I had the notion that it might be nice to do reviews of all the cookbooks I regularly use in my kitchen, so every few weeks or so I’ll probably highlight one for you. I’m going to start with the first all-vegan cookbook I ever had that I consider to be a staple now.
It’s a very small book: 96 pages. It has about 250 recipes in it, and most of them are extremely simple and call for very basic, easily accessible ingredients. It’s a great resource either for new vegans or people who aren’t yet very comfortable in the kitchen at all and need simple recipes to start with.
The author, Joanne Rachor, opens the book with her story of how she began her journey toward a healthier diet. Other helpful features of the book are bread baking/pizza making tips and information, how to make sprouts, how to dry a wide variety of foods including soups, camping/travelling tips, and miscellaneous other interesting diet facts and nutrition tidbits.
I have made nowhere nearly all the recipes in the book, but have enjoyed most of what I have tried. Some favourites of mine are the Soy Oat Waffle, Oat Crackers (I couldn’t quit eating those!), Basic Cheese Sauce (I use this all the time, and there are LOTS of variations to try!), Macaroni and Cheese, and White Sauce. Other recipes I’ve used as a springboard and adapted on the fly.
Oh. And one indispensable piece of equipment you’ll need for many of these recipes is a blender. Sometime I’d like to do a post about blenders, but I need to do some more research first.
My only complaint about the book is – no pictures. I like pictures. However, considering its cheapness and compact format (you really can’t beat the price, at $2.95), I’ve been able to make do without pictures.
If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, you can get it through Amazon by clicking the image below.
You can also visit Joann Rachor’s YouTube channel here for some video recipes and tutorials.
