At my first Vida Vegan Con Galarama in Portland in 2011, I had the pleasure of standing in line for vegan pizza with Allison Rivers Samson. Allison is the creator of Allison's Gourmet chocolates and a gifted cook who authored the award-winning "Veganize It" column in VegNews.
If you've never had Allison's hand-crafted chocolates, well, I'm a little sad for you. You should get over to her site and treat yourself to an order as a Valentine to yourself. But if you want Allison's delicious comforting home-cookin', you can look no further than your computer or iPad. Allison recently released Comfortably Yum, a colorful e-cookbook with recipes for some of our favorite comfort foods. And now she wants to give a copy to one lucky Vegan Crunk reader (details at the end of this post).
Allison sent me a copy to review, and honestly, I want to try everything in it! There are 10 recipes, so eventually I'm sure I will make them all. Each one is illustrated with a gorgeous full-color photo. I opted to try two for this review. Allison is vegan-famous for her mac & cheese recipe. You know the one — it ran in her VegNews column years ago, and it's become a vegan standard. Well, she's changed it up a bit, and now it's even better — Magic Mac 'n' Cheese.
This is unlike any other vegan mac recipe out there. There's no faux cheese and no nooch (nothing against either, but sometimes it's fun to mix things up). Instead, the cheese sauce is made from cooked, pureed veggies and chickpeas. And yet somehow, it tastes like cheese! I used gluten-free spiral pasta for my dish because I'm finding that I prefer the texture of gluten-free pasta over wheat pasta.
On the side, I made the Caesar Salad.
God, I love a Caesar, and this one is just perfect. Those are homemade croutons that I made from leftover sesame seed bread. They're roasted in garlic-olive oil. The dressing is what really makes this recipe though. I've never had a vegan Caesar that tasted so much like the real thing. It contains a bit of nori to replace the anchovies in non-vegan Caesar, and there are lots of other ingredients that make it rich and creamy.
Other recipes include Beet Burgers, Vegan Egg Salad, (Save the) Tuna Melts, Home-Style Veggie Pot Pie, Clam-Free Chowder, and Meltable American Cheese Slices (you can make a grilled cheese sandwich!!!). And you know Allison can't leave out dessert! The Chocolate Salted-Caramel Pudding Parfaits and the Chocolate-Glazed Fudge Cupcakes have me drooling.
If you'd like to order a copy, it's only $20 on Allison's website. If you order by Valentine's Day and enter 2CRUNK14 in the promo code box, you can save $3 (that's Allison's VDay gift to you!). And she'll donate $3 from every sale to Animal Place farmed animal sanctuary.
Or you can try to win a copy here! Just leave me a comment letting me know which Comfortably Yum recipe (they're all listed in this post) you'd like to try first. Be sure and leave your email address in your comment if isn't linked to a Blogger profile. I'll randomly choose a winner on Monday!
49 comments:
Mac 'n' Cheese without nutritional yeast? A definite must-try!
I can't pick just one - I'm going to need to make the chocolate salted-caramel pudding parfaits for dessert!
jillelowther [at] gmail [dot] com
Save the tuna melts would be first!
I've been wanting to make a veggie pot pie lately. That would definitely have to be my starter recipe.
Also, thanks so much for compiling the list of Memphis restaurants. It's such a great resource to have on hand, and a nice reminder that I need to branch out a little! :)
Mac and Cheese without a doubt!
mmmmm, chocolate salted-caramel pudding parfaits... sounds delicious!
I have never had a beet burger so that might be fun but egg salad works, too. I miss what they used to have at Merlin's in my town since it's closed now. It was yummy.
Choc salted-caramel pudding parfaits? Whaaaaaat? Definitely would be trying these first up!
I would go for the Mac 'n' Cheese for sure...the book is worth it for that recipe alone!
Hello, I would love to try the clam free chowder, its the only food that I really miss from my childhood.
YUM.
ashley_oconnor@my.uri.edu
I would love to try the caesar salad, I used to love that !
Martine
Make your own meltable cheese?! i need that recipe so i dont need to buy the store bought crap!
theveganpact@gmail.com
No question I would make the clam-free chowder first. Chowdah!
