[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Net Gallery/BenBella Books.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

It may seem as somewhat of a surprise that someone like me would read and review a book on vegan cooking, given that I am by no means a vegan.  Even so, my problems with gout and inflammatory problems in general have led me to drastically curtail my meat intake for health reasons and have encouraged me to make at least some effort in finding suitable plant proteins, and books like this offer at least that sort of promise even if I find much of the progressive politics of this book irritating and, well, inflammatory in their own way.  As someone who reviews a lot of cookbooks [1], my general standard is that if I can find at least a few recipes in a book that I am willing to eat, I consider the book a success.  By those modest standards this book is a success, and were I a more stringent reviewer of cookbooks, this book would still be around the median level of the cookbooks I read, which is a good place to be as I tend to like most of the cookbooks I read anyway.

Beginning with a testimonial about the author's reasons for choosing a vegan lifestyle and her efforts at finding more colorful and tasty and straightforward foods than have often been the staples of vegetarian cooking, the author provides a large variety of vegan dishes across one's diets.  Included in this book are recipes for smoothies, breakfasts, salads, soup, sandwiches, sides/snacks/appetizers, entrèes, desserts, and kitchen staples and sauces.  At the very end of the book there is an index and acknowledgements and author bio.  Throughout the book there are references to the culinary ineptitude of her husband, something I really hate reading about, as I often feel that guys get a bad break in books because so few guys read books and so are unaware of the continual maligning we face in them.  Also throughout the book the author talks about the popularity of various dishes in her blog and also make some gentle jokes about herself, so perhaps she is trying not to take herself too seriously.

As far as the dishes go, there are at least a few that I would be willing to try.  Her brussel sprouts based salad sounds tasty, as do some of her granola and dessert recipes, and even some of the soup and dinner dishes sound like they would be worth trying.  I have some questions about many of the mushroom dishes given my sensitivity to texture, but assuming that the mushroom dishes are savory and not slimy, many of them sound like they would be worthwhile as well.  All of that makes for a book that manages to be of interest despite the fact that quite a few of the dishes sound positively vile and some of them, because of their use of mangoes and other foods to which I am allergic, sound positively lethal.  There are enough dishes in here that are appealing and that may actually work that I consider this book to be worth reading.  If there are any reasons why you are not able to enjoy meats, either because of health concerns or personal reasons to want to minimize one's intake of meat, there are at least a few dishes here that have some promise.  Even more than that, the author and I share at least one important quality, and that is a love of colorful dishes of food that signify at least some balance of nutrients, and that similarity does give me at least a fair bit of goodwill for this author and her approach to food.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/12/03/book-review-the-mac-cheese-cookbook/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/12/03/book-review-samarkand/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/10/12/book-review-the-gourmet-jewish-cookbook/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/04/29/book-review-the-oregonian-cookbook/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/10/30/book-review-the-lost-art-of-real-cooking/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/10/01/book-review-the-southern-cook-book-of-fine-old-recipes/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/07/22/book-review-colorado-cook-book/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/06/11/book-review-salads-beyond-the-bowl/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017/05/16/book-review-salads/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/10/12/book-review-the-artisan-jewish-deli-at-home/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/10/01/book-review-lidias-commonsense-italian-cooking/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/10/01/book-review-the-north-african-kitchen/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/09/28/book-review-jane-butels-simply-southwestern/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/09/08/book-review-natural-color/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016/07/29/book-review-500-treasured-country-recipes/

I was thrilled to see this cookbook listed on Netgalley because I follow The Colorful Kitchen blog. If you enjoy beautiful photos of food, her instagram page is breathtaking. All of the recipes are simple, and most use unprocessed ingredients. Occasionally, there is a call for vegan cheese, but for many ingredients, she also offers the homemade recipe, such as cashew sour cream. As I reviewed, I found myself bookmarking at least every other page, which by the way- there are pictures of every.single.recipe. Yes! ✋ The sections included are:

Smoothies
Breakfasts
Salads
Entrees
Appetizers/Snacks
Desserts

I found something new to try under each heading. Some recipes I have tried different versions of before, so everything may not be completely unique, but the refreshing twists the author make has me eager to try them. I also loved her "burger" ideas that were different than the usual. For example, she has a butternut squash burger that I cannot wait to try. She also has a mustard squash "grilled cheese" that sounds (and looks!) heavenly. I'm also eager to try the varieties of hummus presented (I could survive on hummus and peanut butter alone. Yes, I could!), including a stunning beet version. Purple food always appeals to me! It must be my inner 80s child?!

Overall, this cookbook has me inspired to try several of its recipes, and that's always a great thing because I tend to get bored with food quickly. If you've been around the vegan block for a while, check out Ilene's blog and see if the recipes appeal to you. If you are new to plant-based recipes, this is a great place to start because of the ease factor and well-roundedness of the recipes.

Thank you to Ilene Godofsky Moreno, BenBella books, and Netgalley, for the opportunity to read and review this cookbook. I will update my review once I've tried a few recipes, and I think I'll be buying the print version because it's too pretty not to have on my shelf! 🌈

I appreciate that I could read this in kindle format. I enjoyed the graphics, overall the cookbooks- Ten Speed Press in particular -available
from netgalley in the last couple years are amazing. I definitely have no clue how why anyone would make Vegan recipes, adopt the
lifestyle brand that it has become and feel well nourished and/or find the food and preparation a pleasure. My happiest day will be when regional cooking with real ingredients is back in fashion. Count me tired of the fake news, fake food culture

This is a fantastic plant based recipe book living up to its claim of uncomplicated and nutritious. All of my friends know how domestically challenged I am in a kitchen and were amazed I was able to cook a few recipes which tasted better than average.
I really loved the chatty little sections at the start of each recipe, as it seemed to give it a more personal touch and helped relax me before I started cooking ha ha. The little tips/hints were extremely useful for someone like me.
Recently I attended a vegan cooking class and had an amazing time. I am not vegetarian or a vegan but I was encouraged to make a few changes in my diet. So much so, I have decided to attempt a one-month challenge from 1 January 2018. The recipes in this book will certainly give me a helping hand along the way and something I will keep going back to.
I cant recommend this book enough to anyone who is thinking they would like to make some better eating choices and don’t know how to go about it. Owning a book like this is one of the first steps in making eating a healthy, vibrant & flavorsome experience instead of just an unhealthy habit.

This book makes such good sense! I loved that the recipes weren't loaded with sugar and low on the oil. I would definitely use these recipes over and over again. They have my salivary glands tingling and as I turned the pages so I wanted to make nearly every single recipe.

I love the fun, easy vibe of this cookbook! In the introduction, the author states "make my recipes your own," which I find refreshing. Not that I don't sometimes alter recipes as I go, but this author wants you to tailor recipes to your tastes. That in itself is relaxing. She is basically saying not to worry if you don't follow the recipe strictly. Just have fun!

The recipes are bright and simple, and they all look delicious, while still being modern and healthy. There is a large breakfast section. And there are a lot of recipes. By the time I got to the <i>Mains</i> section, I was expecting the book to be over, but there were still many more recipes to go.

I really liked that the kitchen staples section (recipes for vegan milks, creams and sauces) at the back, which is ingenuous placement. Usually it is in the beginning, and I find that I skip over them to the get to the good stuff.