they’re true!  ChocAlive! Truffles were even featured on Colin Cowie’s website as one of his “Fantastic Finds!”  Quite an honor coming from Oprah’s Party and Event Planner… Here’s the link: http://colincowie.com/products/chocalive I don’t even know if he knew how super-food good for you they are!”

You can check out the ChocAlive! website to find out where you can find these yummy chocolates. *If you’d like to purchase ChocAlive! Truffles you can also do so at www.naturalzing.com and www.sunfood.com

Blogger Disclosure: Cooking For a Vegan Lover received this product free from ChocAlive!

12 Days of Giveaways: Day 1- Everyday Raw

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Winner of Everyday Raw: Kelly of http://www.trimommylife.blogspot.com/

Congrats! Everyone make sure to stop by later tonight to check out the next giveaway! This one is going to be edible!

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Today marks the first day of “12 Days of Giveaways” and my first giveaway will be one of my favorite Raw books Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney.  I have been making a lot of recipes from this book lately and they are great.  Just this weekend I made Vanilla-Almond Macaroons which are so delicious.

I have also made some other great items from here such as the Eggplant Bacon, Sweet Green Juice, Baked Macaroni and Cheese and the Sweet Miso Dressing.  All of these dishes are easy and delicious and I can’t wait to try more.  This book is great but you will need a blender or food processor to make some of the more interesting dishes, a dehydrator is nice if you have one otherwise you will miss out on some of the recipes.

You can try some of Matthew Kenney’s recipes from his newest book Entertaining in the Raw on GLiving.com.

To learn more about Matthew Kenney you can visit his site here and you can also read his interview on Crazy Sexy Life.

If you would like to win your own copy of this great book leave a comment by December 2nd at 8am. Don’t forget to check back daily to see what the 11 other giveaways are.  You could also follow me on twitter @cookveganlover to find out when I post a new giveaway.

A Week of Food

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Monday I received a load of goodies from Newman’s Own Organic which I just can’t wait to try (and do I smell a giveaway?)  My husband and I broke into the Cinnamon Hermits right away and these were delicious! My husband brought the Original Newman-O’s with him on his trip to New Brunswick so I have yet to hear back his opinion of them. 

Tuesday night we made pizza which was delicious it had broccoli, garlic, almond cheeze, pizza sauce and marinated buffalo “mozzarella” (AKA marinated silken tofu tester recipe). 

For dessert we ate the entire box of Nicobella Vegan Dark Chocolate Truffles which were delicious.  The truffle flavors were Blueberry Almond, Ginger Green Tea, Pumpkin Chai, Pure Cocoa Bliss, Walnut Flaxseed Crunch, & Sunflower Banana Butter. Our favorites were Pure Cocoa Bliss and Blueberry Almond. 

I received a bunch of samples of Non-Dairy Cheese Spread & Dip from Wayfare Foods. Currently you can only purchase We Can’t Say It’s Cheese in Montana and Florida for specific locations look here.    Wayfare Foods is looking to expand their market up to NY/MA/CT shortly after January 1st!  I received Cheddar Style Spread, Cheddar Style Dip, Mexi Cheddar-Style Spread and Hickory-Smoked Cheddar-Style Spread. I immediately dived into the Hickory-Smoked Cheddar with some reduced-fat Wheat Thins.   I then used some for my Thanksgiving Dinner- I mixed the Hickory-Smoked Cheddar with some brown rice, sauteed Brussels sprouts, white beans, garlic and shredded carrot.  It was delicious.  I used the Cheddar Style Spread on my veggie burger Friday night and made Mac and Cheese with it Saturday.  It was delicious!

For dinner last night I did some testing for Happy Herbivore’s upcoming cookbook – I made her Herbed Homefires and served it up with Vegan Brunch Tofu Scramble. 

Breathing Fire

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My husband and I are both hot sauce enthusiast so when I was given the opportunity to sample, I couldn’t resist.  I made us some yummy chickpea and cabbage tacos served with Sour Supreme and homemade guacamole and of course hot sauce on the side.  We prepared ourselves with our Zevia Colas and then it was time to test them out.

First we tried the Pain 100%  (categorized as “Melt Down” on Original Juan’s website) both of our mouths were on fire, 2nd was the Jamaican Jerk Hot Sauce  (“Zesty” category) which was actually really good and I would cook with it next time.  Our third try was the Garlic Style Hot Sauce (“Firey” category) this was really spicy, but not too bad, however a little too vinergary for me.  Lastly we tried Da’Bomb Beyond Insanity  Hot Sauce which is categorized as “Melt Down” hot on the website. 

After all of these tastings my entire mouth was on fire I practically could breathe fire.  My husband was also in pain but he tried much smaller samples of all of the hot sauces.  We only tired hot sauces up to the “Melt Down” category, I can’t even imagine what the ones in the “Off the Chart” catagory taste like.

You can also check out Original Juan on Facebook.