Let Them Eat Vegan!, a Cookbook Review

Dreena Burton’s Let Them Eat Vegan! offers easy to make recipes that are sure to be new favourites. I received this book in the mail while I was away in India, so I’ve been waiting all summer to come home and crack it open.  The wait was justified, because I was excited to find a collection of delicious, healthy, vegan recipes, many of which were gluten-free or had the option to be made gluten-free.  What I love about Dreena’s recipes is that they all seem to be the types of recipes that are easy to prepare, using easy-to-find ingredients to make recipes that everyone seems to love.

In her newest book, there is a collection of recipes ranging from dips, such as the peanut tahini sauce, tarts, like the festive chickpea tart to desserts, such as a raspberry almond torte.  I have had the chance to make a few recipes from the book, all with great success.

Jerk chickpeas and balsamic roasted fennel from the book, with some kale, rice and avocado.

First, I decided to make jerk chickpeas. This recipe involved baking chickpeas in a jerk spice blend. It was very easy to make and tasted great. I decided to serve it with a mish-mash of sides including balsamic roasted fennel (also from the book), kale sauteed with onions, garlic, sesame seeds and lime, rice cooked with onion, lime zest, cumin and coriander, and some slices of avocado, as is suggested in the book. I used to hate fennel, but this recipe caramalizes the fennel and gives it a milder flavour. It was really good. I had leftover jerk chickpeas and they tasted great the next day as well.

Kale-slaw with curried almond dressing.

After being in India without a kitchen for so long, I was craving a raw salad. I chose to make the kale-slaw to use my leftover kale and fennel from the previous meal. This slaw combines kale, fennel, apple, cranberries and carrots in a creamy almond-based curried dressing. Yum! I kept the leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days without the dressing and it kept quite well.

Mediterranean bean burgers, kale-slaw with curried almond dressing.

The Mediterranean bean burgers were delicious. Beans, oats and some other ingredients and seasonings are mixed together into the food processor to make them. These were very good, too.

Artichoke and white bean dip.

The photo doesn’t do this artichoke and white bean dip justice. I brought it to a party, where it was devoured and met with rave reviews. It was a light and fresh dip, which went great with veggie sticks.

Pecan pie with a gluten-free crust.

I also tried out a dessert recipe from the book – pecan pie, using the gluten-free pie crust recipe. The pie crust was the easiest crust I have ever made. It comes together quickly in the food processor, and is easy to roll between parchment sheets. I think I’m going to get into making pies now that I have this great recipe. My household taste tester prefers a sweeter pecan pie, so I added a chocolate drizzle on top, which seemed to do the trick.

Pecan oh my.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for healthy and delicious recipes their whole family will enjoy. I can’t wait to make more items from this book!