Those recipes sound great! Sign me up!
Oh I am in a veggie pot pie kick these days! I want to try!
Oops forgot the email address... sophie _ 680 AT hotmail DOT com
Oohhh!! clam free chowder and secret veggie mac & cheese sound great!!
Lapin80 at hotmail dot com
I have been craving caesar salad lately.. gotta get this book!
Thanks Bianca for this giveaway :)
My first recipe that I'll certainly try would be the Ceasar Salad. I just love the Ceasar salad, but so far I haven't find THE vegan version that satisfy my craving. Also, the Clam-Free Showder...miummm !!! And in fact, everything looks so yummy !!!
Good luck to everybody :)
I think I would try the (Save the) Tuna Melts first.
wright_hr@yadtel.net
Always Mac 'n' Cheese - I'd LOVE to try this!
Clam Free Chowder! My bf the New Englander would love me soooo if I made him "chowda". ☺
Thanks, you're my fave!
xoxo
I am a salad guy, so I would have to go with the Ceaser Salad, but the Save The Tuna Melt sounds pretty rocking
king_nickolay @ yahoo . com
Oh, I would LOVE to try the Chocolate Salted-Caramel Pudding Parfaits or the Mac & Cheese. My son cannot have dairy and he misses pudding and mac & cheese...
Since it won't let me sign in with my openid....
pennajenna [at] gmail [dot] com
Ooh, I want to try that Magic Mac & Cheese!
I would love to try that mac and cheese!
crissy.schwartz@gmail.com
Chocolate Salted-Caramel Pudding Parfaits. Wow. I'm almost speechless, I would love to make these
i love her mac and cheese but recently i've been wanting egg salad so i think that would be what i'd make first!!
kkwapisz@umich.edu
oh man, I would definitely try that magic mac'n'cheese recipe first! Sounds amazing! mac'n'cheese = ultimate comfort food :)
Definitely the Magic Mac 'n Cheese -- it sounds amazing!! Veggie Pot Pie is a close second though. :)
Vegan pot pies are the best! I would definitely try this first, I think, or maybe the Chocolate salted caramel...no mac n cheese. Oh lawd, I can't choose one so it will have to be a multi course meal!
belained44(at)yahoo.com
Beet burgers would be the first one for me. I love them!
click.rachael@gmail.com
Probably the Mac & Cheese. I seem to be collecting variations on vegan Mac & Cheese dishes.
Mac 'n' Cheese, yes, please!
That's the only thing I miss. Ugh, it looks to die for.
Yum. I'd like to try the Clam-Free Chowder, and of course I'm up for a little Magic Mac n Cheese, too!
Oh, my email address is fdot87@gmail.com!
Clam-free chowder sounds so intriguing!
acookinthemakingblog@gmail.com
I'd love to win this. I was excited bout the meltable American Cheese and then I'd make a "tuna" melt!
Ooh, egg salad!!
Vegan Egg Salad sounds yummy :D
The no-clam chowder sounds sooo comforting right now. lynsi.burton@gmail.com
This looks awesome. I'd want to try the Caesar Salad first. It's been ages and I've been craving a good salad.
Ooooh, I'd want to try the Caesar salad as well! I don't think I've made/had one since going vegan that I really liked, so I'm intrigued by this recipe! But, everything else sounds great too! My email is sheridanposey(at)yahoo(dot)com.
I can envision a meal of Home Style Veggie Pot followed by a dessert of Chocolate Glazed Fudge Cupcakes. Yummy!
pappasjacqui@yahoo.com
I am very interested in rhe mac and Caesar recipes.
The mac n cheese. We have been on a chickpea kick in this house, going through a few pounds a week. A chickpea mac n cheese would just make life perfect.
I just left the previous email about the chickpea mac n cheese and forgot to add me email.
sue[at]vegantwins[dot]com
Thanks.
Home-Style Veggie Pot Pie
I must have that recipe for the cesar salad and the cheese slices!
Thank you! I'm not a fan of Nutritional Yeast (I know!) so would love to try the mac'n cheese recipe, Somehow i still haven't found a replacement for that.
Cindy H
c-chamm@start.ca
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