Cookbook Review: Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, by Dreena Burton

Hey everyone. I took a bit of a break from blogging but I really missed it! It was mostly because I kind of ran out of good ideas. I still don't have lots of new ideas yet, but I did make a couple of recipes from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink & Be Vegan and I really want to share them with you. This is a fabulous cookbook. Although it has been out since 2007, I only got it last year, as a gift. I made a couple of recipes in the last month or so and I truly loved both. So I just had to review it on the blog.

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First, I made the "Leslie's Bad But Good Bars" (page 199), which are delicious dessert bars with ingredients like pecans, coconut, and oats, and that have an icing-type topping made from chocolate chips, tofu, and nut butter. I mean, seriously - these totally hit the spot. I absolutely loved them. I loved having a little bit of them after dinner as a dessert, or as a snack. You need to try these.

Then, one night for dinner I made the "Lemon Garlic Pasta" (p. 130), which I made with gluten-free pasta. It was fantastic. The sauce was super fresh. It was mostly lemon juice, garlic, and a bit of agave, and the dish is topped with roasted pine nuts. I served it with some roasted brussel sprouts and green beans and it was a wonderful light dinner. The lemon mixed with the pine nuts, garlic and pasta was addicting. It made great leftovers, too, which I brought to work with me for lunch!

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The other recipes in the cookbook look fantastic. There are a bunch of recipes for different kinds of hummus. I want to try some of them very, very soon. There are lots of main dish recipes like "Sweet & Sour Chipotle Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes" (p. 147) and "Zucchini Chickpea Tomato Curry" (p. 151).  The desserts all look amazing too, and have the most fun names! Some highlights: "Chocolate Sin-namon Cake" (p. 189), "Lime Sucker Coconut Pie" (p. 200) and "'You Got Peanut Butter in My Chocolate' Cookies" (p. 215).  I want to try them all!

I'd definitely recommend this cookbook to anybody, vegan or not. The recipes are creative, healthy and easy to follow. What more could you ask for?! Dreena Burton has other cook books out as well: The Everyday Vegan, Vive Le Vegan, and Let Them Eat Vegan.  You can see her page on Amazon here. She also has a great blog called Plant Powered Kitchen which I just love. She has great recipes on there and updates often (more than I do!) Definitely check it out.

One last thing - sorry about using pictures that are not my own. I took pictures of the recipes I made but the photos just didn't come out well at all since the lighting was bad (fall and winter are not good times of year for food bloggers!) I couldn't make the pictures what I wanted them to be, so I borrowed from the internet instead. Not my first choice but I didn't want it to stop me from posting this review!

Have a great weekend, everyone! It's good to be back!