Blogger and healthy eating guru Ilene Godofsky Moreno returns with her new book The Colorful Family Table. This cookbook is full of healthy vegetarian/plant-based recipes for the whole family. She has some good options that will appeal to the young and old palates in the family. Since she is catering to a younger demographic the ingredients and spices are very basic. She says that she has left the recipes a lot more kid friendly when it comes to flavors and spices but I wish the recipes had included some alternative options that are more adult friendly since everything was flavored with salt, pepper and garlic. There is a few recipes that I am excited to try but it is very carb heavy and lacks a lot of flavoring.

The Colorful Family Table by Irene Godofsky Moreno, 256 pages.
BenBella Books, 2019. $20.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Moreno’s life has a lot to do with food as she is a health coach, recipe developer, food blogger, and food photographer. In this cookbook, she shares her ideas for healthy eating with each recipe -- recipes that are beautifully illustrated with her own photographs in such a way to make you race into the kitchen to try them yourself.
I like balance in my diet, and I often eat a little of everything. Moreno’s recipes are vegan friendly, and I have no doubt that they are delicious as is. However, they would also be easy to substitute non-vegan products into, should you feel the need. Writing-wise, I felt that Moreno became repetitive in her assurances that following the recipe would result in edible food every time a surprising ingredient was included. Recipe-wise, this book is filled with amazing things I can’t wait to try.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Sweet potatoes & brown rice pudding
Sweet potatoes & apple loaf
cauli-broc tots
Pumpkin Mac n Cheese
Baked onion rings
Sweet beet fries
cornbread muffins
Very colorful indeed!!!

The colorful kitchen

The food looks and sounds delicious! I will certainly try out some of the recipes. However my problem is lack of nutritional information. Coconut oil is a great substitute for dairy but it is high in fat. I love chocolate brownies, but what is the fat content in them, how many can I get away with eating before healthy becomes unhealthy?

I loved how this vegan cookbook was family friendly. Not many are. The recipes overall were pretty simple with common ingredients. The photos were bright and were included with each recipe. I also liked how it was sorted by season - it can be hard to come up with plant based ideas in the cold winter. I will be adding several recipes to my meal plans!