Cookbook Review: The Big Book of Vegan Cooking

I've been blogging since 2007, and along the way, I've made a bunch of awesome vegan internet friends, mostly other bloggers and cookbook authors. Dianne Wenz of Dianne's Vegan Kitchen is one of those! I've internet-known Dianne for a long time, and I was very excited when I heard she had a new cookbook out! The Big Book of Vegan Cooking is, indeed, a very big book of vegan cooking. It's nearly 300 pages, and it's a pretty large-sized book in both width and length. Inside, you'll find 175 healthy vegan recipes.

Dianne covers all the bases here with breakfasts, snacks, salads, sandwiches, bowls, vegetable mains, bean/grain mains, pasta dishes, desserts, and sauces. The recipes are simple and call for mostly whole foods. When the recipes refer to other recipes in the book, such as a sauce or homemade plant meat, there's always the option to include a storebought version of that thing (i.e. Dianne's Chic'un Patties or storebought vegan chicken patties). I love recipes like that, because sometimes, I want to be lazy, and sometimes, I want to go all out and make all the things.

I made two recipes from the book. First, the Tofu Rancheros. This savory breakfast dish features a tomato-heavy tofu scramble that's seasoned with chili powder and nooch and served with warm corn tortillas. Perfect for a fancy week day breakfast or a lazy Sunday brunch.

Last week, I tried the White Bean Shakshuka. This was in the Spill the Beans chapter on bean and grain mains, but it doubles as a breakfast option since it's based on the traditional North African shakshuka breakfast.

Pan-fried tofu stands in for the eggs that are traditionally included in this dish. They're served over a bowl of white beans with tomatoes, bell pepper, spinach, and lots of spices. I love a whole foods-based dish like this! So satisfying!

Other recipes I want to make from this book include Mac & Cheese Soup (!!!!), Taco Casserole, Mushroom Wellington, Broccoli Bac'un Pizza, and Spaghetti Pie. Also, the Lemon Tahini Cookies look DOPE!