Happy (vegan) Holidays!
Are you a vegan living in self-imposed food exile, avoiding holiday parties? Are you afraid to bring dessert to a potluck, lest it taste like dense cardboard? Are you tired of answering the question, “but what do you eat”? Perhaps you’re just an adventurous cook who wants to experiment with some new recipes. Either way, these vegan cookbooks offer foolproof, palate-pleasing, holiday appropriate recipes. When I first became vegan, I was terrified of “losing” my taste buds, but these cookbooks are truly for those who love good food, not just vegan food.
1) Vegan Pie in the Sky: 75 Out-of-this-world Recipes for Pies, Tarts, Cobblers & more, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. It’s impossible to talk about vegan cookbooks without mentioning these ladies. This book is small, witty and delicious. If you’re not ready to commit to pie, there are simpler recipes for cobblers, crumbles and other delights.
2) Salad Daze: Hot Knives Vegetarian Cookbook by Alex Brown & Evan George. These guys worked in kitchens in L.A., started a blog and now have a few cookbooks that are as funny as they are delicious. It’s not exclusively vegan, but most of the recipes are, and the others are easily modified. If you love hot sauce (trust me) don’t miss the Holy Daze Harissa (pg. 48). Trying to eat more vegetables? Go for the Blasted Broccoli (pg. 43), stolen from Seattle’s own Black Bottle Restaurant. Plus, all recipes include recommendations for music and beer pairings. Pretty punk rock.
3) Sticky Fingers’ Sweets:100 super-secret vegan recipes by Doron Petersan. This book is named after a Rolling Stones album and the author won the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. If that’s not enough to convince you, one of my favorite cookies (the Cowvin Cookie, pg. 110) from this book has its own Facebook page. Tried and true: Choco-Raspberry Dream Cake, pg. 38 (I leave off the ganache; it’s beautiful on its own), Lil Devils, pg. 113, and the Sweet-n-Salty Chocolate Chip cookies, pg. 135.
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