Cookbook Review: The Vegan Meat Cookbook

I love plant meats! I don't eat them every day since I try to stick with a whole foods-based diet most of the time, but a few times a week, I'll get down on some vegan burgers, chicken, or hot dogs. I usually just prepare vegan meats in the way the box or bag instructs, but there's a new cookbook that's been giving me some fresh ideas. The Vegan Meat Cookbook by Isabel Minunni is filled with fun ways to use Beyond burgers and brats, Gardein beefless strips, Field Roast sausages, and more.

The book is divided into chapters for breakfast, apps and snacks, soups/salads/side, and main dishes. Think breakfast burgers, bagel nachos, cheeseburger omelets, sausage bites, Italian BLT sliders, poutine, tofu scallops, Mexican sloppy joes, and beef & broccoli pizza!

So far, I've made two main dishes. This past Sunday, I made the Chicken Pot Pie Bake with Alpha Foods chicken strips, puff pastry, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery. 

The recipe called for Gardein Chicken Strips, but the Alpha Foods brand were on sale at Sprouts, and they worked perfectly. I accidentally forgot to add the peas, but that would have been nice. This has a creamy vegan chicken-y gravy, and the puff pastry is so light and fluffy. I would eat this again and again! I was sad today when my leftovers were gone.

For Valentine's Day, I made the Pepper Steak with Mushrooms. I posted this image in my V-Day post, but I wanted to share it again for the review. This is made with Impossible Burger that's fried with lots of black pepper and a creamy mushroom gravy. We served this with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Paul is a meat and potatoes kind of dude, and he loved this recipe! I love having ways to use Impossible burger besides just burgers.

I have so many more recipes to try! There's a Grilled Sausage & Pepper Potato Salad with Beyond brats that sounds amazing for a spring picnic. The Szechuan Beef Skewers with Gardein beefless strips sounds really yummy, and the Sausage Stuffed Breakfast Bread is going on my next brunch menu (it has vegan sausage, vegan eggs, and potatoes all wrapped up in a pizza dough!).

Several recipes call for Impossible Pork, which I haven't seen for sale around here yet, but I hope to see that product soon! There are also a few recipes for homemade seitan meats, and some just call for tofu instead of plant meat. All of the recipes are indulgent though, so this is definitely a special treat meal kind of cookbook!